A rare and almost totally unexpected triumph.

Even if we are being taken for a ride, there's so much to savor on this trip. [12 Sep 2003]

These folks know how to hit a note, and hold it, which means "Burn Notice" doesn't wobble around wondering how serious/silly to be. Its pitch is perfect.

Well written, well produced and well acted. [02 Jan 1995, p.B41]

It's all sharp and snappy.

On top of the stars' subtlety and Fuller's verbal wit, Sonnenfeld's pilot direction ladles layers of flashy frosting--theatrical camera angles, emphatic zooms, intensified color and those heavyhanded moments when the narration can't quite straddle the sap line.

Creator Vince Gilligan ("The X-Files") never loses touch with the mundane reality that so brilliantly magnifies its absurd horrors.

The writing is witty, the acting wonderful, the production values superb. It's a little cornball and musty, but, hey, that's what comes from authenticity. And "Remember WENN" above all is fun - at least for anyone who knew radio when. [10 Jan 1996]

This is just an action fairy tale, a modern Saturday afternoon serial or contemporary penny dreadful, designed to keep us hanging on its every outlandish turn by exasperating us, if necessary, with characters we love to hate and contrivances we delight in dissing. ... It's insulting to our intelligence. And we can't stop watching. [28 Oct 2003]

It's hilarious, really, and refreshing, and original and - absolutely - an acquired taste.

"Mrs. Harris" unfolds with a basic playfulness that keeps the mood light even as the story becomes dark indeed.

Gorgeous to look at. [25 Mar 1999]

The most thought-provoking new series of the year on TV. [6 Oct 1999, p.B39]

"Buffy" is the best show of the year about kids in high school, with the most refreshingly original dialogue and pop cultural references. [17 Nov 1997]

It veers, sometimes swerves, between a public service tone and made-for-primetime spectacle. That can be disorienting, too. But, for the moment, all viewers can do is take I Am Cait at its word, or the words of its star.... I Am Cait now has no choice BUT to get this right.

As bizarre as things can get, Torchwood still feels more like sci than fi, and more ego/id than alien vs. human. The Gwen character in particular radiates intelligence, and empathy, and curiosity, about what's out there and what lies inside Jack. We can't help but share her, um, enthusiasm.

As a law show, "McBeal" is not as good as "The Practice." It has a lot of unrealistic, implausible, even surrealistic law. What it does well is show the compassionate, human side of the law profession, outside the courtroom. [9 Feb 1998]

The season's premiere represents pig-in-the-python storytelling--there's so much to work through, so many details, stories, characters and time dimensions to attend to, that after a while this all starts to feel like a very full meal.

Fans who hated the fifth season should mostly love the sixth, which is a return to normal, or as "normal" as "OITNB" ever gets. But the end does feel a little bit closer.

Transparent is no longer as interested in trying to locate the comedy in these lives as the tragedy. The tonal shift is a huge one, and not necessarily a welcome one either.... Transparent is still sharply observed, and it’s still easy to admire the actors, especially Hoffmann and Tambor. Just harder to love the show.

The story feels recycled, but Idris Elba’s Luther certainly doesn’t. He continues to fully inhabit this groundbreaking--and star-making--role.

This is a cool weekly cartoon series from Lucasfilm Animation that finds a fresh new style for depicting the struggle of the Jedi and their army of genetically engineered clones against the seemingly indomitable droid army of evil Separatists.

Heaton nails the role because she's had so much practice at this, but "Carol's Second Act" does her — and the trope — one better, by ever-so-slightly inverting our Heaton expectations. ... Heaton is back in another "family" sitcom. As expected, a good one.

There are real pleasures with "The Hour," but the hour (actually, about an hour and 15 minutes Wednesday night) ticks by far too slowly.

Think of this as “Grey’s” in a courtroom, with a good New York cast, two legends (Gould and Bill Irwin, who plays a judge), a TV star and a TV pioneer.

The pilot's envelope-pushing is caustic and obvious, two things Mom seems better than. Faris is both gutsy and touching as the adult trying to get her act together, while Janney's crafty adolescence extends to a third generation around Faris' two kids.

