Liaison is a show that leaves little to no impression on us after watching it, mainly because it feels like a cynical pastiche of espionage thrillers that came before it.

There’s no sports show on television that packages the drama of competition into less than a hour as well as Drive To Survive, and if you haven’t jumped on yet, a new season is as good a reason as any to hop on in.

Fans of Party Down, whether you watched it in the pre-Instagram days or caught up on it just recently, will eventually enjoy the show’s third season, but they may have to wade through a few disappointing episodes first.

We’re not sure what is interesting to see on Clarkson’s Farm. It’s basically episode after episode of Clarkson stumbling around as a gentleman farmer, making bad business choices, and dealing with the quirky characters that he’s hired to help him on the farm. ...It feels like a show for Clarkson completists.

All of this suspicion and continuous threat of violence makes Snowfall an unsettling, utterly compelling watch, since it’s removed its own set of guarantees.

Anything is possible. And that’s what makes this wild ride of a show so endlessly enjoyable, even in its third installment.

With naysayers proven wrong, the newly confident Bel-Air hits its stride in Season 2.

Despite some of the distracting flourishes, Killing County examines a topic that we don’t see a lot of in the true crime docuseries genre.

While Murdaugh Murders is a somewhat concise guide to the murder charges around Alex Murdaugh, there are better options out there.

The first two episodes feel like a missed opportunity, given the cast. But what we’re hoping is that things will get better as its first season goes along, and there’s enough there to keep us interested while hoping it gets better.

Stream it, but only if you really loved Season 1 of Carnival Row. The first episode of its final season is a big mess storywise, and doesn’t help viewers catch up from a first season that seems like it debuted eons ago.

It’s not the funniest sitcom out there, but there’s a lot of warmth and a lot of character-driven stories and humor.

It’s worth streaming Hello Tomorrow! for the visuals and for Crudup’s lead performance. But it’s going to need to show us more than what it’s showing in its first episode for us to continue past the first handful of episodes.

Cinematic, emotional, and actionably nostalgic, the third season of Star Trek: Picard feels like the truest representation of what returning Patrick Stewart and the TNG era was supposed to be for.

Animal Control‘s first couple of episodes elicited some big laughs and has already established an ensemble with some good chemistry. There’s nowhere to go here but up.

Wu-Tang: An American Saga mirrors and honors the expansive nature and broad range of creativity that defined Wu-Tang themselves, even if it sometimes struggles to hammer the whole thing into straightforward TV series storytelling.

Red Rose starts off on solid footing, setting up a season full scary twists and turns that we hope don’t get too ridiculous.

Despite the fact that the interview portions of African Queens: Njinga feel more like window dressing than anything else, the dramatic segments are well-written and acted, making those talking head segments less intrusive.

A series that may just be the first dating show of its kind that could be called prestige TV. ... Whether any of these people fall in love — it’s irrelevant. I’ve fallen in love with this gourmet Gordita and junk food has never been this filling nor tasted this exquisite. ... Perfect Match is your perfect match.

Despite our reservations about Delevingne as the host of Planet Sex With Cara Delevingne, the show manages to cover a lot of ground and still be informative about topics we thought we already knew a lot about.

This Valentine’s Day special is unexpectedly sweet in all the right places. It doesn’t shy away from how much Harley and Ivy care about each other, It’s fast, funny, and frantically horny. And if you’re a fan of Harley Quinn as a series, there’s plenty to love here, too.

With this hour, he allows us, too, to accept the inevitability of death and loss while also embracing the courage of feeling whatever grief or levity might come our way. Either way, we can put down the bat and pick up the feather. So to speak.

A home run. ... Marvel’s Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur is a dynamic, smart, visually arresting series that has a unique girl at its center, a puppy-like dinosaur, and stories that will entertain both kids and their parents.

If you’re a basketball fan, you’re surely familiar with the broad strokes of Bill Russell’s greatness, but if you want the whole story, Bill Russell: Legend is a worthwhile telling of it.

Stolen Youth isn’t just an informative look at a shocking case. It’s a well-made docuseries that’s always respectful to these survivors.

The show is and always has been an incredibly well-acted soap, buoyed by Badgley’s excellent lead performance, and its continued commitment to taking things to crazier places than it ever has makes it more than worth your while.

