The Prisoner is not compelling. It rambles too much. Its vagaries are not interesting, its unorthodox storytelling not special enough.

What NCIS: Los Angeles does well is what all CBS procedurals do well--bring mostly believable, semi-pulse-pounding justice to bad guys by the end of the hour with some action, a dose of humor and the weekly, methodical unpeeling of each character's private onion skin.

It's beige on beige, people.

It's not a gratuitous failure and makes enough sense to see to the end.

There's nothing inherently wrong with The Good Wife other than it's a legal series with too many close-up shots of knowing glances and "attagirl Alicia" moments of empowerment that you saw coming 20 minutes prior.

It's traditional sitcom fodder. But what makes The Middle a pleasant surprise is that the series itself is eccentric and funny in unexpected ways, not just the kids.

In truth, it's the bountiful hamminess of McShane and the other evildoers that makes Pillars great fun, even if it's never going to be a candidate for "Masterpiece Theatre."

It could spark discussion or debate. But it's mostly just a reality series. And that means manufactured scenarios, big drama, tears, tattoos, drinking, sex, swearing and lots of arguing and playing to the camera. Straight people have been making fools of themselves on TV like this for ages.

Hawaii Five-O is nothing but entertainment. It's eye candy.

Unfortunately, Life Unexpected took all of the schmaltz of "Gilmore Girls" and expanded it several hundred times over, forgetting to insert any of the quirk and only a smidge of the smart banter.

It's an hour that you'll be able to understand and appreciate, even if you love "Sons of Anarchy" more. Sometimes it's fun to take a spin on your old bike, so to speak.

It's light but predictable fun.

The Whole Truth, which airs opposite "The Defenders" on ABC, is less lousy.

It's a rote cop show, but in the last five minutes or so, it hints at something deeper.

While the cop genre is all but played out, Detroit 1-8-7 is stylish and acceptably rough-hewn enough to make it worth your while.

Not nearly as good or as complex as "Justified" on FX, but it's a decent hour of mindless entertainment.

While the reworked pilot is a marked improvement over the original, the parts are still not working together, but you'd like to believe they will be in a few episodes.

If you loathe Palin, well, Sarah Palin's Alaska will not change that. If you love Palin, there's probably plenty here to solidify your beliefs.

When Bob's Burgers gets rolling and hints at the smarts that made Home Movies and Dr. Katz so good, it only makes you long for a distancing on the inane, easy-joke riffs that try to be "edgy."

The show is a bold idea, and there's hope for the modern-world portions, but it doesn't quite know what it is (or maybe it does, but the audience won't).

How about less ghost, more Margo? That might help A Gifted Man become better than very average.

There's a nagging suspicion that Hell on Wheels, created by Tony and Joe Gayton, doesn't quite know what it wants to be, which may explain why after four hours it seems like a collection of ideas that haven't quite gelled.

There's not much payoff to the premise. Which is a real shame, because there's a good show here somewhere

What Animals is trying to do is take The West Wing and turn it into Dallas. And if you don't like Dallas, that can be a real letdown.

Like a lot of pilots, Animal Practice is messy, and if you don't like the monkey, well, you're probably not coming back.

Perhaps the worst offense by 666 is that it's not even an ounce scary.

Copper has the same problems that AMC's Hell on Wheels does, which is that there's an excellent show there somewhere, just not on the screen.

The series still can't get liftoff because it seems like a limp copy.