Friday Night Lights used high school football as a vehicle to explore plainly and authentically the way in which people live, struggle and thrive in small towns. It just might be the finest scripted series on prime time.

Funnier than all of the new sitcoms combined, featuring the strongest ensemble of dramatic actresses around and able to leap genre cliches in a single jump cut, 'Desperate Housewives' is the superwoman of the new fall season and is easily the most delightful and intriguing hour to come along on ABC in years. [1 Oct 2004]

A true heir to Serling’s vision of reality taking a sharp detour into the unknown.

The violence is stunning, shocking, messy and unexpected. Bateman, who also serves as executive producer, directed four episodes and is a master behind the camera. His work squeezes the suspense in any scene. The locations are both beautiful and sinister, and the show is superbly scored. Ozark will resonate with fans of “Breaking Bad,” although Walter White has little in common with Marty.

This four-part adaptation of Shakespeare’s historical cycle (“Richard II, “Henry IV, Part 1,” “Henry IV, Part 2” and “Henry V”) spotlighting the battle to win and to hold the English crown is both brilliant and eminently accessible.

Homicide is the best new television drama of the season. That's particularly surprising, considering it's yet another cop show. And even more surprising in that it's NBC - the loser network - which has come up with a winner teeming with unique characters, steaming with atmosphere and featuring writing as sharp as a stiletto. [31 Jan 1993, p.30]

The Sci Fi Channel's brilliantly reinvented Battlestar Galactica - a terrific miniseries in 2003 - is now the full series it deserves to be. If it's given the room to grow that the 1978 original never got, it could end up being one of the best sci-fi television outings ever...An intelligent, attention-demanding, character-driven show, it marks a maturing of the sci-fi series genre. This series is to ``Star Trek'' what ``Hill Street Blues'' was to ``Dragnet.''

In its sophomore season, the series creeps deeper and serves up countless harrowing, haunting moments.

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.

Documentary Now! is so good, you’ll be forced to reassess Meyers, whose comedy writing is so crisp and correct, he should give up his late-night NBC show because nothing he does there will ever be as good or as funny.

This Boardwalk is rife with treasure.

This twisted comedy of Tinseltown manners - so wicked insidey and sharply observed - shines through brilliantly here. "Larry Sanders" is arch TV about craven TV with no pretensions - if such a thing is possible, and it obviously is. [18 Jul 1995]

The Handmaid’s Tale has a lot to say in 10 episodes. Clear your schedule for one of the best series of 2017.

"The Office" makes you cringe in delight and heave with giggles when you see the absurdity of it all. [23 Oct 2003]

It takes a literate, cynical look at showbiz and, in doing so, creates fine art. [12 Nov 1996]

Even if you weren't in the practice of watching ABC's 'The Practice,' you might find its spinoff, 'Boston Legal,' habit-forming. [3 Oct 2004]

The results are nothing short of breathtaking. Without relying on the fancy special effects of a film like "Apollo 13," the 12 episodes tell their fascinating real-life sagas patiently, clearly and with reverence for the courage of the astronauts and their support teams. [3 Apr 1998, p.52]

As you watch "Larry Sanders," the lines fly by and hit you with a sweet sting. Laden with crass cultural references and blistering put-downs, the show's scripts are usually dense with delights. [12 Mar 1998]

My Brilliant Friend is presented in Italian with subtitles. Don’t let that scare you off. Take the journey. Amid the brutality, an intimacy and honesty unlike any other flourishes.

Murder One succeeds because it doesn't pander to you, nor does it demean you. The issues illuminated by the show challenge and entertain you. [19 Sept 1995, p.37]

The first four episodes Netflix made available are more intense and unpredictable than the first season.

We've all been there. Which is why Freaks and Geeks works so well. Cloaked in grunginess, it's a totally unpretentious slice of high school life, a decidedly unmelodramatic drama devoid of "Dawson's Creek"-speak and sticky self-analysis. No one is wearing designer duds and the closing scene at the high school homecoming dance reveals that not one student possesses a shred of rhythm. [25 Sept 1999, p.25]

As he did in the series, Gervais imbues Brent with a kind of idiotic cleverness that is both silly and devastating. [21 Oct 2004]

American Crime’s direction is uncertain, but it looks to be one of the more uncomfortable, engrossing rides any commercial broadcast series has taken. Put away the phone and sit yourself down. You’ll want to see where this goes.

The new crew is an intriguing bunch. [9 Jan 2005]

The new episodes are brilliant, proving the first season wasn't a fantastic fluke. [14 Jan 2000]

The two-hour documentary Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind captures the magic and the mania that was the iconic comic. Bursting with hilarious clips and bloopers, it’s almost as good as having Williams back.

You may think you know the story, but the accumulation of detail, in new interviews and video and audio clips in this six-part documentary from producer Shawn Carter (also known to the world as musician and mogul Jay-Z), begins like a light snow fall and turns into a bracing nor’easter.