The first episode of I Hate Suzie was an effective exercise in seeing a person’s life fall apart around them in short order. But we’re really intrigued with seeing Piper’s interpretation of how Suzie tries to put the pieces back together.

All American: Homecoming has some generic elements that we hope get straightened out over time, but its compelling cast and some of the potential stories set up by the first episode have us intrigued.

The Sercrets Of Hillsong is an effective picture of a megachurch that tried to modernize the old-fashioned Pentecostal service, despite being not only just as ultra-conservative as other evangelical ministries, but in possession of lots and lots of secrets.

Luke Grimes is up to the challenge of leading a Yellowstone spin-off as Kayce Dutton, as Marshals inserts his character and all that family lore into an action-procedural, very familiar CBS-type series.

Dept. Q spends a lot of its first episode in misdirection mode, but by the end it has set up an intriguing case that’s being followed by an interesting-to-watch group of cops.

It’s Bon Jovi’s own decision-making that figures into the biggest dramatic hook in Thank You, which is the whys and hows of Sambora’s departure, and that will certainly keep us watching.

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

While The Snoopy Show isn’t the Peanuts comeback some diehard fans might want, it’s still fun to watch Snoopy, Woodstock and the gang hang out together, even if the episodes are more kid oriented than usual.

Death Valley is a funny mystery series with a good pairing at its center. Let’s hope the mysteries improve as the season goes along.

Dinner With The Parents is one of those shows that is elevated by the cast. Nothing about the show is particularly fresh or inventive, and some of the writing is maddeningly inconsistent. But the cast manages to take the material and make it funny.

A warm, inviting atmosphere and a group of characters that we enjoy spending time with. The mysteries themselves are hit and miss, but that tends to be the SOP for cozy mysteries like these.

The show doesn’t try to go for cheap gags but instead roots all of its comedy in the characters and the found family that populates Happy’s Place (the bar as well as the series). That continues in the second season, with a couple of twists that will make the season a little more interesting.

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.

Little Fires Everywhere has issues, but it’s a very watchable show that should be buoyed by Witherspoon’s and Washington’s performances.

Crime Scene Kitchen is enjoyable because of Joel McHale, full stop. Everything else on the show is fungible, except for the guessing game you will have once you see the evidence left in that crime scene. Either way, it’ll make you hungry, which is always a good sign of a cooking show.

As with most docuseries of this type, your enjoyment of Trial By Media will vary from episode to episode, but will also vary with how much you know and remember about a particular episode’s case. But what Toobin and Brill are trying to accomplish is noble.

Bad Mistakes works mostly because we like watching Levy and Ortega’s chemistry as siblings, and we’ll always be there to see Laurie Metcalf do her thing. We’re just wondering how silly things are going to get during this show’s first season.

We’ll give Echo 3 the benefit of the doubt because it’s taking a more thoughtful and deliberate tack than most military shows. But boy, do things go pretty slowly to start.

Led by strong work from Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton, and Aaron Paul, the sleek visual aesthetic Westworld works with allows it to coast on its own cool weirdness whenever the plotting starts to chase its own tail.

Indian Matchmaking isn’t too much different than other matchmaking and dating shows, except it brings thousands of years of tradition into the mix, and there’s a much better chance that the matches that are made at the end of the season will last.

I thoroughly enjoyed WWE: Unreal, but your mileage may vary based on your expectations.

While we wish Clean Slate was funnier and took a bit longer to have Harry accept that Desiree is now a woman, it feels like it’s going to be a warm show about rebuilding relationships and Southern small town life. Given the presence of Cox, Wallace and Hopkins, we’re on board for this one.

The ghost hunting part is sometimes played up for camp and at tother times taken very seriously by members of the team. Listen, those parts are going to either be wildly entertaining or come off as complete horseshit, depending on what you believe about the presence of spirits. But the emotions expressed by the team and the bond they’re forging with each other and the people they help is real.

If you approach Echo like the five-episode movie that it is, you’ll be a lot more satisfied with the pace of the limited series’ storytelling. It’s certainly darker than much of the MCU fare we’ve been seeing, but it’s also one of the MCU series that’s most grounded in reality and family, which is refreshing to see.

