Beautiful, elegant final ride, full of love and nostalgia and joy.

The Jinx does channel that we're-all-on-this-ride-together thrill that hooked so many listeners of last fall's NPR podcast, "Serial," about a murder of a Maryland teen. This may be a high-gloss treatment that utilizes all the tricks of the TV trade, including dramatic re-creations, and a way-over-baked credit sequence, but that sense of unfolding discovery remains.

The early part of the third may not be as good as the first season or stretches of the second, but for a few million anxiously awaiting Sunday, it's still good enough.

Wish the news were better here, but "Reggie Dinkins" is just OK.

The pilot is flawed (most pilots are), not particularly funny and even--bizarrely--deploys two bland jokes from the "Weeds" premiere at 10 (did the writers trade notes?). But Falco is good, proving that she can transcend Carmela Soprano.

Alias suffers from a split personality. It's half John LeCarre, half comic book. In the field, Sydney, who looks about as formidable as your average Vogue cover girl, becomes a spike-heeled super-spy who shoots and karate-kicks her way through a horde of terrorist storm troopers as if they were targets in a video game. She's preposterous, and so is half the show. But viewers who just want to see bad guys die may not mind.

Fascinating and deeply troubling.

A fast and furious romp through the first six episodes that should keep bingers--and fans--happy.

Sunday's episode is a necessary decompression episode after last season's intense finale.

A summer pleasure. ... Kristin Chenoweth knows it's a mad, mad world out there but has the chops to make us forget about that for a little while.

Still sweet and sad, but often dour and slow, too.

Engrossing history (and with an eyebrow-raising omission).

Unless your name is Stephen King or Steven Spielberg, there’s only so much new anyone can bring to this potluck supper. The Duffers don’t bring much new. They do bring a large degree of enthusiasm, however.

A few new faces from last season are back, but the formula remains ironclad, right down to the soaring courtroom rhetoric and McCoy's somewhat suspect ethical calculus. This comfort food remains comfortable, indeed.

Mostly--and occasionally despite itself--Maniac is just fun, at points raucously funny. ... Dive in, don't think, enjoy. You most likely will, by the way.

Can a bad person become a good president? The answer may be self-evident--or maybe not. Nevertheless, therein lies a compelling new season. We may still have a lot more to learn about Frank Underwood after all.

Good setup pilot on Sunday that doesn’t quite carry over into subsequent episodes.

Girls is as Girls always was--sharply observed, intensely self-aware and very funny.

The writing is intelligent, wittily playing off our knowledge of the Superman lore, and the production values are on par with top-quality fantasy / sci-fi shows like "The X-Files."...Smallville is the most purely enjoyable dramatic series of the new season. Like Clark, this baby's destined to fly. [16 Oct 2001, p.B27]

Monday's pilot can't quite close the sale, but there's promise here. The Chicago Code deserves another look.

This fall's most satisfying series delight.

Garcia's single-camera editing amplifies the comedy inherent, rather than being a crutch to create it. And the casting here is as good as "Earl," which is saying something--even if Leachman goes a bit off the rails as wacked-out "mamaw."

No relaxing allowed with Boss. Sorry about that, and sorry for this series, which remains smart, absorbing and particularly well done.

Angel upholds Whedon's spellbinding "Buffy" mantle and expands it, taking his surprisingly mature and witty view of life among the supernatural into an adult realm. [5 Oct 1999, p.B27]

Richness of detail permeates this modern tube-noir. The more damage done, the more juicy fun for us to savor.

It's homage of the highest form, but comedy of the highest form, too. Cos quite obviously is far from finished.

A viewing of the first two episodes of "Silo" shows that it exemplifies the best of what the genre can be.

Soderbergh has created a vibrant, dark and above all alluring Gotham. Owen's Thackery is its bracing human counterpart.

Uneven pilot which at least promises something much better.

It's lackadaisical, weary, bland and off-center.

"The Terror: Infamy" is so good and so cleanly told that it really doesn't require much of a primer before diving in, but a little background couldn't hurt.

