The songs and videos of We The People are entertaining, but they also do a good job of connecting with their intended audience and making the concepts that are sung about stick in young brains.

City Of God: The Fight Rages On is a touch confusing to those who didn’t watch the original 2002 film, but has potential to be a tense thriller of a series after the first episode, which introduces us to characters both old and new.

Packed with humor, heart, and some of the coolest action scenes of the year, it’s a show that will leaving you alternatively screaming at and cheering for your television. Resident Evil is simply a great time.

Our Kind Of People is a frothy show with a more serious underlying message about wealth, racism and women supporting each other. If you miss Empire, it should fill that hole in your schedule quite nicely.

We’re not 100 percent sold on Chad Powers yet, but if it concentrates on the redemption arcs and steps away from the goofiness, it should be a satisfying show to watch.

It shows so much proficiency in creating these deeply-imagined addendums to established worlds, all we want is more.

The performances and potential for lots of twists makes His & Hers a show that we want to see more of. But the first episode needed to give viewers a few more crums of contextual information in order for it to make more story sense.

The show touches on so many topics that can make for really compelling drama, but there seems to be a penchant for the show to default to action scenes and “scary cartel” tropes more often than not. ... We’re OK with a more action-oriented, good guy-bad guy show because Yung and the rest of the cast do a good job with the material they’re given.

Come for the celebrity jokes and encounters, stay for the kinder, gentler message, and use the Notes app to write a note to self to look into a flip phone.

Despite some clever writing and decent performances, Joe Vs. Carole can’t really add to the craziness that the real-life Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin showed in Tiger King and all of its offshoots.

While everyone does a good job in their roles, the story at the center of The Rainmaker feels like something we’d see in a CBS law procedural, not a Grisham-based legal drama.

The drama has everything to keep viewers invested, turned on, and watching, potentially even in one sitting. It’s a fun, steamy escape and who would dare pass up one of those?

By flipping the perspective, Payback gives the traditional British crime thriller a somewhat fresher look, but it’s the show’s leads that really get our attention.

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.

Parish is a rather generic crime drama with shallowly-sketched characters. But Esposito makes it watchable, purely because we love seeing how he portrays his character’s barely-controlled rage.

This is more of a hopeful recommendation than a wholehearted one. There are lots of good elements to The Institute that just don’t seem to come together well in the first episode. But the hope is that they will coalesce as the series goes along. But there’s just as good a chance that the show will devolve into a mess of untied narrative threads.

This performance is so raw, director Jason Orley leaves in not just the parts Davidson says he’d cut from the special, but also the aside the comic makes to him from onstage about a joke he wants left in, too.

Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is good enough that franchise completists aren’t going to cringe while watching it, and it may be a good way to introduce younger kids to the franchise. But we just wish it was a little scarier, and the character animation a little less weird.

Because a) there’s the seeds of a good character-driven sitcom there, and b) Lorre and his writers have a track record of improving their shows. They’ll get every chance in the world to make it a decent show, but it’s not one right now.

We still think that Memory Of A Killer has the potential to go in directions other thrillers haven’t, simply because of the cognitive decline Dempsey’s character will be suffering through. But through the first two episodes, there’s not enough of that to make the show feel much different than other conspiracy thrillers of recent vintage.

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.

The jury is still out for us whether The Veil will be worth the time investment; on first glance there doesn’t seem to be enough story there, but Moss, Charles and Knight give us hope that things will pick up.

The first episode of Freud is a bit confusing, but if you put the real Sigmund Freud out of your mind, you should be able to buckle in and enjoy the ride on this psychological thriller.

We might be getting to the point where we may want a break from Love Is Blind. But, so far, Season 8 is interesting enough to keep watching, even if the first episode felt more generic than what we’ve seen during the past few seasons.

The cast of Zero Day is the main reason why we’re going to keep watching, but the final moments of the first episode gave the story more intrigue than what we’ve seen from terrorism thrillers in the recent past.

While we’re skeptical that the twists and turns of Imperfect Women are really going to surprise us, we are curious enough about those twists and turns to keep watching.

Bridge And Tunnel is potentially a good show, with some funny situations and a good amount of drama in the mix. Burns’ dialogue is generally spot on and well-delivered by the cast. But by the end of the first episode, there wasn’t one character we could latch onto and root for or against.

The original Law & Order is the TV comfort food we need right now. Whether the show will really go deep into examining the reality of policing in the post-George-Floyd era is still to be determined. But, judging by the first episode, it’s going in the right direction.

Pieces of Her is fast food storytelling presented on a high end plate. Collette and Shapiro do their best to lend depth to an otherwise shallow story. Which means if you just want a tawdry thriller to zone out to, Pieces of Her will suffice. But if, like me, you want something deeper, you’ll find Pieces of Her’s biggest mystery will be how this tonally mismatched, structurally messy show came to be.

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.

