The Dresden Files

These unsettling scenes are tough on the eyes, but happily, star Paul Blackthorne is well worth watching, full time.

Like Harry, the show has yet to fully master its tricks. There are a few decent jolts, but nothing is truly frightening or even that threatening. And while the show can be amusing, it's never exactly side-splitting.

If you don’t like hints of Harry Potter mixed in with fairly straightforward procedural elements, this may not be the show for you.

"The Dresden Files" is currently mediocre, a series searching for the right tone, seemingly unsure of itself and all the while not quite selling itself to the non sci-fi crowd.

"Dresden" hasn't put a spell on me at the start - but it's not bad. It's just that on Sundays, opposite such shows as "Desperate Housewives" and "Rome," not bad is not nearly good enough.

Even with Blackthorne's occasionally engaging portrayal of Harry Dresden, this whodunit lacks the wit and imagination that might transform it into something special.

Dresden's investigations amount to a lot of ho-hum hokum... and his relationships are largely paint-by-number bland.