Allen’s been doing this kind of humor for 50 years. It shows.

With the breezy action comes some valuable knowledge about magnets and ammonias. Who knew TV could be educational? ... This reboot looks to be a pleasant way to start the [CBS Friday] lineup and the weekend.

The show obvi­ously wants you to believe their characters are meant for each other, but given that this show seems to be teasing everyone with everyone else, it’s hard to take that seriously--or even be inter­ested.

Driver’s manic spirit has never been displayed to such great effect. Yarbrough and Bowie bring warmth and depth to their roles beyond the script. At a moment when CBS has regurgitated “King of Queens” into “Kevin Can Wait” and its Matt LeBlanc series “Man With a Plan” looks embalmed on arri­val, Speechless is a fresh addi­tion to prime-time family comedy.

Sutherland is impressive as a nice guy exercising his backbone for perhaps the first time in his life. He works hard to get past one of the most iconic roles in television. The idealism is palpable, even if the show seems a bit too idealistic. The supporting cast seems stuck taking predictable positions.

This Is Us brims with some mighty acting. ... Creator Dan Fogelman’s script, however, takes the sting out of some major moments with some minor humor. There’s a huge twist in the final moments tonight that might have you rethinking everything you’ve watched, or might have you feeling like you’ve been played.

The Good Place,” from “Parks and Recreation” creator Michael Schur, is the true heir to “Lost,” right down to the flashbacks, half-baked philosophy and Colorforms-simple metaphors.

Technically, the show is superb, melding animation with actors similar to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” Hines and Meadows in particular do a great job essentially acting opposite nothing. But Son of Zorn seems like Adult Swim filler. There are better shows out there for fall.

Of the handful of episodes I watched, the pilot tonight, written by Adlon and directed by C.K., is the strongest. Subsequent episodes meander.

The miniseries, allegedly based in fact, is one great big advertorial for the company, not that it doesn’t have its pleasures, chief among them some thrilling road contests that suggest the chariot races of “Ben-Hur.”

Glover has created a show that is difficult to pigeonhole and supremely addictive.

The characters have emotional issues without huge labels or teachable moments. The lack of stigma is refreshing for television.

Moura’s performance anchors this show.

The rapid-fire editing suggests the producers are people who find MTV’s pace too slow. But Better is devilishly clever about dropping teasers about its destinations to get you as excited as its travelers about the journey. This is a Travel Channel spectacular with 10 times the budget and 100 times the star power.

The almost 90-minute pilot, directed by Luhrmann, takes stylistic leaps unlike any other series. Without Luhrmann’s hands-on approach, the subsequent five episodes available Friday lose a bit of their pep, but none of their appeal, as the story tunnels down into the lives of these young people.

This franchise finally jumps the sharknado.

Looking: The Movie is pointless and boring.

McBride is convincing, not surprisingly. He has a special knack for inhabiting the skin of imbeciles, and I mean that in a good way. Goggins proves he is one of the finest character actors working in television.

Last season, Elliot was trying to save the world; now he’s trying to save himself. That battle promises to have lots of casualties.

There are some genuine scares in here but some heartfelt beats, too, along the way to the bloody climax.

At one point, The Night Of might have been groundbreaking. But in the wake of the excellent ABC series “American Crime,” which has walked the same outrage with far more nuances, sophistication and a superior cast, The Night Of feels so last decade.

Comer’s performance--as a 26-year-old stunted as a 13-year-old--is beautiful. She can be endearing, mystifying and aggravating, sometimes in the same moment. She’ll keep you coming back to a mystery that grows darker with every revelation.

Madsen works hard to deliver an intimidating matriarch, but the dialogue is flat and merely functional.

Dandridge is a standout as the sister rediscovering her love of faith even as her doubts about her family grow.

There’s comparatively little tension, action or dialogue in Mother, but there sure is a lot of girl-on-girl writhing.

It’s too easy to think of this family as sharks. Sharks are much kinder to their young. Animal Kingdom bites hard and doesn’t let up.

Despite some graphic moments of heads exploding, BrainDead is neither comic nor thrilling.

Feed the Beast manages to be both overheated and undercooked. Stock up on antacid.

