Class Of ’09 is too busy jumping between timelines to tell a cohesive story that has any kind of momentum.

The Muppets Mayhem is a funny, fast-paced show which doesn’t sacrifice story or characters for pop culture references and celebrity cameos. And the fact that it’s family friendly is a bonus.

Though we liked the experts that were interviewed for Queen Cleopatra, as well as Adele James’ performance as the famous queen, the dramatic sequences leave too much to be desired to keep us from just reading about Cleopatra online to get the information we want.

While Sanctuary moves a bit slowly at times, it’s a fascinating look inside sumo wrestling that should be of interest to anyone who has an interest in Japanese sports culture.

Jones and Oyelowo carry the first episode of Silo with great performances. But the rest of the cast, as well as the hopeful ending and Yost’s proven storytelling ability, tells us that the show won’t be a typical depressing dystopian drama.

Bupkis has some flaws, and Davidson at times suffers from the generosity he and his co-creators have given to the rest of the cast and guest stars. But it’s still a funny show that takes some surprising early emotional turns that still feel earned.

The Other Two is so dense with jokes, even if not every single one hits, it’s consistently, reliably funny. Between the industry humor, the gifted physical comedy, and the characters who are ever-evolving, the show is still reliably sharp, dark, and full of surprises.

Star Wars: Visions feels like the best Star Wars we’ve had all year. ... Star Wars: Visions may be too good. ... It makes you wish that Lucasfilm would loosen the reigns a bit. It turns out that Star Wars feels most like Star Wars when it’s defying all expectations.

Young Jedi Adventures is a fun show and a fine introduction to the Star Wars canon for kids who aren’t ready to see the smoking, charred remains of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. I do wish that the show was a little wittier and weirder, but it is what it is.

As a dating show, Jewish Matchmaking is very watchable, especially because Aleeza is funny and warm and because most of her clients are really keeping an open mind. But it’s not really going to give non-Jewish viewers any real insight into the traditions and mores surrounding marriage in the various sects of the community.

The Sum of It All proves adept at upholding one of the best things a music doc can do, which is reveal its subject on a personal level.

Stream it, but only because Rosselló’s story is so harrowing. The series itself is done in such a lurid manner, and is stretched out so thin, that it’s tough to wade through the BS to get to whatever new information the series is offering.

A Small Light is an extraordinary story about a historic figure people don’t know a lot about, with a compelling lead performance from Powley.

While sometimes White House Plumbers finds it hard to satirize what is already ridiculous at face value, it still gets off some big laughs and is bolstered by the performances of Harrelson and Theroux.

Tom Jones presents Fielding’s sprawling narrative in a modern way that’s funny and well-paced. The cast is stellar, but its the chemistry between its leads that will carry the limited series.

The series version of Fatal Attraction lacks the danger and tension the film had, and there isn’t enough story to compensate for expanding the two hour movie into an eight-hour series.

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning works because of its cast. Less of a home makeover show and more of a soul makeover, the show doesn’t have big “move that bus!” reveals, but the emotional reckoning the clients often have at the end of each episode is just as moving and satisfying.

Sweet Tooth continues to be an engaging and fun story, which is pretty impressive for a show about the human race being quickly wiped out.

Citadel isn’t going to change the way you look at the spy thriller, but it is going to give you all of the genre’s most-loved tropes. If you’re looking for something knottier, move along. If you just looking for a brain-numbing thrill ride, strap in and hang on. Citadel bursts out the gate, full of swagger and sex appeal.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story finds room to tell more complex tales of courtship, marriage, and forbidden love than the core series does. It’s the soapier aspect of Queen Charlotte that I found the most interesting, even if it took a while for all the pieces of the drama to fall into place.

Carol Burnett: 90 Years Of Laughter + Love is a pretty straightforward tribute special, but the parade of A-listers, along with the entertaining clips of Burnett’s amazing career, makes the special a fun way to spend two hours.

Saint X may successfully dance around some of the uncomfortable implications its making in its first episode, but the show’s disjointed storytelling isn’t helping its cause.

Mulaney’s magic act remains using turns of phrase as his sleight of hand. He’s just now a much creepier magician. ... We get two-thirds of the story from Mulaney, but he’s still holding back on us. Whether he’s doing that for his benefit or for ours, we may never know. But he’s still a gifted and often hilarious storyteller. No matter what story he’s selling us.

