It just might be the kids, the ones who grow up too soon in the hard world of "The Wire," who steal opening night.

With the bar set at Emmy, Homeland has little room to falter. With this return episode, it doesn't.

Like "The Sopranos," Breaking Bad finds nuance and drama within this compromised world, and in the process suggests intriguing and sometimes unsettling parallels to the world in which the rest of us live.

There's enough classic "Sopranos" action -- some of it involving extreme physical violence -- to remind the average person that where the Sopranos are is not where most of us want to go. Yet at the same time, these episodes repeatedly return to the ways in which the Soprano clan, in its desperate, sometimes twisted and sometimes touching way, seeks to embrace family values.

It boldly goes where no man has gone before.

It's a show about someone trying to figure out life, one little thing at a time, and realizing that sometimes, hey, you can't.

Fabulous in every respect.

So while the scripts and characters rival those of any network series (and beat most), and directors such as Clark Johnson (who played Lewis on "Homicide: Life on the Street") do them justice, the players surrounding Chiklis and Pounder are a notch or two less intense and effective. [12 Mar 2002, p.83]

The real skill and appeal of Mad Men remains in its characters.

The next great "Masterpiece Theater" series has arrived.

Despite living on pay-cable, Homeland also doesn't feel obliged to create explicit moments just because it can. But it's also possible it's just keeping something in reserve--a lot like its compelling characters.

Olyphant's even a little better this season than last, as he settles further into the Givens skin. He captures the marshal's essential confidence while never giving away one syllable more than he wants to reveal about the hand he's holding. Further enhancing the fun, there's a new crook in town.

This year, once again, Benedict Cumberbatch's modern-day Holmes and his intrepid sidekick Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman) provide breathtaking non-stop exhilaration.

This HBO special, it must be noted up front, is not for all ages. Like the other best comedians, though, Louis never seems to tack on the graphic subject matter and language simply for shock. His nongraphic bits are also just as funny, like his riff on divorce and parenting.

It's not that we haven't seen the polar regions before. But this special, narrated by Alec Baldwin, puts it all together in a way that makes it feel consistently more intriguing than the nature films you remember from school.

It's a nonlinear way to approach a drama series, but that's what makes it so gripping. [27 Sept 2002, p.134]

No one in Westeros is going soft, and there is no shortage of intrigue and sly drama that doubtless foreshadows death, destruction and plentiful violence to come.

Hilarious.

Whether you've followed the show to this point or not, you can tune in and savor smart TV drama at its best.

The shadows are deep enough over "Breaking Bad" that it's hard to imagine a ray of hope or light shining through anywhere. But the actors and writers are so good that, like Walt, we'll keep looking for it.

Four hours in, living up to past standards no longer is in question. Setting new ones is what's going on here, as "24," partly by cashing in on our knowledge of and commitment to previous seasons and characters, gets off to its best start ever.

Tuesday night by plunging its characters deeper into a web of crisscrossing dramas that suggest the law and politics ultimately come down to soap operas. Whether it's true or not, The Good Wife makes the theory entertaining to explore.

The episodes that kick off this last 10-show run don't feel perfect. But they almost always feel intuitively right.

Watching HBO's new Boardwalk Empire is like sitting in your favorite tavern and hearing someone say, "Drinks are on the house." Friends, it doesn't get much better.

It's one of the best new shows from any network this year, and is a total, almost giddy delight from start to finish.

Once you sort out all the teams and players, Game of Thrones falls together like a good Western. But you may need all 167 hours, at least at first, to do the sorting.

'24'... isn't a TV show. It's a thrill ride - so intense and fast-paced, it ought to come with guardrails attached. [5 Nov 2001]

If Sunday night's two-hour return episode of Mad Men ended after the first four minutes, it would still put the show in contention to win its fifth straight Emmy as the best drama on television.