Disgusting--but in a good way.

Good newcomer, good cast and star showrunner. What’s missing, at least in the early episodes, is a propulsive story and pace to match.

This certainly isn't bad TV--Murphy isn't about to leave his longtime home with a turkey--but it's often bland TV, and oddly enough, stock TV.

There are many enjoyable performances by many wonderful actors, including Baranski, Panjabi and, the nicest surprise of all, David Paymer, who plays a judge. But you've seen much of this before.

"Nine-Nine" goes out on a semi-serious note, and for the most part, effectively.

Good start to the third season, and from what I sampled, it builds from there.

Mike Tyson Mysteries is highbrow lowbrow lampoon, alternately smart and stupid, dizzy and disgusting.

Great cast, fine performances, consistently entertaining.

Powerful story. A shame Bessie rarely conveys the story's emotional wallop.

Fresh Off the Boat is charming, convivial, even--gasp--at times cute.

"Without a Trace" is about the work, about the puzzle. If you want the untidy cop stuff, stick with "NYPD Blue." [26 Sep 2002]

There are three excellent reasons--Milch, Mann and Hoffman--why your faith will be rewarded.

It's smartly acted, well written, funny, expertly directed and hugely entertaining. And utterly, totally, profoundly devoid of pretension.

By dint of smart casting, imaginative challenges and A-list guests, Top Chef retains its three stars for culinary entertainment.

What's here is pitch-perfect - the fear, loss, emotional devastation and, peculiar to this disease, silence.

The indulgence gets annoying, even as the basic details are fascinating and fun, as are the seductive testimony settings. You gotta love the fantasy of all those swank joints and modern mansions.

He's rude, sarcastic, bitter, brilliant and, delightfully, the most compelling character of the fall TV season. [14 Nov 2004, p.11]

A well-produced film that is ultimately more painful than conclusive.

[Midge] needs to grow, or at least her stand-up routine does beyond the tame gags about her ex-husband or Jewsih guilt. Those remain the weakest part of "Maisel." ... These early episodes do certainly play to "Maisel's" considerable and well-established strengths. They're a romp through the English language, abetted by actors who remain effortlessly up to the challenge. As always, the writing and those performances are still what resonate, and they're just about flawless

Magnificent.

TV's pre-eminent people-watching pleasure.

Another fine Le Carré adaptation but not quite as fun as 2016's "The Night Manager."

There's a wonderful cast here... There's even an intriguing core idea... But the show also feels phony from beginning to end.

The Conners skillfully picks up where "Roseanne" left off and even manages to improve on the predecessor.

More of a fan-pleaser than crowd pleaser. ... So yes — absolutely — well worth the wait.

A series that can still be occasionally talky and turgid.... Hardwick's the better and smoother actor, and certainly the more appealing one. But it's Jackson who gives this show bite and--to a considerable degree--life, too.

Good performances, good period details, good payoff. But Restless would've worked better as a two-hour film.

The Japanese cast is excellent, especially Adelstein's newsroom boss Eimi (Rinko Kikuchi), but Elgort's Adelstein never quite comes into focus himself. There's a lot of energy in the performance but almost no substance. As a result, his Adelstein recedes while the foreground is commanded by the true star here. That's almost — just not quite — enough.

The show's crisp, witty dialogue is mostly egalitarian among the ages, and everyone's great at working the words.

They know how to nail situations/characters, while snappy edits cull fluff, leaving only comic gold.

Veep is the single most improved series on television.

It’s an unconventional love story that needs another season to figure out what it really wants to be, and how best to get there. At least the most important elements--or both of them, anyway--are in place.

Grease: Live was maybe not a slam dunk, but nevertheless was the crowd pleaser it deserves to be and so often has been.

In the end, don't much like Ray Donovan.... [But] Donovan ultimately succeeds on the little things--some very good performances by some very good actors and sharp dialogue by Biderman, who knows how to write Tough Guy talk with the best of them.

