The series is a slow burner, but the noir mystery and Laurie keep the flames going.

Odenkirk is flat-out terrific at times, but the show hasn’t kicked into gear for me. On “Bad,” Bryan Cranston’s Walter White was in a desperate situation that unleashed his inner monster and diabolical genius. Meanwhile, the occasionally dense Saul is meandering toward his sugar-rush exile in Omaha.

I would suspect that those more familiar with Shakespeare’s plays and the times may appreciate Will a bit more than others. Still, the series is hardly a stuffy costume drama. The mostly young cast is quite good, and there is plenty of sex, violence, comedy and intrigue to keep it amusing for non-Shakespeare fans.

Trollhunters has a nice vibe to it. There is an ’80s “Goonies” flair, but it is also has intelligence and flashes of wit, such as when a creature hums “In the Hall of the Mountain King” by Edvard Grieg as it goes in for a kill, or when Toby finds out Juliet dies in “Romeo and Juliet.” Otherwise Trollhunters follows the formula for these sorts of stories, uncomfortable teen by day and superhero at night.

Graham has updated the story pretty well, while overstuffing it a bit. Nevertheless, the miniseries keeps the novelist’s questions about mankind’s destiny percolating throughout and never really lets you lose interest.

Netflix’s new multicamera sitcom, The Ranch, will seem familiar enough for fans of the genre, but it’s enjoyable and inventive enough to make you think there is still life left in the well-worn TV staple.

The fantasy-dramedy is cute enough, though it doesn’t have the endearing daffiness of “Jane.” Tori Anderson and Joshua Sasse, who play Evie and Xavier, have a nice chemistry.

There are a few things The Catch will need to establish before taking off. For instance, it’s a bit hard to buy Alice’s and Ben’s instant attraction. But as light entertainment, the show flies by pretty quickly, a good fit for the #TGIT playground.

Geere gives a very lively performance and the rest of the cast is also strong. Not the happiest of topics, but Ill Behaviour, puts an interesting face on it.

Midway through the first episode of the 11th season of “The X-Files,” FBI agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) clutches her head and moans, “What’s going on here?” We can sympathize. Up until then, the episode had played like a frenetic trailer, filled with crazy action and angst. In subsequent episodes, the Chris Carter series settles down to familiar entertaining territory, but there is a danger you might turn it off before then.

Don’t expect a lot of out-loud laughs with the series, but it is constantly amusing.

k. “Sesame Street” episode. This can seem frustrating if you care, but the TV show does it all with a sense of bravado that allows you to overlook any internal logic issues.

It’s off to a good start.

For the most part, Pitch is an engaging drama about a woman negotiating a man's world with the added glitz of big-time sports. Bunbury has the charisma needed for the role.

For fans of amply endowed eye candy and anatomy-centered gags of the PG-13 variety, it's Nirvana. [14 March 2000]

While the two-hour movie was a wild ride, slow the pace down for television and the boys aren’t as much fun to hang with. Barkin is the best reason to watch. Always a restlessly interesting actress, Smurf gives her lots to play with, and she makes the role her own.

While some of the episodes--I have not seen all 12--show flashes of creativity, there is something synthetic about the series, like a hotel room’s pretend hominess.

The two episodes available for review, Manhunt: Unabomber has a by-the-book feel--a lot of forensics and theories. It’s not until the last few minutes that Bettany’s Kaczynski is really introduced.

Pharoah, though, almost makes it worth it. He has a solid presence that lifts the show. You just wish it were a better show.

Watts is excellent as usual, but it’s a lot to ask for 10 episodes. Gypsy might have worked better at six. It feels a bit like therapy, a long slog with a couple of breakthroughs.

Meloni is terrific as usual--a long way from the solid Elliot Stabler on “SVU,” but it’s a stretch to appreciate a “hero” who describes his life as “an ever-swirling toilet that just won’t flush” and follow his cracked personality. With only two episodes to judge from, the jury is out on Happy! My guess, though is that it’s an acquired taste and only for certain people.

It's hard to see where this all might be going. A nebulous nefarious cabal betting on the outcome of crimes may be the strangest of some of the strange premises for shows this fall, but Winchester is good at being the action hero. If you enjoy that, you might enjoy the show.

