Evidence, The

Wall Street Journal

It doesn't happen very often that halfway into the pilot for a new show, you're already looking forward to subsequent episodes just to find out more about the characters you've glimpsed in the first few minutes.

Christian Science MonitorGloria Goodale

Good casting and well-paced writing give hope.

Washington PostTom Shales

What lifts "Evidence" well above the clamor of standard cop shows is the charisma between its two male leads.

Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker

The Evidence needs more distinctive twists to stand out in the overpopulated crime lineup.

Chicago TribuneSid Smith

Estes and Jones are appealing, slightly underplaying their buddy shtick. In a galaxy far, far away, their act might click. But in our universe of cop show overload, they're just another team grappling with grisly violence and unrepentant evil.

Entertainment WeeklyDalton Ross

It's funny, I was just saying how there aren't enough procedural forensic/police dramas on TV these days. [24 Mar 2006, p.64]

USA TodayRobert Bianco

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

NewsdayVerne Gay

[A] shamelessly derivative cop show set in the shamelessly overexposed city by the bay, with high-school-play-level acting performances which help make the overall effect cornier than a cornfield in Kansas. And yet ... and yet, there's something appealing about ABC's new cop drama.

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

The show's main characters are all too familiar.

TV GuideMatt Roush

The very definition of generic.

Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm

In the pilot tonight, one of the clues has nothing to do with the murder, and that hardly seems fair, though "fair" in another sense might be the best way to describe The Evidence. Unless you want to go for "poor."

Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin

You can pretty much watch this show any night of the week under its other titles, CSI and Law & Order.

Chicago Sun-TimesDoug Elfman

It demonstrates how a show can be a run-of-the-mill cop drama despite a talented cast and a few interesting twists.

Los Angeles TimesPaul Brownfield

It isn't a bad gimmick, establishing a certain tension, but the premise is about the only thing that recommends "The Evidence," a show that otherwise seems to be moving you -- rather than moving -- through its procedural paces.

Cleveland Plain DealerMark Dawidziak

Has little to offer but formula storytelling and conventional crime-drama techniques.

Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron

In the end, it's just a case of pouring old crime into new bottles.

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

It all feels inessential.

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

Showing the evidence really adds nothing as the story twists, turns and contorts itself in an attempt to keep viewers from tuning out before the hour is up.

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

Let's present some evidence for you to analyze: A tired premise. Overly familiar characters. Dull writing. An unclear tone. A series that pales in comparison to any of the "CSI" shows and pretty much every new crime and punishment procedural in the last five years.

Detroit Free PressMike Duffy

Just another tediously cliched crime procedural. Whodunit? Who cares.

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

The drama has more false frights than a student horror film, and such an uneven and incompatible tone that it's tough to tell which is funnier, the scenes of alleged humor or the scenes of alleged drama.

Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarland

I'm not sure which is worse, that tired back story or Martin Landau besmirching his career by appearing in this as a wizened forensics guy.

VarietyBrian Lowry

This basically feels like the fifth best cop drama of the 1978 TV season.

SlateTroy Patterson

If there exists a device called a Procedural-O-Matic, then it created this show.