[“The Violet Hour”] takes some unexpected and some predictable turns along the way, but it’s ultimately an enjoyable, charming story. ... “The Royal We” is less involving than “The Violet Hour.” Shelly’s story proves more compelling than Michael’s and the Romanoff theme is more pronounced and bizarre. ... [The third episode is] the second best of the first three episodes made available for review.

The “Charmed” redo is stronger when it goes for a laugh--at moments the style of humor brings to mind “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”--than when it goes all-in on supernatural theatrics involving its three sister lead characters.

It’s a well-made teen drama pilot that traffics (mildly) in some social issues and ends with a welcome, soapy wallop.

This new “Murphy Brown” is it at its best when the show is most topical, when Murphy is at her most outspoken as Ms. Bergen still delivers a zinger-filled rant flawlessly. ... There’s an obvious fire-in-the-belly for these scenes, but they’re surrounded by a lot of dated sitcom cliches.

Jokes about farts, falling down, hypersexualized kids and grabbing the wrong person’s rear end ensue--but they’re obvious, predictable and not funny.

The soapy drama turns out to be a bit too much, and if that’s what the creators think is necessary to sustain the show, it might hint at structural flaws that a TV series can’t overcome.

Fall’s funniest new comedy.

It’s a fine if unremarkable broadcast network-style series.

Black and white pedestrian characters and plots may satisfy traditional CBS viewers, but it won’t win over many new recruits.

Seems like it should be a movie instead of a serialized weekly series.

It’s fine, escapist fare but lacking in much imagination.

Some viewers may find “The First” too slow, especially in the first two episodes, but “The First” becomes more engrossing as it unfurls, especially when the show’s scope broadens out from Tom and explores the other characters.

Directed by Michel Gondry, Kidding occasionally shows sparks of the magic he brought to his previous collaboration with Mr. Carrey, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” but there’s not enough of the show-within-a-show for Mr. Gondry’s wonderfully wacko visual style to get much play.

There are occasional glimpses of “Seinfeld”-style humor. ... But the pilot is neither as funny as that NBC classic nor as topical as “The Carmichael Show.”

It’s been a while since basic cable has delivered a guilty pleasure as enticing and entertaining as Lifetime’s stalker drama You.

While the character drama is compelling and often well-acted, the viciousness of this world proves a barrier to entry some viewers will understandably choose not to cross.

Filmic in its look and style – the series screams “big budget” – “Jack Ryan” has its exciting moments, and even when there are not explosions on screen, the presence of the always-likeable Mr. Krasinski easily pulls viewers through to the next exciting action set piece.

The first episode of “One Dollar” wallows in the struggles of several sad sack characters and jumps around a confusing amount as it introduces the unwieldy, large cast, but the show becomes more engrossing in episodes two and three. “One Dollar” hits its stride by episode six, proving it’s a worthy addition to the Peak TV era.

What began as a sublimely ridiculous pop culture sensation devolved over its first five films into just a junky exercise in bloated storytelling and C-list celebrity-spotting. No. 6 is more of the same with an often nonsensical time travel story.

The first two episodes of “Disenchantment” are more amusing than funny with entertaining enough puns and parodies of modern-day brands in the names of shops in the Kingdom of Dreamland.

Lodge 49 goes down easy but perhaps too easy. It feels unessential in the 500-series era, an OK diversion but not a must-see series.

The season premiere, written by Mr. Gould, serves as a warm-up act for the season’s more gripping second episode that features at least two remarkable scenes with bravura performances: Jimmy self-sabotaging and Kim, in a searing performance by Ms. Seehorn, ripping into Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian).

Through its first three episodes, Castle Rock builds out its world and character relationships thoughtfully and deliberately. Whether it holds up through the entire 10-episode first season remains to be seen, but Castle Rock gets off to a strong, engrossing start.

Casting Ms. Kreuk as an anti-hero would be a unique twist but Burden quickly undoes that, settling for the more pedestrian idea of Joanna crusading for the little guy while also, thankfully, voiding the notion that the show is pro anti-vaxxer.

Imagine a low-rent “Game of Thrones” wannabe with bargain basement special effects and a paint-by-numbers plot and you’ve got a good conception of the fantasy drama "The Outpost."

Ms. Chenoweth is a smart addition but the humor is often too broad and, worse, predictable. When the show’s humor offers a more surprising take, Trial & Error shines--the “East Peck Lady Laws of 1952” are particularly amusing--but that seems to happen with less frequency in season two.

