We’re giving The Decameron a lukewarm recommendation because there are characters that we do want to follow in this dark comedy, and we have confidence that the storytelling will help deepen the characters we don’t love. But the comedic elements don’t hit most of the time, and we wonder how much effort it will take viewers to really buy into the goings on at this Tuscan villa.

Dirty Pop smartly ties its year-by-year timestamps to songs, like Backstreet’s “I Want It That Way” and “We’ve Got It Goin’ On,” or NSYNC with “It’s Gonna be Me,” which allows us to follow how huge the 90s boy band phenomenon really got, and wonder how those groups allowed themselves to be swindled for so long. .... The AI thing is a weird outlier in contrast to how any of the other footage in Dirty Pop is used. The docuseries readily admits the footage was manipulated. But it gives off a reek of also manipulating the viewing audience.

Pete Rose is a complicated figure, perhaps as complicated as any in the history of baseball. Whether you love him or hate him, Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose will keep your interest; the whole story is there, and you can pick your side.

There are enough funny elements, and good performances, in Time Bandits to keep watching beyond the first episode. But we’re not sure there is enough there to sustain audience interest — whether it’s kids or adults — for ten episodes.

Kite Man: Hell Yeah! is a STREAM IT, especially if you’re already versed in the brash and bloodsoaked goings-on of the Harley Quinn animated series. This is a fun, foul-mouthed send-up of the superhero genre with expressive voice acting and a gleeful murderous streak that guarantees its NSFW-ness.

Not every athlete is worthy of a documentary, but Simone Biles isn’t just any athlete. Simone Biles: Rising is a well-crafted document of one of the best to ever do it.

Omnivore is a visual feast and an informative docuseries about essential everyday ingredients we all use and eat. We just wish it was a bit more warm and personal of a show.

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.

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.

With Kreese back in the center of the action, everyone working towards Sekai Taikai and an extended final season in 2024 and “final battle” in 2025 on the horizon, we can see Hurwitz, Schlossberg and Heald focusing and being able to bring Cobra Kai to the finish line with a funny, emotionally affecting story.

UnPrisoned is a funny show that deals with some pretty heavy generational issues, and while it still rides on the fantastic chemistry between Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo, the rest of the cast is getting some meaty material, as well.

Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution emphasizes the beats and songs that built a classic sound, and the communities, often marginalized or under-represented, who did the hard work – and all of the dancing! – to bring it to life by the light of a turning glitterball, before the music ever went slick and mainstream.

There are a lot of powerful, personal moments in the interviews featured in Teen Torture, Inc. But the docuseries also relies heavily on the kind of stilted reenactments that clog up a lot of today’s true crime stuff, repeated use of the same stock footage and personal photographs, and provocative statements that it doesn’t immediately back up with facts or research.

While Mafia Spies has a good story at its core, the series itself is at least two episodes too long to tell the story effectively.

Orlando Bloom: To The Edge isn’t the ego-stroking exercise we thought it would be. The show, which actually has a lot going for it, just needs some tighter editing.

The second season of Marvel’s Hit-Monkey is better than the first, simply because the show’s creators figured out how to make it funny and deepen the show’s characters at the same time.

Mastermind: To Think Like A Killer is an interesting look at the fascinating career of Dr. Ann Burgess, highlighting how she changed the way law enforcement looked at rape victims as well as serial killers.

The Responder continues to be a compelling watch, mainly because Martin Freeman is so good at barely containing Chris Carson’s rage.

Exploding Kittens has a surprising amount of heart for a show about a cat who thinks he’s God because, well, he is God.

One of the most interesting points in How Music Got Free, which is the egalitarian nature of an industry-wide disruption which came from below. .... What’s less interesting here is Eminem and Timbaland and 50 Cent and others restating their late 90s grips about file sharing stealing a chunk of their profits.

Foodtopia, developed by the same team minus Hill but adding Conrad Vernon, is quite a bit darker. And it’s also quite a bit less funny.

If you liked Quarterback, then Receiver is a perfect follow-up–and if you didn’t, it’s got a roster far more interesting than the quarterbacks offered. For an avid NFL fan, it’s a great way to kill some time until the fall.

The Boyfriend is a fascinating watch, but not just because it’s a social experiment in same-sex relationships from a company that doesn’t tend to do shows about them. But it’s also a good example of a dating show that can be genuine about how relationships form and are maintained.

Sunny presents an interesting near-future scenario where a woman questions everything she knew about her marriage and life. The mystery she investigates may end up being mundane, but the performances of Jones and Sotomura — and the relatively brief episode run times — make it a fun ride to go on.

We learn their names, we see their handwriting, and in their own words we hear how they interpret their own experiences. It’s very personal, and made more so by Etheridge’s own journey, as both a mom who lost her son and as a cancer survivor.

The Chosen presents the life of the central figure in a major world religion with an unabashed adoration for the teachings of Christ. But it’s also increasingly capable of existing on a level of dramatic storytelling with a historical bent. This balance will only get more important as the chapters and verses of the gospels begin to collide with the realities and demands of episodic television.

Because the series is so one-sided and speculative, The Man With 1000 Kids has to be seen with a bit of jaundiced eye. But that doesn’t keep us from being fascinated at the results of what happens when one man feels the need to donate his sperm everywhere he can.

Down In The Valley finds joy and power among the people who do sex work or sex-adjacent work in the Deep South, and Nicco Annan brings the energy to match that objective.