The first couple of episodes of The Ark are rough, because the characters take time to settle in. But the first episode brings up enough intrigue to make those episode worth watching until everyone finds their place in the story.

From hip hop’s inception and its emergence and growth, Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World offers a powerful message that connects influence, innovation, and a unifying beat to how we continue to think and speak about the artform today.

Not Dead Yet wastes the talents of Rodriguez and the rest of the cast in a show that’s shockingly unfunny.

As nascent true crime sensations go, a fan of the genre could do worse than Jack Murphy and the chronicle of Murf the Surf.

Season 2 of Bloodlands layers even more intrigue onto what’s generally a straightforward, unfussy detective drama, with James Nesbitt’s raw anger leading the way.

Season 2 of Harlem continues the winning formula from Season 1, thanks to its four great leads playing characters that are well thought-out.

There’s something incredibly charming and, dare I say, empowering about For the Love of DILFs lo-fi aesthetic.

Dear Edward has some good performances, but a lot of poorly-sketched characters shuffling their way through an extraordinarily bleak drama.

Do yourself a favor and show your kids the originals on Disney+, and pop in Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks to satisfy your own need for nostalgia. The Schoolhouse Rock! 50th Anniversary Singalong is just going to frustrate both you and your kids, and no one wants that.

Like On My Block, Freeridge is a fun show about a tight group of friends dealing with some strange goings-on in their neighborhood. Strong character development and confident lead performances make the show a very easy watch.

Gunther’s Millions presents an unbelievable story that goes from ridiculous to insane, but in a way that keeps the audience on its toes.

Brooker and his writing staff seem to be able to expertly balance the idea that, in the broad sense, what Cunk is saying as a presenter is correct, but her notions and opinions on those facts are completely bonkers. It’s that tension that makes Cunk On Earth work. ... Cunk On Earth is funny without straining for laughs.

The first episode of The Watchful Eye just shows characters being grafted onto lots and lots of plot, with no storytelling to speak of. It may get better, but we’re not going to be around to see if it does.

Boys In Blue isn’t an easy watch by any means, but it’s an important story worth telling, and the filmmakers walk a careful tightrope in telling it right.

Lockwood & Co. is a lively adaptation of the book series, helped along by good chemistry between its leads.

Nothing about Wolf Pack works for us, and there’s not nearly enough of Sarah Michelle Gellar to redeem everything else that’s wrong.

Whether you’ve read Hannah-Jones’ work or are coming to it for the first time, The 1619 Project is a fascinating look at the Black population’s significant contributions to the building of the U.S., with a nuanced approach that was never in our U.S. History books.

The first episode of Extraordinary sets up a pretty funny premise; we just hope that the joke that everyone in the world has powers except Jen doesn’t quickly wear out when the novelty of it does.

To put it simply, Poker Face is a triumph — for Johnson and Lyonne, for modern-day TV, for the mystery genre in general, and — crucially — for Peacock.

The first episode, where the group is in the middle of the Hydra rolling crisis, doesn’t exactly reestablish what each person’s role is in the company, but definitely goes a long way of reestablishing their characters, just by showing how they’re reacting to the ever-escalating crisis. ... The second episode shows that the storytelling is still a little inconsistent.

The biggest flaw in How I Met Your Father, even two seasons in, is that I still don’t care how it ends.

Shallcross brings an endearing, almost wholesome approachability to the series that makes you want to see how things turn out for him and his group.

Who’s winning here? Not the viewers, not the queens, and not even any of the Real Friends™. This show could have been a Reel.

A worthy and interesting follow-up. Vox Machina, as powerful as each of its members are, can’t tackle everything on its own. And while it might seem like a somewhat lazy premise to saddle the Vox Machina with fetch quests, there’s nothing quick or simple about finding the Vestiges.

Because Accused manages to tell the story of how the accused in each episode finds themselves in that position, and does so without a lot of gaps, makes the series worth a look.

If the show does start to lose you, it won’t be for long. (Unless, perhaps, you’re a real therapist.) Breezy episodes and clever writing ripe with undeniable jokes and razor-sharp relatability help anchor Shrinking‘s effective execution. But its greatest strength lies in a charming cast with excellent chemistry and characters you can’t help but root for.

If you put global politics aside Fauda is still a pulse-pounding show that is never boring to watch.

