What more could you ask? Sharper scripts, for a start, and a better sense that Perry's unhappy central character is strong enough to hold the center of the show. But there's enough promise here, and enough room to grow, that you can't help hoping Sunshine will follow the midterm-correction path set by the show it's replacing, Cougar Town.

[The premiere is] another well-told story that gives us a bit more insight into the pair while the season's two interconnected running story lines spool out behind them.

It has established genuine emotional bonds between its characters. There is something at stake here beyond the mechanics of the "sting," and that gives the show enough weight to keep it from dissipating in the summer heat.

As is often the nature of such programs, Skies does ask you to accept a lot of clunky dialogue and a few too many easily spotted twists. Even so, fans of the genre can embrace it as a summer-viewing diversion--one that's likely to work even better for younger viewers, who haven't seen all the films from which it borrows.

Luckily, the last thing many of us need in summer is another show that demands our weekly attention. Entertainment we can dip in and out of will do. And if that's what you want, Wilfred is a good dog indeed.

Two Sarah Michelle Gellars may not be better than one, but they're certainly just as good. And thankfully, that's more than good enough to get the new TV season off to a roaring early start.

Max and Caroline's Odd Couple interaction is nothing you haven't seen before. But thanks to the show's two bright young stars, who deliver their shared dialogue with a nice, natural ease, their scenes together have enough charm and humor to make these struggling Girls look like winners.

Simon. He's the gold standard, the judge against whom all others are judged, and his presence is enough to make Factor a factor.

This is a series where surface is substance, and surfaces don't come much dreamier than in this beautifully realized flight fantasy, from its lovely, terror-free airport to its even lovelier cast.

Luckily for Terra Nova, fans of the genre are often at least temporarily willing to overlook bad writing and performances if the battles are exciting and special effects convincing, and they are. That should buy the show time to improve.

The overly blended result may be as much Dickens, Tolkien and J.K. Rowling as it is J.M. Barrie, but it's still an appealing one.

Alcatraz is easy enough to follow tonight, with twists and surprises that are enjoyable and not enervating.

There are great performances from Gedrick and Dunn as leaders of a gambling quartet, and good work all around.

A strong cast and that things-that-go-bump-in-the-night shooting style so far keep the show on course.

A star-studded, fast-moving, generally entertaining film about Sarah Palin.

As entertaining as it may be, Apt. 23 does seem like an odd tonal match for the sweeter, more realistic Modern Family. Still, it's nice to see ABC giving a great time slot to a very good show.

What works about the show outweighs what doesn't, but others will read the results differently.

The surprise lies in how sympathetic Johnson makes Kate while still imbuing her with her own streak of crazy, or how endearing Faxon makes Ben, a character who might otherwise wear out his welcome fairly quickly.

Last Resort is a convincingly produced thriller with more than action on its mind.

Despite the tragedy that drives its plot, there's something slight about Steel Magnolias--a slightness that at times might have benefited from a lighter, faster touch. But it offers the pleasure of spending a Sunday night with some terrific female actors.

Graced by strong performances from Sienna Miller and Toby Jones as Tippi Hedren and Alfred Hitchcock, this backstage story of Hollywood sexual obsession is never less than enjoyable.

While Rhys and Russell carry the domestic side of the story beautifully (with Russell having a particularly nice moment next week with the daughter), they're not, as yet, completely convincing as spies. In their defense, they're hurt in the premiere by a clumsy set of flashbacks that make you think the Soviets must have perfected an anti-aging drug that has now been lost.

In total, the changes have led to a show that is much better, and is on much more solid footing, than it once was.

Charm is not a word you normally associate with the Day-Glo, drug-drenched '70s. Yet charm is the strong suit of That '70s Show. [21 Aug 1998, p.6E]

It takes a while to pull you in -- but once it does, you're likely to stay. [20 Sept 1999, p.1D]

Friday's opener is intriguing, but shows such as Doe have a habit of collapsing quickly — usually because the rules governing the hero's behavior bend and stretch to suit the needs of the writers.