A Year in the Life is a triumph. ... A sweet, sad, sentimental and (above all) joyous return to Stars Hollow.

How to honor the memory of a beloved is its theme, or one of them. You can't get much more universal than that. Fine newcomer with excellent cast, and some universal themes.

Its hasty pace frequently muddles precisely who's who where, when or why. Even the zippy sex scenes play like another gratuitous burst of firepower.

This playful hour gets under your skin with its quirky personality humor, at the same time it's spinning a pretty fair murder yarn. [12 July 2002, p.B51]

Some of the sketches... have a surprising depth and richness. [5 Oct 1992]

"Brotherhood" is sharply written... Nevertheless, a heavy air of predictability hangs over "Brotherhood," which has a tendency to confirm viewer expectations instead of challenging them.

First-rate film that succeeds in re-working the story we thought we knew into the story we should have known all along.

Maybe this episode really is about repression, erotica and split personalities. Or maybe it's just a good excuse for the show to shake the dust out, ditch the inferno of summertime New York and wander amid the glories of Paris while exploring the discreet bourgeois charms of Blair and Serena. Either way, it's a lot of fun.

Complaining about the show's pre-fab structure is like shootin' fish in a barrel--no point to ask what's-the-point, no fair to ponder whether it's fair, because you end up with dinner anyhow, and folks gonna gobble it. Duck Dynasty is tasty enough.

This is a handsome, lavish romance that will appeal to a large audience, but it's also painstakingly insubstantial.

Yes, it can be mean, and yes, superficial, and yes, a little draggy (almost a whole episode about a kids’ party, really?). But the cast is fabulous, and the script by Kelley sparkles. A winner.

Not consistently funny, perhaps, but when Best and/or Falco are on screen, the angels sing. Both are remarkable.

Move past the word, and images (fortunately fleeting in the pilot), and Supergirl obviously has a major plus: Benoist.

At least in the first three episodes provided for review, what the Kesslers and Zelman don't seem to quite realize is how much of a narcotic this setting actually turns out to be. The story is also often languid to the point of stationary.

This campfire story may not be getting any smarter, but it should get even better.

The oldest version — that rag-and-bone-shop-of-the-heart Ptolemy — could turn out to be Jackson's masterpiece, or one of them anyway. ... First-rate Jackson, entertaining series.

Slow at first, with gratuitous violence, but Dunk and Egg should win hearts.

Yup, the story can be downbeat, the pace at times languid. But this is a show with a brain and a heart.

The problem I have with the show, aside from the death business, is that the Fishers are not a likable family. It doesn't have a James Gandolfini character. [3 June 2001, p.D39]

"The Great" is an engaging historical satire that resonates thanks to its vision of courtly debauchery and the tremendous acting by Fanning, Hoult and the rest of the cast.

Good newcomer that can drag, but Hemingway's direction keeps this one on track.

There is an engaging sleaziness about "The Practice" that makes it special. [7 Apr 1997]

A rare HBO misfire--but I do hope Amy finds peace.

This is pure kiddie fare; no big deal--Chuck's back; TV's a better place.

A densely packed, well-paced gothic horror soap with surprisingly funny twists placed at the worst.

Liv is more goth than zomb, more punk than spunk. She's also as appealing as anyone who eats human brains for a living could possibly be. Her supporting cast is good, too.

It's not as good as "Star Trek: The Next Generation." The premiere strikes me as a "Star Trek: The De-generation." It doesn't seem to go beyond where no "Star Trek" has gone before, or even where the other one had been creatively. [7 Jan 1993]

As with "The Avengers," Whedon's ear and sensibilities match the material perfectly.

Spader seems to be the only one who actually gets the gameplay here.... And the script seems to incite his appetite.

Homeland's fourth season feels as fresh, important and relevant as yesterday's news--or tomorrow's news. A bracing, intelligent start.

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.

Carell gives his best performance yet in "The Patient," a compelling drama that's worth sticking with through all 10 episodes.

A wild ride (as expected), better still a promising one.