Neil Genzlinger The New York Times

"'On Our Watch' ... isn't just another report on that bloodstained region of Sudan. It's more like an indictment. The program and the experts it interviews do not mince words as they explore why the horrors there went unaddressed for years after the first alarms were raised in 2003. ...

"But this program, produced by Neil Docherty, isn't merely angry. It's also smart, and by the end it has raised serious doubts about whether any bureaucracy -- slow almost by definition -- is the right tool to stop fast-moving killers."

 

Maureen Ryan Chicago Tribune

"Never underestimate the power of quiet rage. Frontline's 'On Our Watch' ... is all the more devastating for its meticulous research and the measured tones of its skilled narrator, Will Lyman."

 

David Kronke, Los Angeles Daily News

"... a grim, elegantly constructed and essential 'Frontline' report ..."

 

Robert Abele, L.A. Weekly

"... a first-rate primer on the ugliest side of transnational inaction."

 

Joanne Weintraub, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"The pointedly titled 'On Our Watch,' an investigation by PBS' consistently excellent 'Frontline' series, explains why -- despite the international outcry following genocide in Rwanda and Srebrenica -- mass killings have continued for years in Darfur as the rest of the world mostly watches and wrings its hands."

 

Alex Strachan, Ottawa Citizen

"On Our Watch is maddening, illuminating, frustrating, and, thankfully, surprisingly uplifting. ... If you're at all curious, though, to know why the Darfur crisis has been allowed to take root and fester, this program is well worth a look."

 

Ellen Gray, Philadelphia Daily News

"... For those still a little in the dark about what's happening to the people of Darfur, and why, 'On Our Watch' is a primer in United Nations politics and the way oil influences it. I'd expect no less from 'Frontline,' which has done as much as any show on television to keep the memory of the Rwandan genocide fresh."

 

Brian Lowry, Variety

"In recounting this sorry history, 'Frontline' joins a wave of Darfur-related documentaries, including Don Cheadle's 'Darfur Now' and HBO's upcoming 'Sand and Sorrow,' narrated by George Clooney. In doing so, PBS not only has put the issue in human terms but in a global context, providing a reminder of the grim reality that if you want the world to notice your plight, it helps to be sitting on either a large pile of arms or a gusher of oil."

 

Mindy Belz, WORLD Magazine

"Frontline's investigative pieces, with their habitually doleful tone, can come off as overwrought, but here that tone is reverberant, even understated. ...

"The documentary properly showcases experts like [activist Eric] Reeves and UN underlings who first revealed the Sudan government's role in mass killings. It glaringly omits key U.S. officials, advocates like ambassadors to the UN John Danforth and John Bolton, who fought a battle few leaders, really, seem to want to win."