Often, the elliptical, nonlinear storytelling in Dear Mama is powerful enough to elevate it completely out of the documentary form. ... The five-part series Dear Mama feels like the Tupac Shakur documentary of record as it connects the rapper’s enduring legacy to the philosophies at work in his upbringing and presents its story in a challenging, rewarding nonlinear fashion.

Somebody Somewhere has that settled-in feeling that make good shows become terrific shows in their second seasons. Some characters may be gone, but the show’s comedic core and its heart are still there, and we’ll follow its slice-of-Midwest-life vibe for the entire season.

Slip is certainly a tour de force for Zoe Lister-Jones, but it’s also funny and touching, and it may have a more positive message about marriage and long-term relationships than it seems to have at first blush.

The supporting cast is solid, from Sewell’s smarmy Hal on down. The show has a mild sense of humor that can alleviate some of the seriousness. But there’s nothing about the show that makes it a buzzy must-watch.

While the first episode of Mrs. Davis took a bit of effort to wrap our minds around, we were hooked on it by the end, thanks in no small part to Betty Gilpin’s lead performance.

What sets Chimp Empire apart from other nature documentaries is how it concentrates on how the chimps’ society is structured. That and the access the filmmakers were able to get makes the series very compelling.

There are many shows that sympathize with killers and vilify their victims, but Love & Death never earns privilege. That’s because outside of Elizabeth Olsen’s devastatingly layered performance, Love & Death is a disaster.

It’s decidedly unclear from this first episode what the three newest cast members will add to the mix. Just like SNL.

While it is naturally big on the technicalities of tennis, there is a humanistic story at the center that is appealing to everyone.

Jane is a cute show with an important environmental message that does a good job of getting the information across to its young audience.

There is certainly a relentless darkness about Barry that gets even darker in its final season. But Hader and Berg still throw in enough absurd moments and character-based humor to keep things from careening into full-on drama. But we’re definitely expecting the final season to be heavily dramatic, and we’re on board for it.

Gorgeously unsettling tour de force. ... Dead Ringers is an incredible work of art, full of knotty conversations about the give and take of society at all levels. It takes an unapologetically feminine look at the politics, science, and emotion of maternity in the modern medical era. But more than anything else, it’s a brilliant showcase for one Rachel Weisz, who is operating at the top of her game.

A muddled mess. ... Waco: The Aftermath has a great cast, but it’s also massive, because of all the stories the show needs to cover. And none of them will get the attention they deserve in such a short limited series.

It’s one of those shows that has us hovering towards the “meh” end of the review spectrum. There was nothing inherently wrong with the first episode, but nothing really drew us in, either.

Florida Man is a muddled show that has some interesting characters and story points, but they’re lost in a show that’s far too crowded with characters and storylines.

Obsession wants to give viewers all the sexy with no story.

No amount of filmmaking flourishes, which we see when interviewees enter rooms, or turn to the camera, and other gimmicks, are going to make the viewer forget that they’ve seen all this before. Less gimmicks and more in-depth information on the particular parts of the event would have made for a better docuseries.

By taking the focus off Sam for a bit in Season 2, Single Drunk Female does wander a bit from what made it such an appealing show in its first season. But since we liked the support system that formed around Sam so much, it feels less like scope creep to us and more like a show evolving and settling in for a long run.

Rennervations is a touch frantic and a little unhinged, but that just seems to be a reflection of its star’s personality. We love seeing the conversions and the organizations that will get these really fun new vehicles.

Despite having a bored and unlikable character at its center, Am I Being Unreasonable? sets up enough mysteries and questions to make the three-hour series breeze by.

Jury Duty is working on a lot of levels. ... Jury Duty generates ever more laughs from the everyday absurdities of human interactions as its actors disappear into their constructed identities. But there’s built-in tension, too.

Kathryn Hahn makes Tiny Beautiful Things a compelling watch, mainly because she’s so good at playing someone barely holding things together. But the rest of the series, especially the flashback sequences, give us a pretty full picture of why her character continues to spiral.

Transatlantic takes a serious story and gives it a bit of a bouncy, adventurous edge, thanks to some crisp writing and a fun lead performance by Jacobs. But it still pays reverence to the people who risked everything to help Nazi refugees, as well as the refugees themselves.

The first episode of The Good Mothers sets up a powerful story.

A story that’s full of drama and emotion, punctuated with moments of comedy that are truly dark.

With season 3 of Dave, it’s no longer possible to discern any lines between the Lil Dicky of TV, the real life/YouTube Lil Dicky, and Dave Burd – a real, human man who created both personas and is at his best when acting as the Dave behind the Dicky, a person who just wants to feel seen.

