While acting and visuals in the first episode are excellent, and we have some hope that Lisey’s Story will go beyond just imagery and symbolism and give us an actual story, it feels like it will ultimately end up being a bit too frustrating to follow week-to-week.

We were surprised how engaged we were with Sweet Tooth, even though it’s a show about a virus that wipes out most of humanity; it’s not something you want to contemplate as the real pandemic we’re suffering through winds to a close. But good performances and an adaptation that grounds things into some sort of reality saves the show from eye-rolling preciousness.

Easily the best comedy special of the pandemic, if not the best “content” of any kind from the pandemic that you’ll see, putting everything we’ve felt over the past year and a half, and still feel, as each of us figure out what comes next.

In its second season Tuca & Bertie is unafraid to get deep, and we’re all better for it.

Howery keeps things moving and loose, and he pokes just enough fun at the contestants to help allay their nervousness. But the practices are so lacking in tension that they slow the game action down. ... If the producers can tighten the show’s pacing in subsequent episodes, it should make for a fun summer series.

Like a lot of the animated programs Fox has put out in the past 15 years, this one needs some patience. Perhaps the rapid-fire jokes we see in group will give way to these individual stories that will mine laughs from the characters. But right now, the show is so overpopulated it doesn’t give any of these characters room to explore.

There’s a lot about Panic that makes us roll our eyes. But we’ll give it a recommendation because we were actually rooting for its main character by the end of the first episode, and we were surprised that we were doing so. That’s a good sign for the rest of the season.

Crime Scene Kitchen is enjoyable because of Joel McHale, full stop. Everything else on the show is fungible, except for the guessing game you will have once you see the evidence left in that crime scene. Either way, it’ll make you hungry, which is always a good sign of a cooking show.

High On The Hog is not only informative, but makes a real emotional connection between food and the history behind it, and a lot of that is thanks to the “relaxed intensity” of Satterfield.

Friends: The Reunion completely redefines how we should view sitcom reunions moving forward, and it sets the bar so high that I truly don’t know if any other get together can ever top it.

Archival footage is the hero here, everything from tear gas canisters arcing into the students at Kent State and those lying bleeding after the National Guard shootings, to a raw live performance of “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills & Nash that leaps off the screen with nervy energy. Audio interviews accompany the montages, and are lent particular power in their juxtaposition.

There’s lots to like about Kerry Godliman as Pearl, and it does seem like the chemistry between Godliman and Howard Charles is good enough to sustain Whitstable Pearl, but the mysteries need to get a lot stronger before this show can compete with other hit British mystery series.

We want to see more of both of these guy’s worlds, like the obvious attraction Dan has for Jess and his interest in Zayna’s education, or what Kevin is building with Jasmine. The situations both get in might be funny, or (like in the premiere) they might not. But the more they’re steeped in the relationship between the two friends and their worlds, the better the show will be.

By shifting its focus from Dev to Denise, Master Of None gives us a third season that’s fresh and poignant and makes us want to see more after its first episode. Does it trip over its own pretentiousness at times? Sure. But that’s not a deterrent for us.

In Treatment is saved by the performances by Aduba and the people playing her patients. But this is a show that feels like it’s from another time, despite the up-to-date references throughout.

If you don’t go in looking for bombshells from Harry or other superstars, The Me You Can’t See is a revealing look at mental illness and how our awareness of how pervasive it is in its many forms is just starting to develop.

The performances in Solos would have really worked well on stage. But on TV, even the sharp performances can’t make up for lack of action or story propulsion. There’s a reason why monologuing rarely translates well to film or TV, and Solos shows why.

Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. suffers from not only being not as funny as it should be, but it also pumps the fan service gags instead of actually developing the world around its star supervillain.

There’s certainly information in the first episode that we either didn’t know or forgot, and Having historians like Stryker and Jules Gill-Peterson give their perspectives of that history helps contextualize things. We hope that as the episodes move towards more modern times, the reliance on recreations will subside.

Run The World proves that a TV formula can be repeated if the characters and actors are appealing and the writing starts to create worlds around them that are start to stand out on their own. After the first episode, the show is on its way to doing just that.

Despite the performances by the miniseries’ leads, Death And Nightingales is just too boring and inaccessible to really get into; by the end of the first episode, we were even more in the dark about the story than we were at the beginning.

The final frame of the pilot challenges your notion on how the rest of this journey will go. ... These two slaves are going to be free at some point, but what they will encounter on their way north will create enough tension and empathy to keep viewers’ attention beyond the first episode.

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.

Writer Julie Gearey wastes no time getting to the meat of the story. In doing that, it makes the characters one-dimensional. ... Intergalactic tries too hard to create its world, leaving a confusing mess in its wake.

The Upshaws has “good sitcom bones”, but is so saddled with tired plots and dialogue it just makes for a show that feels like it’s already stale, even though it just started.

It’s refreshing to experience a talk show that cuts the monologue out entirely to get straight to the straight talking. ... [Ziwe] certainly stars shines throughout, even while she’s consistently throwing shade and facial expressions.

From Cradle To Stage gives viewers a great look at how their favorite music stars became so driven to succeed in what is an impossible business, and the moms who helped make them that way.

The Drowning has some aspects that are a little on the unbelievable side, but for the most part it’s a well-written, well-acted psychological mystery.