I am – Hercules!!

“Comanche Moon,” is the fifth miniseries following the characters introduced in 1989’s “Lonesome Dove,” the others being “Return to Lonesome Dove” (1993), “Streets of Laredo” (1995) and “Dead Man’s Walk” (1996). Which is to say nothing of “Lonesome Dove: The Series” (1994) and “Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years” (1995).

Simon Wincer, who directed the original “Lonesome Dove” (as well as less-distinguished works like “Lightning Jack,” “Operation Dumbo Drop” and “Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles”) directs from a teleplay by the Oscar-winning writing team of Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana (“Streets of Laredo,” “Dead Man’s Walk,” “Brokeback Mountain”), adapted from McMurtry’s 1997 novel.

Karl Urban plays Woodrow F. Call, previously played by Tommy Lee Jones, Jon Voight, James Garner, Lee Majors and Jonny Lee Miller.

Steve Zahn plays Gus McCrae, previously played by Robert Duvall and David Arquette.

Linda Cardellini plays Clara Forsythe, previously played by Anjelica Huston, Barbara Hershey and Jennifer Garner.

Adam Beach plays Blue Duck, previously played by Frederic Forrest and Bill Gribble.

Keith Robinson plays Joshua Deets, previously played by Danny Glover.

Ryan Merriman plays Jake Spoon, previously played by Robert Urich.

David Midthunder plays Famous Shoes, previously played by Wes Studi.

Wes Studi plays Buffalo Hump, previously played by Eric Schweig.

Ray McKinnon again plays Bill Coleman.

Joseph Castanon plays Newt Dobbs, previously played by Rick Schroder and Scott Bairstow.

Troy Baker plays Pea Eye Parker, previously played by Timothy Scott and Sam Shepard.

Val Kilmer, Rachel Griffiths and Elizabeth Banks are in “Comanche Moon” also.

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

… Leisurely paced, inconsistently performed, and produced on what seems to be a buck and a half, Comanche Moon doesn't so much complete the Lonesome Dove saga as cheapen it. … for the most part, it just feels phony, lifeless and halfhearted — which probably explains why CBS is throwing it up against American Idol. …

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

… It's gutsy to take on roles made famous by Duvall and, in Urban's case, Tommy Lee Jones, but the actors have the good fortune of working from a character-rich script by McMurtry and Diana Ossana (who won Oscars for their Brokeback Mountain screenplay). …

The New York Times says:

… Mr. Jones gave Woodrow the air of a man battling desires buried deep inside him. Mr. Urban just seems neutered, which goes a long way to making “Comanche Moon” feel as if it were created from Styrofoam, its foundation easily blown across the prairie. … Unlike “Lonesome Dove” “Comanche Moon” is imperfectly cast, and I found myself regretting for the first time the appearance of the wonderful Rachel Griffiths. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… there aren't a lot of reasons to watch this one, though it has its moments … "Comanche Moon" casts no spell; it's a pedestrian job … Diffuse, episodic and sometimes just daft, "Comanche Moon" lacks purpose -- and at great length. As a prequel to "Lonesome Dove," it is almost doomed to a lack of resolution, and most every story line here quietly expires in a puff of "Huh?" …

The Washington Post says:

… could well be that "Comanche Moon" is the best "Lonesome Dove" movie since the first … can't match the vitality of the original and lacks the star power -- and yet it probably has a larger number of captivating sequences than any other miniseries of recent years, plus a few performances that are knockouts. First among them is Val Kilmer, fat and grizzled as Capt. Inish Scull …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… Those who have seen the original miniseries or its sequels know many of the characters here and will know what will happen to them. Those who don't know the other "Dove" films won't be disappointed, however: "Comanche Moon" has its own appeal, thanks in large part to the script, Simon Wincer's skillful direction, some exquisite cinematography and, most of all, several outstanding performances. …

The Dallas Morning News says:

… What Mr. McMurtry does so well is draw unusual, genuine characters, and the better you know them, the more engaging they become. But with Comanche Moon, that will require sitting through a slower Sunday night installment before the people and the events take hold. …

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer says:

… It's time to accept that network television can no longer do right by the sweeping epic miniseries. They daid, suh. And if you demand proof of that, sit through the opening night of the six-hour "Comanche Moon." No one who has anything better to do should do that, but if you're stubborn enough to not believe one person's word, you're welcome to this thing. No harm in sampling natural alternatives to Ambien, right? …

The Boston Herald says:

… this three-night oater is hobbled by terrible production values and some fatal miscasting. Val Kilmer and Rachel Griffiths (“Brothers & Sisters”) are the biggest offenders. … a confusing mush of Western myth. This horse is going right to the glue factory.

The Boston Globe says:

… For the first hour of "Comanche Moon" … it looks as though the three-part miniseries might be a fabulous botch, a smorgasbord of bad acting and Western-movie stereotypes that's awesome in its awfulness. But gradually, the miniseries settles into a more mediocre middle ground that is merely tedious, simplistic, and disjointed, like a six-hour episode of "F Troop" without Larry Storch. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… blessed with some powerful scenes but too much lightweight patter. It's as if McMurtry and Ossana were so concerned about comparisons to the classic from which it's spun that they made sure it feels less like an homage than its own seriocomic creation. What results isn't worth three nights of anyone's life, even if it carves a collection of memorable moments into the mix. …

Variety says:

… tedious, at times cartoonishly bad prequel … Without putting too fine a point on it, the performances are pretty awful. Zahn is miscast, Urban ("The Lord of the Rings") nearly nonverbal, while Kilmer and Griffiths are so over the top, they seem to be performing in a "Saturday Night Live" spoof. Ditto for the large Native-American cast, whose dialogue sounds inordinately stilted even in translation.

9 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday & Wednesday. CBS.

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