The Crossover is a warm family dramedy with just enough of the drama part to keep us interested in following the Bells as they navigate life, school and hoops.

While not as enjoyable as Season 1, Season 2 of Schmigadoon! still has a lot going for it, especially if you’re a theater buff who felt that the 1960s — and especially the 1970s — was when Broadway was at its peak.

For the most part, this is more of the traditional talking-head-and-clips documentary. That format works, though, because of the fact that Shields is so open about all of the fascinating aspects of her life.

It feels like it’s going to be an exhausting show to watch; for every moment that will be interesting and show the real change in the power dynamics between men and women, there might be two others that will feel like we’re barely in one story before we rocket to another.

Even without Rob and John Owen Lowe’s father-son dynamic, Unstable would be an above average workplace sitcom. But they are the main attraction, and their scenes together really make the show fun to watch.

There’s some genuine big laughs and a few story questions that should keep us intrigued.

Emergency: NYC shows compelling cases and healthcare providers who understand the gravity of their jobs. We just wish it took more of a critical look at the healthcare system.

Celeste Barber is funny as Liv. ... We’re hoping that the support around her, from Amy and her husband, Liv’s mom and brother, as well as others, will get a little more character development. ... We’ve got confidence in writers Amy Stewart, Nick Coyle and Romina Accurso that they’ll do just that.

Martin acknowledges at one point they’re perhaps preaching to the choir in the theater, but perhaps more than a few viewers unfamiliar with Martin will happen upon their special and learn a thing or two, too.

This show is deadly serious yet simultaneously frivolous — and that push and pull makes it compelling.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this new version of Great Expectations, but we’re wondering why someone would seek out this longer, slower adaptation when there are other adaptations that get more to the heart of Dickens’ novel much faster.

The music is great, obviously, but I keep coming back to the stories that My Kind of Country is telling. ... My Kind of Country is the right show for the worst of times.

Up Here certainly has the pedigree to be a good musical rom-com. But Whitman and Valdes elevate what is already good material by just being so damned cute together.

While Yellowjackets has its storytelling issues, it does seem that, with everyone settled into the story, that the stakes will be ramped up in Season 2. That should help keep our minds off the show’s glaring flaws.

Sure, The Night Agent could get better. But the first episode established that it’s a show with a lot of stock characters and a conspiracy that doesn’t start in a particularly interesting way.

Digman misses the mark in essentially every department. Its jokes fall flat, its premise can’t hold up an entire series, and the word “arky” is overused to a maddening degree. Samberg can only entertain with his Nic Cage schtick for 15 minutes at most, and there’s little other reason to tune in.

Waco: American Apocalypse sticks mostly to the nuts and bolts of the Waco siege, making for an effective narrative about an incident that was one of 1993’s top stories.

The first four episodes of Succession‘s final season are absolutely magnificent. Armstrong and his writers’ room finally let the metaphoric dominos they’ve been setting up for three seasons fall. The dialogue is as brutally sharp as ever and the ensemble cast pulls out some of their best, most devastating work yet. ... Succession Season 4 isn’t just good. It’s poised to handily sweep the 2023 Emmys.

While The Glory isn’t quite as dark as we anticipated it to be, there’s still a lot of moments when Dong-eun’s revenge plan is at the forefront of the action, which is where the show is at its best.

Despite the lack of details, The Glory works as a revenge story because you’re immediately drawn to Dong-eun and want to see her get back at those that scarred her for life. But we hope that there will also be more nuance to Yeon-jin and some of the other tormentors, as well.

Marie Antoinette starts slowly but should pick up as Antoinette tries to seduce the reluctant Louie and both become monarchs.

Lucky Hank is a funny show with a fine cast. We hope it keeps its light tone as Hank’s life falls to pieces, at least the way he’s perceiving that it is.

Even though it feels like we have more than enough shows that fall into the “high school girls stranded and trying to survive” category, Class of ’07 is a standout for lightening the tone and providing some solid jokes and excellent performances amid the cataclysm.

John Simm is the main reason why Grace is such a watchable show. The mysteries are sufficiently engaging to keep the show from dragging, but Simm is the real attraction here.

You may tire of the message Scott Burns is trying to get across by the end of Extrapolations‘ eight episodes, but there are moments in there that will be affecting and effective. You just may have to try your luck to find them.

McConaughey’s smooth Southern drawl is the perfect fit for Presley, the animation is fluid and attractive, and the laughs come at you quickly. It’s a raucous good time, and deserves a good, old-fashioned try – even by suspicious minds.

