It's a bloody good, gory hour, and I don't know how Southland will top this. But I can't wait to see what's around the corner.

We've all been there. Which is why Freaks and Geeks works so well. Cloaked in grunginess, it's a totally unpretentious slice of high school life, a decidedly unmelodramatic drama devoid of "Dawson's Creek"-speak and sticky self-analysis. No one is wearing designer duds and the closing scene at the high school homecoming dance reveals that not one student possesses a shred of rhythm. [25 Sept 1999, p.25]

Homicide is the best new television drama of the season. That's particularly surprising, considering it's yet another cop show. And even more surprising in that it's NBC - the loser network - which has come up with a winner teeming with unique characters, steaming with atmosphere and featuring writing as sharp as a stiletto. [31 Jan 1993, p.30]

This is the best ensemble of any show anywhere, and watching these gifted actors bounce off each other is a joy. Damages proves capable hands can craft a thriller for TV.

By dramatizing the true stories of the men who fought there, Spielberg and Hanks craft perhaps their most psychologically grounded work.

Mad Men is off to one crazy-good start.

Fox’s Human Target is the closest thing on TV to swigging a keg of Red Bull. It’s one hour of pure energy, a blast of fun action and stunts.

TV Land's first original sitcom is the surprise of the summer, a sparkling, breezy comedy, in no small part due to the casting of this year's It Girl, 88-year-old Betty White as a cantankerous caretaker.

Will The Event turn out to be another "FlashForward" or the next "Lost"? I'm betting cautiously on the latter.

A serial killer, a state execution, slapstick involving a baby--Fox's new Raising Hope is deliciously demented and easily the funniest new show of fall.

The three-week, six-hour miniseries introduces a colorful, international cast of characters who live and breathe to create one moment of perfection under the limelight.

Southland's cast remains one of its best selling points.

The most endearing, functional dysfunctional family in all of TV gets off to multiple good starts in the new season of Showtime's The United States of Tara.

This is no CBS crime procedural, and viewers deserve the chance to delve into this smart mystery for themselves.

For a topic that sounds as dry as a fund prospectus, the acting and pacing is exceptional.

The first two hours are marked by surprising twists and betrayals. TV's most cunning series is back in session.

I loved the pilot, mostly because I could never predict where the story was going, a rarity in prime-time TV.

Life may be short, but this comedy is not long enough.

Louis-Dreyfus won Emmys for both "Seinfeld" and "The New Adventures of Old Chrstine," and seems the best candidate to win another for her work here.

You'll worry the Big Apple will swallow them up. Mostly, you'll wonder how Breaking Amish will turn next.

There hasn't been a show since "The Sopranos" so concerned with bodily functions, and it makes its oft-compared predecessor "Sex and the City" look like a TeenNick production. But it's also fresh, bracing and original.

If there's a nighttime soap any better, I haven't seen it.

Mad Men is back with another ridiculously addictive season.

Alias is one of those rare action dramas where all the elements - plot, characters, production design, costumes, soundtrack and performances - come together to form one perfect hour of television. [30 Sept 2001, p.56]

Written well and delicately plotted, this new WB drama has staying power. You will want to know what happens to our heroine with the Botticelli visage. [29 Sept 1998, p.45]

A devilishly discerning comedy. [17 Sept 1996, p.39]

Alan Ball, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "American Beauty," has done something wonderfully unusual. He has written a tremendously life-affirming drama about death. [3 June 2001, p.43]

The characters carry themselves with the kind of decency, maturity and occasional playfulness that is virtually unseen on prime time.

What separates “Tara” from “Jackie,” of course, is that Tara’s family is aware of Tara’s problems and supports her. In creator/writer Diablo Cody’s world, even the most damaged among us can lead healthy lives if they are loved for themselves. That’s a comforting message.

It’s a shame “The Tudors” is coming to a close. As Hirst has noted, there are generations of stories yet to tell. Count on this series to end on a royally good note

This spy spoof hits a bull’s-eye with risque snark and one of the best vocal casts assembled for any animated series.

