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Threshold: Season 1
  • Network: CBS
  • Series Premiere Date: Sep 16, 2005
  • Season #: 1
Metascore
64 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 26
  3. Negative: 2 out of 26
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  1. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Robert Bianco
    100
    Convincingly smart, realistically unsettled and sexy as all get-out, Gugino radiates so much TV star power, it just might be visible from outer space.
  2. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Maureen Ryan
    90
    The most exciting new show of the fall TV season.
  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    90
    Crisp, smart and spooky, this cerebral sci-fi drama is the best of the new "Something's out there" series.
  4. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: David Hinckley
    88
    It has everything you want from such a show: quirky characters, gifted actors, a captivating central story - and questions that leave you not only wanting more, but hungry for it.
  5. Orlando Sentinel
    Reviewed by: Hal Boedeker
    80
    Of the three [alien invasion series], this CBS series boasts the best light show. It has assembled the strongest cast. Above all, it establishes the most involving story and the one most likely to bring viewers back the following week.
  6. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Melanie McFarland
    80
    Considering all that it has going for it, "Threshold" has a more formidable foe in Friday night apathy. Out of all the shows that could possibly conquer that, though, you couldn't place your faith in a better choice than this excellent proof of intelligent TV life.
  7. Cleveland Plain Dealer
    Reviewed by: Mark Dawidziak
    80
    Like "The X-Files," a series it resembles in both look and tone, "Threshold" is as much a horror show as it is a science-fiction program.
  8. Kansas City Star
    Reviewed by: Aaron Barnhart
    80
    A violent, hair-raising combo of "The Ring," "War of the Worlds" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," with a dash of official conspiracy.
  9. Salon
    Reviewed by: Heather Havrilesky
    80
    May be the most riveting and the most haunting drama to air this fall.
  10. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Tim Goodman
    75
    Dinklage is particularly good here and the whole idea of trying to hide from the public the fact we've been invaded is intriguing fare.
  11. The A.V. Club
    70
    It's only one good episode away from turning from intriguing to addictive.
  12. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Glenn Garvin
    70
    The cynical and cerebral Threshold is the darkest of the three new space-alien shows, so much so that the producers seem to be wondering if the human race is even worth saving.
  13. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Alessandra Stanley
    70
    "Threshold" holds back more than it reveals, and that is the right contingency plan for a successful science fiction thriller.
  14. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Barry Garron
    70
    Sci-fi purists might find it the taste of CBS' "Threshold" disconcerting, but for the rest of us, this is scary fun and suspenseful dramedy.
  15. San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa Times
    Reviewed by: Charlie McCollum
    70
    "Threshold" seems to have a lot going for it. A good bunch of writers. Classy production. One of the season's quirkiest and most appealing casts,... Whether all these high-quality ingredients result in an intoxicating sci-fi stew remains to be seen.
  16. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Robert Abele
    60
    This is a series about whip-smart heroes, with an outbreak to contain each week, usually involving quick action, rapid analysis and fast wit.
  17. Time
    Reviewed by: James Poniewozik
    60
    The cast is startlingly good... given that the actors have to deliver lines like "I think we're looking at a four-dimensional object--in three- dimensional space!"
  18. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Gillian Flynn
    58
    With all of its bad-guy chases, Threshold feels like a fantasy series that's been focus-grouped into a cop show.
  19. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Linda Stasi
    50
    The premise is fun, but if this is CBS' attempt at "Lost," then they are, if not totally lost, certainly in need of a map. And a new writer. Some of the dialogue is laugh-out-loud bad.
  20. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Lloyd
    50
    "Threshold" is a comic book, and passable as such.
  21. Slate
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    40
    The show's focus remains frustratingly narrow.
  22. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Matthew Gilbert
    40
    When the show isn't creeping us out with its grim atmosphere and effects, it's undermining its own potential with a self-consciously cutesy gang of heroes, ill-advised humor, and illogical situations.
  23. Newsday
    Reviewed by: Diane Werts
    40
    The first hour manages to feel both mechanical and manipulative, without feeling truly exciting or even grounded anyplace.
  24. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Reviewed by: Rob Owen
    40
    There's too much emphasis on fictional scientific theories and not enough character development to make the few scares in "Threshold" worth a two-hour commitment.
  25. PopMatters
    Reviewed by: Bill Gibron
    30
    Even with all its CGI trappings and somber Washington, D.C. setting, Threshold feels minor, an amalgam of The Abyss and maybe Dark Skies.
  26. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Storm
    10
    There's nothing inviting about the ponderous Threshold. Portentous music plays. Scared smart guys, rounded up by the government to figure out what's really happening, say smart-guy stupid stuff.
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User Reviews

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User Score
8.3 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 53 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 41
  3. Negative: 4 out of 41
  1. WoodyPidcock
    10
    Somebody important wanted to kill this series. It switched from Friday to Tuesday unannounced to its viewers and then when nobody watched it, the show was cancelled the next day. I liked the way it portrayed the unrestricted power of secret government agencies.… Full Review »
  2. JenniferG
    10
    This was a great show. Is it going to back on air? I seen it on the sci fi channel toward the end of 2006
  3. KarlD
    10
    great show best scifi since xfiles. Is it coming back?
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