Indeed, Mary McNamara of The Los Angeles Times says, "Writer Rand Ravich has created the latest 'Monk' by way of 'House.' 'Life' follows the strange and painful tale of LAPD detective Charlie Crews. Twelve years ago, Charlie was convicted of a gruesome triple homicide and sentenced to life. Only he didn't do it, see, as his heroic and lovely attorney Constance (Brooke Langton) proved. So now Crews is a free man, or as free as he can be after all the physical and psychological damage done to him in prison, with a $50-million settlement and a chance to return to the force as a detective."

She thinks that, "playing it long and lugubrious but with a tantalizing twinkle, Lewis (last seen in the States as the hateful husband in 'The Forsyte Saga') may well wrest the mantle of sexiest troubled American played by a Brit away from Hugh Laurie. Like House, Crews has been damaged by the profession he serves; like House, he sees things that other people miss. But Crews is working toward transformation. His serenity, however, is obviously self-imposed and at times, barely there, a thin mask of hard-won wisdom veiling the pain and anger within."

Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times writes, "Like Monk, Charlie Crews relies on an astute facility for deductive reasoning bolstered by uncanny intuition. He has hunches, and those hunches are unfailingly right. Charlie has come upon all of his money through a lawsuit leveled against the evil forces who sent him to life in prison for a murder he did not commit during the first chapter of his career as a police officer. The narrative structure of the show is incredibly satisfying: During each hour a crime is committed and solved, as Charlie’s search for who might have framed him provides the overriding arch, satisfying our short attention spans and taste for long-form narrative at once."

For the Boston Globe's Matthew Gilbert, "Lewis turns Crews into an amusing figure -- almost as comic as Tony Shalhoub's Monk, as he pronounces Zen platitudes to no one in particular and constantly munches on fruit. In between bites of an apple, he blithely admits to anyone who'll listen that he hates cops. And he is helpless when it comes to all the technological advances that occurred while he was in jail. But throughout all the silly quips and nonsensical exclamations, Lewis makes it subtly clear that Charlie's daffiness sits on top of a gusher of emotion."

Surprisingly, there was little discussion of this show in our forums. Laserik84 says, "I saw it and was pleasantly surprised. Crews is a great character and I also liked Lewis in the role. The ending was great and I have high hopes for this." And MissyGal wrote, "I liked it. I thought Lewis and Shahi has good chemistry. I'm interested to see where the story goes."

(Photos: NBC / ATAS/ HPFA)