Where "Studio 60" takes a scathing and indignant tone toward television, "30 Rock" offers a more sarcastic, less hackles-raised critique. It's also funnier and goofier.

An engrossing thriller... a welcome return to the juicy, complex miniseries of old.

If you enjoy complex, murky dramas about morally ambiguous characters, played by a talented cast of newcomers, then enjoy "The Black Donnellys" while it lasts.

A zippy, fun update.

Like "30 Rock," "Barker" is more absurd and goofy than it is broadly funny, but it's definitely not as mainstream.

An action-packed adrenaline rush.

The Company starts slowly and somewhat confused, but eventually it chugs its way to coherence as it becomes a decent little drama.

None of the songs really stand out the way they did in the original. Kenny Ortega's lively choreography, however, is once again top-notch.

Once you get past the sex and if you can endure the sadness of the stories, Tell Me begins to have an addictive quality.

Gossip Girl offers a fun, juicy mix of popular music and melodrama.

This Bionic Woman pilot is a downbeat drag, but buried somewhere beneath all the moping is an intriguing show that might yet emerge.

A light-hearted, comedic drama about four wealthy guys with women troubles and work problems.

Some die-hards may be frustrated by inconsistencies in the timeline with "Terminator 3," but unless you get overly wrapped up in the details of time travel, tonight's pilot is an intense adventure.

In such rare instances [in the second episode], Breaking Bad achieves a perfect moment of nerdy believability, but too often the series fails to provide details that would help explain its characters' illogical choices.

Was this resurrection worth the effort? In a word, yes.

Unlike "Monk," which is essentially warmed-over "Columbo" with a more interesting character in the lead, In Plain Sight augments its plain premise with a full cast of colorful characters.

The plot of tonight's premiere is silly and campy, but because The Middleman is based on a comic book, that's not altogether out of place. Whether this tone wears well over time remains to be seen, but in its first outing The Middleman rises above the middle-of-the-pack of scripted cable shows.

Developments in Brenda's private life also lend the episode some comic relief, which makes "The Closer" a well-balanced prime-time drama that has improved markedly from its earliest episodes.

There's definitely some amusing moments but the show will have limited appeal.

It's less aimless and has renewed momentum--even if its plots tread familiar ground.

Privileged has the potential to be a largely positive, female-skewing series.

The first hour of Heroes answers enough questions and moves the story forward in such a way that a few "Huh?" moments won't matter as long as they're answered in short order and don't linger for too long.

It's not groundbreaking TV, but the pilot does a good job of introducing the characters, their relationships, their potential relationships.

As creator Marc Cherry explained this summer, he wanted to re-set the series and get the stories back to something more closely resembling reality. Sunday's season premiere does that pretty well with some of the women's stories, especially Lynette (Felicty Huffman), whose twins are now terrible teens.

The first two half-hour episodes, airing at 9 and 9:30 p.m. Friday, are less raucous and seemingly more adult than the film. There's more attention to character development; Jabba the Hutt's flamboyant uncle isn't anywhere to be found.

Valentine, created by Kevin Murphy ("Desperate Housewives," "Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical"), is fine but nothing special.

My Own Worst Enemy sets up what could be an overly complicated premise and miraculously makes it all seem perfectly acceptable and clear by the end of the first hour.

Stylista is a guilty pleasure thanks to its cast of catfighting, bickering characters, including one who is hospitalized following a panic attack in episode two.

House of Saddam offers a fascinating but limited portrait of the Iraqi tyrant.

The show's trademark time shifts continue, although it's initially unclear if they're connected to the season one story that carries over or to the season two plot.

This season doesn't really kick into gear until night two, when Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) and Chloe (Marylynn Rajskub) return, operating outside the bounds of the government.

The Beast, named after Barker's reference to his FBI job, seems like a pretty plain cop drama with added "Road House"-style grit until the end of the first hour, when a new wrinkle adds more intrigue.

The episode is a fast-moving two hours that answers enough questions to satisfy fans and raises still more questions in an effort to further the intrigue.

Some of the humor works less well--Martin playing five instruments while flipping through a sketch pad is more strange than funny--but Martin is clearly a smart guy and his intellectual humor succeeds more often than it fails.

