Waithe proves that Emmy for writing was no fluke--script and cast are outstanding--but The Chi takes on too much, too soon, and the story loses focus and latent power as a consequence.

The mythology arc is absolute rubbish. Fortunately, this new season appears to suspect that and, after that rocky opener, gets down to business. Soon enough, Scully and Mulder are puzzling over a simulated world where great brains like Steve Jobs “live” for eternity. A strange doppelgänger is stalking people. That sounds like a job for the X-Files team. The best of the five offered for review is very good indeed, and it too is a curtain call from an old friend: Darin Morgan.

9-1-1 is insufferable, but it’s also watchable.

Each episode is a gem but — since you asked — my favorite is "USS Callister," which borders on genius.

[Kit Harington's] a narcotized Jon Snow in a narcoleptic of a miniseries that nods off at times, and seems maddeningly unaware that viewers will be induced to do the same thing. ... A gluepot of a miniseries with good actors and no pulse.

Van Damme--older, wiser and slower, also wrinkled, hunched and melancholy--salvages an otherwise fascinating, uneven mess.

The first season was initially hagiography masking as a high-end TV series, but the second season is Vanity Fair, full of characters, life, humor, passion and buttered scones. Morgan not only has a series to match his 2006 Oscar-winning movie, “The Queen,” but finally one to exceed it. The Crown--the second season, anyway--is magnificent.

Warm, genial portrait of a great editor, but not much else.

The cast is good, the fight scenes prolific, the overall lifting not heavy. Grailies among you could do worse. With lots of blood, some hooey, and even some history, this appears to be a decent--and watchable--period drama.

Mrs. Maisel can--yup--be chatty to the point of exhaustion, and a little can go a long way. But what’s here is worth savoring and, if you can get past the verbal gymnastics, worth the trip.

The movie was about the sex. The series is about the work. Differences are enormous, also welcome. The series is also far more confident--understandable insofar as Lee was just starting out back then--but confidence helps the still-slight story.

Excellent you-are-there film that takes viewers — and Baltimore — from despair to hope.

A congenial and persuasive argument for why Apu must go.

As usual, the production is immaculate, and Bernthal--who never disappoints--is his usual self. You may, however, wish (I did) that his Punisher wasn’t such a humorless, unmitigated jerk.

Mostly lame, but also good-natured, with an amusing finale.

It all remains hilarious and mad. One of TV’s funniest shows, and gifted stars, returns.

There’s some power and beauty in this show--and not just the scenery either, but in the humanity itself. Far from lives of quiet desperation, these are lives of quiet determination. A gentle, intelligent drama about autism, family and love.

The Long Road can be tough to watch--I saw the first three episodes--but it does seem like it’s essential to. Excellent and unflinching.

The second half is actually more enlightening, though, as Gibney and Foster do a remarkable job of explaining the challenges that Rolling Stone faces, while still celebrating its significance.

It does take six full hours to get there, but the journey — her journey — can be an immersive one. ... Terrific. Immersive. Melancholy.

Frustrating series that has promise but no payoff. And that series title. Seriously?

S.W.A.T. had a chance to do something different, maybe even provocative. So far, the same old-same old.

Bigger, bolder, in some ways better--and some ways not--2 avoids a sophomore slump by sticking with what worked so well.

Sedaris remains, as ever, hilarious, inventive, unbalanced and deeply, joyously, shamelessly twisted. Her new show’s not bad either. ... At Home With Amy Sedaris is each of those [“The Frugal Gourmet,” “Barefoot Contessa,” “Paula’s Home Cooking” and “30 Minute Meals”], on acid.

Well-done, but then TWD is always well-done. What’s missing is the thrill of surprise, or the shock of surprise. “Mercy” at least offers a hint that one may be coming.

Yes, The Good Place is strange--also ridiculously inventive, silly, smart and strangely, unexpectedly deep.

White Famous is so corrosive that it ends up fighting itself. The self-loathing here is the type that’s common to so many Hollywood satires, filled with the requisite pythons and soul crushers who keep the sausage factory conveyor belt moving. But much of this goes beyond loathing to self-lacerating. ... Awful.

Occasionally flat, sporadically gruesome, Mindhunter is also potentially absorbing.

Updated, sharply written, socially conscious, this new version wants to improve on the original and often does. But what’s missing is a compelling reason for a reboot in the first place.

