On Hostages, Toni Collette plays Ellen Sanders, a doctor who’s set to perform a fairly rudimentary surgical procedure on the President (James Naughton). When a group of men (led by Dylan McDermott) invade her home and take her family hostage. She’s faced with a lose-lose decision — either cause the President to die on the operating table or the terrorists will kill her family.

Others in the cast are Rhys Coiro, Billy Brown, Sandrine Holt, Tate Donovan, Quinn Shephard, and Mateus Ward.

Sound interesting? Worth watching? Well, here’s what some critics think:

Salt Lake Tribune: “Perhaps the most intriguing part of the show is that the Sanders family has all sorts of secrets Duncan and his team can exploit. After watching the first episode, I’m intrigued enough to watch another episode or two. We’ll see whether any of us are intrigued enough to make it through all 15 hours.”

Star-Ledger: “There are, of course, subplots — Sanders’ husband (Tate Donovan) and teenaged kids are each shielding their own secrets, uncovered by Carlisle and his crew — and covered up by them as well. Unfortunately, they’re fairly pedestrian. I’m more curious about Carlisle’s motivations, and a glimpse at coming episodes reveals some promising, if unsurprising, sexual tension simmering between Carlisle and the good doctor. Some Stockholm Syndrome sex? I’m willing to monitor the situation for a few weeks.”

NY Daily News: “McDermott and Collette give it a good start, since they both clearly are going to show us a lot more than we see at first. Hostages hardly breaks new ground as a psychodrama with violence hovering in the air. But it could open new options for the television procedural.”

USA Today: “The problem for Hostages (beyond McDermott’s habit of relying too heavily on the “whisper shout” line delivery that has become his trademark) is that viewers have been burned by this kind of ongoing mystery once too often. Many are likely wary of committing yet again to a story that may be working its way to a nonsensical ending, if it ends at all. Indeed, right now you may be picturing a show where Ellen tries and fails to kill the president once a week, and wondering why you’d want to watch that.”

LA Times: “By pilot’s end, the tension level is more Parenthood than Homeland. One suspects the “Hostages” of the title refers to Carlisle as well as Ellen and her family, but who knows? McDermott does little save look square-jawed, but Collette and Donovan are always interesting to watch. Many viewers, including myself, will no doubt tune into Episode 2 if only out of curiosity.”

What do you think? Is Hostages worth your time? If you’ve seen it, will you be watching another episode?