Three Women might have worked better as an anthology, but in its current format, it has too many superfluous elements and not enough actual drama.

While we liked the performances of Whitehall, Duchovny and van Houten, Malice really doesn’t give the viewers much in the way of dramatic momentum in the first episode, and the show doesn’t know whether it wants to be funny or scary.

You’re better off watching Squid Game again than watching the cynical, depressing mess that is Squid Game: The Challenge.

The thing that’s frustrating about Anatomy of a Scandal is that it’s ostensibly about serious issues like sexual violence, entitlement, and grey areas of the law, but it’s actually just a stupidly breezy thriller.

Despite our misgivings, we still enjoyed Camden. We just wish that we got a more historical perspective on the neighborhood before we heard about more modern artists.

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.

Even though the first episode of The Premise was uneven, there was enough there to make us want to watch the other episodes. Mainly we want to see if the big swings Novak takes in each episode connect, or if they’re admirable strike outs.

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

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.

Stay Close benefits from fine performances and a story that gives just enough clues in the first episode to keep viewers intrigued and — more importantly — not frustrated with purposely obtuse writing.

Whether it’s a good murder mystery is still up in the air after the first two episodes. But damn if Nash-Betts doesn’t completely command our attention during her copious screen time.

The scripted visuals here fill things in quite well because Berlinger keeps them weird and odd, like the hotel itself. ... Considering the complexities of the Lam case, plus the Cecil Hotel’s history, no one can claim that Crime Scene: The Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel is padded out. We’re actually wondering how they’ll cover everything in 4 episodes.

If the new Gossip Girl can loosen its grip enough to let its Upper East Siders become the actual bullies they not-so-secretly are, there’s a chance it may capture something great once again. If not, Gossip Girl may need to sign off, for good.

It’s going to be a reluctant STREAM IT from us. The series has a lot left to accomplish to roll the tide, but if Netflix invests time in the show to establish the characters and build on the storyline, it can easily build towards something bigger and scarier, and less mismatched.

Once things settled down, we appreciated the thoughtful approach of the new series. ... Padalecki’s version of Cordell Walker has a real family situation he needs to address, all the while trying to protect his home state from drug cartels and other bad guys. It’s a refreshing new take on a character that was very one-dimensional in the 1990s.

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.

While Rescue: HI-Surf isn’t the deepest drama we’ve seen, the rescue scenes combined with Wells’ knowledge of how to build characters around the action give us confidence that the series has potential.

Really, the only reason to watch A Man In Full is to see Daniels swagger his way through six episodes as Charlie Croker. The rest of the show has some fine actors, but we have no idea if they’ll get any kind of meaty stories in such a brief series.

Lopez Vs. Lopez isn’t the “next great sitcom” or anything close. But the dynamic between George and Mayan Lopez is fun to watch, making up for the more generic parts of the series.

ABC’s new sitcom, Shifting Gears, is pretty damn good.

We’re not looking for edge with Amazing Stories, but in 2020 even family-oriented shows should have more complex and less Hallmark-Channel-worthy stories than what we saw from the first episode.

Believe it or not, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 2 might be even better than Season 1.

It’s a bit of a sprawling mess, made worse by a first episode that bounces around its timeline and doesn’t take the time to really figure out why Rebecca turns from normal research scientist to Elon Musk.

While it could have been a bit more informative, it does seem that Superpowered: The DC Story touches upon some aspects of the company’s history that aren’t their proudest moments, which is always welcome in projects like this.

Ted had the potential to be a heartwarming show with good coming-of-age stories — at least as heartwarming as a show about a pot-smoking, cursing, bigoted teddy bear could muster — but the episodes are drawn out by Seth MacFarlane-style gags to the point where we got bored.

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.

Boo, Bitch is a show whose main characters do more than enough to carry a show that has mostly generic secondary characters in an overdone genre. Without Condor and Colletti playing the main roles, the show would have been very forgettable.

It’s good enough to stay with, that’s for sure. It does feel like, though, that the aliens are going to be beside the point in this show, kind of like the zombies became after the first season of The Walking Dead. And we’re not sure we want to see yet another series where other people are way worse than the unknown enemy that’s invading our world.

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.

In many ways, My Life With The Walter Boys is typical teen romance fare. But it’s pleasant enough, and Nikki Rodriguez’ lead performance is compelling enough, to keep us watching.

While Strip Law has its moments, it’s most a loud, gag-heavy comedy that doesn’t really take its time to make its main characters into real people.

Perhaps as things go along, we’ll see more development from these characters. But it may also be that Halston is the only one we see any kind of depth from. And that feels like a missed opportunity. ... McGregor’s performance ties together the flatter characters that are depicted in Halston’s orbit. Despite the broad strokes, five episodes sounds just about right for this series.

Nurses is a Frankenstein monster’s mess of piece-parts from other, better medical dramas.

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.

