Hysteria! is funny, loves heavy metal, and does up its 1980s setting well. But it’s also having a real good time keeping us on the back foot.

Happy’s Place is a throwback sitcom that relies on character humor instead of broad gags, and that’s always something that we will root for.

Despite the fact that the huge cast and massive number of storylines made us dizzy, Rivals is deliciously and unapologetically trashy, and we have to give the show credit for that.

Despite the “howcatechem” aspect of Elsbeth being less than satisfying, Preston is so good as the title character we will put up with unsatisfying cases just to watch Elsbeth do her thing.

Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage has a leg up on most of Lorre’s sitcoms because it starts with characters we already know and care about. Because of that, Lorre and company can delve into the more emotional parts of their relationships and let the funny come when it comes. There were a few funny moments during the first two episodes, but we hope those laughs come more often as the show becomes more established.

Even if you’ve never seen an episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, you’ll get a lot out of seeing Bloom speak openly about grief while keeping it harmonious.

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo thrives in the courtroom scenes that pepper Lincoln Lawyer. .... Lincoln Lawyer is also at its best when its centerpiece attorney is in reaction mode to the moves being made by the people in his personal and professional lives, which increasingly overlap.

Like most modern game shows, Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity would be better if either the episodes were shorter or more than one contestant was brought on per episode. If that were the case, we can forgive the relative uselessness of the celebrities as a trade-off for the entertainment factor they bring. And Travis Kelce definitely has a Michael Strahan-esque future in media, given how much fun he is as host.

In the second season of Shrinking, Lawrence’s patented “found family” vibe is in place, with different segments of the excellent cast mixing and matching easily in storylines that feel earned and unforced.

Coleman delivers her lines in such a stiff manner, you wonder if Jolie is really upset or just annoyed. In general, though, the show is inoffensive fare that you can watch with your teens and tweens.

Tracker‘s appeal [lies] mostly in Justin Hartley’s empathetic performance, a carryover from his This Is Us days. Otherwise, it’s a fairly standard procedural whose weekly cases are rarely compelling.

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.

Calamy’s performance as the delusional Chris makes The Confidante a very intriguing series. We just hope that the Bataclan attack is more of a factor in the show than just being the launching point for Chris’ lies.

The first episode of Starting 5 is titled “Meet the Hoopers”, and it’s clearly focused on introductions, but the notion that introductions are necessary is pretty silly, given the star caliber we’re talking about here.

Hey, this thing is creepy. Teacup thrusts us into the everyday life of a family who must navigate their own internal problems as the world around them becomes increasingly unsettling. And weird! And probably morebloody!

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft has action, mystery, and a sincere emotional core that combine to form a fleshed-out world and story that will pique your interest. With plenty of compelling plotlines, questions, and characters set up in the first episode, we look forward to continuing on with them to see where this exciting adventure will lead.

Outer Banks season four is charging ahead with a solid new adventure while leaning into the cast of characters these actors have honed and developed over the past four years. The chemistry between all of these personalities feels real, and there’s a creaky, spooky vibe surrounding their new mission that adds to the fun.

As the first spinoff from Citadel, Citadel: Diana carries over and adds to that show’s world-building, establishes its own international flavor, and maintains an urgency driven by Diana’s double agent intentions.

Season 2 is bringing just as much drama, humor, and self-referential winking to the camera [as Season 1], and that’s all reason enough for all of us to STREAM IT.

“Look how much fun I’m having,” Wong says at one point. We can tell. And her joy at finding love again, or even at just rediscovering dating now that she has some newfound power in the dynamic, makes it fun for us to go along for the ride with her.

The chemistry between Bernal and Luna is at the heart of La Máquina, and we hope that the show’s producers lean on that for the rest of the season.

We like the cast of The Inheritance enough to keep watching, but it feels that the show is too distracted by lots of side stories to really concentrate on the mystery at its center.

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.

Citizen Nation is the antidote to every show you’ve seen about teens lately. These teens don’t care about internet fame; they care about restoring dialogue to the discourse in this country, and it’ll be fun to see them all getting ready for and competing in We The People.

There’s enough we liked about the first two episodes of The Franchise to recommend it, but we wonder how far the show’s accomplished producers can push the “crazy production of a high-budget film” theme without making things either absurd or annoying.

Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson is one of TV’s most beloved characters and as long as she’s there, the show is worth watching. But, boy, they couldn’t have come up with a more generic season premiere if they tried.

While not quite as intense as its first season, the second season of Suspect is still very watchable because of the well-paced half-hour episodes and a cast that can handle its tell-don’t-show storytelling.

Gremlins: The Wild Batch continues the pre-movie mythology of the Mogwai with good voice acting, fun action sequences and expressive animation.