The first two Sharp Objects episodes take a slow-burn approach--too slow--but the pace picks up in episode three as Sharp Objects delves deeper into Camille’s back story and as Camille begins to connect with suspects in the case. That’s probably OK for fans of the novel, but for the rest of us, it’s a tough early slog in an era of myriad TV series choices.

The two-hour “Yellowstone” pilot is both talky and somewhat predictable as it establishes the characters, their relationships and conflicts. But future episodes offer more surprises and deepen the characters--flashbacks help establish why Beth is the way she is--making “Yellowstone” an enticing summer diversion.

For fans of darker, soapier TV fare, the light-as-a-feather “Take Two” will be a hard pass, but for a light drama it’s entertaining enough, thanks to producers poking fun at TV procedural cliches (while also embracing them) and Ms. Bilson’s likable performance.

Written by novelist Patrick Gale, “Man in an Orange Shirt,” airing timed to national Pride Month, tells stories both familiar and heartfelt (the consequences of repression; not being true to yourself) but also occasionally surprising (“open relationships” come into play in the second, contemporary-set hour).

In its early going, Strange Angel just isn’t strange enough to warrant sustained viewer interest.

While the show’s first hour doesn’t inspire much confidence in the series, save for a poignant scene between Tyrone and his mother (Gloria Reuben), the second episode gives the characters more depth and allows for a little more light to sneak into the generally dark (tonally and visually) proceedings.

After a slow start early in the pilot episode, the pace quickens, turning Condor into a taut, violent, compulsively watchable series for fans of “24”-style thrillers.

Imagine a Don Draper-less, bland, unsurprising sequel to “Mad Men” and “American Woman” comes pretty close. All the plot twists are telegraphed.

Whether Dietland can sustain the will-Plum-get-caught? story remains to be seen, but early episodes show promise.

The character-based stories grow more effective over time as viewers come to care about the characters’ love lives and hardships.

The tone of the pilot makes jarring shifts, but episode two settles into a comfortably arch take on the hubris and egocentrism shared by members of the Roy clan.

Structurally, Arrested is in better shape than it was in season four. Fans who temper their expectations for this new batch of episodes--eight are available this week with another eight coming later this year--will be happy to be back with the terrible Bluth family.

It’s all quite predictable and dull with a pilot episode that suffers under the weight of technobabble-filled exposition.

In Evil Genius, Mr. Borzillieri offers an attempt at an “ah-ha!” moment in the final episode. But the filmmakers’ thesis is not completely convincing. Other evidence presented in Evil Genius suggests a less clean cut, more nuanced scenario may be closer to the truth.

At times, it’s still tough to watch. But Mr. Cumberbatch brings wit and flashes of wicked humor to a story of childhood trauma and its impact on one man’s life via substance abuse and mental illness.

Warm, welcoming and occasionally tear-jerking, this three-hour production goes down like a warm glass of milk at bedtime.

It feels authentic, save for one calculated-to-take-advantage-of-premium-cable scene in the premiere (characters on TV seem more prone to engage in grief-fueled sex at funeral receptions than people do in real life).

Sweetbitter certainly presents recognizable characters, situations and reactions that may have an appeal to young people who are living on their own for the first time in a big city, but it has precious little new to add to that familiar experience.

While Handmaid’s Tale comes across as more disturbing because the world it creates actually feels like it could come to pass. Neither program [Handmaid's Tale or Westworld] is an easy viewing experience; both shows represent today’s TV at its best.

It takes a bit for Westworld to get back up to full steam, but by episode three (five hours were made available to TV critics), this futuristic, violent drama returns to fine form, introducing new parts of the park (Shogun World!), new characters and apparently new technology goals on the part of Delos, the corporation that owns Westworld.

It’s a dark, sometimes dreary Lost in Space with great special effects and some interesting character relationships that sit awkwardly alongside predictable plots.

It’s an engaging (and, perhaps to some defenders of Joe Paterno, it will be an enraging) film that explores character, the politics of college athletics and the value of local journalism in a style that’s more process piece thriller than it is anything like a biopic given how “Paterno” concentrates on a short period in the coach’s life.

