The low-rent special effects, presumably intentionally cheesy, are fine and even add to the charm that begins with the show’s title, but everything else about the series proves poorly done, from character development to supporting performances.

Early episodes are one fetch quest after another with copious flashbacks to develop character backstories. Episode four, set largely in Alaska, is most like the action-adventure movies “Monarch” spins off from. But the back half of the season devolves into convoluted, continent-hopping efforts to rescue a presumably kidnapped May before coming full circle in episode eight

“Prodigy” grows “Trek”-ier in episode two once the teens steal the Protostar and get to know their hologram adviser, Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew, voicing the character she created on “Star Trek: Voyager”). Janeway means nothing to this show’s target audience but her presence might make some parents smile.

Fast-paced and funny with an undercurrent of authentic emotion, “Rooster” is a half-hour comedy worth crowing about.

Paramount+ only made the first episode available for review, and it’s a taut hour of drama with a few moments of levity courtesy of Ford’s trademark, low-key sarcasm.

“Rutherford Falls” has the building blocks to become a smart comedy hit. It just needs more time to build its characters’ relationships.

It’s unclear where this is going — early episodes suggest a doomed affair à la “Fellow Travelers,” or maybe it will become more upbeat like “Heartstopper” — but through its first two episodes, the show definitely lives up to its title.

Credit Marvel with attempting a half-hour comedy series for Disney+, but “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” proves too timid about leaning into humor.

Eliza Coupe, Ginnifer Goodwin and Maggie Q star in this series with occasionally funny moments.

Unlike, say, Showtime’s “Episodes,” which depicts how the TV sausage gets made in all its absurdity while still showing characters with heart, “The Franchise” gives no reason to have sympathy for any of its selfish narcissists.

A generally overlong, unsatisfying program.

It’s more character-driven than many CBS procedurals, at least in its first episode.

The student characterizations are overly familiar collegiate archetypes, which makes the professors/administrators the more interesting bunch, including Voyager’s holographic (now grouchier) doctor (Robert Picardo), sarcastic former Discovery engineer Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) and Ake’s No. 1, snarly half-Jem’Hadar, half-Kilingon Lura Throk (scene-stealer Gina Yashere, “Bob (Hearts) Abishola”).

Proves itself a pretty good queer soap if you can tolerate how self-absorbed, narcissistic and generally unlikeable most of the characters are.

Really, it’s hard to imagine how “SNL50” could have gone any better as it delivered a welcome mix of comedy and music over almost 3½ hours, wrapped in a warm blanket of nostalgia (without getting sappy).

“The Residence,” now streaming all episodes, benefits from snappy (though profanity-laced) dialogue and quick cuts for comedic purposes, but the story and characters aren’t strong enough to support eight hours, especially given the formulaic approach to episodes.

Episode four ends on a promising cliffhanger, which makes it too soon to pass final judgment but “The Acolyte” gets off to a rocky start.

“The Sticky” isn’t as funny as its premise suggests. It’s entertaining enough at times but not quite laudatory.

Written with an exacting knowledge of the ride by Bill Baretta, Kelly Younger and director Kirk Thatcher, “Muppet Haunted Mansion” is the first Disney+ Muppets show to do right by the Muppets.

Robinson, in particular, delivers a nuanced performance in a series that could best be improved by less build-up and even more exploration of the affair’s victim.

It’s got the same Florida-is-weird vibe as “Bad Monkey” and the short-lived “Maximum Bob.”

“Mid-Century Modern” offers a mix of comedic zingers and groan-worthy gags that stars Matt Bomer, Nathan Lane, Nathan Lee Graham and Linda Lavin do their best to elevate.

On “Bupkis,” the deeper viewers dive into the eight-episode first season, the story becomes less “Entourage”-y and instead turns on Davidson’s demons and whether he can overcome them.

The “Swarm” finale may not satisfy all viewers – it’s somewhat open to interpretation and not concrete – but it is a fitting finale to easily one of the year’s best, most outrageous series.

“St. Denis” will conjure a smile but it doesn’t elicit belly laughs through three episodes made available for review.