The scripts offer a well-balanced mix of office politics, underlying mystery and weekly cop procedural. And the first-rate cast ties it all together with abundant skill.

Though the entire cast is strong, it's Morris who holds the show together with a winning combination of smarts, looks, steel and warmth. She makes a very good Case for watching. [26 Sept 2003, p.14E]

Though it has its share of irritating characters and moronic moments - especially in the pilot - this is far and away the best of this season's so-called Gen X comedies. [22 Sept 1994, p.3D]

If you're not too picky about historical accuracy, and not too put off by cheap-looking computer effects, you'll find much to enjoy in this entertaining adventure, built on a solid hero's-quest structure and bolstered by a terrifically engaging performance from Travis Fimmel as the hero-at-hand.

At heart, Angel is another Whedon treatise on the need to accept responsibility and to move past atonement to engagement. But Whedon never overemphasizes his deeper meanings, and neither should we. [5 Oct 1999, p.1D]

That sincere desire to serve is key. In the wrong hands, Scrubs could have been another mean-spirited juvenile comedy about smart-aleck, self-absorbed, barely post-collegiate yuppies -- which is the impression you may have gotten from NBC's inexplicably unpleasant promos. But Lawrence takes pains to show us that these doctors take their jobs seriously, an essential task accomplished without sacrificing any of the humor. In a sense, the show is a flashback to M*A*S*H, both in its look (Scrubs is shot without an audience) and in the way it blends laughs with life-and-death emotion.

The Sopranos would have benefited from the editing required by network time and content restraints, which would have made the rambling episodes tighter and cleared them of their worst blood and exposed-breast excesses. [8 Jan 1999, p.8E]

Sorkin has created a funny, free-flowing comedy that more closely reflects the rhythms and look of a feature film. He may still have something to learn about the sitcom form, as witness the abrupt shift to sentimentality that ends the first two episodes. But when he's on his game, he provides moments of unexpected and acute insight that can almost leave you breathless. [22 Sept 1998, p.3D]

Tree is not the master at his best--it's one of those light entertainments that pass by without leaving much of a mark. But it's good-hearted and amusing.

Collectively, Inconceivable seems a bit desperate and confused.

Ever since Sex and the City proved you could update Designing Women for a shallower audience by amping up the sex and removing the social content, TV writers have been trying without success to replicate the trick. Though Hot Properties feels too forced and a bit old-hat, it comes closer than most, thanks to a strong cast and a few genuinely funny lines.

Colbert was an invaluable part of the Daily Show, but as the whole show, he's not enough and too much simultaneously.

A comedy-laced caper requires a light, sure touch. Heist tends to plod.

Whatever one thinks of the format, the briskly paced setup is effectively done.

Too confused for a documentary, insufficiently dramatized for a movie, Path simply doesn't have the skill needed to support its intentions.

It's one of those midlevel, decently entertaining dramas you're most inclined to watch when nothing else in the time slot excites you.

With each episode, the show seems to move further from real life and the real Rome and off into some sex-crazed, soap-opera fantasy version of a place that has never, thankfully, existed before or since.

The goal is little more than light, disposable summer entertainment — and the show may even get there, if it can strip away some of its more annoying drags.

Taylor, whose performance overflows with touchingly wounded dignity. She also gets to deliver a great speech to two of her patients, which, while totally unrealistic, is fun in an overly theatrical kind of way.

The stories and performances vary in interest, and all would benefit from a bit more humor. Still, even the weaker stories eventually pull you in, if only because you spend so much time listening to these people complain, you want to see how they work things out.

Yet as often happens, tonight's premiere is far less than the sum of its parts. The tone shifts precariously from scene to scene, and Krause is too dull a presence here to tie the tones together. He has to serve as our entrant into this strange world, and in the pilot, he just seems disinterested.

Moonlight. It's basically "Angel" without the search-for-a-soul underpinnings that gave Angel depth, and with a more ponderous script and less adept cast.