The humor in Eastbound is a far cry from the cerebral comedy currently en vogue on shows like "The Office" and "30 Rock," but that doesn't mean Eastbound can't do sly humor that falls left of center.

Kings begins with a refined approach and grows more pedestrian in subsequent episodes. Still, there's plenty to love about this series that dances with symbolism--the butterfly on the Gilboa flag is not a mere adornment--and replaces clandestine backrooms with windowed board rooms.

It's an entertaining enough diversion that may grow more intriguing as other series end their season-long runs next month and viewers become more desperate for fresh entertainment.

It must be said that viewing Grey Gardens without prior knowledge of the Beales' story would make it easier to like the HBO version....Michael Sucsy directs an HBO version that takes a little of this, a little of that, in building toward a (sort-of) happy ending that's hard to swallow.

Not only do the other stories save True Blood--before you can get sick of Sookie and Bill, Blood shifts its focus to more interesting characters--but the show's persistent humor breaks through with enough frequency to have an impact.

Curb is filled with uncomfortable comedy, as always, but its humor stems from the relatable minutiae of everyday life, not unlike what viewers watched on "Seinfeld."

It's a generally strong episode as House attempts to annoy his doctors so much that they'll sign off on his departure.

Plot contrivances aside, the new season of Chuck gets off to a decent start as friendships rekindle (Chuck and best friend Morgan become roommates) and new parties get involved in subterfuge.

The first episode runs two hours and sets up all the characters, their relationships and backgrounds. It presents a serialized show with a lot of potential for growth and interesting plot possibilities, especially considering a scene at the end of the premiere that raises a whole host of questions.

The show, although plenty entertaining, also feels like it's grasping to keep the drama of Tara's situation at a suitably heightened level while other character story arcs, most notably Marshall's, feel more believable.

Against all odds, this mishmash of stark contrasts emerges as a surprisingly engaging film.

The movie--as Jane Austen might have described it--is an amiable entertainment.

Sophomoric and crude, The Life & Times of Tim may be a viable alternative for fans of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

Disposable as it may be, Starter Wife still has more to recommend about it than, say, NBC's "Lipstick Jungle."

Of the two new cop shows this week, Southland is the more serious and realistic. It also demonstrates the potential for greater depth in its exploration of characters and their stories.

USA's Royal Pains is an amusing, enjoyable addition to basic cable.

Tonight's pilot suffers from a few up-the-ante, "look-at-me!" moments, like when Coop grabs Jackie's breast and claims it's a nervous tic. Future episodes are more grounded and less desperate to shock for the sake of grabbing viewer (and network) attention, but they're no less enthralling with both drama and humor.

Smith is a winning TV star who's adept at scenes that require great empathy or a withering stare. Given time (and more realistic characterizations), Hawthorne may grow into a series worthy of her talents.

Parks was disappointing in its first year but tonight's episode and one airing next week--with a storyline inspired by the Henry Louis Gates-cop kerfluffle--show that the program is making steady, funny progress.

Archer may be crude but it's far more clever than last fall's disappointing "Testees," and "Archer" wins points with its observational humor about modern life and in its mocking of mundane workplace minutiae, such as computer passwords and the lack of security at a spy agency.

As a single fortysomething mom, star Courteney Cox is in full frantic mode, yelling at and pushing everyone in sight, which makes for an entertaining (if not exhausting) half-hour comedy.

O'Donnell and LL Cool J form an easy alliance that's filled with lighter moments of humor even as they investigate a plot that's decidedly obvious and unsurprising.

Like "Family Guy," The Cleveland Show jumps from the main plot to tangential asides often built around pop culture. But the show's tone is different because Cleveland is such a well-meaning, likable character.

If you're easily offended, you will be appalled by The League. If you chuckle at smutty, raunchy humor and profanity, this show offers dirty-minded comedic rewards.

The show remains a chilly affair, which will probably limit its acceptance but for viewers who appreciate satire, particularly of a modern workplace, it's difficult to imagine a show on the subject that's funnier than Ted.