The first “Paper” episode is amusing but rarely outright funny. The comedy quotient improves in later episodes, particularly episode four, when Esmerelda moves from sabotaging Ned to working alongside him on a scheme.

Like “New Amsterdam,” “Transplant” is a high-gloss, middle-of-the-road broadcast drama. It’s “ER” with an immigration story overlay, but it doesn’t redefine the medical drama the way “ER” did in 1994.

Written by Jac Schaeffer, who was the showrunner on “WandaVision,” “Agatha All Along” lacks the creative spark that made “WandaVision” worth watching.

The musical moments are fantastic — as is Erivo, who evinces no sign of a British accent — but what comes between the musical numbers is a bit of a slog.

There’s a too-crazy-to-be-true quality to Johnson’s real-life story that plays well in a TV comedy but it’s wisely leavened with more grounded, vulnerable moments, particularly the warts-and-all portrayal of Johnson’s father (Joseph Lee Anderson), and the complicated relationship Johnson had with his dad.

That lighter touch the writers take with Hailey draws more humor out of Sutherland’s Weir. ... That may not be enough to recommend “Rabbit Hole,” which is largely a generic conspiracy thriller, but it’s at least a differentiator.

Shockingly well made. Tense and intense, “The Agency” gives off “MI-5” and “Sleeper Cell” vibes

“Hawkeye” features plenty of Marvel-standard action, but it’s the comedy and Christmas setting that make this entry stand out.

The first two episodes move at a brisk enough pace and have a few shocking, gory turns as “Lawmen” depicts battles and shootouts with fatal head wounds galore. As a balance to that, Oyelowo brings a decency to Bass and a sweetness to the relationship between Bass and his wife, Jennie (Lauren E. Banks).

If CW dramas are your jam, you might like “Wednesday.” I was mostly bored and found the plot machinations predictable. “Wednesday” is at its best when it leans into the mordant humor Wednesday evinces.

“Friends: The Reunion” is at its best when the camera captures the cast in more candid moments — seeing the set rebuilt for the first time, playing a trivia game.

Representation matters, so the existence of an almost all-Asian cast on a broadcast network series is a welcome development even as the show’s format and themes feel overly familiar.

While early episodes are a little too slow-paced, “Hijack” grows more engrossing over its run.

“Dead Boy Detectives,” which seems ready-made for fans of Netflix’s “Wednesday,” is fine but unexceptional, like a lot of Netflix fare these days.

There’s enough potential in “Alaska Daily,” to easily be fall broadcast TV’s best drama pilot that it’s worth rooting for this series that’s earnest without being cloying, sincere without getting sappy.

“Tulsa King” leans too hard into obvious jokes about Dwight’s age and Dwight’s cluelessness about modern tech. ... But, “Tulsa King” benefits from a few surprise plot turns, Stallone’s comic timing and a winning supporting cast, particularly the aforementioned Savage and Martin Starr (“Freaks and Geeks”) as the poor pot shop owner Dwight sets his sights on.

It’s occasionally but not frequently funny.

In its second episode, “I Love You, You Hate Me” explores how some of the kids featured on “Barney” rebelled (pretty typical child-actors-growing up stuff) and then it gets into the thorny question of Patrick Leach’s crime and whether “Barney” and its impact on his family contributed to Patrick Leach’s criminal act. Up to that point, this “Barney” doc is fun and even thoughtful, but then it starts to feel needlessly exploitative.

Machado is excellent as the ferocious Dolores but the show is aimless and predictable with no big twist at the end.

It’s a sweet, sunny series if not as endearing as Disney+’s “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers.”

Most of the laughs come later in the [premiere] episode. Subsequent episodes prove funnier still.

“Chad” is sure to gain a cult following but it’s too niche to steal the thunder of the grand poobah of uncomfortable comedy, “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

According to folklore, vampires can't enter your domain unless you invite them in. By the middle of the new four-hour version of Stephen King's "Salem's Lot," , I was ready to invite them in -- in hopes they could end my suffering.

It’s hard to judge from the pilot and a second episode what the balance of superheroics/teen troubles will be on a weekly basis, but if The CW insists on making more superhero shows at least this mashup of past Superman TV shows gets off to a rousing enough start.

