Level UpThe idea of a videogame whiz presented the real-life opportunity to ply those talents saving the world, a la "War Games" or "Tron," is so inherently commercial that every modern generation must have several of them. Brian Lowry1/22/2012 7:02pm PT
TouchKiefer Sutherland's return to TV and Fox is less about the actor than about series creator Tim Kring, whose "Heroes" flamed brightly before creatively imploding. Brian Lowry1/20/2012 6:20pm PT
Spartacus: VengeanceThe tragic death of star Andy Whitfield notwithstanding -- requiring his replacement by Liam McIntyre in the title role -- "Spartacus: Vengeance" is up to the same old tricks, endeavoring to give gratuitous violence and sex a good name. And it sort of does.Brian Lowry1/20/2012 6:14pm PT
LuckTo maximize enjoyment will require committing to the full nine-episode run "Luck", which gets out of the starting gate slowly and proceeds at a deliberate gait.Brian Lowry1/20/2012 6:05pm PT
Drew Peterson: UntouchableRob Lowe is Drew Peterson, the cop/ladies man whose wives had the bad habit of dying or disappearing, triggering a media circus and his eventual indictment.Brian Lowry1/19/2012 6:53pm PT
On Freddie RoachPlaying like a real-life version of the movie "The Fighter" (which, yes, was fact-based itself), HBO Sports' new half-hour series "On Freddie Roach" certainly ought to score points with the channel's boxing fans.Brian Lowry1/18/2012 8:28pm PT
RemodeledTake the abusive style of chef Gordon Ramsay, stuff it into modeling "super-agent" Paul Fisher -- a dead ringer for "Sex and the City's" Evan Handler, except a less-accomplished actor -- and voila, enter "Remodeled." Brian Lowry1/17/2012 2:57pm PT
Unsupervised"Unsupervised" is the latest variation on sex-obsessed teenage losers, conceptually easy to confuse with MTV's "Good Vibes" or, for that matter, "Beavis and Butt-head." Brian Lowry1/13/2012 2:29pm PT
Lost Girl"Lost Girl" proves unexpectedly fun -- a sort of diluted version of "True Blood," about a Succubus coming to grips with her own lethal attributes and origins.Brian Lowry1/13/2012 2:21pm PT
Alcatraz"Alcatraz" concocts a fantastic premise with a dense mythology that essentially creates a procedural -- namely, rounding up a couple hundred long-missing inmates, which in theory (and in success) could potentially keep Fox in episodes until 2020 or so. Yet while the premiere deftly teases those possibilities, the show proves flawed on key levels, beginning with another TV detective who appears to have only recently graduated high school. The pilot's not bad, but offers at best marginal incentive to invest much more time in this piece of the Rock.Brian Lowry1/13/2012 1:48pm PT
Napoleon DynamiteIt's been seven years since "Napoleon Dynamite" became an unlikely indie film darling, and unless you've been watching the DVD with regularity in that intervening span, Fox's new animated version -- which reunites most of the cast, albeit as mere voices -- might cause some initial disorientation.Brian Lowry1/12/2012 6:39pm PT
RobRob Schneider's questionable appeal will be put to the test in "Rob," a series said to be loosely based on his life, about a guy who marries a stunning, considerably younger Latina and inherits her large, boisterous family.Brian Lowry1/10/2012 7:16pm PT
24 Hour CatwalkLifetime's newest reality series feels like a "Project Runway" knockoff for Goths on speed. Dark, frenetic and full of torturous time constraints, the show is, by say, designer Christian Siriano's standards, a hot mess. Even host Alexa Chung looks like a Dickensian waif sporting a strange, starving English choir boy look in the premiere episode. Still, when measured by the yardstick of reality television, the show is clearly constructed to give viewers what they want -- conflict and confrontation.Laura Fries1/8/2012 6:35pm PT
The Fades"The Fades" is a murky supernatural comedy-drama, where yet another adolescent wallowing in angst discovers his own Very Big destiny. Brian Lowry1/6/2012 3:58pm PT
The FinderSome viewers will doubtless stumble upon "Finder" thanks to its timeslot, but based on the premiere, there's not much here worth seeking out.Brian Lowry1/6/2012 3:40pm PT
Are You There, Chelsea?"Are You There, Chelsea?" -- which somewhat confusingly casts "That '70s Show's" Laura Prepon as a twentysomething Handler-inspired character, with the comic playing her "judge-y, super-Christian sister" -- merely reinforces that if Handler's an acquired taste, she's also a pretty sour one. Brian Lowry1/5/2012 12:23pm PT
The FirmOnce you've gotten past the casting -- Josh Lucas in the central role, with Molly Parker, Juliette Lewis and Callum Keith Rennie as support -- what really stands out is how sluggish the pilot is.Brian Lowry1/4/2012 6:22pm PT
Downton Abbey"Worth the wait," host Laura Linney says at the outset of the "Downton Abbey" sequel, and for once, the claim isn't just hype. A near-flawless follow-up to writer Julian Fellowes' Emmy-winning miniseries, this expanded seven-part, 10-hour presentation (including two-hour chapters) seamlessly picks up where the original began, brilliantly juggling a plethora of characters -- both the great home's privileged family, and the servants toiling on their behalf. WWI is creating fissures in the bedrock of their insular world, but it has done nothing to dim the glow of a production that genuinely merits the weighty "Masterpiece" label.Brian Lowry1/3/2012 4:00am PT
House of LiesThe Showtime series "House of Lies" -- based on a memoir by the same name -- understandably drops the subtitle "How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time." That's perhaps in part because, beyond being unwieldy, the business-insider aspect has been downplayed, the better to emphasize the program's tawdrier elements. This makes the series guilty fun -- thanks primarily to star Don Cheadle as a fast-talking, ruthless consultant -- if not especially enlightening about the industry the book laid bare. Indeed, in keeping with what Showtime classifies as comedies, "Lies" has a different kind of "laying" and "bare" in mind.Brian Lowry1/3/2012 4:00am PT