Life Is Wild, a 7th Heaven replacement that adds African landscapes, wildlife and culture.

It would be nice if the exposition were less clunky and the show did more to capture what is special about its San Francisco setting. Still, the actors are enjoyable, and their series in large part does what it sets out to do.

Ambitious and intriguing though it may be, Tin Man is simply too long, too grim and too determined to impose a Lord of the Rings universe-saving quest on top of a simpler, gentler story.

Sadly, in this elaborately produced, incredibly well-intentioned seven-part HBO miniseries adaptation of the book, Adams recedes once again, outshone not just by his more famous peers but also by just about every minor character.

The show itself, sad to say, is not done well enough to work. But it's not dull, and it's worth watching if only to try to figure out what CBS could have been thinking--beyond, "No one's going to confuse this with NCIS."

Bar is so slow to start, it might as well be in reverse. The first episode is, simply, flat-out terrible. Which is why, if you're a Bochco fan, you'd be wise to wait for the fourth episode, when Bar moves to mediocre.

The show is funny enough, and the performers and setup are solid enough to hope CBS will give this working-class comedy a little time to work.

There's no denying the timeliness of a show about strapped-for-cash customers and predatory lenders, but Money doesn't seem to know what or where it wants to be, landing in some netherworld between a broadcast comedy and an edgier cable drama.

As it is, Hour arrives as yet another import procedural on a schedule that is already awash in both.

The result is a show that his most devoted fans will debate and embrace, and a mass audience just won't get.

Kings is a mess, but for a few weeks, anyway, it promises to be a fun, fascinating mess, the kind of "can you believe they're doing it" show you want to discuss the next day.

Clearly the show is trying to contrast humor with murder, lightening the mood with cat kidnappers and plushie hot dogs. But like too many ABC shows, it pushes the quirkiness too hard.

Virtuality counts as an interesting experiment, and it's better than most of the networks' summer offerings. But because there aren't likely to be answers provided by additional episodes, it can only be unequivocally recommended to Galactica acolytes and curio collectors.

Its virtues have been buried under the kind of meandering plots and underpowered dialogue that mark so many TV comedies these days, which seem unable to decide whether they'd rather be unfunny comedies or insufficiently serious dramas.

Elfman has a loopy charm and hyperdrive nuttiness that calls to mind the great screwball comedians, but she needs a strong force playing against her to soak up some of her energy. Foster may grow into that role, but right now, she's blasting him off the screen.

Still, for all the show's flaws, here's the good news: Practice is far better than the dismal Grey's episode that introduced it.

It's not as funny as "30 Rock" nor as distinctive as "The Office," but it's a clear improvement on the seemingly unsalvageable "Parks & Recreation."

It's a serviceable hour that takes the NCIS formula--a light tone and a lot of banter wrapped around a fairly rudimentary investigatory plot--and transfers it to a special, undercover NCIS division in Los Angeles. Nothing more, but also nothing less.

Those writers would be wise to boost her material and cut the jokes about Carl Weathers' dad's early Alzheimer's. But on the plus side, they do make good use of Mitchell. As for the show's personable star, he's not yet an actor, and Brothers wisely refrains from pushing him past the limits of his talents. But the show's not quite using all of his talents, either.

Whitford inhabits his role with the laid-back, reassuring ease of a true television professional--a fine actor working at top speed. Hanks is a bit of a harder sell. You get the feeling you're supposed to notice and appreciate every trick of the actor's trade, but there's potential in the performance, assuming Hanks is willing and able to relax into it.

The sets and costumes are lovely to look at. The two stars--British import Gugu Mbatha-Raw and German import Boris Kodjoe--are about as attractive as people get....Now if only their show didn't feel so flat.

While it's possible that the staff is the butt of a few too many of the jokes, the pilot is good-natured enough to stay on this side of the offensive line. That line, however, could easily fray - as could our patience if Outsourced devolves into a two-joke show: silly Indians who don't understand our silly customs. For now, mark it down as a show worth watching. Only time will tell if it's worth the trouble.