It’s great have an old friend back, even better to see he’s still the best part of his own joke. It’s also reasonable to wonder whether that joke has grown just a little bit stale.

If you last the entire pilot, and your head doesn’t hurt, you’re a sturdier viewer than I.

A huggable charmer with a big heart that can’t decide whether to go deep or skim the surface.

Too rushed, too unfunny, with hardly any music. At least Hall promises better times ahead.

The first two episodes demonstrate a firm grasp on both story and style. ... Cunningly provocative project.

There’s promising humanity to The Gifted, even in the hyperactive pilot directed by “X-Men” movie auteur Bryan Singer

The supernatural action unfolds through special effects like some live-action cartoon, with maybe-aliens literally losing their heads. That matches their Fox Sunday night surroundings--but with sneaky bits of sentiment sprinkled in.

To Wisdom’s credit--so far anyway--this doesn’t look like the typical gruesome network cop drama arrayed with female victims and their predatory killers (even though there are two such victims in the pilot). It does look like a good idea in search of genuine high-tech bona fides.

Inhumans squanders its Marvel back story (largely unclear here), to come off silly and stilted (in the hands of “Iron Fist” showrunner Scott Buck), as it plods through a cheap parade of cliches in writing, design and production. Despite special effects up the wazoo, it’s utterly devoid of magic or wonder.

Just like old times--make that exactly like old times. Will & Grace is back without missing a beat, or updating one, either.

It feels to me like CBS wanted a military heroism series, and the producers provided one, and here it is.

Kelly knows how to work the camera, and the camera knows how to get the best out of her. For Kelly, and NBC, that’s the good news from Monday’s launch. Otherwise, that long “Will & Grace” cast interview was a self-inflicted injury that clouded what this new show is and can be.

Capable enough time-killer, but nothing compelling.

Good-hearted, a little too cloying, and the story flow needs polish. Of the three new CBS comedies this fall, this is the most promising.

Falco and her curls steal the show. They’re both are fascinating. The “true crime” part is much less so.

Discovery introduced a compelling new hero, an even more compelling new alien, and a whole new war. But mostly it did negligible damage to a revered franchise and its legacy. Discovery is perfectly fine.

It’s emotion that moves the story forward. Highmore’s face and attitude. Schiff’s faith and moral weight. Thomas’ curiosity-generosity. That sets it apart from “House.”

What’s funny in Sheldon/adult is grating in Sheldon/child.

As usual, one’s tolerance for Transparent depends on one’s tolerance for the overbearing, over-sharing, boundary-blasting Pfeffermans. But here’s a guarantee: One won’t be bored and one will end this ride with an affirmation, once again, that love may come in all shapes and sizes, but love is still love.

Watching Seinfeld knock out the oldies-but-goldies is indeed watching someone do what they were born to do. He’s a master technician who cuts through the material at a high rate of speed, while using pantomime to fill in the blanks or give the punchline a steroid boost.

A must-watch: The most important TV program of the year.

A beauty finally returns, and the beauty very much remains.

The outcome is an ersatz facsimile of the original “Trek” and a couple of spinoffs. Their heart and overall spirit are present, along with some decent special effects. The dumb jokes and ham-fisted setup lines just tend to diminish them.

The huge cast is excellent. ... There’s no driving narrative until at least the fifth episode. That’s an awfully long time to wait for something big to happen in an eight-episode season. At least The Deuce makes a case that it’s worth the wait.

The horror is what counts in any American Horror Story, and judging from the opening three episodes, it’s more than adequate in Cult. It’s also relentless, grisly and deeply warped.

Disjointed operates on another plane of altered consciousness, which may begin to explain this genial, harmless misfire.

This Tick moves like a movie, each episode more a chapter in an extended tale than a half-hour payoff.

A little clunky at times, but otherwise all is well here, thanks especially to Alexandra [Reid (Sigourney Weaver)].

Its tone can be inconsistent. With a couple of actors’ actors--Leigh and Rapaport--and Gilchrist at the helm, Atypical still manages to mostly stay on track. It’s a good newcomer with the potential to get better.

Even if you aren’t part of the “Wet Hot American Summer” cult, this series should provide plenty of goofy, gonzo fun.

Engrossing at times and well worth watching, though the writing is often graceless and the direction haphazard.