There's a cool, no-nonsense attitude about Southland that may make it more challenging for viewers to embrace than some other shows, but this cop drama has so many strong performances and enough nuanced writing that it remains one of the better dramas currently in prime time.

The show is unlikely to win Emmys but it is worth a few chuckles, spurred on by actresses in an age bracket not generally associated with leading roles on network sitcoms.

Memphis Blues has a similar feel to "The Closer" at the same stage. The secondary characters are not yet developed, and the show feels fairly pat. But it has the necessary ingredients for a lightweight, innocuous procedural.

Hung remains less of a comedy than HBO presents it as, but it's certainly more platable in season two.

Pretty much every character and character trait will be old-hat to regular TV viewers but director Tim Matheson makes the pilot episode hang together pretty well.

The Big C does not arrive with as sturdy a foundation as "Nurse Jackie," an unusually well-developed show from the get-go, but Ms. Linney completely inhabits a role that's recognizable as a woman who is strong and unusually selfless--at least until her diagnosis.

The Vampire Diaries is no "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"--it doesn't have that series' depth--but it's plotted well enough to mix supernatural action with the occasional game of Kiss Me or Kill Me and some surprising cliffhangers, too.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia returns tonight at 10 with an episode that misses the mark, but another upcoming episode offers more hilarity.

Mike & Molly has more of the crude humor of "Men" than "Big Bang" had at the start, but it's offset by a sweetness in the lead characters that makes this sitcom a welcome addition to CBS's Monday night laughter lineup.

Raising Hope is not for the easily offended and humorless but the pilot is consistently entertaining for viewers willing to embrace Garcia's universe of downtrodden characters.

The show's writers seem to have less of a firm grasp on how to evolve some of the secondary characters, particularly while Dexter is on leave from the Miami Metro police department.

Blue Bloods showcases a surprising amount of character-driven storytelling. The potential police department conspiracy pushes Blue Bloods into more sudsy territory than necessary, but at least this show marks another attempt by CBS, following "The Good Wife" last year, to expand its offerings beyond paint-by-number crime dramas.

As long as you're OK with comedy-of-the-uncomfortable, then IFC's The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret is by far the funnier of the two David Cross-Will Arnett series airing this fall (the other being Fox's "Running Wilde").

It's the students that make Teach a sometimes interesting show. They drive the story's forward momentum as much as Mr. Danza does and quickly emerge as his co-stars in a program that touches on teacher quality, student apathy and the plight of urban public schools.

The show suffers from fakey scenes of Joe and his team in the office--they feel pretty staged--but when Maddalena is out meeting people who want to sell the Hollywood memorabilia they own, Hollywood Treasure is a lot of fun.

Conan O'Brien debuted his new talk show, Conan, on TBS last night and it didn't feel all that different from the show O'Brien debuted last year on NBC under "The Tonight Show" banner.

Her observations throughout Wishful Drinking are incisive and funny. But at times the production, directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, gets a little bogged down in minutiae.

It's not the best cop show ever but it's certainly an above-average effort for fans entertained by quality TV drama.

It's best not to think of Shameless as a deep, important show. Tune in for the character drama and recognize the characters' anti-social behavior for what it is. There's no shame in that.

This seven-episode series, written by David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik, doesn't offer many new ideas about the evils of the TV business--a lot of the ground covered here was previously mined by the underrated 1999-2001 Showtime series "Beggars & Choosers"--but it's still fun to join in the mocking of Hollywood, a big, juicy target that Episodes hits with ease.

What the show lacks in originality it makes up for in crisp, politically tinged dialogue.

For fans of the original, which is only a few years old, this Americanization may be a bit like going to see a road company version of a Broadway show: It's pretty good but definitely less morose (for some viewers that will be an improvement, for others it will be a betrayal).

Like any sketch comedy show, IFC's Portlandia has hit-and-miss sketches, but when they hit, they do so with a laughter-inducing amount of comedic force.

[Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler] debuted this week on what seems to be a kinder, gentler and certainly much hairier version of American Idol.

When Betty White is on screen, the emotions are real, and she's on screen a lot. It's a safe bet that tears will be shed.

