San Francisco Chronicle's Scores

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For 660 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 50% higher than the average critic
  • 4% same as the average critic
  • 46% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.7 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average TV Show review score: 61
Highest review score:
Cinema Verite: Season 1
Critic Score 100
Lowest review score:
Do Not Disturb: Season 1
Critic Score 0
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 333 out of 333
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 333
  3. Negative: 0 out of 333
333 tv reviews
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  1. Breaking Bad: Season 5
    From the two new episodes made available to critics for review, it's clear that the quality of Breaking Bad will continue undiminished.
  2. The Wire: Season 4
    The breadth and ambition of "The Wire" are unrivaled and that taken cumulatively over the course of a season -- any season -- it's an astonishing display of writing, acting and storytelling that must be considered alongside the best literature and filmmaking in the modern era.
    Read full review
  3. Homeland: Season 2
    Sunday's season premiere sustains the quality of the first season, continues the story line in a completely credible way, and then opens up even more possibilities for future plot developments.
  4. The Sopranos: Season 6
    It's the best series on television, end of story.
    Read full review
  5. Enlightened: Season 2
    Self-delusion can grow fairly tiresome, in life and on TV, but what makes Amy sympathetic is that even though she almost convinces us at times that her personal fairy tale actually makes sense, we are always aware of her basic decency and, more important, her vulnerability.
  6. Battlestar Galactica (2003): Season 3
    "Battlestar Galactica" not only lives up to its sci-fi gold-standard reputation but also should be considered straight up as one of television's most appealing dramas, no matter the genre.
    Read full review
  7. Louie: Season 3
    Louie is the gold standard of contemporary TV comedy.
  8. The Shield: Season 1
    A stunning piece of television about a rogue cop and that dangerous line between effective police work and ethical transgressions. This series is brutal and frank, with little wasted energy or misdirection.
  9. Mad Men: Season 4
    What is not surprising at all about the fourth season of one of television's elite series is that Weiner continues to explore what it means to be human.
    Read full review
  10. Downton Abbey: Season 1
    Fellowes does know how to write some tasty dialogue, especially for Maggie Smith....The other performances are equally winning, but beyond that, you can't help feeling these actors are having a jolly good time with all this overblown fluff. And so will you.
  11. Homeland: Season 1
    There are a couple of bush-league moments in the show....[But]those are minor quibbles, made even more insignificant by the extraordinary performances of Danes, Lewis, Patinkin and Baccarin.
  12. Justified: Season 2
    The ensemble cast is terrific and the direction lean and perfectly pitched at every turn.
  13. Sherlock: Season 2
    Sherlock is an electric marriage of great writing with great performances.
  14. Justified: Season 4
    The dialogue in the first two episodes of the new season crackles with brilliance.
  15. Frozen Planet: Season 1
    A gorgeous new documentary series on the Discovery Channel.
  16. Boomtown: Season 1
    Graham Yost, who wrote HBO's "Band of Brothers," creates deeply drawn characters who are revealed slowly over the course of an episode (and season). He's the kind of writer whose vision and touch you can trust over the long haul.
  17. Game of Thrones: Season 3
    The series is so good that it isn't seriously harmed by its few minor flaws. Much of the dialogue is brilliantly written, revelatory and credible.
  18. Justified: Season 3
    It's as great as ever.
  19. Breaking Bad: Season 3
    Soak in the visuals, listen to the mesmerizing use of sound. The writing and acting will lure you in, but have appreciation for all the details that go into making this series so great.
    Read full review
  20. 24: Season 5
    Having seen the first four episodes, you need to be a part of this. You need to doff the skepticism and get on the ride.
    Read full review
  21. Arrested Development: Season 1
    There are moments in Arrested Development, Fox's new sitcom, that are pants-wettingly funny. There are jokes and scenarios that bend you over in gleeful agony. All of a sudden, with this last new fall series offering -- hope having been beaten out of all of us -- we get one of the most hysterically ridiculous half hours on television.
  22. The Wire: Season 5
    In the end, there will likely be a lot of unhappiness, dead bodies, same-as-it-ever-was institutional failure, lack of responsibility and the triumph of self-interest over the greater good. Not exactly a Hallmark card, but one hell of an artistic achievement.
    Read full review
  23. Boardwalk Empire: Season 1
    There's a vibrancy to the stories in each Boardwalk Empire episode. With echoes of the gangland mentality of "The Sopranos" and the frontier recklessness of "Deadwood," HBO seems to have found in Boardwalk Empire a fertile, sprawling new franchise series.
    Read full review
  24. Everybody Hates Chris: Season 1
    With elements of "Wonder Years," "Cosby" and the "The Jeffersons," but also a spirit all its own, "Chris" is a sitcom that finally makes the family funny again.
    Read full review
  25. Game of Thrones: Season 2
    The characters bring us into the action and, once there, we want to follow every development.
  26. Mad Men: Season 5
    Based on the premiere, the season may wind up being the show's best so far, but even if it doesn't, Mad Men beats almost everything else on TV.
  27. Mad Men: Season 2
    The writing is a real thing of beauty - from the aforementioned nuance to searing workplace witticisms and pitch-perfect tone from a multitude of characters.
    Read full review
  28. Mad Men: Season 6
    Don Draper's journey has been and remains maddening, in a very good way as far as what makes a great TV show.
  29. Southland: Season 4
    Like "Justified," it's impossible to point to one element as the primary reason it works so well.
  30. Arrested Development: Season 2
    This is one of maybe six or so elite series on all of television that you should absolutely be watching. Pitch-perfect acting (ensemble stars Jason Bateman and Jessica Walter were robbed of Emmys) and nuanced writing that staggers you with its cleverness and lunacy makes this more than a typical dysfunctional-family sitcom. [3 Nov 2004, p.E1]
    Posted May 26, 2013
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