| 75 |
New York Post Adam Buckman
Women -- especially young mothers juggling responsibilities at home and the office — will find much with which to identify in the story of Annabeth. |
| 75 |
USA Today Robert Bianco
It's well cast, well executed and solidly competent across the board. But exciting, it's not. |
| 70 |
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen
Better than average. |
| 63 |
New York Daily News David Hinckley
The show isn't a terrific one, but its working-mom protagonist, and its element of "Blue Velvet"-style suburban creepiness, might well find a very receptive and loyal audience for this CBS drama. |
| 63 |
People Weekly Tom Gliatto
Finnigan's performance dovetails perfectly with Close's neat if heavy- handed dramatic concept. [17 Oct 2005, p.39] |
| 60 |
PopMatters Cynthia Fuchs
[The show has] married the procedural to melodrama, with occasionally intriguing results. |
| 60 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland
Those still smarting over [Judging Amy's] cancellation may take a while to warm up to the way "Close to Home" wraps justice in a small fuzzy blanket. |
| 60 |
Variety Brian Lowry
"Close to Home" lives up and down to its title -- staying very close to what's worked for CBS before. |
| 60 |
Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert
It's a contrived product, but the storytelling reveals the cases and their solutions nicely, if straightforwardly. |
| 60 |
Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm
Close to Home is supposed to be playing on the dark-underbelly-of-the-burbs fascination supposedly stirred by Desperate Housewives. But it's basically just another lawyer/crime show with a mommy twist. |
| 60 |
The New York Times Alessandra Stanley
It is instructive to observe how working woman's guilt plays out in a postfeminist era when having it all is considered a privilege, not a right. |
| 50 |
Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan
The trouble with this drama is that it doesn't veer much from the often dark tone of the other procedurals from the Bruckheimer TV factory. |
| 50 |
Miami Herald Glenn Garvin
What would otherwise be a tedious collection of working-mom and lawyer-show clichés is saved by an excellent cast. |
| 42 |
Entertainment Weekly Alynda Wheat
Home isn't a bad show--it's just bad-intentioned. [7 Oct 2005, p.64] |
| 40 |
Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron
Finnigan, who was so right in NBC's loopy comedy "Committed," lacks the heft for the role of the no-nonsense prosecutor. Not that, as written, the role would be easy for anyone. It requires Annabeth to be a vigorous and energetic protagonist and, simultaneously, a weepy young mother with postpartum blues. |
| 40 |
San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum
A pedestrian, predictable crime procedural. |
| 40 |
Newsday Diane Werts
This canned stew is further flavored with too-snappy comebacks, too-slick repartee and too-clever contrivances. Making it bearable are cast members who do somehow manage to seem like people next door. |
| 40 |
Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd
A production that tends to make everything look artificial, that freezes the air between the characters and keeps them distant. |
| 38 |
Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman
It can't be this much like glorified Lifetime every week, can it? |
| 25 |
Detroit Free Press Mike Duffy
Crusading criminal prosecutor Annabeth Chase... [is] the most irritating lead character on any new drama series this fall. |