Of the couples comedies to debut so far this midseason--NBC's "Perfect Couples" in January, Fox's "Traffic Light" last week--CBS's "Mad Love" (8:30 tonight, KDKA-TV) is probably the best. That's not to say it's a great show, but it is the least groan-inducing.

If the concept of Taking on Tyson seems odd, the execution is more predictable, framing Mr. Tyson's pigeon racing, his first competitive endeavor in several years, as a kind of therapy. Still, the show benefits from some surprisingly strong visuals of the birds in flight--at least for viewers who do not see pigeons as rodents with wings.

The miniseries feels a little pokey in its early chapters, although it does an excellent job of establishing the primary characters, and then races too quickly toward its conclusion (wait, who is Mildred married to now?).

It's a fascinating glimpse into a culture that I suspect many Americans would prefer to remain ignorant about.

The movie holds the interest, despite a tendency to sentimentalize.

Given the topic, Too Big to Fail might seem like a movie made only for policy wonks but even if you don't understand the finer points of monetary policy, it's still entertaining because it features that great equalizer in American popular culture: Wealthy, well-heeled people behave like jerks, allowing the less wealthy a certain superior satisfaction.

Viewers who want TV to wash over them as light entertainment may enjoy Franklin & Bash, but viewers who prefer thought-provoking TV programs that engage on a higher level may not be satisfied.

The Protector is fairly routine plot-wise but the breezy tone--conveyed through upbeat music and snappy dialogue--and strong, collegial performances make this series a welcome summer diversion.

It's a strange show and I'm sure some people won't find it funny at all. But if you have just enough of a cracked sense of humor, it's worth giving Jon Benjamin Has a Van a try.

The characters lack the depth of those in smarter, premium cable dramas like "The Walking Dead," but they do show some growth as the series goes on. What Falling Skies does best is create a sense of the struggle for survival.

It seems like the show will basically be a weekly dose of two-steps-forward-one-step-back for Ryan with Wilfred as his teacher/tormentor. Wilfred certainly has moments of high (and low) comedy but it's also hard to imagine the premise won't get stale pretty fast.

Expedition Impossible, executive-produced by Mark Burnett ("Survivor"), is [not] the worst reality show ever (not by a long shot), but it reveals how challenging it must be for producers to introduce a whole mess of teams in a season premiere.

The Big C feels much more alive, even though it's a show about a woman, Cathy (Laura Linney), who's dying of stage 4 cancer.

As has always been the case, Damages remains a mystery-thriller whose characters and their psychological quirks are more intriguing than the plot.

Thanks to clever dialogue, Awkward manages to rise above its been-there, watched-that premise.

It's a static look that makes these half-hour shows a bit tough to endure visually (don't try watching two episodes back-to-back). This format lends itself better to web shorts but it is fun to see Dr. Wallice's world expanded, especially for fans of comedy that doesn't telegraph a joke well in advance.

Entourage offers a reason for fans to be encouraged about the quality of its last episodes.

Against the Wall is not nearly as ambitious as "Chicago Code" was but there's a warmth to the characters and their relationships that should satisfy Lifetime's core audience.

The Hour looks fantastic but it moves at a snail's pace that's sure to irk impatient viewers.

Depending on your tolerance for edgy humor, 2 Broke Girls ain't broke, but a greater effort by the show's writers to be funny without being overly crude/cruel would help fix it for a broader audience.

Overall [it] is more charming than hilarious.

Prime Suspect improves as the hour goes on. The guys' attitude toward Jane evolves.

Every television series launches on a wing and a prayer, perhaps none more than this entertaining, glossy drama.

Terra Nova walks a fine line and how well it manages to stay on that path will likely determine its ultimate success or failure.

The series remains an intense, engrossing crime procedural with strong moments of character development, but Mr. Cross gets a bit sloppy in his plotting.

All-American Muslim [may be] a bit dull for viewers conditioned to expect ginned-up drama but given the potential sensitivities of the subject matter, it seems appropriate.

TV Land continues its foray into original scripted programming with The Exes, the network's best sitcom effort since "Hot in Cleveland."

A gripping tale of police investigation and a criminal's mischief-making.

House of Lies is not a revolutionary show, but it is a fun study of men behaving badly.