King, Cudlitz and McKenzie carry this drama, in note-perfect peformances. They make Southland a worthy part of your Tuesday night stakeout.

If you don't tear up at least once during each episode, you've already coded. "Boston Med" is the cure for summertime TV blues.

"In this job, there’s no such thing as no such thing," Pete says. Exactly. Warehouse 13 is truly the show where anything can happen.

The Pillars of the Earth, a six-part, eight-hour miniseries debuting Friday with a two-hour punch, delivers enough surprises to enthrall any thriller buff.

Nikita is a breakthrough for teen-happy CW, its riskiest show yet--one aimed at adults. It's one they might enjoy.

The triangle--quadrangle?--becomes more twisted by episode's end. It leads to shocking violence against outsiders that deepens the tragedy and the mythology at the core of the show. "Game on" just might be the two most chilling words uttered this season.

The remake of "Hawaii Five-0" is the best kind of throwback--to the buddy cop films of the 1980s. Think "Lethal Weapon" with a tropical twist.

Ordinary is super at capturing a middle-class family suffering from self-imposed Kryptonite poisoning

On Veterans Day, Wartorn is a somber reminder of the price that many pay when they serve their country and a wake-up call to the rest of us about the debt we owe them.

Arnold's Beyond Scared Straight hews to the premise of the original and proves to be just as gripping.

As a man struggling to find where he misplaced his heart, Perry makes angst seem easy. His sense of timing isn't rusty. The sitcom has a few clouds: Alonzo needs an edge and the show should make Jorge Garcia's ("Lost") facilities manager a permanent regular. But Mr. Sunshine could be midseason's brightest ray of mirth.

There were moments during the first two episodes in which I wondered if the series was doddering along like a blindfolded Miss Marple. Have faith. Each episode swings in unexpected directions.

Additional time would have made Verite more convincing. At 90 minutes, it runs short, especially as the family copes with its newfound notoriety

In Happily Divorced, TV Land, the cable channel for baby boomers, finally may have found the perfect companion to its smash "Hot in Cleveland."

HBO's True Blood rises from the grave of last year's uneven season, smarter, spookier and sexier than before.

For those impatient for the return of "Mad Men," The Hour fills that void and then some.

The ex-commander-in-chief sits down with National Geographic Channel to give a moment-by-moment account of the darkest days of his presidency--and the nation--in the utterly absorbing George W. Bush: The 9/11 Interview.

Ringer at times straddles camp--Bridget stays briefly in the "Double Nickel Motel," a wink that the two women truly are flip sides of the same scarred coin --but never succumbs to it, thanks to Gellar's muted performances.

The best new sitcom of fall, CBS' 2 Broke Girls is rich in laughs and snappy performances.

[Caviezel] and Emerson make for one of fall's most formidable odd couples.

Series creator/writer Neil Cross continues to spin dark strands that stray unexpectedly into unsettling territory.

It's not often that a movie that's important also manages to be educational and entertaining. Five is all three.

In its second season, The Walking Dead remains the most suspenseful show on any TV network.

Once Upon a Time gets off to a bewitching start.

Series creator and writer Julian Fellowes has a habit of using dialogue to telegraph the obvious.

With Milch holding the reins, Luck seems a lock for the winner's circle.

The womanizing, booze-guzzling, chain-smoking ad exec (played brilliantly by Jon Hamm) at the heart of AMC's Emmy Award-winning drama Mad Men has found a curvy sliver of joy in his life.

On "Grey's Anatomy," particularly in the first two years, Rhimes proved herself skilled at crafting gripping love stories. She's outdone herself here.

Many young women, if they're being honest, will see themselves here. And many parents will see their daughters.

Ultimately, Sherlock doesn't play fair, but the game is so enjoyable, you'll be happy you joined in.

Cynthia Cidre's smart take on the prime-time soap (1978-1991) pays homage to the past while moving the battle to the next generation.

Aaron Sorkin can write crackling dialogue. Believable characters, not so much.