Ordinary just feels too crowded, as if it's straining to serve too many genre masters at once. Still, there is pleasure to be found, much of it provided by Chiklis.

I'm not giving up on the show, which was one of last year's best. But I don't want to spend weeks watching our Olivia suffer and their Olivia make Walter and Peter suffer. You have to give writers leeway to take you where they want to go--but at a certain point, commercial entertainment has to be entertaining, or there's no reason to watch.

It's as if he never left. Which has its pluses and minuses.

A cape is simply not exciting or convincing as a superhero weapon. And making constant jokes in the dialogue about the flaw isn't the same as fixing it. To its credit, The Cape is at least easier to follow than The Event and is less mythology-burdened than Heroes.

That a premise so slight yields as much amusement as it does is a tribute to Gervais and Merchant's quick wits and to Pilkington's blend of extreme gullibility and offbeat quirkiness....The purposely retro animation, which turns Gervais into a more cheerful Fred Flintstone, not only adds nothing to the mix--it subtracts.

At rare moments it brushes up against an actual, weighty relationship problem, like the discovery that your financially irresponsible girlfriend is deep in debt. But the show soon loses heart and rushes its way to some silly resolution, like a nervous hostess bustling over to soothe two arguing guests.

While Delany's obviously too good for her show, the later episodes offer at least some evidence it might be able to rise a little closer to her level.

The show's attempt to turn Oz's "I'll allow it" into a catchphrase is a bit tiresome, but otherwise, the characters and the plot twists combine to make the time pass painlessly.

The series does have energy and narrative drive, some fun performances, and a glossy '60s eye-candy sheen. That may be enough to hold your attention while Playboy works on some of its problems.

For fans of soaps, there is reason for hope. The show looks great, and it often sounds good, particularly when Emily is delivering a line we know is nasty but her victim doesn't.

Thanks to all the talent, what could have been an incredibly hokey Ghost Whisperer retread has much more moody potential.

There's no question that some of the jokes are funny, or that it's nice to see Sisto in a role that lets him lighten up.

As not-quite-there as it may sometimes be, Enlightened is interesting enough to avoid the increasingly common HBO curse of egregious self-indulgence.

It's all standard stuff, but outside of the tiresome, heard-it-all-before rants, it's not without its appeal.

Some of the intrigue is cleverly done, but none of it connects to characters we care about.

Give ABC credit for trying something different. But next time, try harder. And better. And maybe shorter.

The byplay among the main characters is appealing, and the premise is solid and easy to grasp. The show does overplay its dread notes tonight, but there are also a few promising moments when Grimm shows a surprisingly subtle and even amusing touch.

The show may be able to relax into the kind of easy weekly entertainment you can find an hour earlier on Bones.

No one wants to return to the color-by-numbers plotting of Diagnosis: Murder, but there is such a thing as demanding too much effort from an audience without sufficient reward. Glum, grim and increasingly confused, Awake qualifies.

The show pushes so hard to be wacky and fun, you end up feeling more bruised than entertained.

If the show lacks novelty, it's not without its appeal. The dialogue is unforced without being aimless, and there's fun to be had from a strong supporting cast.

Unfortunately, [Sutherland's] disciplined performance is done in by an undisciplined show that moves too slowly to put limits on Jake's powers.

The good news is that you will get answers. The bad news is that they don't so much advance the story as circle around it.

At just seven hours, you can think of Scandal as the modern equivalent of those old Sidney Sheldon miniseries and enjoy it at that level. Assuming you can get through the first hour. And past the main character.

It is nowhere near as sharp or as on-point as it needs to be.

The show is so dour, the humor gets lost.

What threatens to remain a drag is the format itself, with its weekly focus on plea bargains--and, so far, weekly speeches defending the new focus.

Everything about the show feels just a bit off: underfunded, insufficiently cast and flatly written.

The less you think about Revolution the more apt you are to like it.

Jersey may just be competent, at best--but that's better than the incompetence that marks so many of the season's new offerings.