Dance 100 is guided by its ambitious and pretty novel premise, which adds population with each week of competition, but it also highlights the technical language of dance and strives to celebrate body diversity.

Fishback is the key to the watchability of Swarm. As her character becomes a more experienced killer, Fishback becomes more confident in her performance. The show is definitely stylishly shot (Glover directed the first episode), but much of that would be empty without Fishback’s performance.

We complain about how impenetrable the world of Shadow And Bone is, but we also know that the story is an enjoyable adventure. We just wish things were a hair easier to follow.

Gotham Knights just left no impression on us, which is deadly for any show, but especially one that’s trying to be a Batman series without Batman.

From end to end, Sin Eater is a fascinating look at a man who is really only the tip of the spear for a rotten system. Pellicano makes for a perfect documentary subject, both for what he did and what he reveals about an industry that is nowhere near as far from its scandalous heyday as we are led to believe.

Ted Lasso Season 3 starts rough, but it does find its footing by Episode 4. It’s the worst season so far to date, but there is enough there for fans to hope — if not “BELIEVE” (har, har) — in a triumphant conclusion to the season. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Farmer Wants A Wife suffers from being boring more than anything else. Maybe when the single city women get involved in the dirty work of being at the bachelors’ farms, things will get better, but without interesting bachelors, the whole idea of the show makes little sense.

We were pleasantly surprised by how mature of a show School Spirits was, not just because of List’s steady lead performance, but because it doesn’t delve in the current cliches that drag down most high-school dramas. In other words, no house parties and no sex scenes (yet); it’s just a fun, ghostly mystery to watch.

In You Season 4 Part 2, the series remains grotesque, absurd, slick, vapid, skewering, and often quite predictable. All of which makes it totally binge-able.

The Confessions Of Frannie Lanington succeeds because of the performance of Karla-Simone Spence, despite some disjoined storytelling that leaves viewers in the dark about some aspects of the story.

Stream it if you’re into all the conspiracy theories surrounding the disappearance of MH370. Otherwise, MH370: The Plane That Disappeared will just be frustrating to anyone seeking concrete answers.

Rain Dogs promises to be an interesting examination in a certain kind of found family that’s by turns darkly funny and warmly inspiring.

Sex/Life Season 2 is an atrocious excuse for art, but it does display creativity where it counts: in the sex scenes. ... Skip it and just go to PornHub.

If you’re expecting full-on Brooks in History Of The World, Part II, you’ll likely be disappointed, but there’s enough of his comedy DNA in each episode to keep fans watching. Plus, most of the sketches have at least one big laugh, and that’s always a good thing.

We hope that Season 2 of Perry Mason comes together in subsequent episodes, because the first episode was a bit all over the place trying to establish where all of the characters are this season.

Holding tweaks the small-town murder formula a bit by giving the mystery to a middle-aged, out-of-shape cop who is self-medicating with food instead of booze or drugs. Between that tweak and the performances of the main characters, it makes for an enjoyable, lightly comedic mystery.

Seeing Rock open his performance with jokes about “woke traps” and Elon Musk’s sperm count and OJ Simpson (in 2023!) left me feeling weary for what was to come. ... Much like he did in Tamborine, Rock shifts his focus in the second half of his special from observations about the world to look inward at himself and how he’s reacting to the world now that he’s single again in his 50s.

The contestants are game, and they banter with the hosts and each other well. But there isn’t a whole lot of tension, even in the final round, and the money at stake isn’t enough to lend that final round a boost of tension just by showing how much is at stake.

While we’re hoping that the TV version of True Lies gets better as it concentrates on the chemistry between Howey and Gonzaga, the rest of the show feels like an artifact from another age of network dramas, and not in a fun, Poker Face kind of way.

We just have no F’s to give when it comes to any of the characters in Wreck. Well, maybe we root for the killer duck to show up, but that’s not a good thing.

There’s enough here for any Stath fan to love, and anyone unfamiliar with Demetriou to go looking for more afterward. There are times like these, however, where I might wish sketch comedy collections had chapter dividers so you could SKIP more easily past the less effective scenes.

While Daisy Jones & The Six successfully brings the book’s characters and music to life, pacing-wise, it suffers from a similar problem as Peter Jackson’s Hobbit Trilogy.

This is a premiere that would’ve greatly benefitted from being one of two episodes released today, or part of a longer episode that actually took us somewhere — anywhere — new.