It goes without saying that Evan Rachel Wood’s story is a tough one, and the fact that she’s decided to put it all out there in Phoenix Rising makes the docuseries all the more worth watching.

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.

As rough as the first episode may be for some viewers, just imagine if NBC hadn’t given Seinfeld a second chance after that sitcom’s initial struggles in both plot and ratings. Let’s see how Bust Down unfolds.

Power Book IV: Force is the Power sequel that’s got the loosest connection to the parent show’s universe. In fact, it sets itself up as a pure spin-off. But It does a good job of showing who the power players are in its story, and how Tommy Egan is ready to shake up the status quo.

Kogonada and Justin Chon’s direction, Soo Hugh’s writing, and the work of Pachinko’s outstanding ensemble cast weave together a story that is both huge in scope and humble in its beauty. Pachinko is perfectly exquisite (though not quite perfect) and will stick with you long after the credits roll.

Despite some stylistic touches that sometimes distract, The Andy Warhol Diaries is a fascinating look inside the mind of one of the 20th century’s most famous figures, a person who had no intention of letting anyone but his closest friends and family see his real self.

Where the series shines is through its at times brutal, at times delicate realism. Through Ptolemy’s widened unseeing eyes, you can understand the pure terror his life must be every day. If you’ve ever been someone diagnosed with dementia, Jackson nails their mannerisms while also infusing his performance with a degree of empathy many of these patients rarely experience. ... Fishback’s quietly powerful take on Robyn is what makes Jackson’s performance so notable.

The show comes off more like an exhausting parody than anything else. ... There were distractions beyond Zellweger’s fat suit. Doing a fictionalized take on the absurdity of a true crime story lends itself to too many stylistic flourishes that aren’t necessary. ... There also seems to be very little in the way of subtlety or shading to the story.

There’s nothing that distinguishes The Courtship from the Bachelor/Bachelorette series or any other reality dating series, for that matter. But you may want to watch it for the charming Remy or the costumes.

Shining Vale may get better during its first season as we find out what’s actually driving this story. But its first episode was a loud mess of a show that seemed to be more satisfied with giving Courteney Cox as many chances to swear as possible than to actually establish its characters.

In its riot of visuals and breathless narrative, the 29-minute premiere of Guardians of Justice packs quite a punch.

Anger toward the financial industry that just keeps churning, and how it broke so many regular folks in the wake of the 2008 crash and resulting twenty-nine-trillion-dollar mistake, gives some solid ground to Gaming Wall Street. It gives root to the narrative, a narrative that can occasionally feel like a printout of a particularly hyperactive online comment field.

Whether you’re a fan of The Boys or not, you’ll enjoy the animated shorts in The Boys Presents: Diabolical, mainly because they tell good stories with funny character-driven gags.

Pieces of Her is fast food storytelling presented on a high end plate. Collette and Shapiro do their best to lend depth to an otherwise shallow story. Which means if you just want a tawdry thriller to zone out to, Pieces of Her will suffice. But if, like me, you want something deeper, you’ll find Pieces of Her’s biggest mystery will be how this tonally mismatched, structurally messy show came to be.

Despite some clever writing and decent performances, Joe Vs. Carole can’t really add to the craziness that the real-life Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin showed in Tiger King and all of its offshoots.

The Tourist hooked us in with its story, plus the performances by Dornan, Macdonald and Brune-Franklin.

We’re going to stick with The Dropout because of Seyfried’s pitch-perfect performance as Holmes as well as the myriad guest actor performances that are already looking promising by the end of the first episode. We just hope that the show doesn’t continue to make Holmes the hero of her own story.

Although Our Flag Means Death isn’t laugh-a-minute, it’s got a good-enough story to set up a unique workplace comedy. It may take a few episodes, but the funny stuff will come once the ensemble is well-established.

We hope the muddled first episode of Ragdoll isn’t an indication of where the series is going. The Ragdoll Killer presents an interesting case, but there’s so much thrown into the mix that we get the feeling the mystery is going to suffer under a pile of quips and contrivances.

Minx is effervescently fun, full of heart and smarts, and a heck of a lot of promise for what’s still to come.

Its breakneck pace and flashy mix of genre-bending elements combine to craft a series that’s difficult to look away from and impossible to ignore. HBO’s latest Sunday night offering isn’t so much of a layup as it is a slam dunk, delivering a fun, glitzy origin story of an iconic NBA dynasty.

Once all of the mania settles down and we get into the meat of the story about Kalanick’s fight to get Uber established and grow it into what it is today we actually got bored.

Snowfall is full of great acting from top to bottom, with family politics, big money crime, violent disputes, and power shifting intrigue to spare.

Just like its parent show, Vikings: Valhalla is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. But for fans of the genre, Valhalla does a good job of continuing the story established in Vikings.

The original Law & Order is the TV comfort food we need right now. Whether the show will really go deep into examining the reality of policing in the post-George-Floyd era is still to be determined. But, judging by the first episode, it’s going in the right direction.

The Tex Avery-style sight gags on Cat Burglar can get tiring because they’re doled out at hyper speed. But Rowdy’s deaths, and even the vignettes where he succeeds, make up for that.

The Endgame is by turns boring and by other turns generic and nonsensical. It’s story isn’t compelling enough to follow beyond the first episode, and we’re figuring that the interplay between its stars isn’t enough to keep people watching.

All American: Homecoming has some generic elements that we hope get straightened out over time, but its compelling cast and some of the potential stories set up by the first episode have us intrigued.