The show’s visuals — often achieved through a combination of puppetry and computer-generated effects — can be enchanting, especially in a library location, but the backstory of Thra society requires a lot of unpacking. Telling the puppet characters apart sometimes proves a daunting challenge, and it’s difficult to mount much enthusiasm for the task given the first episode’s plodding pace.

An emotionally moving period drama that feels timely and recognizable in the present.

This second season is worth it just for the opportunity to watch Streep have fun. ... “Big Little Lies” still takes time for the gauzy flashbacks as Celeste grapples with assorted emotional responses during sessions with her therapist (Robin Weigert), but the whole enterprise feels peppier, poppier and more entertaining as viewers spend more time with these pretty people with pretty significant problems.

It's not easy viewing, but this series offers smart, challenging, character-driven drama at its finest.

Sunday's premiere doesn't advance the story much--shades of early season two--but there's enough zombie carnage that fans of mayhem may not care.

Aside from a few head-scratcher terms (GBH = "grievous bodily harm"), lawyers and judges wearing white wigs while in court (the judge in the premiere looks like she's got a poodle on her head) and occasionally impenetrable accents, Law & Order: UK should be remarkably familiar to fans of the original series.

The Norma-Norman plots made up the best parts of the series and then there was everything else. In this final season, the show seems better focused because now all the plots feature Norman at the center.

Easily the best new series of 2017 so far, Feud will prove especially appealing to fans of old Hollywood and smart, layered storytelling.

Wise is one lucky devil. And so are viewers who appreciate lighthearted, supernatural dramas.

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.

Easily the best of ABC's overly similar, large-cast ensemble dramas.

The two-episode premiere not only re-establishes the world of Mr. Robot but it also introduces new characters, expanding the show's world while still rooting it firmly in the present.

Jessica Jones could still use more levity, but its second episode reveals a streaming series that’s headed in a more balanced, intriguing direction.

Three years may seem like a long wait for the next “Toy Story” film but if the Disney-Pixar bosses want to fill the gap by turning loose the imaginations of their team on entertaining, wildly creative shorts like Toy Story that Time Forgot, fans will surely approve.

Fans of dialogue-heavy, character-driven storytelling will be intrigued, but the redundancy of the setting renders “State of the Union” less bingeable.

[The audience] will see some wonderful acting, especially from the luminous McDonald as Walter Lee's wife, Ruth. And they will see the movie debut of director Leon, who has helped turn these fine stage performances into convincing movie work, with the help of a screenplay by Paris Qualles that opens up the play into small additional scenes that will be a special pleasure for those who already know the play on stage.

An engrossing, humanizing portrait of the British monarch.

GLOW is not a laugh-out-loud comedy, but it is often funny, from its pitch-perfect opening scene to the potential for back stories on all the women who make the cut for GLOW and the relationships among them that are sure to develop.

Curb is filled with uncomfortable comedy, as always, but its humor stems from the relatable minutiae of everyday life, not unlike what viewers watched on "Seinfeld."

Mom remains funny, thanks in large part to the great work of Allison Janney as Christy's potty-mouthed mom, Bonnie. And the show continues to make excellent use of actress Mimi Kennedy (now a series regular and pictured above at left) as a foil for Bonnie and friend to Christy.

The series retains its trademark flash forwards that signal murders and/or deceits yet to be revealed. It's one of the show's more operatic touches but this time the revelation, a fantastic and personal driver for stories, feels less like an attempt to manipulate the audience and more rooted in the plausible.

This first episode has brief nods to the deaths last season of two series regulars--Owen and Toshiko--and it acknowledges advances in the relationship between bisexual Jack and Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd). But more than anything it's a propulsive action-adventure.

It's edgier than "7th Heaven," but not so edgy that parents will be turned off. It also expands the definition of a family and realistically shows the complexity of intergenerational relationships. [5 Oct 2000, p.D-6]

FX's Sons of Anarchy returns to form in its fourth season premiere this week with the action set squarely back in the motorcycle club's hometown of Charming, Calif. Even better, the show's wannabe hero, Jax (Charlie Hunnam), is fighting again, putting forth a plan to get out of his current situation.

The Hour looks fantastic but it moves at a snail's pace that's sure to irk impatient viewers.

The show's trademark time shifts continue, although it's initially unclear if they're connected to the season one story that carries over or to the season two plot.

Although a TV series about the trappings of sudden fame could be cliché, Mr. O’Malley roots the show in specific, believable characters that make Survivor’s Remorse one of the fall’s stand-out new shows.

The show wants to be hip and cool, and it often is, but it makes no pretensions that it doesn't have a heart beating underneath, much like its cool but caring lead character. [22 Sept 2004, p.D-6]