MILF Manor is cringe TV at its worst, and the cringe factor isn’t balanced by a cast with any remotely interesting personalities.

We think there will be enough of the original cast on screen to make watching That ’90s Show worthwhile. But we’re not sure if audiences are going to want to sit through the broad scenes featuring the teens to get to the good stuff.

If you want to see a pretty straightforward series about two best friends going down different paths, then the gentle drama of The Makanai: Cooking For The Maiko House should fill the bill.

Matthew Macfadyen is quite good as the somewhat vapid, wholly incompetent John Stonehouse. The rest of Stonehouse feels like it’s a bit light and trivial, but it wisely puts Macfadyen front and center in just about every scene.

The grim goings-on and generally sour worldview that Mayor of Kingstown established with its first season have not abated with the arrival of its second. But nor has the fine acting and character work that exists in its many one-on-one moments.

The new version has more than enough to like about it, and it gives us hope that as the writers figure out the supporting characters, the show will take off, just like the original one did.

If you go into The Price Of Glee with the right mindset, you’ll get some good information about just how much pressure the stars and crew of Glee were under. You have to basically ignore the producers’ attempts to link two of the stars’ deaths directly to the show itself, and definitely ignore their attempts to get any of the interviewees to call the show cursed.

A Frankensteined pilot. ... While there’s a lot to like about Alert: Missing Persons Unit, the generic cases of the week plus the logic leaps of some of the show’s storytelling lead us to believe that the show is going to contain more bad than good.

With a little bit less Cranston, a whole lot of confusing storytelling and characters that haven’t gotten any deeper than in Season 1, Your Honor‘s final season feels like an idea that was best left as just that: an idea.

Between Cumming’s scenery-chewing and the whole dynamic between the reality stars and the civilians make The Traitors fun to watch.

SKIP IT, unless you’re really into watching people climb rocks. Yes, The Climb looks spectacular, and yes, you get glimpses of Mamoa in each episode. But if you’re not into what’s going on during the contest, it’s going to get old fast.

Vikings: Valhalla is rich with history, the gore and glory of battle, and lusty romance. But its ensemble cast is also uniformly strong, with characters on all sides of the geopolitical and religious struggles at the heart of Valhalla having gained some valuable perspective.

Here We Go is one of those cases where the execution is so good that the fact that the concept isn’t fresh doesn’t matter.

This so-called origin story is off to a horrible start, and the few cheap laughs that you’ll find in the first episode don’t necessarily make it worth hanging around for 10 long, awful installments.

The characters in Koala Man are solid enough to make us think that the more time Cusack and his writers get to develop them, the better the show will get.

Break Point is not a serious examination of the state of tennis going into 2023, but it is a pulpy binge-watch that will introduce you to the next generation of tennis stars. To put it bluntly, Break Point gives pro tennis the Kardashian treatment.

There’s novelty to be found in Pressure Cooker’s combination of two familiar formats, but ultimately you’re not seeing anything here that you haven’t seen before.

Yet for all that is so clearly wonderful about this show, it’s a series that can never escape its roots. The Last of Us is hands-down one of the greatest and most inspired video game adaptations brought to screen. But that’s the problem, isn’t it? No matter how sharp the writing, how inspired the visuals, how awards-worthy the performances, this will always be an interactive story forced into a passive medium.

While there isn’t a ton of character development as The Rig starts, the acting is excellent, and it makes the tension that’s building on the Kinloch Bravo feel palpable.

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test does its best to really show that the celebrities who are going through this extraordinarily difficult training aren’t getting any special treatment, from either the staff or the producers. We give credit for the celebs for participating, and many giving honest reasons why, and it’ll be interesting to see who makes it until the end of the ten-day training stretch.

With so many characters harboring so many secrets, or in some cases, secret feelings toward each other, the tension is already building in episode one. It’ll be a fun ride watching where this season of Ginny & Georgia goes.

Despite the distracting reenactments, Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street imparts a lot of good information about Madoff’s psyche, the structure of his Ponzi scheme, and why people invested in it in the first place.

Despite its very casual pace, The Lying Life Of Adults has an interesting family story at its core that will inform how its main character comes of age.

While the procedural part of Will Trent needs a lot of improvement, the characters are so well-established from the start that the first two episodes are entertaining and make us want to see more.

