Lucifer: Season 1

"Mr. Ellis was born in Wales, and the creators of this incoherent mess apparently hope that his accent will convey rakishness and arch sophistication. Instead you just want to wipe the perpetual smirk off his face."

"The show's creators have replaced the original Lucifer with neither a counterpoint nor an interesting abstraction. Instead, they've simply shaped yet another paean to the perfect dude, who can carry on a lewd, open affair with his psychiatrist, play matchmaker with Dancer and her ex, and solve every major crime that the LAPD is called in for."

"Lucifer certainly has a sense of atmosphere, and has some fun with little touches like the character's personalized license plate (FALLIN1, naturally) or inherent dislike of children. Rachael Harris is also a hoot, briefly, as a psychologist who is decidedly not resistant to Lucifer's influence. Still, it's hard to think of anything more mundane than having the Devil walking among us, only to turn that into a crime procedural--a slightly sulfurous version of “Bones” or (gasp) “Rosewood.” Subsequent episodes merely calcify that perception."

"Lucifer arrives with all of the superficial flash you'd expect from a Len Wiseman-directed pilot. But after falling into the Fox "quirky civilian contractor(s) aid law enforcement" rut, this new drama doesn't begin to show sparks of interest until at least the fifth episode."

"The show, which glides past its mythology Monday, eventually gets bogged down in it--particularly in a silly B-story built around the Angel Amenadiel's (D.B. Woodside) attempts to use Lucifer's bodyguard (Lesley-Ann Brandt) and therapist (Rachael Harris) to lure Lucifer back to hell. Lucifer begins to feel mortal, which is dull, and begins to cross that thin line between amusing and annoying, which is worse."

"There's nice but predictable chemistry between Ellis and German, and although Fox only made one episode available to critics, the show's concept is so obvious, it's easy to see exactly where this will go, unless it gets canceled first."

"Lucifer isn't quite there yet. But what it already is really has to be seen to be believed, if only as a one-off curiosity."

"The conventional crime-time format incinerates everything strange and spirited about the concept, and Lucifer's cop partner (Lauren German)--the female wet blanket to his male rogue--is a trope that needs to go to hell."

"A light dusting of Milton notwithstanding, its pitch is mainstream and middlebrow. A decently made series that is neither particularly original nor entirely predictable."