Not every skit landed, but more did than any on any 90-minute “Saturday Night Live.” I’m still not sure if Maya and Marty have comedic chemistry--maybe these crazy kids just need to get to know each other better--but I’m definitely going to be tuning in this summer to find out.

The first episode is confusing, introducing a multitude of characters and agendas. Stay with it. The second episode brings several of the characters and the conflicts into focus.

The original “Roots” exposed and drew on the power of truth for millions of Americans. This Roots is an echo of that. It stands small in the great shadow of the original.

Preacher is a black comedy, a horror funhouse, a mild meditation on belief and a wicked good time. There’s nothing left to say but: Amen.

Schenkkhan abridges his teleplay to two hours and 15 minutes when this project might have been better served by going in the other direction, by making, say, a two-night, four-hour mini­series. ... There’s no comparing [Cranston's] performance to anything he’s ever done. All the Way is going to lead Cranston along a familiar path--right up to the Emmy podium come fall.

McShane might be the best part of this production, bringing life to the role of a man harboring dark regrets. ... Oh, yes, the period costumes and the locations are top-notch. After a jaunt around Greshambury, even the Crawleys would be feeling house-poor.

Penny Dreadful’s set work is unparalleled, and this season the bright oranges and yellows of the Old West make for a welcome contrast to the washed-out blues and grays of Old London. Oh, there is action here.

Veep manages to curse almost as creatively as HBO’s beloved cult series “Deadwood,” and, with its raging boss and conniving sycophants, is the heir to NBC’s “The Office” we didn’t know we needed.

[The Night Manager] makes the most of some gorgeous spots. Viewers, however, may find themselves anticipating the plot. Hiddleston is the draw and the catch. With a less capable lead, this story would only be mildly interesting. ... He proves here he’s ready to serve her majesty’s secret service and then some.

It’s a series without interesting characters, story or a modicum of tension.

Confirmation, like those hearings, settles nothing. The film’s coda suggests the country has come a long way. That, along with everything else here, will give viewers plenty to talk about.

[Host John Cena is] smart and he’s funny when he goes off-script. He gives American Grit its shot at glory.

Game’s dialogue is inconsequential, pushing the players around from scene to scene, but the plot payoffs come fast and furious.

Much of Hunters seems like torture porn. McMahon overacts as the unhinged Hunter who seems to want to destroy humanity but is taking the long road to armageddon. Phillips is just miscast as humanity’s best hope.

Beau resents his son for abandoning the family homestead. Rooster enjoys egging them on. The war of words can sometimes feel brutal. The work gives Kutcher a chance to truly act, to bring some pathos to the fore, but The Ranch is a slog.

The Catch wants you to hope for the best, but he’s such a sociopath, it’s hard to root for their relationship to end anywhere but in a lifetime sentence behind bars. Still, Enos is terrific and makes this caper a fun ride toward righteous retribution.

Fox managed to turn the final hours of Jesus Christ into an extended “Today Show” concert. Except “Today” has never had so many taped segments. The bewildering sort-of-live production in New Orleans last night starred Tyler Perry as host and violated the cardinal rule of storytelling: SHOW, don’t tell.

I’d ask for a script doctor, but it’s time to call the code and be done with it.

CBS has wisely cast familiar faces in key roles, which gives the show a leg up given that the characters can barely pass for one-­dimensional.... There’s something comforting about the fantasy of a government task force leaping to your aid hours after a vacation takes a detour to hell.

With scenes of brutality inflicted on slaves and the casual use of the “n” word, Underground can be difficult to watch. But there’s nothing gratuitous about this story. The series is enhanced by contemporary music from the likes of Legend, Kanye West and The Weeknd.

It’s bloody, grim, as overtly sexual as a commercial broadcast network can be, occasionally engrossing and only tangentially related to any serious inquiry into Christianity.

The lack of suspense and originality is depressing.

With the Under­woods at war, House of Cards opens the doors on its most diabolical season yet.

A last-minute reveal in tonight’s episode is dropped for shock value and is all but retracted next week. The twisting in the story is a betrayal of viewer trust.... With a story like The Family, everyone needs to be paying attention to the fine details. But at least we get to enjoy Allen in our homes every week, for a time, anyway.

The Real O’Neals is funny, offbeat and sweet in its depiction of a loving family whose members are sometimes their own worst enemies.

