In Buchwald's later years, his detractors characterized the column as hackneyed, tiresome and not funny. In "Slate", Willa Paskin referred to the series as "a hackneyed and saccharine family sitcom". However, she finds Angelou's other poems "mired in hackneyed metaphor and forced rhyme". There is unnecessary violence and the screenplay is hackneyed. The record plods along, hampered by hackneyed arrangements and production values. Her vocals were also praised, but a few critics called the album "hackneyed" and "overworked". Lynch places these often hackneyed characters in dire situations, creating dream-like qualities. Particular reviews criticised the lack of character development and the film's "incoherently hackneyed morality". Other critics either praised the film's spiritual elements or found them hackneyed. Shall Burn, Hatesphere, The Sorrow and Hackneyed. The gait is high-footed, flexing all four legs, but should not be hackneyed.