No Man’s Land presents an intriguing story of a man getting sucked into the fight against ISIS, joining forces with the little-known (at least in the West) YBJ.

Tension arrives quickly in the series, as they realize it won’t be like making and hustling their own content. They have to build reality show-like alliances, and factor in the opposite, a mutual agreement to oust more powerful players. It’s a different skill set, and it will be interesting to see who can best blend what made them social media influencers in the first place with the age-old concept of real life human interaction.

The Faithful: Women Of The Bible spins a compelling view of the book of Genesis that hasn’t been explored to this point, with performances that humanize the figures being featured, overcoming some clumsy writing.

Live to 100 leans away from woo-woo and self-promotion, and gives us a reasonably compelling investigation into longevity.

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.

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.

Despite a squinchy mystery at the center of the first episode, the overarching story of Signora Volpe, with a good performance from Emilia Fox, is enough to keep us watching.

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.

This version of One Piece is off the wall without being over the top, a highly necessary distinction illustrating that it’s far more watchable than not.

There are good parts to Halo, and scenes and characters that should interest to new and old fans. But at least in its first two episodes, there is also room to grow. Halo has the potential to be the big-budget, hugely-watched space epic it wants to be. It just needs to take a breath and focus on its story — instead of its backstory — to do that.

While it could be a touch funnier, Mo is very watchable because of Mo Amer as well as its cross-cultural focus.

Yes, Chef! may just be a bigger-budget version of Top Chef, but the show has gotten together a group of 12 excellent chefs and two cooking show experts as hosts/judges. It may not break new ground, but the season should be entertaining.

Anger toward the financial industry that just keeps churning, and how it broke so many regular folks in the wake of the 2008 crash and resulting twenty-nine-trillion-dollar mistake, gives some solid ground to Gaming Wall Street. It gives root to the narrative, a narrative that can occasionally feel like a printout of a particularly hyperactive online comment field.

The producers of Our Living World take a novel approach to the nature docuseries, showing different ways living beings on this planet are connected. Sometimes those connections are a bit strained, but the footage that is being used outweighs a lot of those flaws.

Watching Jerry Before Seinfeld may feel more comforting in this moment than watching 23 Hours To Kill. But whether you think he’s great or he sucks, well, you’re not far off from the truth, either way.

We hope that there will be more rule shakeups this season on Top Chef, as the show had started to become a bit rote over its past half-a-dozen seasons or so. But with the change in when immunity is won, and the new perspective Kish gives as host, Season 21 is off to a good start.

It continues to be solid as the Conners’ story comes to an end.

The way that Lightfoot has led the viewers down this path is intriguing.

If you’re as fascinated with Wood’s life and career as we are, Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind will be a font of information you may not have already known about. But it certainly isn’t a place to get the definitive account of her death, because even those most intimately involved with her have no idea what happened.

Parasyte: The Grey has enough action to hold viewers’ interest, but the story of Su-in’s mutant existence is also what’s going to keep us watching.

Because of the performances of Keke Palmer and the fantastic supporting cast, we’re all in on The ‘Burbs, despite some concerns about aspects of the plot that won’t get the attention they deserve.

It’s easy to dismiss Hoops as just curse-filled and crass. But the cast is great, and you start to root for Coach Hopkins and his team by the end of the first episode. It isn’t always funny, but it’s just funny enough and has enough heart to be a decent show.

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.

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.

Despite its flaws, Amend: The Fight For America is a very informative docuseries about a piece of our Constitution that is the most misunderstood and overlooked, especially given its importance to how we live our lives in the U.S.

Mob War: Philadelphia Vs. The Mafia presents its story without a lot of narrative trickery, and just lets the many-layered drama of mob business do the talking.

Breeders’ stark reality of what it’s like to parent young kids these days hits us right in our exhausted funny bones.

There is enough that’s interesting about Irreverent to keep watching for a few episodes. We hope we see more town and Paulo’s nemesis Mack than the tired stuff about Paulo trying to keep from getting killed by the mob.