Even though the premise of The Crossing seems like it’s another TV show that should really be a movie or limited series and not an ongoing drama, the pilot offers (for a broadcast network series) some decent twists, welcome casting against type and a somewhat intriguing plot.

While it isn’t as culturally significant as, say, Mr. Peele’s “Get Out,” “The Last O.G.” is genuinely funny and transfers Mr. Morgan’s skills from co-star to lead far more successfully than his short-lived NBC 2003-04 sitcom, “The Tracy Morgan Show,” ever did.

The Child in Time takes some bizarre turns that draw it away from the grief/guilt cycle endemic to the film’s premise. There’s Stephen’s publisher friend (Stephen Campbell Moore) who has a Benjamin Button-style awakening that plays into the theme of childhood. And the film also offers an ending of hope, a welcome if somewhat unbelievable salve on the almost unbearable pain of the program’s earliest moments.

Forward momentum--for the plot, creature action and character development--finally kicks in during episode three but it’s a big ask for AMC to expect viewers will return after the first two episodes.

It’s more pathetic than funny.

A serviceable if predictable single-camera comedy.

HBO’s Barry marks viewers’ best bet for a smart, darkly comedic new show.

Because it’s so true to its roots, the new Roseanne does feel somewhat dated at times with longer, talkier scenes than many of today’s comedies. But the writing is crisp, smart and, most importantly, funny.

The body count is high in early episodes and Philip gets pulled back into spying, just not in the exact way as before. This new avenue threatens to upend his family, which, of course, lays the groundwork for one of the show’s psychologically intense Philip-Elizabeth relationship-defining scenes early in the season’s third episode.

Entertaining and light in its first two episodes, Trust turns more dramatic with higher stakes in episode three as a cold-blooded mafia killer enters the picture. It’s a rough transition in tone and leaves one to wonder how the balance of the 10-episode first season will play out and whether the plot can justify 10 hours compared to the two hours devoted to the same story in “All the Money in the World.”

Some of the supporting characters, including Victoria Hughes (Barrett Doss) and Dean Miller (Okieriete Onaodowan), make decent first impressions. But the whole enterprise feels so similar to “Grey’s”--co-workers as family, love triangle, heroics on the job--as to be unessential, which programming in the Peak TV era cannot afford to be.

Ultimately, dull, dreary Krypton does feel like a waste of time.

For the People is OK but not great, too all over the place for any of the legal cases to make much of a dramatic impression.

Deception is fairly charming in spite of its blah procedural trappings thanks to Mr. Cutmore-Scott and his character’s bag of tricks and magic team.

Rise is likable enough, but through its first five episodes the show doesn’t rise above a pale analogue to shows in the family drama/football/drama club genres that came before.

Mr. Totah steals the show with his witty retorts and Mr. Favreau makes Matthew likable despite his naiveté. The rest of the cast, consisting mostly of the gym family, have yet to come into focus through three episodes made available for review.

It’s warm and funny-adjacent but it has too much voiceover narration and doesn’t offer the emotional truths of reigning prime-time family drama champ “This is Us.”

Series creators Michelle and Robert King spend the first two episodes extricating Maya Rindell from federal charges stemming from her father’s Ponzi scheme, including some disappointing turns in episode two that rely on things-that-would-not-happen-in-a-real-courtroom TV tropes. The Good Fight is better than that. Episode three finds the series in sharper form as the law firm comes under threat, relationships clarify and a legal case explores reality TV.

A few lines generate a mild chuckle, but Living Biblically mostly feels stale and unfunny--the kind of show that gives broadcast network comedies a bad name.

Showrunner Dan Futterman (writer of “Gracepoint” and “Foxcatcher,” once a co-star on “Judging Amy”) keeps the tension high and the pace generally relentless. “The Looming Tower” only falters in an embarrassingly trite early scene of O’Neill with one of his many women. But when the focus is on the work, “Looming Tower” looms large as a well-made story of human and systemic failings.

A cut above NBC’s ultimately disappointing “Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders” but not quite on par with FX’s “American Crime Story.”

Alex, who has tried to live a by-the-book life as a businessman, gets pulled into a family crisis in a believable way that doesn’t feel like a ridiculous TV plot twist.

UnReal continues to give short shrift to the meta commentary on reality TV that made season one such fun.

The seemingly unsustainable plot cries out to be a one-shot movie rather than an ongoing series. It’s too bad, too, because the show’s themes resonate in this #MeToo moment, but a “no good can come from this” plot gets in the way.