Granted, it's all standard superhero stuff. But the action scenes are well-handled, the emotions and the characters mostly ring true, and the plot offers enough twists to keep you intrigued.

Something's going on here, but unfortunately not between the two bland lead actors. Duchovny makes a peculiar hero, too laconic even when discussing his passion for tracking aliens. His character needs oomph, but The X-Files already has a nicely offbeat tone. Maybe this is how Fox will revive its still-lamented Alien Nation series. [10 Sept, 1993 p.Life 3D]

While hardly an exceptional series, Grey is a competent one. Still, if it hopes to run, it will need to make adjustments such as dumping Christina's already tired habit of seeing patients merely as her ticket to exotic procedures.

Were Bates Motel a movie, Farmiga and Highmore (who has Tony Perkins' troubling, sort-of-smiling stare down cold) might be able to keep you tied to these damaged creatures through to the end of the film. But for a series, these do not feel like ties that bind.

If you are willing and able to take it on its own fictional terms, it does work as a well-acted legal drama, though even on that level, you're better off watching The Good Wife.

If the lines are never actually funny, some of them are amusing, and if the writing doesn't always work in Parents' favor, the cast does.

There's nothing wrong with that cast. Simmons and Remini, in particular, play off each other expertly, and provide a nice, tart balance to Bornheimer's sweeter character. But despite their best efforts, the show just floats along, weightless, innocuous and eminently forgettable.

If Fontana's goal is stark realism, it's undercut by the overly theatrical device of a funky narrator, an inmate who uses a wheelchair (Harold Perrineau) and who barks his thoughts into the camera. A sample commentary: "People kill to stay alive. That's as true in prison as out. But I'm wondering why in here we fight so hard to stay alive." [11 July 1997, p.3D]

There's a great TV show out there called The Office...This just isn't it...Instead, what NBC is offering tonight is a passable imitation of a miles-better British original -- a brilliant faux-documentary starring Ricky Gervais that has attracted a small but devoted fan base from its BBC America run.

Like most other Cheers fans, it's impossible not to miss the gang back East. But given the disappointing season at hand, Frasier will do. [16 Sept 1993, p.1D]

It's an intriguing concept, but people don't watch concepts. They watch shows. And as a show, Reunion doesn't amount to nearly enough.

Relentlessly mediocre.

The writers seem to assume that life backstage at a glamorous New York restaurant is so inherently enticing, we'll just fall into the story on our own. Maybe, but a few sympathetic characters or amusing lines couldn't have hurt.

Doubtless this kind of death-walking sentimentality has its fans. And most of those fans probably won't even wonder why some of the dead are stuck in the clothes in which they died, while others get to rent tuxedos.

Actually, there are some very appealing performers in Related; they just don't happen to be the stars.

The big problem is Prinze himself, an actor whose work has shown much charm but not much range. Here, even the charm is missing as he dwells on every joke and gesture.

As long as you're not expecting subtlety -- and why would you from a show starring Pamela Anderson? -- you should have a reasonably entertaining time.

Fear plays like an illustrated Life of the Saints on fast-forward. Blink and you can miss decades.

Nothing works very well in this elaborate but leaden production, which seems more interested in Bob Mackie's costumes than in the characters they clothe.

Unfortunately, none of the characters is interesting enough to paper over the holes in the plot.

In short, it's a good thing they've been friends since childhood, because nothing in their personalities would lead you to believe they'd even be civil to each other if they met as adults. That's a problem for a sitcom about friendship.

Even at her worst, when she's contorting her face to match the coy, thought-revealing voice-over, you tend to root for [Graham]. Unfortunately for ABC, by the end of Emily's Reasons Why Not, you're rooting for her to find a better vehicle.

To the extent Crumbs works at all, it works because of Curtin.

The costumes are gorgeous, the sets are time-period gems, and the actors are among the best.... But the story to which they've been appended is hollow. It's like an exquisitely wrapped empty box.