The show approaches these themes [what it means when companies commodify and exploit employees’ personal stories and Joanna’s stunted-by-childhood-cancer inner life] with a deft subtlety but it’s enough to ground it and make the cringe comedy more palatable.

Embracing steampunk stylings, “Nautilus” is a serialized, family-friendly adventure with decent special effects.

“Dexter: Resurrection” proves most interesting when Dexter meets an elite collective of serial killers who convene at the home of a wealthy admirer (Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones”) and his henchwoman/enforcer (Uma Thurman). It’s the only element of this season that feels like new, semi-unexplored terrain.

Sure, there are tangents for “Kevin Can…” to explore, including a clean-cut guy (Raymond Lee) Allison knew in high school who’s returned to town. There are also hints of her attraction to a bad boy mechanic. But the main story feels limited and quickly stretched beyond a point where the concept ceases to be novel.

The series improves somewhat as it delves into the backstories of its Mexican characters. “Coyote” proves watchable but too derivative.

With too many characters whose introductions prove too slight to understand their place in this world that viewers get plopped into, “Dune: Prophecy” disappoints.

The role suits Quinto. Wolf is a bit of a loner but having him work with his longtime friend, Dr. Carol Pierce (Tamberla Perry), and oversee a batch of interns who serve as audience stand-ins makes this series work quite well in early episodes made available for review.

Since “Criminal Minds” was always a show about brutal crimes, the move to Paramount+ doesn’t result in that much more violence on screen, but it does allow star Joe Mantegna to drop the occasional f-bomb.

McEnany and Weigert have each starred in better series and this material is beneath them, but their lived-in performances prove they aren’t snobs, elevating “Tracker” every time they’re on screen.

This spin-off feels of a piece with “Blue Bloods” – police cases mixed with decent family relationship drama — so it should have similar appeal.

There’s some humor to be mined in flashbacks illustrating how Kenan and his wife met on the set of a sitcom – she was only three years older than him but played his character’s mother on the TV show – but the present-day stuff is pretty unfunny, marking this series as a dud on arrival.

In a cascading series of unmotivated twists, enemies team up, a villain has an unconvincing change of heart and the whole thing ends on a frustrating cliffhanger. But give Murphy and company credit: “The Beauty” may be semi-hollow headed, but it’s never boring.

Did you like the original 2000-15 “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”? Then you’ll probably enjoy this sequel series.

Early episodes offer some intriguing conflicts and points of view to consider. But later in the season – HBO Max made the first six of 10 episodes available for review — the show devolves into a less interesting cat-and-mouse game between the atheistic robots and the religious invaders.

“History of the World, Part II” would be more worthwhile if it was shorter in duration. It has one movie’s worth of strong material stretched out over eight streaming episodes. Maybe consider watching episodes one through four and then skip to eight.

There’s a ton of back-and-forth over who are the true heroes and it gets tedious fast.

Hulu’s FX-produced “Class of ’09” starts slowly but then ratchets up intrigue as the thriller tracks FBI Academy classmates in three time periods. It’s a limited series worth watching.

Once the show moves past its been-there, watched-that dystopian, scene-setting premiere episode with too many similarities to FX’s “The Strain,” “Y: The Last Man” (Monday on FX on Hulu) becomes a compulsively watchable series.

“Chimp Crazy” paints a more complex, nuanced portrait of chimp owners than “Tiger King” did of folks who collect Big Cats. “Chimp Crazy” also proves more entertaining with surprising twists and outlandish characters who are hard to dislike even as they make terrible, self-destructive life choices.

“Let the Right One In” features strong performances, particularly from Bichir and Rose, but it’s a slow burn and doesn’t have much new to say about the themes it embraces.

This NBC comedy has potential thanks largely to the presence of Echo Kellum (“You’re the Worst”) and Nicole Byer (“Nailed It!”). Even so, the writing for Byer needs to be as sharp as she is – which in the two episodes made available for review, it’s not.

Reilly consistently delivers the more compelling performance. It’s unlikely “Dutton Ranch” will make as big a splash as “Yellowstone” did – sequels rarely do – but there’s enough similar storytelling that this show will either satisfy “Yellowstone” fans craving more or bore them to tears because it all seems so familiar.

