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.

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]

The Shield gives viewers so much Chiklis, it should be called "The Commish 2." The pilot opens with the unlikely scenario of the portly Chiklis chasing down a teenage drug dealer. It only gets worse...There may be rogue cops out there, but do they really announce to their precinct captains that they can't be controlled? It's hard to watch a show that stars such an unlikable character. [12 Mar 2002, p.41]

Mad Men is off to one crazy-good start.

What seems like a straightforward question--Is Nick a traitor to his country?--might be the most devilishly complicated thing to answer, and definitely worth pursuing in this complex show.

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

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

Boomtown stumbles when it adopts an occasional sanctimonious tone. And, like most cop shows, it contains liberal doses of violence and the ubiquitous sexually depraved perp. But Boomtown also is an impressive accomplishment in editing that will keep you hanging on until the final scene. [29 Sept 2002, p.55]

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.

Game of Thrones starts less like an epic and more like a session of "Medieval Sims."

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]

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.

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

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.

Mad Men is back with another ridiculously addictive season.

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]

Unlike "The Wire," the pacing is lazy. Many of the moments seem authentic, but to paraphrase director Alfred Hitchcock: A good show is life minus the boring parts.

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

Abrams and co-creator Damon Lindelof infuse the opener with horror, poignancy, mystery and pitch-perfect humor...If Abrams and company can sustain the pace and intrigue of the pilot, then Lost will be a great place for viewers to lose themselves every week. [22 Sept 2004, p.EDGE 47]

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.

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

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

Party Down, about a group of aspiring Hollywood types working as caterers, returns for a second season of stale jokes.

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

It's wonderful HBO is willing to subsidize so many artists, but Treme feels more like a tax write-off than an actual series.

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.

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

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