Series creator and writer Chris Lunt’s plots are more comfort food than cutting-edge, but not since Helen Mirren’s epic run in “Prime Suspect” has there been such a flawed, compelling female detective.

Netflix’s sequel series Fuller House is a triumph of canny calculation over creativity. The extended 40-minute premiere is the best fan-service of any reboot ever.

Netflix’s new sitcom Love is everything you expect from Judd Apatow --raunchy, rude, crass, bloated with drug jokes and sex gags and maybe more 
f-bombs than any other series­ ever.... Across 10 episodes, Love takes its time bringing its two leads together, which is just fine.

There’s so much [music] here, Vinyl runs the risk of turning into “Treme,” which seemed to be a music show with a touch of plot. Vinyl spins back years with copious flashbacks, and they do Cannavale and the show no favors. No matter the year, no matter how his hair is parted, he looks the same, a middle-aged guy. Some things can’t be finessed.

Watching Those Who Can’t is like being stuck in Saturday detention. It feels like forever.

Dreyfuss somehow refrains from chewing the scenery, though the script at times would have him leaving only flecks of drywall. Scolari has heartbreaking moments as he flounders with guilt. More focus on the personalities of Ruth and Mark, who killed himself on the second anniversary of his father’s arrest, would have fleshed out this story.

Executive producer Ryan Murphy--best known for “Glee,” “American Horror Story” and “Scream Queens”--here has created his most mature, confident series. He also directed the first two episodes, and his work is free of cheap tricks or gimmicks. The truth is so strange, he doesn’t need them.

The three-hour production got off to a shaky start with camera work in the 1959-set Rydell High seemingly ready to trigger mass vertigo. But by the time the cast got to “Greased Lightnin’,” a frenetic dance number that kept building and growing so much, it threatened to spill out onto your floor, the show was rocking.

Tethered by Morse’s violent portrayal, Outsiders spins its story on a pace unlike most other prime-time shows.

Most of the characters, however, are written and behave as if they are 14, and not 20-something graduate students. That said, the first episode ends on a terrific cliffhanger, when a creature from another realm--a man with a swarm of moths flitting around his head--attacks. A good three minutes does not excuse the hour that came before it. And the resolution is presented so poorly in the next episode that it sabotages any good will the first episode earned.

Ellis is a good choice as the season’s biggest anti-hero, deftly playing sarcasm as well as the occasional pathos. As it gets rolling, Lucifer poses some theology-class-worthy questions about the nature of redemption, damnation and duty.

In the opener, “My Struggle,” Carter plays to fan expectations on all fronts as he suggests only the most sinister conspiracy ever, one that manages to shake the typically unflappable Mulder and could up-end the premise of the entire series. It’s just that juicy.... [The second episode is] a perfectly serviceable monster-of-the-week tale. It also features some dopey reveries about Scully and Mulder’s lost son William.

With her understated, monotone delivery no matter the situation, Kelly just might be the comedic find of the season. Galifianakis delivers a finely tuned grump as Chip and an over-the-top shrew as Dale. Under co-creator, executive producer and director Jonathan Krisel’s sensitive care, Baskets is a funny show about sad people.

The series’ greatest pleasure is seeing Lewis and Giamatti spar with each other, but there just aren’t enough of those moments to make Billions a bargain.

The show moves briskly but not well. Kazinsky is good and tries to continue the cranky character Hall so memorably creates, but the writing wants to turn him into Captain America.

Allison is one precious snowflake and is about as interesting as last week’s church bulletin. Lynch, meanwhile, plays her interloper with Sue Sylvester snark peppered with the kind of innuendo you’d hear on “2 Broke Girls.”

The worse things get--and they get very bad--Lopez gets much better, withdrawing into herself, growing ever more still, as her character must spin lie after lie to stay ahead, to stay alive. Academy Award-winner Barry Levinson directed the first two episodes, and they are unusually taut. De Matteo makes a welcome return to series TV, but her character’s escalating marital woes seem a distraction.

There’s much intrigue and backbiting going on in the small domestic household of the Dowager Countess, but that, too, ultimately goes nowhere. Fellowes hints at drama and pulls his punches.

With “Family Guy’s” Seth MacFarlane serving as an executive producer, you know what you are in for--rude and crude jokes.... What’s unexpected is how much Bordertown resembles “All in the Family.”