At times, Here and Now is exhausting. And yet, some of the characters, particularly Ramon and the Muslim family, are fascinating enough for the time being, despite how annoying so many other elements of the show turn out to be.

The series, a purported behind-the-scenes look at the Trump administration, has its intermittent funny moments, and the character designs of the people who populate Trump’s cabinet are entertaining. But the story that’s grafted onto the first episode — Trump has to find an anniversary gift for Melania — is sitcom-trite and reminiscent of the old Comedy Central series “That’s My Bush.”

Bellevue plays like a watered-down version of “The Killing.”

Ridiculous and filled with hospital show cliches.

Too much in the pilot gets short shrift at the expense of the show’s love affair with mood. Snow covers streets and then disappears in a scene set moments later; foreboding dialogue comes off as too on the nose. ... Episode two shakes off the unsavory visuals and moves the story and character relationships forward with less emphasis on the heaviness that hangs over the first hour, but by then, some viewers will have moved on.

Waco is a surprisingly pedestrian, paint-by-number docudrama. It’s fine but doesn’t soar like the two installments of FX’s “American Crime Story”: “People v. O.J. Simpson” and “The Assassination of Gianni Versace.”

Darkly funny and clever in its skewering of the modern workplace, Corporate offers a welcome release valve for any corporate drones who tune in.

Counterpart is one of those twisty shows that could threaten to become convoluted the longer it goes on, but in early episodes it’s more intriguing than it is confusing or frustrating.

“Versace" is not perfect--some episodes meander a bit and anytime the story takes viewers back to Versace and away from the other victims, it becomes less compelling--but it marks an early, strong entry for one of the best series of 2018.

Fresh, funny and fearless, Alone Together introduces two new voices whose exploits are far more relatable than some recent past series about young people (cough, cough, “Girls,” cough, cough).

Created and written by Emmy winner Lena Waithe (“Master of None”), The Chi isn’t always an easy show to watch, but it imbues its characters with a humanity and complexity that makes the series commendable.

Season 4 is uneven. Three stories--“USS Callister,” “Black Museum” and “Hang the DJ”--are far superior to the others. There is much more graphic sex (albeit hilariously depicted in “DJ”) and violence than in past seasons.

Quirky and unlike any current TV comedies, it’s got smart, dumb-funny humor and a great comedic turn by Mr. McDermott.

The X-Files is back with a mix of convoluted mythology and more satisfying stand-alone stories.

A surprisingly engaging procedural drama. 9-1-1 brings to mind early “ER.”

While the realistic depiction of college is not in question, "grown-ish" borders on depressing in its sobering depiction of modern college life.

Other than Hailey and Happy all the characters are a different shade of terrible, which gets kind of boring unless you’re tuning in only for the fight scenes that invariably end in bloodbaths.

History’s Knightfall is pretty much just a “Vikings” knockoff set in a different, but still bloody, historical period. ... The show’s limited character development is entirely predictable.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a delightful, well cast hourlong comedic drama that occasionally detours into darkness but then quickly bobs back into the light.

The first two “Runaways” episodes offer an organized introduction to the kids — from jock to religious zealot — and their more intriguing parents in an entertaining enough fashion to make the show recommendable to anyone who hasn’t overdosed on comic book-based series already.

The pilot for “Future Man,” available Tuesday, takes a little too long to get to the show’s premise — viewers offended by the profane be advised: there are a lot of f-bombs — but “Future Man” is funny enough in its meta commentary on media culture that it’s sure to appeal to the young male audience it targets.

Co-created by Paul Reiser (“Mad About You”) and David Steven Simon (“The Wayans Bros.”), there’s a warmth to the “There’s Johnny” pilot that’s extremely appealing, especially in an era of cold, cynical comedies.

It’s an admirable portrait of a character in a social class that’s underrepresented on TV, but it’s more depressing than entertaining. The struggle is real--but it’s not funny.

There’s timeliness to the never dull “Damnation” despite its period setting, particularly in episode two when a professor (Gabriel Mann, “Revenge”) disparages the “unwashed rural masses.” Just don’t go looking for any heroes: There are none to be found.

It’s more quiet and contemplative (and occasionally a bit dull) than it is propulsive. But viewers drawn to quiet, thoughtful character stories and a largely unknown story from women’s history may find “Alias Grace” engaging enough.