Snap Judgment: Television

0.cached.png

By David Gates

See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.

Criminal Minds
Wednesdays, 9 p.m., CBS
This may be the most gruesome, obnoxious, over-the-top crime drama yet. "Criminal Minds" follows a team of FBI profilers who analyze the personalities of suspects--the cars they drive, the board games they play, what their bedrooms look like--and magically solve murders. We expect TV cops to be know-it-alls--after all, they've only got an hour to solve the crime, and everyone is competing with the folks on "CSI." But the sneering Mandy Patinkin and his costars bring creepy, robotic smugness to new and nauseating levels.
--Marc Peyser

No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
PBS, Sept. 26-27
Martin Scorsese's superbly assembled two-part documentary follows Dylan only from his beginnings to his overseas tour in 1966--when notoriety smacked him so hard he stayed off the road for the next eight years. (The press conferences, with questions so clueless they border on the insane, must be seen to be believed.) This cutoff point gives Scorsese a coherent, well-shaped narrative pieced together out of rare footage, photos, music and recent interviews, including Dylan himself at his most relaxed and lucid.
--David Gates

Inconceivable
Fridays, 10 p.m., NBC
Take a box of tissues to "Inconceivable"--this is the weepiest drama on TV. The show is set in a fertility clinic, and each episode is filled with so much joy and heartbreak that it could run on Lifetime. "Inconceivable" is actually kind of brave, given all the dialogue about uterine linings and sperm donors. Will men actually watch? No wonder the producers recently hired "Law & Order" babe Angie Harmon. Still, if you don't mind estrogen in your drama--and we mean that literally--"Inconceivable" is worth a few tears.
--Marc Peyser

Read More on News