1. Mix It Up Look, single-narrative episodes may be deeper, but here they’re so deep that they suffocate the action. Get back to the zippy intercut A and B story lines.

2. Lighten It Up Vegas: glaucous nights, yellow neon, flashlight beams—check. Miami: golden afternoons, pink sunsets—check. New York: mercury, copper, galvanized steel—and that’s just the faces. It’s New York City, not Soylent Green.

3. No, Seriously—Lighten It Up Mac Taylor broods a lot. A lot. I would, too, if I were dealing with suffocating plotlines and working in a visually anemic city. But TV death investigation needs zingers and iffy puns as much as it needs inert victims, so pedal back on the grief. Just a tad.

Related:

• Archive: “How to Fix”
• Table of Contents: Nov 1, 2004 issue of New York | Subscribe!