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.