Nothing about this sitcom is clever or amusing.

Like recent true-crime exposes NPR’s “Serial” and HBO’s “The Jinx,” Murderer is an absorbing look at a bizarre case that seems to shift with almost every new talking head. It’s an addictive, scary indictment of small-town policing and a warning to those poor or marginalized by their neighbors.

This is one overstuffed show.

The premiere prologue gives away too much, and the mini’s pacing­ drags at times.... It’s a tale that never gets old.

Expanse’s look is typical Syfy. The lighting is used to bathe the sets in shadows to hide the lack of money in the budget. The cast and the sheer complexity and depth of story, however, are worthy of premium cable.

Transparent returns for a second season with the Pfefferman family digging deeper into their pasts and struggling to make sense of their futures.... The dialogue can slash like a knife.

Born spends a lot of time following the group as they socialize but is at its most compelling when it tracks the compli­cated bonds tethering these young people to their parents.

Telenovela can be fun, if only the show knew the difference between silly and dumb.

Superstore is a product of “The Office” co-executive producer Justin Spitzer, and like that already classic show, it digs into the mundane indignities of the work experience for its laughs, right down to the company magazine that blasts “Minimum Wage is Maximum Fun.”

Saints & Strangers is rich in character and detail and captures how arduous this adventure was for the pilgrims.

What’s odd here is that even with the influx of injured, Chicago Med never builds any dramatic heat.

It’s a little “Mad Max,” a little “Mortal Kombat,” a little “Gone with the Wind,” a lot head-scratchingly dumb.

[Sharon Stone's] character could be erased and the show wouldn’t miss a beat--heck, it might actually be better.... Hephner comes off as a cross between Kevin Costner and a “Just for Men” model and is adequate handling the light banter the scripts spoon out. This is a Sunday night show for people who find “The Walking Dead” too grim and “The Good Wife” too real.

In the absence of a believable or captivating story, Wicked tries to shock, but this is broadcast commercial TV. Ryan Murphy can and does more in two minutes on basic cable than Wicked­ can achieve in an hour.

Benoist is just so winning in this role.... As he did with CW’s “Arrow” and “Flash,” executive producer Greg Berlanti has managed to take a familiar superhero story and spin it into a TV show readers and new­comers can love.

These couples are just the sort you’d dodge at the office or at a party, so why you’d want to unwind with them on your TV is NBC’s headache. Truth Be Told: Not much fun here.

The second season of Direc­TV’s MMA fighter family saga Kingdom circles familiar territory, but the third episode is a knockout, with a swerve that could permanently divide this fractured family.

Every performer here brings his or her A-game, and the little nods to the day--such as the chatter about a seminar that will help “actualize” the attendees or the salesman who believes that the electric typewriter represents an unparalleled technological revolution--are both striking and sad.... Fargo is terrific.

The Walking Dead in its sixth season premiere wants you to remember the nightmare started here, and this show owns it.

As an actress, Lady Gaga wears clothes very well. That’s not the dis it seems. The extended 90-minute premiere doesn’t give her much chance to act, or speak, for that matter.... As Dr. Alex Lowe, John’s estranged wife, returning player Chloe Sevigny provides a welcome balance to the over-the-top bloodletting, but as good as she is, the bad soap opera dialogue just proves Murphy and Falchuk have no interest in writing “normal,” whatever that is. They’re here to deliver spectacle.

Some things do [change]. Homeland deepens its story for its fifth season, and this journey might be Carrie’s most treacherous.

The show needs to work on building the urgency to its stories and cutting away the treacle.

He seemed to suffer from “Jimmy Fallon-itis”--he laughed too much at his own jokes.... The show pretty much stayed on point, with almost every joke leading back to Noah. He got to make the show all about him, and that’s OK--for one night, anyway.

Blood and Oil, harkens back to the best elements of “Dallas” and “Dynasty.”

The show does not inspire confidence.

Creator/executive producer Kring hasn’t learned anything from seasons two through four. Heroes Reborn suffers from the same excesses that alienated viewers--too many characters, too many plot threads, too many snippets of scenes that serve to advance little but the time to a commercial break. Finally, the show seems old-fashioned.