While The Jinx – Part Two is still worth watching, it feels not nearly as essential and compelling as the original series was, and some of its more meta moments left us scratching our heads.

Man Vs. Baby is the kind of show that you can put on and just laugh without thinking too hard, which is likely the exact reaction Atkinson and Davies wanted the audience to have.

The format of How To Become A Cult Leader isn’t quite as grating as its predecessor, How To Become A Tyrant, and that leaves room for the show to provide a lot of information about how the cult leaders it’s profiling managed to wield so much influence.

Midnight Family comes off as a bit soapy at times, but we get to see an aspect of how the medical field works in a place like Mexico City, along with a bunch of rescues that might be thrilling, tragic, silly or all three.

While, like most anthologies, the stories are uneven, Creepshow still has good stories that combine creepy, scary and funny in the right proportions.

Patience shows that its title character’s autism is an asset rather than a problem, and while there are time when Bea is a little flummoxed by Patience’s habits and routines, the show more often than not shows what a neurodivergent person can bring to a complex job like policing.

Season 17 may not be the best season of the long-running comedy as it will always have its formative years, filled with now potentially cancelable jokes and bits, to look back on, but as far as modern Sunny seasons go, this is one of the funniest. .... When it’s good, it’s really good. When it struggles, you can tell they may have hit a brick wall.

Pat’s psychiatric facility, with its generically inky green light, screaming patients strapped to gurneys, and generally depressing air is pretty over the top, and a house creaking in its joints and beckoning people through suddenly open doors doesn’t really grab us. It’s almost like Shining Vale needs to go for the horror jugular first, before it integrates its solid jokes and noteworthy themes.

Heist is a change of pace from the usual Netflix true crime docuseries, which by itself warrants a recommendation. Whether you think that these heists and the people who pulled them off deserve such an upbeat spotlight is up to you, but the series itself is visually interesting and well-executed.

While the structure of Rage is sometimes dizzying, the performances by the show’s cast make it compelling to watch, as are the connections they all have with each other.

There’s a vague sense that we’re listening in on a group of people chatting about these issues over wine, beer and food in a fashion that feels above the fray and a bit disconnected. That was likely not Luna’s intention, but that’s how it comes off. ... Luna is a very curious dinner host, egging on the discussions on Pan y Circo with knowing and educated questions. We just hope that all the discussions are as passionate and animated as the one about femicide was.

After dozens of adventurous movies and the visionary WandaVision, I feel confident that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is going to take flight and soar—but right now we’re still on the runway.

Jungle has an arresting visual style, and its rap and drill soundtrack layers in more interesting elements. We’ll see how well those layers play together as the stories get more complicated.

While the evacuation aspect of Families Like Us makes us almost as queasy as one of the characters became while hearing that news, it does set up an interesting circumstance to explore family bonds and how they change in extreme situations.

As long as you know what you’re getting yourself into, STREAM IT to see what Sherman is like outside of the constraints of NBC and 30 Rock. Just note it might not be a great idea to eat or think about eating while watching this!

The ensemble on Family Law is appealing enough that we get the feeling that, once Nielsen and her writers tweak Saite’s character a bit, the show will be a funny, light law drama that’s entertainingly quirky.

The challenges themselves are all standard-grade challenges, some more sophisticated than others, and Khare is a fine host. ... Karma’s contestants are a group of diverse, intelligent, and kind kids who will quickly realize that the kinder they are to each other, the farther they’ll go.

The Peripheral does a good job at setting up two future worlds that are relatable to a wide audience, and Moretz is great as Flynne.

How much do you love Barbie? Because that will determine if you want to watch this show. For every scene that emphasizes design and construction, there’s a scene that explains the history and legacy of Barbie, so you really need to care about this iconic doll to get the most out of the show. If that appeals to you, I say go ahead and STREAM IT!

Fit For TV: The Reality Of The Biggest Loser doesn’t reveal anything new to people who were fans of the reality competition series. But it definitely does a good job of showing exactly why it was popular and why it was a dangerous show for its contestants.

Although Our Flag Means Death isn’t laugh-a-minute, it’s got a good-enough story to set up a unique workplace comedy. It may take a few episodes, but the funny stuff will come once the ensemble is well-established.

