I am – Hercules!!

It’s a Western miniseries starring the stars of the some of the best cancelled shows of the last few years: Skeet Ulrich (“Miracles”), Alan Tudyk (“Firefly”) and Josh Brolin (“Mister Sterling”). But it was written by William Mastrosimone, whose last bigscreen effort was the appalling 1994 Joe Pesci-Brendan Fraser dramedy “With Honors.”

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… Given its quality-driven pedigree, you almost hate to point out that what emerges is more Hallmark card gloss than envelope-pushing grit, particularly because it serves up some truly captivating elements. … laden with violence rather than edge and trumped-up symbolism at the expense of any deeper meaning. It works to cover perhaps a bit too much ground while at the same time failing to supply any fresh insight into the momentous, nation-altering events of the western territory's past and their ultimate legacy. And the characters are too much about one-dimensional virtue, which is nearly always less compelling than watching people who balance their goodness with flaws and issues.

Variety says:

… stumbles through its ambitious journey, ultimately resembling the hokey "settling the West" films shown at Disneyland, minus the "Circle-Vision 360." Featuring a stampede of genre cliches, Steven Spielberg's imprimatur doesn't compensate for a confusing narrative or forge a connection with the herd of characters in this dramatically malnourished study guide. Despite TNT's enviable record with Westerns, "Into the West" (based on the first three chapters) needed a clearer road map and can't ride into the sunset soon enough. …

Entertainment Weekly gives it an “B-plus” and says:

… West later grows epic in scope and cast (Keith Carradine, Keri Russell, and Beau Bridges appear), to tell the tale of two peoples united in blood.…

USA Today gives it two stars (out of four) and says:

… If the journey Into the West had really been this dull, we'd all still be huddled along the Eastern seaboard.… More pedantic than dramatic … a helter-skelter story populated by bland, buckskin-clad clichés. What's missing is the story-driven heft, the indelible characters and the acting fireworks of Lonesome Dove …

The Seattle Post Intelligencer says:

… this is television, not a classroom. If you need visual aids to figure out who's who only a few hours into a television series, it may not be worth watching again (and again). … New Age, "Dances With Wolves" hooey … no actor's going to be up for an Emmy with this series … skitters off in too many directions … the sad fact is, the same viewers who were bowled over by romance novel Westerns such as "Lonesome Dove" probably won't care that the makers of "Into the West" had an amazing opportunity here -- and fumbled.

8 p.m. Friday. TNT.

Two, by most accounts, much better Old West miniseries, available on DVD: Lonesome Dove ($11.24) and Return To Lonesome Dove ($11.98).

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