Though well-done and watchable, season three of Narcos doesn’t really distinguish itself from a number of other drug-crime stories without Escobar.

The problem is that series seems to take itself a bit too seriously. It could use a side of humor or an over-the-top quality. But these teens are mostly awkward, and while that could be charming, here it isn’t. Runaways doesn’t necessarily make you want to run away. It’s watchable enough, though not compelling.

To maintain any momentum, however, they're going to have to come up with something more than a ''dead guy of the week beckons from the other side'' premise. There's not much the Others are fighting against at this point, except short-lived skepticism on behalf of the bereaved. [5 Feb 2000, p.L3]

So far, City of Angels is a solid, fairly smart series that doesn't quite reach out and grab the viewer as Barclay and Bochco's previous collaborations have done. But a cast capable of doing that when the writing hits its stride is definitely in place. [16 Jan 2000, p.L5]

Its uneven but intriguing first four episodes.... It hints at a compelling future, with various factions vying for control. But it isn’t out to wow you early on, taking its time to develop its characters and the relationships. If your expectations aren’t too high--and it’s not “Battlestar Galactica” yet--The Expanse could just be what you’re looking in.

Fox’s new comedy-drama Lucifer has a similar premise [as "Death Takes a Holiday and "Meet Joe Black"], but without the sap and more zip and lip. But (and you saw this coming), the devil is in the details.... Uneven but mostly fun.

Though lightly entertaining, the series needs a bit more character grounding. So far Weston and Mangan are quite good as the flamboyant famous characters, but the scripts will have to flesh them out more. That may never happen.

Girls is essentially a hipster soap opera--occasionally clever or smart--but not as revealing as it led you to believe. This year it might take the step that has been promised since its first season, but maybe not.

Daddio, a situation comedy about a smart and fun stay-at-home dad, is mildly progressive-minded in its set-up and comfortably old-fashioned in all other facets of its execution. One is easily forgiven for wishing the laugh lines had a little more sparkle, and it's a less than ideal companion series to the bawdy "Friends," which airs before it, but the premise and the cast are solid enough to expect future improvement and a decent prime-time run. [23 March 2000, p.L5]

Class isn’t afraid to dive into its strangeness, but not always successfully. It’s kind of like a high school dance--fraught with crazy drama but not always as memorable as it’s supposed to be.

The best thing about the series is its likeable cast. ... With only one episode available, it’s hard to tell if Rush Hour will offer up more than its light and breezy attitude. No one is looking to weigh it down, but if turns into a mystery-of-the-week procedural, the jokes and action will get old fast.

The mystery along with its intriguing premise might have been enough, but the main problem with the show is the slow pacing. It’s easy to drift.

Most of the dramatizations are functional, although a few border on cheesy.

Versailles has glamor and spectacle, but it’s hardly an epic drama. It dreamily drifts along for the first few episodes, introducing the characters and concentrating on outrageous behavior. All the military-strategy sessions blur together.

No one expected Taken to be turned into something brilliant but it had the elements needed to be an exciting show. Instead, it’s been made pretty ordinary. Too bad, Standen deserves to be shown off better.

Only three episodes were available for viewing. Outcast is, at best, serviceable for a late Friday night horror tale, but I’m not anxious to hang around.

It’s great to see Lithgow, who won a Golden Globe earlier this year for playing Winston Churchill in Netflix’s series “The Crown,” but there’s not much challenge here for him and too few laughs.

But the payoff is too long in coming. Much of the third night involves - what else? - wandering around the ever-growing mansion. You get the feeling the characters are biding their time between commercials. King should have been advised to cut the miniseries by a night. Instead, watching "Rose Red" is like hanging out in a Halloween haunted house too long. After a while, you know somebody - or something - is going to pop out to try and scare you. By then, though, you've reached your fright limit and you're just too numb to jump. [27 Jan 2002, p.L7]

While The Son sports sprawling ambitions, the series awkwardly trods over familiar territories.