Writer/series creator Julian Fellowes weaves together an engrossing tapestry of stories, although some of them stretch credulity or peter out.

The Finder is not sophisticated TV but it does have its charms, mostly stemming from star Geoff Stults.

Viewers who appreciate slow-moving stories set in gritty, somewhat sleazy environments with characters of questionable morals are most likely to be rewarded by betting on Luck.

The River lacks the sophistication of "Lost" but its formula is more flexible than recent Fox addition "Alcatraz."

Generally they do their best to walk a fine line, attempting to execute the show in as uncomplicated a way as possible so less devoted viewers keep watching while rewarding obsessive fans with small steps forward in the exploration of Britten's condition.

Girls grew on me. As annoying as the characters can be, they also evince recognizable traits in absurdly realistic situations.

This fast-paced Titanic miniseries gets better as it goes along.

As with any pilot, Longmire barely scratches the surface of the possible directions it could go but the premiere does an excellent job establishing a sense of place and character. It's enough to make a viewer want to return for more.

Bunheads feels like it's taking shape but hasn't coalesced in its first episode. But what it does get right is the introduction of characters from whom a lot of potential stories can flow.

The relationship plots are less interesting to me than the comedy.

It's more cheekily amusing than hilarious and full of comedy-of-the-uncomfortable moments.

It's a pretty good introduction but there's no guarantee future episodes will live up to that positive first impression.

It no longer feels like you're watching a dozen different TV shows now that the main characters actually interact with one another. And the show's pace seems more brisk, less stodgy.

In its first hour, at least, Major Crimes appears to be making a pretty seamless transition.

There's enough to recommend about Copper that it's worth tuning in to see how the series develops.

The New Normal is at its funniest when it's most outrageous; other times it feels as if it might have worked better as a one-shot movie than a weekly TV series.

The pilot is a pretty solid hour of television, setting up the show's premise and in several instances defying TV norms with plot twists viewers won't see coming.

most importantly, The Office is generally funnier than it was last season.

Tuesday's pilot is not as consistently funny as one might hope and Mindy's flightiness could turn off some viewers, but she and the show are amusing enough to warrant watching.

Elementary entertains intermittently, particularly in exchanges between Holmes and Watson, but its draw will be strongest among viewers who can't get enough crime dramas in their TV diet.

If Vegas goes the "Good Wife" route and focuses on characters and politics, it could develop into a worthwhile series.

In its first two episodes The Neighbors is an enjoyable, broad comedy that encourages co-viewing among parents and their children.

The first episode offers a somewhat overwhelming dose of midwifery, to the point that some viewers may wonder how Call the Midwife won't grow tiresome with repetitive birthing stories. The addition of Chummy to the cast in episode two and a broader role for the midwives--in episode three Jenny simply spends time with an elderly man--allows the series to avoid growing stale.

There's nothing particularly new about a superhero show, but Arrow exhibits a stylized ferocity that, in its initial hour at least, makes a positive enough impression.

Sunday's premiere doesn't advance the story much--shades of early season two--but there's enough zombie carnage that fans of mayhem may not care.

Restless could benefit from a little more development of the characters Eva works with--it would make their stories more meaningful and poignant--but overall this four-hour miniseries is a strong entry.

Ripper Street is decent enough entertainment that's most likely to appeal to fans of procedural crime dramas, viewers who gravitate toward CBS shows but don't mind wading through sometimes thick British accents.

If there's a downside to the Americans pilot, it's that it has some pace problems. The premiere runs long--an hour and six minutes--and spends time on flashbacks to Elizabeth in training 20 years earlier and the pair's first meeting.

Judging by three episodes sent for review, the[se] course corrections work.