The Cost of Winning is more feature-profile than hard journalism. But it’s at least a thoughtful, well-made and engaging feature-profile.

The storytelling chaos that Loki sews can cause headaches. But this series remains worthwhile and entertaining because its cast is so great. Tom Hiddleston, Wunmi Mosaku, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Owen Wilson, and Sophia Di Martino keep us in this thing even as the premise sometimes skids along the edge of a deep, unknowable chasm.

In Treatment is saved by the performances by Aduba and the people playing her patients. But this is a show that feels like it’s from another time, despite the up-to-date references throughout.

While the show isn’t consistently funny, Kitty Flanagan makes Fisk an appealing-enough workplace comedy.

The jury’s still out on whether the procedural part of So Help Me Todd will ever be a strong part of the show. But the chemistry between Harden and Astin, along with the deep story possibilities that the Wright family could generate, more than makes up for the lack of procedural heft.

It’s not supposed to be a program that looks expertly crafted, or even consistent in terms of the quality of comedy. But we were surprised at how much we enjoyed most of the videos shown, and we were shocked at how much we actually laughed.

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 Drowning has some aspects that are a little on the unbelievable side, but for the most part it’s a well-written, well-acted psychological mystery.

The Serpent Queen has just enough irreverence to make what could have been a boring period story a lot more interesting, emphasizing Catherine de’ Medici’s cunning over being prim and proper.

When MaryLand concentrates on Becca and Rosaline re-bonding while seeking answers about their mother, the series works the best, thanks the performances from Jones and Best. The rest of the stories surrounding the sisters feel like filler that won’t really have much to do with the general direction of the series.

While the near-future shown in Tomorrow + I might be a little dystopian, it’s far from bleak, and that little sliver of hope is always welcome in a show like this.

The Lake is a coming-of-age show that isn’t trying to be for kids, but is also trying to tell a multi-layered story with smart, character-driven jokes, which it succeeds to do most of the time.

Like its parent show, The Rookie: Feds is watchable because of its star and very little else. But Nash-Betts is just so damn watchable that you’ll enjoy the series despite any reservations you may have.

While the beginning of The Sandman‘s final season is a bit of a exposition-crammed slog, it does show Dream entering a story that feels like it’ll have a lot of possibilities.

NCIS: Origins is a solid NCIS prequel that promises some backstory for Gibbs while introducing us to how the agency operated when even other government agencies had no idea it existed.

At least trying to offer a glimmer of humanity beyond all of the government agency carrying on and mysterious international evildoing.

Claim To Fame isn’t high art, but it’s fun to guess along with the housemates, even if you can Google your guesses and find out who the housemates are before they’re revealed on the show.

This new version of A League Of Their Own explores territory that the original movie didn’t even attempt to explore. Whether that makes the series a coherent whole is yet to be seen. But it certainly is off to a good start.

More often than not, that structure comes off stiff and clunky rather than genuine and flowing. ... That’s not to say that the dialogue from Gaby Chiappe, who adapted Cecil Day-Lewis’ novel (though seems to change quite a bit, including Frances’ gender) isn’t sharp. It’s what we enjoyed about the first episode the most, including Jumbo’s and Howle’s performances (Harris doesn’t appear until Episode 2). But we just wish Frances’ way to George didn’t look so damned easy.

While there are a lot of absurd elements in The Gardener, the elements are grounded enough in reality to make them seem plausible. And the more plausible this show seems, the better it will be.

No one is going to mistake Ransom Canyon for prestige television. But it’s certainly a soapy, guilty pleasure, anchored by performances from Duhamel and Kelly that make you want to see both of their characters get what they want, which is each other.

While 4400 may need to smooth down some of its more noticeable tone hiccups, it has set up a very interesting mystery with undertones of issues that are very relevant to 2021.

All the Sharks has the potential to bring David Attenborough fans and competitive reality TV connoisseurs together for the first time in history.

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.

While the mystery in C.B. Strike: The Ink Black Heart is a bit slowly-paced, we do appreciate the elbow room the writers have to explore the lives and relationships of Strike, Robin and the other series regulars.