Hal Boedeker

I like this show, but am not bowled over by it, and I couldn't imagine racing home each week to see it. Kellie Martin had more compelling adventures on "Life Goes On". As for oft-invoked comparisons to "Catcher in the Rye", forget it. [25 Aug 1994, p.G1]

Tasteless Tucker tuckered me out. [1 Oct 2000]

It's pleasant and low-key but also slight and forgettable.

ABC takes television to lower depths with That Was Then, which starts in a dreadful spot and keeps doing variations on it...This annoying show will push you out of the house to enjoy Friday nights.

Like Whoopi, Luis just barrels along on coarse writing and over-the-top performances. This obnoxious show is the salmon doughnut of sitcoms. [19 Sept 2003, p.E1]

The horrible Hawaii suggests that crimefighting has degenerated to idiotic levels since "Hawaii Five-O" and "Magnum, P.I." The new protectors of paradise work in such stupefying ways that you want to shout at the screen, "Book 'em, Danno!"

It's laudable that the show goes without a laugh track and studio audience. Going without appealing characters, however, is foolhardy.

Swift pacing energizes the movie, and Schulman writes compelling scenes for the large cast. Many actors, who have only one scene to make an impression, meet the challenge splendidly. [11 Sept 1993, p.G1]

Given the gamut of Lois' emotions, it's no wonder Teri Hatcher can't get a handle on her character. For his part, the handsome but wooden Dean Cain won't make anyone forget Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel -- not even the scene in which the hunky former pro football player wears only a towel. He's just So-So-Man. [12 Sept 1993, p.1]

No matter how The Tick fares, Warburton is giving a show-stopping, larger-than-life performance that should send his career zooming. Stand back and watch him go for as long as he can.

The Flash is one of the most pleasant surprises of the fall season. It's one of CBS' best new shows, and it is spectacular- looking. [20 Sept 1990, p.G1]

It's an intriguing but emotionally sterile show, with flashy effects and flimsy characters.

For a show about witches, Sabrina could use more tricks. The star's mother, Paula Hart, serves as an executive producer, yet Sabrina often looks less like a labor of love than run-of-the-mill kids' show. [27 Sept 1996, p.E1]

The superficial Birds of Prey illustrates the drawbacks to splitting chores three ways. The hair, however, is magnificent.

There needs to be some inducement to watch this empty exercise in style, and more than $1 million isn't enough. [17 Sept 2002, p.E1]

The filmed series carries no laugh track, and that's merciful because there is nothing remotely funny. [24 Sept 2002, p.E1]

Most crime dramas these days, from Law & Order to CSI, concentrate on procedure. Karen Sisco favors personality -- and what a wonderful change of pace it is. [1 Oct 2003, p.E1]

Though slickly photographed, Gideon's Crossing is a rickety star vehicle. Braugher doesn't have much support from the musicians, the writer or the supporting actors. [10 Oct 2000, p.E1]

Tarzan seems like such an iffy premise for a series. Our hero is evidently going to help Jane with her caseload, proving he can make it you-know-where and be top of the heap. Don't we have enough police in prime time so Tarzan can be himself? [5 Oct 2003, p.4]

All the actors do well. They can't do good, however, because they're in service of an obnoxious show. The surfaces look inviting in life as we know it, but there isn't a lot of show there.

This is a perfectly fine premise for a series, but the painfully average Falcone lacks drive, energy and sharp characters.

Cheerfully oddball ... The Chronicle is like a big summer movie, but without the bombast.

Like "Northern Exposure," Maximum Bob is one summer series worthy of the regular season lineup. It's just too good and too clever to last one summer. Maximum Bob deserves a maximum run.

The show reduces some of its actors, notably Cole, to stereotypical shtick. There are too many characters and too many emotional shifts, but not enough depth. Viewers who visit the neighborhood of Brewster Place won't get close to its people. [1 May 1990]

Classy, tender and plumb beautiful ... Old-fashioned and sweet, it is as accomplished in its way as NYPD Blue is in its. [2 Apr 1994]

In the series, the effects are on par with the storytelling: Both are inept.

Refreshing, low-key and true to its small-town Texas setting, the series goes against the grain of most so-called current "family entertainment." This isn't another inane sitcom with dopey adults and unbearably cute kiddies. Everyone here seems natural, real. [1 Oct 1993]

Ritter remains in top comic form ... But his show ... is a mediocre effort that falls short of such ABC milestones as Roseanne and Home Improvement.