It's all played with suitably creepy seriousness, but without the self- conscious weirdness that made the later-day "Twin Peaks" so tedious. Duchovny and Anderson anchor the story through steady performances; we're as interested in what happens to them as in what happened to the teens...It's all pretty silly stuff, but it's silliness done well. If you're willing to give yourself over to it, it should hold your attention -- which is more than one can say for most of the season's new offerings. [10 Sept 1993, p.Ent 20]

As a loyal "Homicide" viewer, for me Munch is the best part of SVU, especially in tonight's scene where he explains his departure from Baltimore. [20 Sept 1999, p.B-1]

The composition of the cast and presence of a grandma (Lupe Ontiveros) makes the show structurally and thematically similar to ABC's "George Lopez Show," but Tucson is more entertaining and better written. [20 Sept 2002, p.40]

Everything about City does not spin with equal balance. The pilot's plot (the mayor stumbles into a gay rights controversy) is so hackneyed and out-of-touch, it makes you wonder if the writers have been to New York in the last decade. But the spin doctors at Spin City insist the plot's creakiness is an aberration - and so many other things in the show go well, I'm inclined to believe them. [17 Sept 1996, p.D-4]

Bates Motel takes a few episodes to get going as the writers build the world of White Pine Bay, and the story appears poised to really kick into a higher gear with a revelation at the end of the third episode. Up to this point Bates Motel is an OK character drama, but in building the broader world it inhabits the show begins to come into sharper focus.

The path The Big C takes is fairly predictable and unsurprising, but that doesn't mean these last four hours aren't occasionally heartfelt.

Schumer is brash, outspoken, bold, raunchy and tomboyish enough to fit right in and her show is often quite funny for viewers (especially men) who are not easily offended.

To be sure, The Office is an acquired taste and sometimes a challenge to watch. Still, it's at least a worthy follow-up to the original, and it attempts to plot its own course in future episodes. [23 Mar 2005, p.E-1]

True, it may be a little too high-concept, but it held my attention much better than plenty of other, much worse TV comedies.

It's not a great show but it's not a terrible teen drama, not by a long shot.

The Grey's Anatomy writers acknowledge last season's ratings decline by offering a parallel plot that finds Seattle Grace's ranking as a teaching hospital suffering in tonight's entertaining and ridiculous-in-the-regular-Grey's-ways two-hour season premiere.

Creatively, the show seems to be in pretty decent shape.

Virtuality is a fascinating, over-stuffed pilot episode, and as intriguing as its concept is, you can see by the end of tonight's two-hour premiere why Fox passed on making it a weekly series.

Despite the cliched sitcom trappings... it's an amusing, if slight, diversion.

"Invasion" offers a few scares, but it's more a sense of dread and something subtly awry that gives this drama its creepy vibe.

Solidly plotted and filmed.

It's more an intellectual, in your head, "hey, that's clever," than a laugh-out-loud funny.

Occasionally funny.

Somewhere within this bloated six-hour miniseries there's a lean, mean four-hour miniseries trying to escape.

A pretty family entertainment, lit by Ullman's energy and just small flashes of the Burnett we love.

It's disappointing that Kenny felt the need to make this series so far over the top, because at its core, there's a great family show worth watching.

Lightweight and unaffecting.

The acting talent here is marginal compared to the sitcom it replaces, "Out of Practice" (returning later in the season), but I found "Courting Alex" more enjoyable.

Personally, I found "Arrested" funnier, but "Sons & Daughters" has its moments.

It's an entertaining enough diversion if you're not expecting much.

Although the series hypocritically and formulaically exploits stereotypes before proving some of them wrong, "Survival of the Richest" is rich in entertainment value in spite of itself.

The show hits the right Hollywood insider notes, but this season "Entourage" begins to feel a little tired.

The pieces may be familiar, but there are enough new elements that prevent this series from feeling like a total rip-off.

This story of professional thieves is beautifully shot, but the structure of the pilot -- it begins with the start of the robbery, flashes back to the planning of the robbery, returns to the robbery and shows its aftermath -- is a little repetitive, which takes away from attempts to build tension and surprise.

As enjoyable as this first episode is, its premise may be too slight to sustain a long-running series.

"The Lost Room" is certainly a more creative exercise than past Sci Fi miniseries (including "The Triangle"), but it sometimes feels rushed.

It's a cute show, but the premise is so paper-thin you have to wonder how the writers will sustain "Knights" for a full season, let alone many years, if successful.

HBO's most obtuse, impenetrable series.

"The Winner" may not be able to go the distance, but it's a fun little show in the here and now.

