Commentary: More manipulative than meaningful, 'Watchmen' has a 'Lost' problem

HBO's "Watchmen" is among the best-reviewed series of the year, scoring 85 (out of 100) on the review-aggregation site Metacritic and appearing on more than 40 critics' top 10 lists to date. Not among them are Times TV critics Lorraine Ali and Robert Lloyd, who've been left unmoved by creator Damon Lindelof's spin on Alan Moore's beloved graphic novel. Here, Ali and Lloyd discuss their reservations about "Watchmen" - and why they think the series' praise has been overblown.

ALI: I know little to nothing about the comic book that inspired the HBO series. Still, I was excited to see this show because trailers made it look like it was going to explore very real issues - discrimination, the normalizing of white supremacy, women as avengers for justice - inside a fictional universe. It's based in present-day Tulsa, Okla., where white supremacists have amassed