Treason has more than enough tension and intrigue to span its 5-episode season. As long as it doesn’t get too bogged down with unnecessary side stories, the show should be very entertaining.

Viewers will be drawn into the main story in The Control Room. We hope, however, they’re not distracted by the piecemeal flashbacks that build the characters’ backstories.

STREAM IT, but we’re not sure if our recommendation is going to stay that way after the first episode. As the story of Paul T. Goldman gets more outrageous, the less funny we think this meta-meta series is going to be.

As far as the show goes, it’s some pretty light drama that’s not supposed to bring up any moral dilemmas or force viewers to dig for deeper meaning. Esposito elevates everything he’s in. ... So far, the rest of the team outside of Stan feel like one-dimensional characters, but those may also fill in during the rest of the episodes. But, as heist dramas go, Kaleidoscope tries to concentrate on the heist as much as possible, which is always a plus.

Despite the years between sequels, the cast of The Best Man: The Final Chapters is a well-oiled machine, and it shows in this new series.

Alice in Borderland is bloody, violent, and sometimes stingy with narrative facts. But it revels in making or breaking the rules it’s created for its topsyturvy world, and the core characters are compelling and fully rendered.

As far as Sonic productions go, this is a bland adventure that you’d be better served skipping to play the newest video game, Sonic Frontiers. The establishing episode is 45 minutes of schlock that might work well as a video game, but it doesn’t translate well to the small screen, with its muddled premise, eye-rolling dialogue, and downright boring story beats.

It won’t really make sense of you haven’t already seen I Hate Suzie season one. If you’ve already seen that, you’re definitely going to want to STREAM IT. (If you haven’t seen it, I suggest you binge all the available episodes this weekend.) This new Christmas-ish extension of the show dives deeper into Suzie’s turmoil and tragedy and it’s a marvel to watch Piper toggle between her emotions so seamlessly.

Part of Emily in Paris’ charm is that the show never takes itself too seriously. That charming tactic is implemented again in Season 3, but the writers make [a] refreshing, effective effort to give characters, storylines, and relationship dynamics some added depth this time around.

Berry handles this all with the understated, dignified charm longtime viewers of GBBS will find utterly familiar.

Jack Ryan has successfully evolved its formula of spycraft and gunfights to accommodate John Krasinski’s brand of charm. In other words, it’s solidly-built, with just enough of everything that a show in this genre requires.

Stream it, if only for the presence of Ford and Mirren, and the fact that we know that Sheridan’s shows get better as they go along. But the first episode of 1923 does not do the presence of its stars justice, has disjointed stories and a glacial pace.

The Recruit is a mostly silly show, but Centineo has more than enough charm to carry viewers through the more absurd parts of the season’s ongoing plot, and there are enough veteran actors in the supporting cast to make us think the comedy-thriller tone of the first episode will be able to be sustained for the entire season.

Recipes For Love And Murder is carried by a warm performance from Kennedy and a surprisingly gritty turn by Fisher. But the story takes turns that involve the viewer in its season-long arc, even if the tone is similar to the light-drama, light-comedic one that we see with most of the mystery shows on Acorn.

There is potential for Kindred to go awry if she show’s writers end up concentrating on the wrong side of Dana’s time travel adventure. But it’s definitely an intriguing premise that brings up so many questions that we’ll keep watching to see if they’re answered.

Stellar characters, great performances, killer action, and — once again — some of the best costuming work on television can go a long way in covering up structural flaws. This year, I was promised a badass fantasy show, and I got one. It just wasn’t the one I expecting.

Little America continues to give positive stories about the immigrant experience in the U.S. without glossing over problems or covering things over with a thick layer of sweetness. The stories are inspirational but grounded in reality, and the second season is as entertaining as the first.

South Side is the kind of second-by-second hilarious where seemingly every line is telling its own joke. And at a breezy 30 minutes, you can fill out the hour laughing.

Harry & Meghan feels like a genuine and honest story of what it’s like behind palace doors.

Both sides of this story are interesting enough to sustain episodes where we go back and forth, waiting for the two of them to come together.

The necessary biopic parts are all here. But George & Tammy is buoyed remarkably by its two terrific leads, with Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain embodying the best and worst about the country stars as both distinct individuals and two people in a loving but combative celebrity relationship.