If you're looking for groundbreaking high art, you won't find it at a golf comedy. If you're after a little bit of solace, a tiny measure of happiness and feel-good uplift when we could all use it, "Stick" has the goods.

Hoggers is more down-market than Beers' crab fishermen and ice road truckers.

Odd...make that very odd, and not for all tastes--probably very few. But there are some funny bits.

A lot of fun, especially for theater buffs.

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.

Two things are going for this latest adaptation--solid production values and a talented lead actor.

The Comeback" is strictly for Comeback connoisseurs--those who deeply missed this sad/funny mockumentary on the idiocy of show business.

Forever isn't betting the future on plot mechanics, however, but on chemistry and that obscure object of desire called "sex appeal." These leads have it--in spades.

Umbrella looks, feels and sounds different [from other comic book TV adaptations]--music does much of the heavy lifting, and effectively so. It's a gorgeous-looking production that evokes another world, with both feet still firmly planted in this one.

Cannavale's Cupid is at least funny and charming. He's good here and so is Paulson. The weak link--the "B" story, like tonight's tepid one with the Postie, which was as appetizing as week-old cod.

Good start with a pair of shockers. Beware.

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

First impression of the third season is a good one.

There's substance in Jill with hubby Andy and with her doctor best friend (comic KK Glick, a Huntington native), all proving levelheaded and likable. That helps leaven the snooty stereotypes of our initial path into Jill's world.

This is an intelligent overview, with the consistent and important theme that medical "paradigms" shift and change.

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

Second-season expectations for Glee are almost too high. Potential reality series, movies, spinoffs, tours, record contracts...the surround sound that's jacked up around this hit is now officially deafening. Unrelenting distractions can push series off their game, and there's evidence tonight Glee is off its game.

As a live-action adaptation of a hugely popular series, it's often jauntier and funnier than the root stock, the violence even more outlandish and cartoonish. Hardcore fans of the animé series may be disappointed by the liberties taken but a much wider audience — the one that never __watched animé — probably won't be. Flat-out entertaining.

Amusing to watch, but not particularly scary. "Creepy" seems the better word.

The "Melissa & Joey" pilot is no great shakes. But Melissa and Joey could be.

A little long-winded in some stretches, not detailed enough in others but Holmes fans--and fans of cop procedurals--should like this.

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

Bible Challenge tries to cover all bases in America's complicated Christian field.

Amusing, odd, fascinating, indulgent and not quite as funny as you might expect, or hope.

It's a slow burn that can be patience-trying at times, and it's fair to wonder whether there's really enough here to support eight episodes instead of, say, a single movie. But there's confidence to spare and a real sense that the show knows exactly what it intends to be, without compromise. And whenever the pace slows to a crawl, the actors are there to keep you engaged.

A far-improved start to the second season.

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.

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

This is good bunk, fun bunk, energetic bunk. Much better bunk than the last volume.

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.

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

It feels fresh and amusing. "True Blood" did a similar fast-forward, and both have benefited.

There was lots of life left here. If these first couple of episodes are at all representative, there still is. (But still too bad about Peretti's departure.)

Desus & Mero arrived at Showtime fully baked--a talk show that knows what it is, and what it does, and how to do it. That's good, and at least so far, the Bodega boys are, too.

There is no apology, though hardly no remorse. ... From there, "Right Now" becomes, in a comically inverted way, a plea for tolerance,for perspective shift, for a check-out-the-world (from where I stand) riff. ... Risky show, risky strategy and both pay off.

A stylish, intelligent production.

The Catch is about illusions, also about who’s real, or not. It’s about human mirages. Could Ben possibly be a genuine “catch,” or is he just another Shondaland heel in a bespoke suit? The answer is not so clear-cut, and it’s also what makes The Catch so possibly engaging.

The pilot is itself uneven, with the go-for-bonkers impudence of a live-action "Family Guy." But without it, Mystery Girls might be just another ABC Family-com for viewers who have aged out of Disney Channel and silly situations with sentimental topping for studio audience uproar.

