SERIES PREMIERE: I was looking forward to this lavish new NBC series very much. Then I saw it. The best I can say is that it looks dazzling, and has plenty of images to pack into a powerful TV promo. The series has a few recognizable players, including Vincent D’Onofrio as the Wizard of Oz, but not many – and the script, drawing for inspiration on many of the L. Frank Baum Oz books, goes down more unwelcome detours than shimmering brick roads. What’s impressive, at first, are the images, from the set design and costumes and overall visual flair from director Tarsem Singh. Singh also directed The Cell, the 2000 Jennifer Lopez movie (D’Onofrio was in that, too) that was stunningly beautiful and intricate in terms of its images, but not sufficiently logical or engrossing to really work. Emerald City is the same way: looks great, tastes empty. For a better revisit to the Oz universe, check out the 1985 movie Return to Oz, starring Fairuza Balk as a depressed Dororthy. For full reviews, see Ed Bark's Uncle Barky's Bytes and David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.