Despite Kenneth Branagh’s brilliant transformation into Boris Johnson, This England takes too much time rehashing the beginnings of the response to COVID-19 as if they were 20 years ago instead of something that, even though it was almost four years ago, still feels like it happened yesterday to most of us.

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.

While we’re not convinced that Dexter: Original Sin will be as compelling as the early years of the original series, we’re hoping that the new cast develops their own chemistry instead of trying to imitate the dynamic of the original show’s cast.

STREAM IT, but only for the fantastic racing scenes. If you’re looking for a show that’s got any drama that happens off the track, Senna will probably disappoint.

The drama (all eight episodes were provided for review) never seems to settle on whether this corrupt and eccentric woman is the hero or the villain of her own story, the aggressor or the victim. Watching Sarah Paulson navigate those extremes is chilling. ... These inconsistencies work together to make Nurse Ratched more terrifying in her unpredictability. ... But where Ratched really shines is through its stylized love of gore.

We’re still largely “meh” about Nine Perfect Strangers, but the show’s second season is marginally better than its first.

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.

It is terrible. ... The First Lady will draw viewers in who want to see great actresses play great women, but unfortunately the show’s abysmal writing lets us all down. The scripts are honestly insulting to the real women The First Lady is about.

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

The series is enjoyable though extremely forgettable.

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.

The Woman In The House Across The Street From The Girl In The Window is a smart parody of a very parody-ripe genre, but it also works well because Kristen Bell plays the main role with the right degree of seriousness.

If the cases of the week get a little better, and the backstories of the regular characters — especially the biggest one — are written well, Found has the potential to be an above average network procedural.

Mulligan is derivative. You can’t avoid that truth. But it shows some promise, and is just funny enough to warrant your attention for another episode or three.

Yes, it’s an infomercial and yes, the NBCU ads during the “commercial breaks” are pure puffery. But there are more than enough funny moments to keep you watching. Just keep your finger poised over that one-minute skip button; you’ll need it.

Even if you’re a fan of the Kardashians, the whole more-of-the-same vibe of The Kardashians is just a crashing bore.

There are parts of Last Days Of The Space Age that we liked, but the storytelling is too much of a shambling mess to keep our interest.

Right now, it’s more of the two of them feeling each other out, and how the very experienced and skilled Mary and her friends will train the newbie in how to keep themselves safe. ... This isn’t This Is Us, after all. But given how quickly the “Scooby gang” of this show has been established, The Winchesters is off to a decent, albeit familiar, start.

While acting and visuals in the first episode are excellent, and we have some hope that Lisey’s Story will go beyond just imagery and symbolism and give us an actual story, it feels like it will ultimately end up being a bit too frustrating to follow week-to-week.

Those About To Die is too muddled, with too many characters, to even enjoy for the sex and violence, of which there’s quite a bit.

There are enough good things about the show to think it’ll work eventually, but it might never click on all cylinders like the parent show did at its peak.

The great cast of Suspect saves the show from being a leaden disaster, but the story underpinning all that capital-A acting isn’t all that interesting.

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.

It feels like Suspicion is a bunch of espionage scenes in search of a cohesive story. The story may reveal itself at some point, but right now, the whole operation feels bland and generic, to the point where we don’t think we’ll be engaged with the story in subsequent episodes.

If the first season can clear up some of the confusion and expand the world beyond the recruits, we expect things to get very interesting.

As much as we couldn’t take our eyes off Gugu Mbatha-Raw during the first episode of Surface, her performance can’t save a show that doesn’t seem to have enough story to justify an 8-episode series.

There is a germ of a good overall show there, especially because Kyla-Drew is already a mature comedic performer at the tender age of 17. The relationship between Sasha and Brian will be the key to whether Dad Stop Embarrassing Me! becomes anything but a showcase for Foxx to do his shtick.

None of the cast is interesting enough to want to follow, even after watching the first two episodes. It also doesn’t help to see rich people buying massive houses during a summer where none of us can go anywhere and many of us don’t have jobs anymore.

Fred And Rose West: A British Horror Story does a good job of utilizing the audio and video recordings that are the docuseries’ centerpiece, while not getting in the weeds of what is a very complex story about the Wests and their victims.

Despite the performances in the first episode, this remake of American Gigolo just doesn’t have enough going on to justify an 8-episode series, and it’ll likely get really boring and frustrating before it gets interesting.

Despite the ever-charming presence of Cuoco and fantastic European vistas, Vanished just feels slight and predictable, and even borderline implausible.

This workplace comedy feels more silly than sharp.

While we saw some flashes of that potential in the first episode, we’re not sure how hard the show will strive to take advantage of those flashes.

We’re recommending Turner & Hooch mostly for the dog. ... Without Hooch, the show is mostly a generic basic-cable mystery series; if it can’t develop better relationships between its characters, the dog will still be the only thing keeping us watching.