While some of the geopolitical commentary proves cutting, the father-daughter relationship tussle is pretty much the sitcom pabulum you’d expect.

This latest Disney+ series showcases the best writing and performances in a Marvel project since “WandaVision.”

It’s a twisty conspiracy thriller with a confusing, complex scientific theory at its center.

A chattier Hamm character is a differentiator. But in early episodes, it’s kind of a one-note story that didn’t inspire me to want to watch more.

The pilot episode is eerie and surprising at times but it also has that will-any-of-this-get-resolved? vibe hanging over it. There’s also a love-will-heal resolution that’s fairly cheesy as well as a frustrating opaqueness.

“1883” but make it sexy! And ridiculous!

It’s a pleasant enough comedy-drama – though not as funny as one might hope — that’s true to the original while telling new stories.

“Reginald” lacks much dramatic or comedic bite.

Where “Lone Star” was cold, “Ordinary Joe” is warm. ... It’s too soon to know if the show’s writers can sustain this premise but the pilot episode is a winner.

Light and escapist, the new “Fantasy Island” is as unessential as TV viewing gets but for viewers seeking an anthology with close-ended, weekly stories, it’s not bad.

A lot of the humor lands well and the pilot’s end-credit bloopers are a scream. The show gets retooled in episode two with the radio station disappearing as Poppa starts recording from home; we’ll see what impact that has on the series.

The show, written by David E. Kelley (“Big Sky”), still feels fairly broadcast network-y, albeit slightly elevated.

Early on “The Undoing” seems like it may cast a spell, too, but that feeling wears off.

Elements of Amazon Prime Video’s “Cross” make it stand out, but those positive attributes often get canceled out by predictable, unseemly scenes of violence against women.

Rauch and Larroquette evince great chemistry and the new characters show promise, but much of the writing seems stuck in the ’90s.

The supernatural elements are more grounded than in the usual CW fare, and the backdrop of an impoverished community adds unexpected realism. This “Trickster” is worth watching.

The “B Positive” pilot is decent enough as CBS sitcoms go. It doesn’t show the promise of “The Big Bang Theory” pilot but it’s not as bad as plenty of other CBS’s past sitcoms, like last season’s “Carol’s Second Act.”

“Love & Death” works as well as it does thanks to Olsen’s controlled performance.

Whether “Dexter: New Blood” offers a decent ending that the original run lacked remains to be seen, but for “Dexter” fans there will be comfort in the familiarity of this new iteration.

“Moonbase 8” has its absurdist comedic moments but they’re too hit-and-miss.

It’s not as funny as one would hope. But the series improves as it continues, expanding on the characters and their relationships, which become more recognizable, realistic and funny with each episode.

Steinberg runs with the “Amelie” homage in the first and last episodes, especially, from applauding stuffed animals to a camera that rotates 360 degrees. However, in between, “Twisted Tale” becomes more serious as it explores the injustices that befall all the primary characters, not just Knox, but also the prosecutor, Mignini (Francesco Acquaroli), who sends Knox to prison.

“Woke” is a funny, smart show and the always likable Morris handles the lead character’s predicaments in the every-man style fans of “New Girl” would expect.

While the jury’s out on what “Georgie & Mandy” will become, an opening credits sequence of the title characters doing an energetic tango is a winner from the jump.

While there is undoubtedly some “Tiger King”-grade entertainment observing a conspiracy theorist verbally spar with a “Lord of the Rings” cosplayer, so much of the behavior displayed in “Neighbors” is unpleasant to behold.

“Derry” dribbles out character details episode-by-episode through five (of eight) episodes made available for review, routinely connecting seemingly disparate characters. That “Stand by Me”-meets-“Stranger Things” vibe of the first episode returns in episode three, thankfully, since it’s the show’s most potent element.

Where this all goes and whether the balance tips more toward character and story or more toward video game-like battle scenes is unclear, but if the first two episodes are any indication, character stories will win out. As long as that remains the case, I’ll gladly go along for this sci-fi ride.