Tony Scott

Director John Power gives the fright thing a try, but the writing is pedestrian, the characters obvious. Eventually the vidpic works up to that ultimate Saturday matinee serial weapon from the ’50s, the death ray. Kelly green. The plot’s clearly out of hand.

Writer-director Tom Holland has pulled off the viewer-friendliest Stephen King vid adaptation since the Tobe Hooper-Paul Monash "Salem's Lot," at least for the first three hours. Pulling flesh-and-blood characters out of King's stick figures aboard an airplane zooming into a twilight zone, Holland has turned The Langoliers into a TV grabber.

Trekkies will strain to like it because of the concept, though the first episode bows in with too much hardware and only hints of personal interrelationships. But there are intriguing potentials. [30 Jan 1994]

Opening program is a disappointment. Better stories and a tighter directorial rein are needed. The acting is surface stuff and too much of the action depends on the gadgets.

Shows great series potential.

Pedestrian writing, pulp-mag plotting, shopworn characters, hackneyed dialogue ('with all due respect' pops up at least three times in the first hour) and Mario Azzopardi’s broad direction will all undoubtedly delight billions and billions.

Cleaned up, with violence relegated mostly to comic-book action, the pilot proves a semi-hoot.

One trouble is that Crane and Walters don't come near striking a spark; episode's final, unprepared-for scene, in which they profess a mutual declaration, goes clunk. [9 Aug 1996]

Surprisingly witty...Hardly great comedy, program still has spirit and Asher and Manasseri, who are good, developing comedians. [4 Mar 1994]

Savage is just fine as the sharp boy with lots of ideas, and Daniels is excellent in what might have been a routine role. Writers Michael Jacobs and April Kelly have even included a message in the format -- the value of love, something Cory presumably learns. [23 Sept 1993]

Promising ... The comic timing by limber Malick and by SNL's Spade, Segal's nifty interp[retation] of Gallo, the warm self-assurance of San Giacomo and a bright premise concocted by Levitan and director MacKenzie add up to something worth checking out. [4 Mar 1997]

"The Larry Sanders Show" returns for another season with a full barrel, taking exact aim at backstage eccentricities, connivances and weaknesses. [20 Jun 1994]