No, it's not exactly "House." But it isn't like any other show, either, with its mad mix of moral dilemmas, medical crises, family ties, double-life-living and, y'know, rubouts 'n' stuff.

Good Girls gets the journalism part almost laughably wrong, but as an ensemble drama with a good cast, high production values, and much else, even a crusty editor might observe that, “This story has legs.”

You dive into the deep end of this pool and struggle to make it back to the surface, not because you have to (although in my case I did) but because you can't. That's obviously good, also occasionally frustrating because Homecoming can be parsimonious with information. ... Then, there's Roberts, who is superb (and always is).

Good show with fine cast, but it all still feels a little too familiar and old-fashioned.

Fine reboot that gets better in two later episodes.

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.

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

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.

Scream is exactly what you'd expect. It may also be exactly what you want.

If not all things to all people, this Oscar salute should be enough for most.

Shore has written this adroitly enough and Winters and Duhamel are two good and seasoned actors who easily locate what's most endearing, or at least what's most amusing about their respective characters.

Solid, engaging, propulsive--and a little bit too familiar.

Come for that view, and this cast, and Fellowes' peerless talent for world-building — or at least a to-the-manor-born world. Don't come for any fresh insights into the American character. This is mostly fantasy, not a history lesson.

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

The “fat” stuff is way overdone, but Bader and Mixon are good. Otherwise, your watchwords are: too soon to tell.

The formula--must find murderer of beautiful woman before last commercial break--predates the dinosaurs, but also incorporates some satisfying twists.

Bassett refuses to cast blame for the troubles, and we're left with a portrait that has plenty of love--just not a whole lot of insight or edge.

Killing Eve can be violent and bloody, sometimes too violent and bloody, but get past that and an intriguing new antihero awaits.

Everything is in place, and everyone, and what's prevented this from turning into a heightened camp version of Wisteria Lane is that now-supersized superteam. ... Still fun, still addictive, still (yup) pretty much the same.

The role of a male comedian--particularly one like Rock--has since assumed a whole new dimension, too. He launches with Black Lives Matter, moves on to the failure of schools to prepare kids for life, then establishes the importance of bullies. But that’s the warm-up act for the main show--that apologia for his indefensible behavior and the personal failures he brought upon himself.

"Fargo" is still funny, bleakly so, and smartly written. Best of all, it's effectively cast three legendary actors (after "Ted Lasso," is Temple now officially "legendary"?) in memorable roles. Very memorable.

"Grantchester" is back. "Grantchester" is still good. "Grantchester" — even without Sidney — is still "Grantchester." ... Still as gentle as a summer shower.

Starts slow and gets better--while an excellent cast (and lead, in Holland) front a story that's a little more psychological than supernatural in the early going.

Not a lot new here, but Cheney gets a fair hearing--even though a tougher one is occasionally warranted.

Nicely crafted, and Gambon--as always--is superb, but this “Masterpiece” movie can also be turgid and lugubrious.

Executive producer Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption") is wonderfully skilled at framing shots to achieve maximum horror effect. But the middle stretch tends to bog down. My advice--watch the first 25 minutes (they're really good), then go trick-or-treating.

Samuel L. Jackson reveals a hidden side of himself, and that's worth watching for that reason alone.

All this is to say, simply, that Passmore is an intriguing screen presence who holds a well-constructed if otherwise boilerplate cop show together.

It doesn't always want viewers to like what they're seeing and doesn't seem to care whether they do or not. But it does want them to at least think about what they're seeing. ... Hard to watch, but well-worth watching.

The opening episode--already posted online--is a bit sluggish, but Power gets better in subsequent episodes. Starz, and Fitty, appear to have a winner.

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.

A fun, nostalgic, energetic re-entry that makes up for that sometimes bloated bore of a first season.

Quirky, uneven oddball that will appeal to a few. Best to wait for all episodes to stream and go ahead and binge.

A true rarity — a sharply drawn portrait of local journalism.