The Last Tycoon is so sumptuous that it’s easy to overlook how pedestrian the story often is. That’s not immediately apparent because what’s onscreen is stunning.

Ozark can be excruciatingly cumbersome. There are many moving parts, none compelled to move with haste. If the characters were more engaging and likable, pace might not even be an impediment. They’re not, so it is.

Smart, engaging second season (so far). The ensemble cast gets better and better.

A good--OK, often very good--comedy that’s a little too much like “Silicon Valley.”

There are a few funny lines here and there. But too few of them, and too far in between, makes Friends From College that rare Netflix misfire.

Entertaining newcomer full of energy, passion and baloney--the ideal summer diversion.

Well-produced and particularly well-acted newcomer with a lot of moving parts, potentially too many.

Even actors with the amplitude of Watts and Crudup can’t pull Gypsy out of this induced coma. One reason is a hook--a genuinely interesting one--that refuses to come to life.

Even vintage home movies from unexpected sources-- Oakland’s black community, a Kentucky small-town newspaper--conjure a relatable sense of life being lived, in a continuity that clearly flows through us today.

A clever idea weighed down by heavy-handed storyline.

GLOW is terrific. ... GLOW is about female empowerment, and couldn’t be otherwise, but there’s a little more going on--female relationships, and the unique ties that bind, even when frayed by a patriarchy that profits from fraying them.

Bridgeton is too dull, its denizens likewise. The mystery will eventually be settled, some people will get eaten along the way, our heroes will save the day, the fog will disperse, the sun will come out. Ten episodes sure seems like a long road to get there.

The pilot hour delivers with blood-soaked gusto. The second hour gets more amusing. And wit can be the saving grace for casual viewers of the grindhouse genre.

Stone humanizes the boogeyman of the 2016 U.S. election in this fascinating, rambling, and sporadically invaluable exercise. Best not come looking for balance or journalism, though.

Tough, occasionally oppressive, and--against all odds--still funny when least expected.

There is an insistent, glowing, pervasive optimism over these 80 minutes that the TV screen can barely contain.

Good idea and better cast squandered on a slapdash premise, weak writing and South Florida cliches.

Uneven, but the core strength remains--a sitcom that embraces the uncomfortable, and sometimes the unmentionable.

You’ve seen it before, read it before. Too bad Dying passed up an opportunity to tell it in an exciting, engaging new way.

The fifth-season opener efficiently brooms away that creaky storyline, and even pivots on an effective twist that reinforces one more “HoC” theme: Frank will be Frank.

Amusing and harmless, but even Andy Cohen can’t raise the dead.

But the best stuff easily reminded true blue fans--and only true blue fans--why they loved this so deeply to begin with.

Almost everything in The Wizard of Lies succeeds. The acting is impeccable, the script taut and Levinson’s direction scalpel-sharp. ... But what’s missing in Wizard is the why.

Based on six episodes for review, Kimmy remains Kimmy, which is about as good as the news can get for fans.

People are dogs, too. We also have complicated emotional lives, further complicated by our professional ones. We also seek food. We also seek love. We obsess. Nan and Martin’s bond works--and consequently this terrific series works--because it abides by these simple, inalienable truths.

Great start to the much-anticipated second season.

Absorbing in parts, tedious in others, but Hahn is great.

An excellent Trump impression, but a little too much of it.

The spirit of Gaiman’s classic has been captured, but not yet the vision.

Beautiful, immersive and joyless, Tale can be tough to watch, but “rewarding” trumps “tough.”

The series ambles along at its own congenial pace, lighthearted and largely without a care in the world. Great News can also be something of an Easter egg hunt for lovers of classic TV and classic Broadway.

Genius doesn’t just skate over the science, it ignores it.

There’s a sense that we’ve traveled down this road paved with silicon once or twice before, but the ride is still smart, engaging and highly informative.

A beautiful, moving film, and Oprah (as usual) brings it.

There’s some temporizing in the first couple of episodes, but not enough to subvert what this third season so clearly is--another winner.

For fans of The Leftovers, the third season looks like the best yet. It’s funny, horrifying, strange and baffling.

In TV terms, we call this a re-set, but in Veep terms, it’s genius. HBO offered three episodes for review, which seen together play like a movie--the funniest movie you will have seen all year, maybe next year, too.