Work It"Work It" is a return to the men-in-drag days of "Bosom Buddies" with the thinnest of recessionary twists. Brian Lowry12/29/2011 2:34pm PT
The Kennedy Center HonorsDespite a shortage of transcendent moments, it's still a pleasant enough way to kill a couple of hours, if not one for the archives.Brian Lowry12/26/2011 9:00pm PT
Who's Still Standing?In the new primetime gameshow "Who's Still Standing?" losers fall through a trapdoor into vats of boiling oil. Ha ha, just kidding, they're probably saving that idea for sweeps.Brian Lowry12/15/2011 8:15pm PT
Method to the Madness of Jerry LewisEncore's "Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis" plays more like a belated valentine than an examination of the comic's career, one that expunges any of his missteps.Brian Lowry12/15/2011 11:12am PT
Impractical JokersCheerful stupidity can be harder to master than it looks, which is about as strong an endorsement as there is for "Impractical Jokers," TruTV's latest stab at attracting the predominantly male "Jackass" crowd with utterly juvenile comedy.Brian Lowry12/13/2011 6:53pm PT
Stephen King's Bag of BonesFor all his success in print, quality TV versions of King's work remain as elusive as definitive proof of the beyond.Brian Lowry12/8/2011 6:49pm PT
Silent WitnessA tawdry tale of small-town sex and violence with just enough twists to keep the predictable action compelling, "Silent Witness" presents an adequate defense for TNT's "Mystery Movie Night" experiment.Geoff Berkshire12/6/2011 7:00pm PT
HideTNT's "Mystery Movie Night" is certainly a throwback to the olden days of TV movies, but do the projects actually have to be plucked directly out of a time machine? Enter "Hide," a grim, nasty and almost comically overheated potboiler.Brian Lowry12/5/2011 4:55pm PT
Appropriate AdultBased on a gut-wrenching true story, the clenched film chronicles serial killer Fred West and his strange relationship with Janet Leach, a court-appointed "appropriate adult" assigned to monitor his interrogation sessions. Brian Lowry12/2/2011 4:37pm PT
Would You Rather? with Graham NortonModeled after the panel shows of TV's infancy, "Would You Rather?" is a bit of loopy fun, even if it tests how charitably one wields the term "celebrity" in assembling participants to kick around absurd questions each week. Graham Norton can be an acquired taste, but the made-in-the-U.S. program proves as breezy as it doubtless is cheap to produce, and ought to be seamless companion to the host's weekly show. So would I rather watch this or paint dry? The former, but given the production values, the distinction is relatively minor.Brian Lowry11/30/2011 6:28pm PT
NeverlandLess a reimagining of "Peter Pan" than an elaborate cut-and-paste job, the only-fleetingly-spectacular "Neverland" weds J.M. Barrie's classic to elements from "Avatar" and "Star Wars," with dashes of "Oliver Twist" for good measure.Brian Lowry11/30/2011 6:25pm PT
The Take"The Take" offers the simple pleasure of Tom Hardy at his brutish, glowering best.Brian Lowry11/29/2011 6:34pm PT
Weed WarsIf half the battle in reality TV is unearthing colorful characters, "Weed Wars" already looks like a winner.Brian Lowry11/29/2011 6:31pm PT
Scott Turow's InnocentIt doesn't take a criminal mastermind to know that when establishing a TV mystery franchise, you need to call upon pros like Scott Turow and Mary Higgins-Clark.Laura Fries11/28/2011 4:20pm PT
I Hate My Teenage DaughterMemo to Fox: A series likely to be slapped around by critics probably ought not to lead with its chin by using "hate" in the title. But hey, live and learn, which is more charitable than what can be said about the divorced moms in "I Hate My Teenage Daughter," whose painful high-school memories are exacerbated by raising beautiful "mean girl" daughters. Brian Lowry11/28/2011 4:00am PT
The ExesTV Land's unexpected success with "Hot in Cleveland" gave way to creative misfires, even if there were respectable ratings for some of those nostalgic sitcoms, such as "Happily Divorced." Like the previous shows, "The Exes" won't win any points for originality -- hell, it's practically an "Odd Couple" remake, only expanded to a trio -- but at least the veteran talent gamely infuses the stale set-ups with a dash of energy. "Inoffensive" might sound like the epitome of faint praise, but for these "Exes" men, it qualifies as progress.Brian Lowry11/28/2011 4:00am PT
Mitch Albom's Have a Little Faith"Mitch Albom's Have a Little Faith" chronicles the author's life lessons gleaned from an aging rabbi and a redeemed pastor.Brian Lowry11/23/2011 9:49am PT
Woody Allen: A DocumentaryAs comprehensive and intimate a portrait of the comic genius as his personal quirks will allow.Brian Lowry11/18/2011 12:50am PT
You Deserve ItA hodgepodge of other gameshows that culminates with the cash being handed over to a needy (and yes, deserving) individual, a la "Queen for a Day."Brian Lowry11/17/2011 4:33pm PT
AFI's Master Class -- The Art of CollaborationThe American Film Institute could have hardly chosen a more appealing pairing to inaugurate its Turner Classic Movies specials "Master Class -- the Art of Collaboration" than Steven Spielberg and John Williams, whose 40-year relationship is one of the most fruitful and memorable in screen history.Brian Lowry11/14/2011 3:46pm PT
The Song of Lunch"A Song of Lunch" boasts nuanced storytelling, doting camerawork and tremendous acting. Laura Fries11/12/2011 9:47am PT