stodginess

Letterman’s offbeat, sardonic brand of humor also gave a layer of hipness to CBS, which had long had a reputation for stodginess.

"Parker may not be the actress to find depth in this script, but she has an effervescent lightness of touch that leavens the stodginess of the writing - she is always watchable and winsome," he said.

Despite finding them “engaging and admirably crafted,” James R. Mellow of The New York Times concluded that the sculptures were “dissatisfying” for their “illustrational stodginess.”

The supporting performers kept the evening from slipping too far into stodginess.

I don’t miss the stodginess that defined a lot of news writing when I got into the business three and a half decades ago.