What you get from this sometimes outlandish family comedy is a sweet Ride, but one that is neither funny nor believable enough to command your loyalty.

From what I can tell, the goal of Love is to prove that life can be just as mundane, colorless and boring with three spouses as it can with one or none. Mission accomplished.

Even if The Evidence were the first show of its kind, it would still be mediocre.

The sheer brazenness of its borrowed trashiness makes it oddly watchable.

Seldom has a set of characters worn out their welcome more quickly.

The opening crises just feel phony and forced -- as does everything else, from the humor to the drama to the bleached-out colors.

It's hard to say what seems sillier: the show's misplaced attempts at comedy or the intuitive leaps that allow the agents to solve the case.

If you can stick with the show past its barrage of one-note eccentrics, a lower-key charm does begin to seep through.

In Jericho, claustrophobia, paranoia and the threat of nuclear rain are merely an overlay meant to distract us from the mundane nature of everything else the town has to offer.

You can easily imagine yourself settling in with Kidnapped for six, eight, maybe even 13 episodes. But 22? Sorry, no.

Six Degrees certainly clips along, but moving quickly between insipid links and boring characters doesn't make them any less insipid or boring.

Considering his talents, Danson should be the show's biggest asset, and yet his character has become its biggest problem.

Spend two hours tonight with this murky, muddled serial, and you may already feel as if you've been trapped in this day for an eternity.

Ponderous... convoluted.

The show just kind of rolls along, never quite provoking you to change the channel but never providing any great reason to pay attention either.

Too little of it even attempts to make a lick of sense. Still, the cast is first-rate, and Milch himself is a singular talent. I can't write off a show like that, but I can't exactly advise you to watch it, either.

Fun is notably absent from Side Order, which strains to be both quippy and profound.

Unfortunately, the project is too short to do its subject matter justice and too long and clumsy to keep us involved--a problem compounded by Chris O'Donnell's boyishly bland performance as The Company's central agent.

As much as CBS may yearn for the days of J.R. and Bobby Ewing, those days have passed, and you certainly can't bring then back with a show that feels more dated than "Dallas."

All is fine, if not as good as it had been.

Even at its sporadic best, In Treatment comes across as no more than an actor's exercise, one likely to be best remembered for providing future acting students with a large supply of two-character scenes for class projects.

This may be a show about young adults, but there are older adults in charge. And we've come to expect better from them.

The trouble for Becky and her show is that she really knows nothing, which vitiates what could have been an interesting concept.

Unfortunately, the new plots continually intrude, dissipating tension and making an already complicated story too convoluted to follow.

The writers overplay the banter and allow Mary to become so harsh, you wonder why even the most devoted partner puts up with her. But for the most part, as long as McCormack and Weller are together, or sharing time with their boss (Paul Ben-Victor), the show functions as harmless hot-weather pleasure.

Simultaneously overdone and underproduced, the movie jerks its way from point to point without bothering to explain the characters' behavior or inject any life into its musical numbers.

The interplay among the main characters is by and large unaltered, and for some fans that will be enough. For others, though, what was once a summer pleasure is now a bit less pleasurable.

Unfortunately, when the show wanders off to the personality-deprived supporting characters, it collapses.

For the first hour, the sheer silly energy of the contraptions and the appeal of the two stars carry Crusoe along. But you may find yourself tiring of plot holes you can steer a galleon through and the second-rate nature of much of the cast, and wondering how you make a series out of two people trapped on a deserted island.

Templar is done in by being both too late and too long. At two hours it might have worked.

"Mad Men" is the genre's gold standard, and the inevitable thematic comparisons just accentuates Trust Me's flaws, making the show seem even more dispensable.

It faces the standard problem of all anthologies, which have to interest us in new characters each week. But it also ties those stories to two recurring characters who are better off avoided, leaving you torn between the ones you don't know and the ones you don't like.

Suburbia isn't the worst show you've ever seen. It may not even be the worst show you could watch tonight in this time slot. But it is among the least-memorable.

