“English Teacher” delivers consistent laughs, evincing a sunny disposition even in the face of complex and complicated societal issues that constantly — and usually hilariously — encroach on its high school classrooms.

This season of “Picard” doesn’t feel like fan fiction; it feels legit.

It’s not a somber re-telling of a familiar story but a sensitive, humanistic approach that allows room for humor and happiness even as viewers know the story will inevitably take a tragic turn.

Serious and sobering, the six-episode limited series “We Own This City” delivers a worthy and worthwhile follow-up to “The Wire.”

It takes a few episodes for a lot of the new season’s setup – more politics than space exploration, really — to pay off but when it finally does, it proves worth the wait.

There’s a dark humor, absurdist vibe that, alongside the mysteries (What are the workers doing at Lumon? Why does Mark’s boss live next door to him?), makes “Severance” appealing. But some of that interest gets undone by over-long episodes and a thudding pace.

Themes include the use of government propaganda on Earth to frame events on Mars in a negative light, also relevant to real-world current events. Science fiction is often at its best when it reflects the here-and-now, which “For All Mankind” has done from the start, contributing to the strength of the show’s dramatic storytelling.

The show’s fly-on-the-wall intimacy – surely it will make some viewers uncomfortable — combined with Carmichael’s winning but deeply flawed nature makes this series a viewing experience that’s hard to tune out.

FX’s latest half-hour comedy won’t be for everyone because of the graphic depiction of a woman. .... But “Dying for Sex” — all eight episodes stream April 4 on Hulu — inspires a lot of laughs, too, thanks to Molly’s voiceover observations and her interactions with scattered best friend Nikki (Jenny Slate).

“The White Lotus” plods through its first episode — a cringe-worthy luau of misery — but the longer viewers sit with the show, the better and more engrossing it becomes.

“The Other Two” remains frequently screamingly funny, but it’s the rare TV comedy that also allows itself to show some heart, particularly when it comes to the relationships among the core family.

HBO Max’s best series since “The Flight Attendant” and easily the funniest new TV/streaming comedy of the year.

Overall “Maid” is a quality series with a pro-social message that brings to mind Netflix’s 2019 limited series “Unbelievable,” another worthwhile story of a woman’s empowerment and recovery from difficult circumstances.

That remains true in the revival, which is funny and clever in the way the first episode’s script, by Daniels, Judge and new showrunner Saladin K. Patterson, updates viewers on the characters and what they’ve been up to.

Tim Robinson returns with another hilarious cringe comedy, but the emphasis is on cringe, which makes “The Chair Company” an acquired taste that not everyone will want to acquire.

The show excels as both an intimate character study — this year’s most affecting theme: how each generation of parents screws up but tries to incrementally improve on how they were parented — and an action-packed adventure.

Even if the plotting is less urgent and the comedy, when it flares up (not often enough), is less biting, “White Lotus” remains consistently watchable for White’s finely-drawn characters, whether it’s Daphne’s sunny disposition that masks uncomfortable truths or Dominic’s justification/excuse for his cheating ways.

This “Muppet Show” is the sincerest effort yet to re-create the manic lunacy and charm of the original and feels of a piece with the series that started it all.

This import from New Zealand charms from start to finish.

Your next crime fiction obsession arrives with the fourth season of HBO’s True Detective,” this time subtitled “Night Country” (9 p.m. Jan. 14). It’s far superior to the show’s disappointing second season.

Ultimately, “Telemarketers” succeeds more as a character study of a passel of shady individuals who don’t normally turn up on TV than it does as any sort of expose.

The series gets off to a somewhat sluggish start but by the end of the first hour, “Mare of Easttown” gets its hooks into viewers, building tension around the murder investigation that engulfs Mare’s life. Episode two ratchets up the mystery further as multiple suspects come into focus.

“The Studio” becomes an often screamingly funny series through the course of its first season, making it the best new comedy series of 2025 so far.

By the last hour, the more serious tone takes over again, but it’s earned given what we’ve seen Garfield endure (though I could have done without Garfield’s widow visiting Guiteau in prison, which never happened in real life and seems designed to unnecessarily juice the drama quotient). Still, for fans of historical fiction, “Death by Lightning” remains worthwhile.

Sure, this latest season also stars Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”), Jennifer Jason Leigh (“Hunters”) and Joe Keery (“Stranger Things”), but this is unequivocally Temple’s season and yeah, sure, you betcha, she shines.

This is a show that knows what viewers want and gives it to them. “Interview” is not precious about its subject matter. ... Through the first five (of eight) episodes, it’s got all the makings of a deserving cult hit.

Patinkin is always fun to watch but through the first four episodes his arc as a disruptor to the judicial system is more entertaining than driving a dramatic storyline with stakes, something “The Good Fight” seems to be having some difficulty finding in a post-Trump environment.

“Dark Winds” is at its best when focusing on aspects of Navajo culture that give “Dark Winds” a unique flavor and at its most TV-unreal when officers wander into dangerous situations without calling for backup.