Miles Beller

Though featuring the comedic talents of Bronson Pinchot (formerly of the elliptical Perfect Strangers), Pinchot's latest primetime outing lacks anything more than a germ of a funny idea that essentially allows the actor to make like Robin Williams and do zany. [24 Aug 1993]

An engagingly brooding and meditative revisitation via a three-night miniseries that stars Rebecca De Mornay, Steven Weber and Courtland Mead. While Stanley Kubrick's 1980 movie was barely able to contain the manic machinations of Jack Nicholson as the bedeviled writer and Shelley Duvall as his victimized wife, ABC's renewed "Shining" delivers its own sustaining vision of an anti-holiday in hell. In fact, those who might question the wisdom of recasting and remaking "The Shining" into a miniseries will find this video version a force to be reckoned with. For this time out, The Shining radiates profound power as a deeply evocative and nuanced piece, rendered as a grandly textured triptych working on multiple levels. [23 Apr 1997]

A horror sci-fi miniseries these days is as rare as moon rocks, as far and few between as known inhabited planets. And make no mistake, It is a humdinger, one big kicky ride thanks to the charismatic acting of Curry as savage, sneering malevolence. Moreover, the work of Reid, Anderson, Christopher, Ritter, Thomas, O'Toole and Masur make It a sensational horror show.

As chill-and-thrill programming goes, the two-evening "Tommy" is overextended and underdeveloped, a laughable, would-be scare-'em inspired by King's novel that has been distended over too long a time to meet the needs of TV's mini form. [7 May 1993]

This latest King project, though king-size in running time, is considerably less King-ly in terms of its TV content. Indeed, the whole oversize romp winds up an exercise in the overlong, a tale lacking cohesion and solidity, coming across as an overblown "Twilight Zone" robbed of focused staying power. In its video guise, "The Langoliers" is a bloated exercise in "boo" closer to a whimper than full-blast fright show. [10 May 1995]

This four-night, not-so-mini TV event that takes its story from the best-selling Stephen King book keeps you watching and waiting and on the edge of your seat. A captivating video version of King's horror parable (complete with religious "significance" of grand betrayals, Armageddon endings and messianic resurrections), The Stand shapes up as a chillingly absorbing descent into horror and things that go boo! in primetime. In scope and magnitude, The Stand delivers King-sized chills and thrills. [6 May 1994]

Chiklis as the man with the big badge and large heart puts over the role with grand, embracing humanity. And Saldana as the Mrs. makes the part convincingly real. To be sure, there's more than a tad of schmaltz and stage business afoot here. Yet "The Commish" out-performs the usual cop operas impressed into primetime service this time of year. [27 Sept 1991]

This new Fox drama is all about the cloyingly sensitive, a treatment of innocence and loss that is over-the-top contrite. Indeed, a pinch of corrosive cynicism might have rescued the total undertaking from the terminally coy. Instead, we get ever more labored business. [12 Sept 1994]

Stick-to-your-ribs television, the sort of weekly program that instantly wins your heart and your allegiance. [25 Aug 1994]

Although Babylon 5 is less than cutting-edge sci-fi, it does display a certain kind of pluck, a sense of humor, some neat special effects and an assemblage of aliens every bit the equals of their human counterparts. [25 Jan 1994]

Austin packs a sweet, loose-limbed sensibility reminiscent of Jim Jarmusch's "Stranger Than Paradise" by way of early Woody Allen that makes this debuting series one of the more interesting and inventive efforts likely to air this season. [10 Sept 1997]

Good-looking, comely and honestly camp, Lois & Clark is an engagingly stylized interpretation of the Ben-Day dotted citizens of the D.C. comic, a snappy, revisionist revisit to the boldly colored cartoon world that Superman and company originally called home. [10 Sept 1993]

Christopher Chance and his incredible flying machine mates are too uni-dimensional to win our interest, let alone our sympathy and alle-giance. [20 July 1992]

"Against the Grain" is kitsch masquerading as rugged regional realism and is, surprisingly, involving on both counts. [29 Sep 1993]

The video equivalent of a cold fusion experiment. At first the results seem promising but prolonged scrutiny reveals deep flaws...In trying to turn Barry's written P.O.V. into the filling of a weekly sitcom, the humor undergoes a transformation that makes it disappear. From page to screen it can't be seen. [20 Sept 1993]

A charming small package. ... As was true of the 1989 feature film, TV's "Honey" transmits good, buoyant fun. [25 Sep 1997]

B&T as live-action weekly television turns out to be a captivating way of riding the video waves. [30 Jun 1992]

Its efforts at grainy, gritty realism (e.g. a quality visually tried for in occasional stop-go cuts) comes off more as MTV hip-hop style than storytelling with true inherent significance. [30 Sept 1996]

A weak situation comedy that has little situation or comedy and basically brokers in silliness and bosh. [20 Sept 1996]

While Melrose's comely denizens sometimes do indicate more about human nature than a GQ or W cover, the angst and Sturm und Drang of Melrose Place's escapades basically manifest not so much as a new p.o.v. but a change in zip codes and sideburn length. [8 July 1992]

Plays with an all too rapid-fire, rat-tat-tat pace that tramples humor in its forward rush...Quite so, the jokes come at breakneck speed and are not very amusing. Moreover, there is something about this series that seems disingenuous, owing more to tired situation comedy convention than to freshly crafting a view of the American family within the sitcom context. [24 Sept 1993]

"Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist" is not always as clever or as comically savvy as it thinks itself. ... Yet at this point, there are more than a few scripted inventions to keep the viewer tuned in and returning for future sessions. [25 May 1995]

Its sharp, wily wit will be immediately appreciable. Here is a comedy construct that hits like "The Brothers Karamazov" and plays like the brothers Marx. [25 Sep 1992]

Vital, vigorous television that results in considerably more than Brooklyn abridged. As is true of Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs" or Woody Allen's "Radio Days," "Brooklyn Bridge" is a radiant recollection of the boisterous borough, a sweet, affecting ode to a piece of New York real estate and its durable inhabitants. [20 Sep 1991]

A funny treatment, though the pilot is not without a few clunking moments. [21 Mar 1995]

Overbearing ... Reiser and Hunt can't seem to resist going even broader than the already wide material requires. And though some humor does occasionally result, overall they take things too far, turning comic possibilities into missed opportunities. [23 Sep 1992]

Alienation, acceptance, anger, askew camera angles and other such stuff now part and parcel of "R.W.'s" life-as-TV-soap-opera are all here and accounted for. Now if only something truly genuine would occur in MTV's so-called "Real World." [23 Jun 1994]

Not the real thing but a contrived setup that, nonetheless, radiates a mesmerizing draw that keeps you watching. [24 Jun 1993]