There’s enough that we like about The Copenhagen Test to recommend it. It feels mostly like a solid conspiracy drama with a little bit of sci fi mixed in, but we hope the muddled first episode isn’t a bad sign of what the rest of the season will be like.

Despite not really having a good idea how the show is going to get to its destination, the performances by Portman and Ingram make Lady In The Lake worth watching, hoping against hope that the story comes together at some point before the end of the season.

The new Frasier isn’t as awful at the beginning of its second season as it was at the beginning of its first. But it’s not great, either. The recommendation is because of all the guest stars that we’re going to see this season and a hope that the first episode of the season won’t be an indicator of what the rest of the season is like.

Some of the incidents that begin the disputes are a bit confusing. .... But some are so “normal” they’re crystal clear. .... It’s disputes like the ones in the second episode that feel more real to us.

If the writing on The Crown Season 6 Part 1 falls a bit short where it counts the most, the cast at least delivers the goods. Imelda Staunton is still the most ineffectual Queen Elizabeth II the show’s produced, but she’s no longer in the spotlight, so it’s fine. Instead, The Crown Season 6 Part 1 belongs to Princess Diana and Elizabeth Debicki.

Welcome to Derry excels in juggling its numerous storylines (so far) and offers great showcases for actors Chris Chalk and Jovan Adepo, as well as its countless scene-stealing child stars. It’s unclear if the HBO show will be able stick its scary landing, but the first batch of episodes prove to be spine-chilling fun this spooky season.

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.

You’ll leave Impeachment feeling many things: anger at Linda Tripp, disgust toward Bill Clinton, revulsion about the cutthroat media landscape and our current team mentality of politics. But you’ll also leave it understanding that Monica Lewinsky was a real person rather than a punchline.

Mixing tragedy, comedy, and drama is an extremely difficult balance to achieve, something that, for example, fellow Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso managed to do deftly in its first season. Unfortunately, despite tremendous theatrical performances from all involved, it’s an equilibrium The Shrink Next Door fails to reach.

Ultimately, the performances in Smoke will help carry the story as fills in during subsequent episodes. But we do wonder how much patience people will have for the atmospheric nature of the show as the story ramps up.

Around the World in 80 Days isn’t an earth-shattering Jules Verne adaptation, but it is a lovely one. Thanks mostly to the way it understands how to harness David Tennant’s magnificence on screen.

This series plays like a quickly-written nostalgia trip and nothing more.

The Morning Show Season 2 is a thrilling melange of ridiculous drama. There are hookups that had me gasping, plot developments that gave me whiplash, and a few moments where I had second-hand embarrassment for all involved. ... The Morning Show will never be a perfect show. It’s too boldly outspoken, too shockingly self-indulgent, and too obsessed with speaking first about a moment in time instead of speaking wisely. Still, I can’t help but find its brand of backstabbing elites terribly fun to watch.

This version is updated with interesting plots, clever dialogue, and lots of pop culture references. While some pre-teens will enjoy it, it feels like the target audience skews a touch older thanks to some genuine creepiness throughout.

Landman is pretty much a standard-grade Taylor Sheridan production, but Thornton makes it very watchable, even as he spends half of the first episode making speeches.

We don’t love Swimming With Sharks, because of its trashy-for-trashiness’ sake nature and the fact that the story feels fairly predictable. But Shipka’s performance keeps the show from getting really campy.

Pistol is a fun watch, rife with visual flourishes and emboldened by a strong cast on top of its otherwise by-the-book music biopic boilerplate.

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.

Some of Little Voice‘s saccharine might get you in a grumpy mood, but Bareilles’ music and O’Grady’s performance will help with alleviate those grumpies pretty quickly.

We’re liking some of the spicy international flavor Butterfly is featuring amid its central dispute between spy world adversaries Daniel Dae Kim and Piper Perabo. But we’re also looking for the actual action in this action series to really establish itself. Butterfly is a tentative Stream It.

Outer Range has expansive scenery (when it can be seen), and decent performances from Brolin, Taylor, and Poots. But neither its family drama and supernatural elements are compelling enough to make up for the show’s slow pace.

Penny Dreadful: City Of Angels tells a compelling story filled with fine performances.

The Tattooist Of Auschwitz shows that there can be a glimmer of hope in even the most horrific situations.

The show looks gorgeous and can stand side-by-side with the other nature docs on Netflix. The lessons it teaches are also worth learning. It’s actually not hard to imagine Down to Earth becoming part of a very hip, very millennial high school teacher’s curriculum when school starts back up in the fall.

His humor works best onstage and onscreen when he’s trying too hard or moving outside of his comfort zone (as the boxing sequence demonstrates), or when he’s playing against a solid foil, such as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson or Ice Cube in multiple movies. This hour only seems to prove that as a husband in his 40s, Hart truly gives zero f**ks; as a comedian and famous person, however, he still cares too much about where he stands.

If The Anarchists were just about the movement itself, it would be boring and enraging. But because it’s about how the movement got infiltrated by people who made things increasingly chaotic and violent, we’re ready to see where the rest of the series goes.

If you’re a casual fan of English soccer, it’s a great way to immerse yourself in an up-and-coming teams success. If you’re a hardcore fan, it offers you the behind-the-scenes looks you can’t get enough of.

There’s enough here for any Stath fan to love, and anyone unfamiliar with Demetriou to go looking for more afterward. There are times like these, however, where I might wish sketch comedy collections had chapter dividers so you could SKIP more easily past the less effective scenes.