TV Review: ABC Family’s ‘Stitchers’

ABC Family’s Stitchers follows a young woman (played by Emma Ishta) who is recruited by a covert government agency to be “stitched” into the minds of the recently deceased, using their memories to investigate crimes. The science fiction drama premieres Tuesday at 9 p.m. The following are reviews from TV critics around the web, compiled by B&C.

“In this case, the protagonist is a beautiful and brilliant Caltech student with temporal dysplasia, which means she doesn’t feel the passage of time. Most viewers, however, will likely feel it acutely while wading through this tired and predictable hour, which centers on a secret program that hacks into the brains of the recently deceased to solve crimes.”
—Brian Lowry, Variety

“You almost can feel the show’s writers struggling to help the audience make sense of everything. The second episode, with the show’s intricate mythology firmly established, is much stronger.”
—Amy Amatangelo, The Hollywood Reporter

"Fringe meets iZombie for a meaningless summer hookup. Result: Stitchers, an ABC Family series so tonally ambivalent — satire or sincere? — that it winds up playing more as an audition tape for its various stars than an actual show.”
—Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times

“Despite this, Emma Ishta is engaging as Kirsten, finding humor and heart in the character while maintaining an appropriate prickliness. Ishta is particularly strong when given the chance to expand on Kirsten’s limited range, and with the right material, could shine in the role.”
—Kate Kulzick, A.V. Club

“ABC Family's new series Stitchers, which premieres at 9 p.m. Tuesday, is cute and so slight in dramatic gravitas that it floats away into the ether.”
—Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer