Robin Ince

I was really looking forward to this series because I think we need more family-friendly laugh-tracked silly comedy on our screens. Sadly it's not quite there yet, with some inspired gags and genuinely funny jokes mixed with some rather iffy character development and scenes which cross the line from 'silly' to 'stupid'. If it reminds me of anything it's Hippies - another much-hyped series from some big names which was enjoyable and amusing, but also chaotic and sometimes self-indulgent.

Sadly too it looks like Lab Rats is following in the footsteps of Hippies by performing quite poorly in the ratings and enduring some stinking reviews. It's perhaps to be expected - watching Robin Ince in a silly wig running around shouting for an entire episode is something that's always going to be an acquired taste. But I'm sticking with it, and it'd be a shame if it didn't get a second series after this week's episode, if not the funniest half hour of television this year, was almost certainly the cleverest.

Steve Williams, Off The Telly, 10th August 2008

What a brilliant sitcom to get young children interested in the wacky world of science.

Sadly, the show - starring Selina Cadell - ended up being scheduled at 9.30pm, way past the bedtime of anyone who'd find anything to laugh about.

I didn't want to write this off after its debut last week. I hoped the stupid jokes, stupid science and even stupider scientists might have been a one-off, but this week it turns out it was just getting into its stride and was preparing to get even stupider.

Tonight we're subjected to a stream of verbal diarrhoea from guest star Robin Ince, who's been defrosted out of his cryogenic freezing unit. The joke is he's not even dead! But this show is. Time to pull the plug and walk away. Or else shunt it over to CBeebies.

Jane Simon, The Mirror, 17th July 2008