Oates is getting to the party pretty darn late; there aren't a lot of bones left to pick through. But what's left isn't pretty, and in adapting "Blonde" the miniseries, director Joyce Chopra and screenwriter Joyce Eliason focus morbidly, as did Oates, on the pervasive darkness in the life of Norma Jeane Baker. [13 May 2001, p.L8]

Incorporated is just one of another grim dystopian futures we have become so fond of. Hey, it could be dead-on, but it really doesn’t have a lot to offer. There will be a few parallels to today, and it is mildly diverting as a thriller, but we have seen it before, even if it is the future.

Peppered in are some humor, like funny references to the past when Lara’s mom saying she met her husband on Tinder, or when Dash uses his abilities for more than seeing crime, like knowing when bird poop is dropping. However, you wish that the show would have been less zippy, less procedural. It hints at dire aftereffects of Precrime, but doesn’t go much beyond that.

As a procedural, APB--from Len Wiseman and Matt Nix--is a nice futuristic fantasy made watchable by an attractive cast, but it is essentially shaped in an old-fashioned way--the clash of old and new, a little sexual tension, some dark secrets of the past, etc. After three episodes, it’s hard to see it developing into anything more.

The biggest problems with it is pace and familiarity. It’s difficult to get a handle on Danny--an enigmatic lost rich kid with mystical powers--and parts of Iron Fist seem cribbed from other Marvel superhero tales. Jones does grow on you, especially after he begins to take on a kung-fu master persona, but there seems little special about the story or any of the characters.

Appreciating Fuller House will depend a lot on how much you enjoyed the original, which ran eight seasons on ABC. The new show displays enough of its own personality to be a bit more than simply nostalgia. By the third episode--on which singer Macy Gray guests--it even starts to develop some loopy fun with a dance-off at a local club.

McHale, the “Community” veteran, is enjoyable. The jokes aren’t bad, and it’s fun having Fry as the out-of-touch editor. Based on the first episode, though, the show is hit and miss. The premise is stretched every which way, but somehow Indoors seem a bit claustrophobic.

Wisdom of the Crowd gets a pass for now. The first episode addresses a number of interesting issues, although never going too deeply into them. ... Piven and Jones offer a strong presence for this type of show, and Natalia Tena works nicely as Sara Morton, Tanner’s head of the project, who gives him some balance and as something of a love interest.

Don’t expect “American Playboy” to stray beyond its message. It’s not exactly “Masters of Sex” in examining the nuances in sexual revolution, and there is little depth to its approach. Nevertheless, the docu-series is pretty watchable if for no other reason than to remind us how crazy those times could be.

The original movie worked because Wells was played as a man out of time and Steenburgen’s character longed for a gentleman while still wanting to be a modern woman. The new series doesn’t let that relationship ripen enough; so it ends up diving too quickly into violence and sci-fi fantasy to get its grounding.

Making History may get a D in real history but is passably funny in a hit-or-miss cartoonish way.

Not bad if it’s your thing.

The story of David has always fascinated because it contains so many universal dramatic and psychological elements. This is not the worst version of the tale, just a pedestrian one.

Shaw is likable and undoubtedly a selling point for the series, but unless the show finds its focus, it’s not going to be enough.

The first episode is very uneven, busily attempting to check all the boxes so it can get back to being a procedural. If that is the case, there aren’t enough tattoos on Jane’s body to make it compelling.

While often a sumptuous watch, it too often strays into the gaudy.

For what it is--something serviceable to fit in CBS’s Saturday lineup--Ransom will do, but pretty much is a square peg fitting in a square hole.

Much of this is pretty standard stuff, part legal drama, part soap. Atwell, though, is always so lively and interesting to watch. But the material may sink her at the end.

So far, The Mist hasn’t given viewers much to care about. It’s all pretty standard plot thickeners. On the other hand, it’s not badly done--atmospheric, so to speak, if unseen horrors are your thing.

While the likable cast--which includes D.L. Hughley, Jamie Kennedy and Maya Erskine--is easy to root for, there is little else to distinguish Heartbeat from numerous other medical shows.

