Cane

New York PostLinda Stasi

A terrifically cast, intriguing series.

VarietyBrian Lowry

Well cast, with a sturdy central presence in Jimmy Smits as the adopted son handed the keys to the kingdom.

Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm

Cane, at 10 p.m., stars ever-hunky Jimmy Smits and a huge cast that ranges from a 12-year-old to Hector Elizondo and Rita Moreno, in a tale of--what else?--lust, money, romance and family intrigue. We've seen it all before, but never this appealingly.

Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin

The show's intricate plotting and finely rendered characters will engage your brain, but there's plenty of below-the-shoulders action, too.

Detroit Free PressMike Duffy

Bitter family power struggles, corporate rivalries and a touch of murder highlight a promising, if overly tangled and busy series premiere.

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

It's a big soapy epic that allows you to turn off your brain late at night, but it ultimately carries no gravitas, minority hiring or not. As long as we're clear on that, there's nothing wrong for applauding what the series gets right, given the constraints of the genre.

PopMattersCynthia Fuchs

The soap operatic set-up is both efficient and florid, laying out both familial continuity and class distinctions.

Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray

But Cane--and, yes, I'd say you're also supposed to think of it as "Cain"--has a darker purpose, and one that might not fit as easily on crime-and punishment-oriented CBS, whose viewers may not all be ready to see Smits as a guy with more than a touch of Tony Soprano. I want to believe, but I'm not there yet.

Hollywood ReporterRay Richmond

A slick and earnest soap about rival families in South Florida.

Entertainment WeeklyJosh Wolk

The drama all feels a bit familiar, as if someone used the find/replace function to trade "oil" with "sugarcane" on an old "Dallas" script. [28 Sep 2007, p.100]

Slant MagazineEd Gonzalez

The all-star cast, which includes Hector Elizondo as the patriarch of the Duque family and Jimmy Smits as the adopted son who inherits principal control of the old man's sugar cane business in a contentious handover, bring authenticity to what is otherwise a hysterical, Dynasty-style vision of Cuban-American experience set in and around kitschy Miami.

Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd

Notwithstanding the novelty of the setting, the nice Latin music and good individual work by the cast--Walker is especially notable in a role made to notice--Smits is the engine that drives the ship; he gives Cane at least an illusion of speed and substance and soul.

NewsdayVerne Gay

Cane" is not a bad show, and it's sporadically a good one. Merely, great expectations have not been met.

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

It's a plot-driven, multi-generational melodrama, which feels particularly shallow at a time when shows such as "Friday Night Lights," "Mad Men," "Dexter," and "Nip/Tuck" are pushing their narrative reach.

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

It presents a mouthwatering cast and a tasty premise, then fails to generate a succulent premiere.

USA TodayRobert Bianco

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."

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

Despite being set in lively, colorful Miami, this saga is as sluggish as can be.

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

Cane is probably the most traditional of these soaps. Unfortunately, it's also hampered by a muddled pilot episode with ham-fisted character introductions and an ending that's likely to put off some viewers.

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

Manichaean characters work on soap operas as long as they come with plenty of machinations. Unfortunately, there are no J. R.’s in sight on Cane, and the one Samuels with Alexis Carrington potential, Ellis, is played by a surprisingly subdued Polly Walker.

Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall

It's a watered-down, TV version of the familiar tale, as bland and inoffensive as possible.

San Jose Mercury NewsCharlie McCollum

All Cane has going for it now is the cast. In tonight's opening episode, the tone is all over the place

Chicago Sun-TimesDoug Elfman

It's sleek and mildly epic-looking. But qualitywise, I'm wondering where the storyline is going other than just the soapy family fights.

Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart

The first hour’s writing, pacing and storylines were too pedestrian for me to recommend Cane.

Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarland

You'd expect Cane to follow in the tradition of "Dallas" by giving viewers a potboiler to look forward to each week, but there are too many subplots knotted together in the opening episode, and none of them is particularly interesting.

Washington PostTom Shales

One of those slack, campy throwbacks that really ought to be thrown out, Cane, premiering on CBS tonight at 10, tries to bring grand-opera soap opera back to prime time and ignominiously fails.