[A] cute wisp of a series.

As close-ended procedurals go, "Raines" certainly offers an intriguing hook, but I'm not sure it's one with much staying power.

The show is gently entertaining in a way reminiscent of variety shows of old.

"Painkiller Jane" doesn't soar to the dramatic heights of "Battlestar," but it is a step above some of the network's other programs, a procedural thriller with a sense of humor and stylish action scenes.

It's TV for a generation of attention deficit disordered kids.

Three episodes in, I started to buy into the world Milch has created. I don't understand it, I don't think I even really like it (almost all of the characters are damaged and rather unpleasant), but I am intrigued by it.

The pilot's plot leads them in a direction where "this just in" becomes an obvious sexual metaphor--some of it is funny, but there's just too much.

Levi exudes an everyman appeal that may catch on with viewers, but the show's plots need to grow beyond the action-adventure tropes of 1970s TV if Chuck hopes to avoid being chucked off NBC's prime-time schedule.

Ignoring all that, shallow Mafia entertains in key moments.

In Treatment is fascinating TV, but it's not a pleasant experience. Watching these therapy sessions is akin to eating your TV broccoli.

Margulies is an ideal actress to carry off this icy role. Perhaps in the hands of a more deft writer, Canterbury's Law could be the edgy show it aspires to be instead of the common courtroom drama it is.

For viewers willing to give themselves over to whimsy and let go of any expectation that they're watching characters who resemble real-life human beings, this comedy has its minor charms.

For all the show's missteps, there's always Ullman's undeniable talent to entertain. Her parodies of women (e.g. Renee Zellweger, playing a movie character who suffers from "chronic narcissistic squint") generally succeed better than her men.

HBO's Recount is an entertaining political drama, one in which both Democrats and Republicans get dinged, but the film is clearly sympathetic toward the underdog Democrats.

It's far more realistic in scope and situations than "Gossip Girl," but there's such an earnestness and one-dimensionality to the characters that they seem a lot less believable.

The show is subtitled, which helps viewers understand the thick accents and British slang, but the whole thing is a bit nihilistic and the characters come across as somewhat debased.

For fans of "Mad Men," Trust Me offers a modern, more recognizable ad agency world but the tone of TNT's series is completely different. It is not "Mad Men: The Next Generation," not by a long shot. And the show's quality lags leaps and bounds behind.

There's nothing in ABC's Castle viewers haven't seen a million times before, but the cast elevates the pedestrian material.

There are some truly funny moments in Fox's manic, animated comedy Sit Down, Shut Up, a series that requires almost rapt attention to pick up all the jokes and amusing dialogue that's hurled at viewers. If a TV series ever suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder, this is it.

Goode really does feel too much like the flip side of "King of the Hill." The humor comes from the opposite point of view but it's still a too-similar-to-stand-on-its-own comedy.

Given time, Stargate Universe may become worth watching if it develops its characters and continues to mine its premise for stories. Just hope they avoid more desert planets.

It's not terrifically awful, but it's also not as reliably fun as Scrubs was in its prime.

By no means a great show, The Bridge is at least a little bit different from most police procedurals.

Fans of relationship-driven story-telling might just get hooked on this silly, lighter-than-air summer series.

As teen shows go, the pilot is entertaining enough; future episodes will reveal if the show truly has much bite.

Sunday's premiere is a little dull, but future episodes have more entertainment value. Still, you have to be a fan of neuroses humor for Bored to have much comedic impact.

It's no "Rome," but at least it appears headed more in that direction.

A decent but slightly pedestrian family drama that throws off a "Brothers & Sisters" vibe whenever its sibling characters are in the same room.

Rescue Me needs rescusing from itself and deliverance will soon come. Until then, fans of the series can enjoy the ride--even if it sometimes feels like a rerun.

Sunday's pilot episode introduces a love interest (Kiele Sanchez) and also offers a plot that takes a surprising left turn. It's a welcome detour but with such standard-issue characters, it will be difficult for The Glades to stand out.

Detroit 1-8-7 is disappointingly generic. It's not a show that compels viewers to tune in on a weekly basis, but die-hard cop show fans may be satisfied.