Noel Holston

The new series' production values are impeccable, its cast is solid, and there are occasional moments of fresh, specific detail that suggest the show could transcend the overstuffed pilot episode. [27 Sep 2002]

Screenwriter Peter Filardi ("The Craft") and director Mikael Salomon (HBO's "Band of Brothers") have defied the odds, delivering a four-hour, two-night version of King's vampire-infestation parable that ranks with the best filming of his work. It has genuinely scary parts, which is rare enough in video- King, but it's also perfectly in tune with his mordant sense of humor. Wickedly funny lines are scattered throughout Filardi's script. [20 June 2004, p.11]

Successful series have been built around less interesting fantasies, but the creators of That Was Then are almost as hapless as their hero. They saddled themselves with a casting nightmare. As the supposedly 16-year-old Travis, Bulliard looks closer to 26. And in the fake beard that's intended to make him look 30, he just looks silly. In fact, none of the cast members who have to play two ages is convincing. [27 Sept 2002, p.B39]

I've watched tonight's show, the pilot, three times already - and not because I'm searching for the clues that Affleck and Bailey have embedded in the film. I love hearing nerdy IRS agent Jim Prufrock's improbably forceful declaration of why he loathes tax cheats. I love the way the Push residents talk about their local "slow-dance bar" as if it were as commonplace as a KFC outlet. I'm curious why all the couples in Push make love every other night at precisely the same time. I admire the creative visual presentation, which rivals that of a good commercial or music video. [17 Sept 2002, p.B03]

Aside from the snappier editing and Sisco's greater sexual aggressiveness - like "Sex and the City's" Samantha, she gets the men on her most-wanted list - this could almost be a "Police Woman" episode from 30 years ago. [1 Oct 2003, p.B23]

It's hard to imagine anyone over the age of 15 being able to watch this series with a straight face after seeing Tarzan go sniffing through Midtown like a bloodhound, but maybe that's the audience the WB is after. As we said, Fimmel does have great pecs. [3 Oct 2003, p.B47]

I was resistant to "life as we know it" at first, but it won me over (or wore me down). What seems prurience for prurience's sake turns out to be a good bit richer, kind of like "My So- Called Sex Life." [7 Oct 2004]

Hall lacks Walken's natural aura of strangeness, and he looks a little too well-fed for a guy who has been vegetating for half a decade. But he does manage to make Smith credible and sympathetic. [14 June 2002, p.B51]

Successfully cross-breeding "Three's Company" and "Full House" may be achievement enough to earn the show's creators a Nobel Prize in genetics, but the audience for a family sex farce may be limited. ... Misgivings about the sexual content aside, "8 Simple Rules" is, indeed, one of the better sitcom prospects of the 2002-03 season. The writing is uneven, but Ritter is a rarity, an actor who doesn't need funny things to say because he can say things funny. [17 Sep 2002]

It's not particularly funny, but it does have style and energy. [26 Feb 2002]

It's not so stylish or energetic anymore, and it's still not particularly funny. ... The problem isn't just rim-shot jokes, though. It's the whole conception of this comedy's situation, which is riddled with illogic and overstocked with annoying characters. [15 Apr 2003]

It's not as remarkable as [the previous versions], but it beats most of the weekly crime dramas running opposite it this week. [25 Jan 2004]

The herky-jerky camera work whenever it appears to shake barns or gobble up an off-road vehicle only calls attention to the fact that this is a cheaper production. And the human cast gathered around Gross is sorely lacking in the quirkiness that made the original ensemble so much fun. The new gang wouldn't be out of place in a Gap commercial. And yet ... there is something about the kitschy graboid and the hydra-like cluster of smaller worms that erupt from its mouth that's both laughably ludicrous and primordially unnerving. [27 Mar 2003, p.B35]

Nip/Tuck is all about appearances, but it also has something to say. [21 June 2004, p.C01]

Tonight's opening episode of The Guardian is as well-crafted as any of this fall's series pilots. The hour plays like a tidy little TV movie. And therein lies its potential problem. Where the series can go from here-go, that is, without losing credibility and the dramatic tensions that make it distinctive-is difficult to fathom. [25 Sept 2001, p.B27]

Band of Brothers thus finds itself in a tricky no- man's land. It's too colloquial and too specific to be valuable in a larger historical sense, like the classic "World at War" series or any of the World War II documentaries that are a History Channel staple. Yet, it's too lacking in dramatic focal points to succeed fully as entertainment like "Private Ryan" or any of the dozens of World War II movies ("Battle Cry," "Battleground") that Hollywood turned out in the late 1940s and '50s. [7 Sept 2001, p.B02]

Cheap humor? Yes. Based on obvious stereotypes? Yes. Funny? What can I say? Borat got a chuckle out of me. And so did Bruno. [21 Feb 2003, p.B47]

The writing is intelligent, wittily playing off our knowledge of the Superman lore, and the production values are on par with top-quality fantasy / sci-fi shows like "The X-Files."...Smallville is the most purely enjoyable dramatic series of the new season. Like Clark, this baby's destined to fly. [16 Oct 2001, p.B27]

Even if we are being taken for a ride, there's so much to savor on this trip. [12 Sep 2003]

Shatner has never been funnier - on purpose or inadvertently. [1 Oct 2004]

If there were an Emmy for most great moments per hour, "The Wire" would deserve it. [17 Sep 2004]

Be forewarned that opener is dense, quick- moving and largely absent the sort of explanatory dialogue that dramatic series typically use to ensure that we have our bearings. Even viewers who savored each installment of the original series may feel disoriented. Newcomers may feel as though they're watching a foreign-language film without subtitles. My advice is to videotape it, re-watch and have faith. The coherence quotient goes up by the hour, and patience will be rewarded. [30 May 2003]

For all its redundancy, however, the latest "CSI" is stronger than "Miami" and could eventually rival the original. Credit the two primary stars, Sinise and the city. [22 Sep 2004]

Something's amiss here. The new "CSI" is a little stilted, a little obvious. [23 Sep 2002]

We expect sharp writing from Caron. "Medium" is almost too glib at times. What makes the suspension of disbelief easy is the casting. [3 Jan 2005]

Determinedly irreverent and politically incorrect, but so obvious in its targets and so unoriginal in its barbs that it ends up being mostly an ode to its own crudity. [29 Apr 2005]

It's all a bit much in Monday's opener, and yet I suspect that, like the $400 shirts and luxury ride of Dennis Farina's "Law & Order" character, which initially came across as contrast run amok, Deputy Chief Johnson's contrived personality excesses will fade with time. And what will be left is a compelling character in a solid show - not a tradition-buster like FX's "The Shield" but probably a broader-based hit. [12 Jun 2005]

"Without a Trace" is about the work, about the puzzle. If you want the untidy cop stuff, stick with "NYPD Blue." [26 Sep 2002]