Though there is great appeal in the idea of a selfish man suddenly seeing beyond himself to the suffering around him, there is also more than a whiff of Rudyard Kipling's "white man's burden" in the way the story is told.

Though the debut is weak, it's still possible the series will improve as the setup recedes and new post-pilot writers chime in (including Titus' Jack Kenny).

The episode is clearly constructed as a showcase for Laurie--who is seemingly incapable of a boring performance--but the writers really haven't done him much of a favor. There are too many beats that refuse to be reconciled; too many times when House is forced to behave absurdly badly to get what he wants, just to backtrack when he gets it.

Again, if you loved all things Battlestar beyond measure, Caprica may satisfy. For all others, this is a planet best left unvisited.

Rather than balance, what you get from Filth is a gratingly smug superiority that mocks both sides while failing to make any point of its own.

As games go, this isn't a bad one. But unlike horror movies, the Fear doesn't feel real, and the show is nothing special.

Parks never expends enough energy to even approach funny, but even if it were more amusing, that sour whiff of gratuitous cruelty would still linger.

It may lack Melrose Place's flashy production values and trashy pedigree, but it makes up for that by being marginally better written, though admittedly, we're not talking about a particularly high bar here.

Overly precious and indifferently cast, this latest attempt to adapt John Updike's novel feels recycled and flat on every level.

It just doesn't seem the best fit for Grammer. He's playing a character who's as pompous as Frasier but with less justification, less heart, less wit--and less able support.

Three Rivers tries to work around the failings of its script through quick cuts and colored gels, but they're a vain attempt to build excitement where none exists.

There's no denying that Spartacus does what it sets out to do fairly well--and in a way that doesn't duplicate anything else now on TV. Were it broadcast free over the air where children might find it, one might blanch, but that's not the case.

Unfortunately, whenever the show wanders beyond Graham and Nelson to the generally bland characters around them, your mind may wander as well.

There are some humorous moments and decent lines. But overall, the joke has such a nasty, frantic edge, it's hard to care which way the punch line lands.

Scoundrels at least can brag about a good performance from a fine actress, Virginia Madsen, though....It's hard to care about Cheryl's efforts to save her children when the kids are so dull, and hard to care about her marriage when her husband appears to be badly miscast.

If only it felt inspired, rather than like a Desperate Weirdwives rehash of every vampire, werewolf and witch story you've ever heard and every family soap you've seen.

To the extent style points count, Rubicon looks good and boasts a fine cast, including Oscar nominee Miranda Richardson. They work hard, but the more they and their show strain for taut, the more limp the program becomes. And for viewers, that's a very hard bridge to cross.

Underneath all the excess and that premium-cable drive to be more-clever-and-shocking-than-thou, there is a core of truth in the story of a mother desperate to reconnect with--and actually raise--her son before she dies. Give us that show, and we might be willing to accept the wacky-but-wise neighbor and the tough fat girl with the soft heart. You brought a great actor to TV, Big C. Use her or lose her.

So what you get from Hellcats is a wildly derivative wish-fulfillment view of college life made to appeal to junior-high girls, most of whom are too young to recognize how many shows and movies Hellcats has appropriated.

It's TV at its least challenging, but it has an incredibly gorgeous setting, a pre-sold concept, a cushy time slot, a solid supporting cast and a starmaking turn by Caan.

Arnett imbues him with the same amusingly creepy patina that works well for him on Arrested and 30 Rock but works against him here. Unfortunately, Russell fares little better. She's never looked lovelier, but the writers made the character too self-righteous to be attractive.

For all the show's flaws, you can see the attraction for an actor of Macy's quality, with the kind of showy, outsized role that wins awards. But as fine an actor as he is, Frank just comes across as loud and empty. Much like Shameless.

Heartbreakingly enough, "bland" is the best you can expect from Mad Love, a mediocre example of TV's most overworked, underproductive sitcom subset, the romantic comedy.

Breakout Kings is an uninspiring attempt by the producers and their network to be the last on the procedural match.