Web Therapy is far more entertaining [than Episodes], but, alas, wildly uneven, probably in part due to the need to weave new material around the Internet series of the same name that spawned it.

Her Patty knows how to spread the hurt. Get in on Damages' final round.

Week is about as much a serious social experiment as "Survivor" or "Kid Nation," but the production qualities are strong for a cable reality show and its subjects are fascinating as they react to the new world order

Copper spins somber stories of gold.

The pilot, directed by co--executive producer Jon Favreau ("Iron Man"), poses numerous questions, and to the credit of everyone involved, delivers some surprising payoffs that other shows would hold for weeks, if not seasons.

If the first two episodes are any indication, this season of Homeland will be about Carrie not only recovering her balance but finding a measure of redemption. That's a trip worth taking.

Nashville is the snarky showbiz drama NBC's "Smash" can only dream of becoming.

Arrow has so much going for it, it doesn't need to linger on the past.

Dead is always at its most unsettling--and poignant--when its characters have a moment to breathe and to address their dark, nightmarish world.

The Girl ensures you'll never watch "The Birds" the same way again.

The show's repetitive voice-overs are annoying. But you'll be sucked into this dangerous venture.

The series is so funny, it reeks of a setup.

You think you know how this story will end, but trust DeKnight and his company of players to surprise us to the last bloody moment.

The series gets off to a strong start as a black satire of not only D.C. but how politicians and journalists can leech off one another.

Community is still kicking, with more gas and laughs than just about any other NBC sitcom.

Rest easy: The premiere is good; next week’s episode is flat-out superb.

Game of Thrones plays by its own rules--and remains irresistible.

It’s a macabre dance that only promises to get more intense.

Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous is a clever riff on the fanaticism and cynicism inspired by the network’s own reality slate, including “Teen Mom,” “16 and Pregnant” and “Buckwild.

Unlike most movie-inspired TV series - in which the TV version is usually a soggier incarnation of its movie original - this Buffy, created by Joss Whedon, an Oscar nominee for his "Toy Story" script, fulfills some of the promise sorely lacking in the 1992 big-screen version. [10 Mar 1997, p.32]

More accessible than “V” or “FlashForward,” “Happy Town” shows a sure hand with pacing and knows how to end an hour with a powerful cliffhanger.

The discussion of vampire politics seems toothless at times, but True excels at setting up episode-ending cliffhangers. The episode pacing is superb.

Scoundrels is wicked fun when the Wests are being wild.

The good part involves just about any scene focusing on Angie Harmon ("Law & Order") as Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli. The flip side? Just about every scene that isn't centered on her, especially those involving Jane's best friend, medical examiner Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander).

Buscemi is the only big-name actor associated with this cast, and though he seems to be having a great time strutting onscreen, most of the others aren't up to sharing the screen with him.

This is a packed episode that sets up the dynamic for a season long rivalry that New Directions will be hard-pressed to overcome.

Arnett isn't stretching himself here, but he's still funny as a man who can't comprehend why he can't buy the love of his life. Russell brings a fervor to the role of a woman who has yet to come across a tree she wouldn't want to hug.

There's something bizarrely addictive about The Hasselhoffs.

When Jackie snaps over one patient's plight, she could be speaking for impatient viewers: "People gotta stop trying to save people who don't want to be saved." Same goes for TV characters stuck in the same shtick.

If you can accept you're watching the Kennedy saga through the prism of the "Fringe" universe, what you will find is an absorbing, addictive drama, with some authentic performances.

The show runs rampant with rapid-fire dialogue and sly pop-culture references. The cast is strong.

When Happy Endings is funny, it's need-to-pause-the-DVR-because-I'm-laughing-so-hard funny. And viewers should easily be able to commit to that.

Don't look now, but Falling Skies could be a summer obsession.

No one expects "The Good Wife," but if the show is aiming for balance, it needs to step up its court game.

While the documentary sometimes feel hurried, Pelosi has written a superior companion book of the same title that allows the newcomers to better share their stories.