Under The Bridge has more than enough complications to make for compelling drama, and the first episode gives viewers just enough information about the case to hook them in without getting them frustrated.

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.

There’s going to be a lot of quirky characters, a lot of stylistic filmmaking techniques used, and a very solid sense of place and time that permeates the entire narrative. That tends to be a good thing, and it will serve this narrative well. We just hope that The Sympathizer doesn’t get distracted by its gimmicks and focuses on Captain’s story.

We’re recommending Franklin because we were pleasantly surprised with how well Michael Douglas slipped into the role of Benjamin Franklin. But the rest of the show left us mostly bored.

There is actual potential in the new animated version of Good Times, but Shepard and her writers are too busy pushing the envelope to take advantage of that potential.

There were some parts of Crime Scene Berlin: Nightlife Killer that we wished got some more time, like the general cluelessness from the cops about LGBTQ club culture, but the show’s brief running time and straightforward storytelling is a good trade-off for the lack of self-examination.

Baby Reindeer is a very bingeable show because it’s funny while being incredibly dark, and it doesn’t take the easy way out when it comes to its characters. So, while we cringed every time Martha further wheedled her way into Donny’s life, we also wanted to know what would happen next. That’s not something we’ve said about a lot of shows lately.

Fallout does a good job drawing viewers into its expansive world without needing a ton of exposition to explain what’s going on. It helps that the show is visually stunning and filled with fine performances by Goggins, Purnell and others.

Despite the languid pacing, Sugar had us engaged for the entire first episode, mainly because Colin Farrell embodies the character of John Sugar so well.

We do admit that Ripley gets off to a bit of a sleepy start. But we’re intrigued by both Scott’s take on Tom Ripley and Zaillian’s decision to give Patricia Highsmith’s story a noirish patina.

Our mild recommendation for Loot continues from its first season to its second. The relationships between the characters are growing, which is great, but the show is just not as funny as it should be, and that’s always disappointing.

While we didn’t see a lot in The Synanon Fix that we didn’t see in previous Synanon-centric docuseries, the whole phenomenon of Synanon is just so fascinating to watch that we didn’t mind exploring it again, with some new voices to describe their experiences.

A little zany and a lot of heart, the show has enough well-timed jokes to keep you entertained and asking for the next episode.

It’s entirely possible that this show and its cast will evolve to a group we want to invest in, but this first season feels tired. Might as well hang a DO NOT DISTURB sign on it.

If you don’t consider yourself the biggest Steve Martin fan or you need a refresher course on how he became the most popular comedian of the late 1970s, then by all means STREAM IT to the first episode, but everyone should make sure to watch the second part, which provides a much richer, fuller portrait of the comedian, actor, playwright, art collector, and in his later years, husband, father and comedy partner.

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.

If you’re not already a fan of Carmichael’s, STREAM IT this first episode to decide for yourself whether you’re ready for what’s to come. There’s certainly nothing here, though, that would surprise fans who have watched him become more and more self-reflective and performative, from the most sanitized broadcast network sitcom version of Carmichael he first presented on NBC, to his 2019 HBO home movies, to Rothaniel, to now this.

We hope is that Wainwright manages to balance the whimsical parts of Renegade Nell with the more dramatic parts. It feels like the whimsical dropped off quickly by the end of the first episode, and it needs to be there for the series to be watchable. But it’s off to a good start.

McGregor’s performance is key to the success of A Gentleman In Moscow, a series which has its dark moments, but is a whole lot more hopeful than it seems on the surface.

While the first episode of We Were The Lucky Ones is a bit confusing and the show has too many characters to keep track of, King’s and Lerman’s performances anchor the series and make it worth watching, even if the rest of the characters won’t get as well-explored.

The Grey’s cast has changed over the years, but the show has managed to stay familiar and retain so much of what makes it addictive. Time will tell if Pompeo’s absence diminishes what made this series the flagship of Shondaland, but for now, it’s off to a great start.

Despite good performances from Daniels and Tierney, American Rust: Broken Justice doesn’t make a case that a second season will be any more of a grim exercise than the first was.

Mary & George takes bold swings, with regard to its approach to the period’s details and to its depiction of history. These swings are wild enough that it could off-put purists of the genre, but I was delighted. Mary & George is the type of show pushing the period drama genre where it needs to go in the future: to a vision of the past that shows us how similar it really was to our present.

Once again, Time does a good job of showing inmates as humans, and how their lives suffer on the inside as they deal with real-life problems happening on the outside.

Youssef might not change your mind specifically about whom you’re voting for or what side you’re on politically, but hopefully he’ll get you thinking about how you engage with your friends, your families, and even with strangers, whether you’re on Instagram or at Olive Garden.

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.

Palm Royale feels surprisingly cynical and empty for a prestige TV series with such a blockbuster cast. There is some potential for the show to get deeper than what we’ve seen, but enduring the rest of it to get to that depth isn’t something we’re willing to sign up for.

X-Men ’97 works because it feels like the exact same TV show, but with its inhibitor collar turned off. This is X-Men finally cutting loose.