Extending for five hours over three weekly segments, this luxuriously produced miniseries is so gorgeous, even in its re-creation of the Depression, that it practically shimmers. It's also slow to the point where "languid" doesn't even begin to do it justice.

The Kennedys has nothing much new to tell, and tells it over and over again.

Like so many networks shows this season, it asks us to settle for "not bad" when what we want is "good."

The problem with Roughness is that the characters and their interactions ring totally, ridiculously false--which is kind of funny, because unlike those other shows [Covert Affairs or White Collar], this one was inspired by a true story.

You end up with a visually uninteresting half-hour filled with rambling conversations, as the actors struggle to advance what little story there is while slipping in the all-too-occasional funny remark.

Too many of the lines are witlessly vulgar (A "mug of butt"? Really?), and too few are funny.

What they get is Diaries' less attractive little sister, one that, beneath all the witchcraft, is just another CW teen-driven soap.

The main character is too loud, too dominant and far too central; the lines all sound as if they were written to be delivered by a performer rather than spoken in conversation; and the supporting characters are ciphers who exist merely to reflect or foil the star.

Give Maria Bello credit, if you like, for having the courage to take on a character so indelibly linked to one of the great actors of our time, Helen Mirren--and then take it away for the ridiculously behatted mash she and the show have made of the character.

As with so many stories that are held at a constant rolling boil, the excess quickly becomes funny rather than frightening.

It's a sprawling story, and within that sprawl there are evocative scenes, sweeping vistas, and moments that grab you.

A supremely silly series that takes itself incredibly seriously.

It may be possible that, after The Sopranos, the Godfather films and the collected works of Martin Scorsese, there is still more to say about mobsters. But nothing in Magic City would lead you to believe that's true. Looks good, though. If only that were magic enough.

It's better-acted than some shows, less grating than others. Its greatest flaw is it's too familiar and predictable.

What few laughs there are represent a triumph of acting skill over authorial sloth in a show that is more silly than funny--and more dull than silly.

This reduction of a serious, debilitating illness to a personality quirk would be as unwatchable as it is insulting were it not for one thing: an appealingly disheveled star turn from Will & Grace's Eric McCormack as Daniel.

One hopes, [Katie is] bringing us deeper and more interesting topics than first guest Jessica Simpson's current preference for chocolate over chips or tips for losing her baby weight.... Couric retains an ability to connect with the people she interviews; to seem constantly intrigued and engaged.

Despite the show's constant insistence that Joe and Louis are lifelong best friends, you struggle to spot what exactly Joe and Louis see in each other.

If you've resisted Kaling's charms up to now, nothing that happens tonight is likely to change your mind.

Alas, what must have sounded frightening on paper falls dead on-screen, done in by bad writing and terrible pacing.

While the show makes almost no sense, it is pretty to look at. And it does have a few good actors in its mix, even if they're not particularly well served by the scripts.

A sitcom that has moved from agreeably silly to disagreeably dumb, a regression no network should want to see.

For these stories to work, we have to invest in the everyman hero caught in the center, and while Edwards may be convincing as the "everyman" part of the equation, the "hero" eludes him.

Bynes shows promise, but neither she nor her co-star -- Beverly Hills, 90210's Jennie Garth -- has the skill to pull off physical comedy. They look as if they're being clumsy on purpose -- which defeats the comic purpose. [19 Sept 2002]

Tucson is sweet and inoffensive -- and almost totally unamusing. The best that can be said for the show is that it's better than the only other Latino show on network TV, ABC's George Lopez...Of course, if that were the standard, WB's sitcoms would all be classics. [19 Sept 2002]

Beyond doubt, great talents and noble ambitions are at play here, but somewhere in the process, those talents seem to have confused "good" with "dull" and "serious" with "tedious.

Unfortunately for CBS, one tiny flaw slipped into its otherwise masterful plan: The network let JAG's Don Bellisario do the clone-off rather than the folks at CSI. That may not affect the ratings, but in terms of quality, it's a deal breaker.