The new episodes start well, then keep improving, with narrative clarity and a fresh visual beauty.

It's a big production-the first episode alone cost nearly twenty million dollars-and it looks authentic in a way that, paradoxically, seems lifeless. You're constantly aware that you're watching a period piece, albeit one with some vivid scenes and interesting details.

Rock is able to find humor in every aspect of his childhood.

There’s no question that the creators of The Pacific set out to honor the marines’ experience; they haven’t exactly failed to do that, but neither have they succeeded in leading viewers to a deeper appreciation of this--then and now--faraway war.

A gorgeously living thing.

The British series, about the aristocratic Crawley family and their titular home, goes down so easily that it's a bit like scarfing handfuls of caramel corn while swigging champagne.

Eastbound & Down holds together so well that it's worth looking past the ugly for the solid performances and the charcoal-black humor beneath, particularly in the final episodes, which delve into Powers's family history.

Watching “The Nine” is like trying to do a crossword with only the Across clues. But it promises to reward our vigilance.

If we got to know any of the characters in Generation Kill, the show might be more interesting, or, at least, more memorable.

Men of a Certain Age is bound to attract attention, because its co-creator, and one of its co-stars, is Ray Romano; what shouldn’t be overlooked, however, is the fact that the show is also good. Surprisingly good.

Smash does a very satisfying job of merging the pleasures of "American Idol" and commercial Broadway, placing the "hummable melody" dead center and prioritizing fun over absolute authenticity.

At its best, the storytelling itself manages to accommodate a sense of historical contingency.

The show is charmless and patronizing, and as refreshing as dust.

Mad Men is smart and tremendously attractive, and it stirs you more than it probably should.

Season 3--the full season was sent to reviewers--has indelible sequences, but it's a mixed bag.

The result, with its strong, complex, funny, flawed central character, feels truer to life than the zillions of one-dimensional (or no-dimensional) nurses on television.

I found the first two episodes handsome but sleazy, like a C.E.O. in a hotel bar. Yet by Episode 5 I was hypnotized by the show’s ensemble of two-faced sociopaths. Episode 8 was a thoughtful side trip into sympathy for Spacey’s devilish main character, but by then I was exhausted, and only my compulsive streak kept me going until the finale--at which point I was critically destabilized and looking forward to Season 2.

Episodes has a sly subversiveness that deepens over time, like mercury poisoning: it's an adult farce that is at once frothy and acerbic.

The plot is difficult to follow - shot sequences, at least in the first two episodes, often pair sex and death (an FX trademark, practically; it’s the network that looks our animal selves in the eye), whether or not their pairing helps the story--but you’re strung along deftly enough so that you do want to know how it’s all going to play out.

Almost a parody of itself.

Unfailingly enjoyable.

When it comes to story, unfortunately, Luck is a drag.

Awake may be hard to categorize, but it's worth our attention.

This season is so much more effective that it’s practically a master class in how tweaks can transform a series--and in how hard it is to judge a sitcom early on.

Breaking Bad is very well done, but it has a bleakness that seems to be manufactured for no good reason. In its spiral down toward nothingness, Breaking Bad pulls viewers down with it, just because it can.

For a lot of viewers “Big Love” is going to need time to settle in; it doesn’t have much dramatic texture until about the fifth episode.

There is not a single fresh moment in the three episodes that have run so far; it turns out you can be controversial without being the least bit interesting.

What's most puzzling about Californication is that much of the time it resembles a soft-porn film.... This kind of cheesiness is all about what the camera sees, rather than about the story and what the characters are feeling.