Not one of the performers looks like anything beyond a pretty young performer biding his or her time until a better break comes along. [23 March 2000]

Salem's Lot is hardly bad. It's just that certain unpersuasive special effects, unruly performances and subplots undermine the best of intentions, a fate with which fans of King's oeuvre are no doubt familiar. [19 June 2004]

Viewers have seen this all before so many times before that The Gifted feels just ordinary.

The Beat, Fontana's UPN cop show, won't be mistaken for a good series, but it's better than a lot of the junk polluting UPN's airwaves. Of course, its sophisticated flourishes may just be enough to sail the show over the heads of the netlet's pubescent target audience, and its pandering touches will be enough to alienate more discerning viewers. [21 March 2000]

After the characters try to explain the timeline once too often, it gets confusing and you just stop caring about what's going on. So even if the cast is pretty good, which it is, and even if the show has some excitement at times, Legends--so far--comes off as something of a mishmash of a mash-up.

Once called “The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport,” the series hits the usual notes but doesn’t sing.

The humor is more throwaway and often falls flat while a lot of the drama can become stiffly serious. It’s not that the series is badly made. The action and effects are decent. The cast is fine, though the characters are still mostly unformed. ... Viewers may find the tone of series perplexing.

The film is a bit too long. Wizard of Lies has some worthwhile moments, but it never seems sure at what it’s trying to be.

The amount you’ll laugh at Tour de Pharmacy may depend on your tolerance for mockumentaries. This one, like most, is a string of gags. If you’re looking for something undemanding, it qualifies.

Ingesting Disjointed is pretty harmless. You might get a buzz, though. There are a few laughs, but I can pretty much assure you that you won’t get addicted.

The show suffers when it’s away from Johnson, lacking any real focus. Individual moments can be fine, but they seem strung together rather than part of a cohesive vision.

The humor is mushy, mostly based on the characters’ being neurotic. Unlike “Silicon Valley,” there is little at stake in many of the situations in Loaded, which undercuts it further. The series is kind of like a cat-game app. It might amuse you for a while, but it’s still a cat-game app.

Truth Be Told is probably not worth your time. While it tries to be edgy, most of its humor is fairly tame.

Midnight, Texas is kind of like the Saturday matinee version of horror. It keeps the action moving along without much bite.

Simply baffling. ... Hit the Road is like “The Partridge Family” in the upside down. While Alexander is still masterful at getting laughs, there is a cynical quality to the series that takes the fun out.

There are a lot of ambient and random sounds in the episodes, which makes things seem more ominous than any tension generated by the story. Apart from that musical wrinkle, Hunters is overly familiar, essentially a generic crime show in a sci-fi case.

Although Olson and the cast give it their all, “The Mick” is no fun.

The series, created by Adam Nussdorf and executive produced by “Heroes” creator Tim Kring, hardly feels new. We have seen this person who gets unwanted special powers thing before. But because all 10 episodes are available at once, you might find yourself meandering along before you know it.

Valor quickly becomes about secrets and lies, guilt and bravery, and hot bodies and awful banter. It’s not the best mix, and not mixed the best way.

There are few funny moments. Give the cast credit for throwing themselves into it--especially Martin--but the proud mama bit gets old fast.

If you like watching rich people sashaying around with a vague mystery as an excuse, Riviera might do, but be warned the dialogue and scenes are often flat--giving you time to ponder the scenery and costumes--and the mystery takes a while to flesh out.

There is nothing new in Killing Reagan from filmmaker Rod Lurie. ... Better to read a book--not O’Reilly’s--but a real history of the man’s life.

While the series tries to dazzle you with high-tech sophistication, it fumbles around when it comes to the human factors.

The network was probably aiming for “Scandal,” but by the end of the first episode the mix of ridiculous plot twists and awful soap-opera-ish dialogue make you wonder if “Scrambled” might not have been more appropriate title.

The series seems to want to exist somewhere between a Pee-wee Herman world, where Miranda exists within her own reality, and “Waiting for Guffman” or other parodies of self-important clueless people. It doesn’t succeed as either, nor on its own terms.

So far the storytelling on Blood & Oil has been crude and obvious.

It’s standard sitcom stuff, but those elements don’t mesh well enough on the series even to reach that low Friday-night bar.... Dr. Ken is disjointed and, worse, not really funny.