The visual style pours as much emotional juice into the boiling, moody brew that Gilligan cooks up as his actors' searing performances do.

The first three episodes of the epic fantasy's fourth season reach new heights at times, offering enough twists, shocks and action to make us forget last season's mind-blowing Red Wedding.

The Returned is far and away the most thoughtful and thought-provoking series I've watched this year.

Despite some flaws, Broadchurch is beautifully filmed, sharply directed and intensely acted.

With all its harsh realism and attention to detail it feels more authentic than a lot of the actual historical dramas on TV.

Justified continues to explode with superb writing, complex characters and rich acting.

Unlike in "Homeland," the show's main conceit grows even more complex and fascinating by including the Jennings kids.

Unlike Season 5's two-hour premiere, which easily could have been edited to half its length, every minute of Sunday's episode feels necessary, checking in with all our favorite players and dancing with Weiner's favorite theme, death.

Southland brims with plot twists that never, ever feel contrived.

These gals are at times so self-absorbed it's difficult to feel much for them when things don't go their way.

[Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey's] riveting work would be worth the admission alone, but the hauntingly beautiful True Detective excels in every way.

It's not always pretty or easy to watch, but Southland remains an outstanding hour of appointment TV.

Fargo the TV series--confident as Lorne Malvo--stands firmly on its own. You betcha it does.

[Show creator Callie Khouri] has created rich histories for each of her compelling characters. The actors give nuanced performances that make their characters more than one-dimensional cliches.

While we appear to be in for a depressing ride, fear not: Creator Matthew Weiner still has a few winks and tricks up his sleeve.

Silicon Valley is a funny, insightful, blistering satire.

It's mostly improvised, which makes the funny exchanges between Kudrow and her guest stars even more impressive.

All joking aside, Key and Peele do still have something to say.

It's a powerful, emotionally engaging character study.

Dallas is just as superbly soapy as ever, but you have to wonder whether the show can survive without its legendary star.

While Mazzara has amped up the action, he doesn't skimp on the angst.

The Borgias is back with more drama, sex, violence and betrayals than ever.

In order to fully appreciate SOA, viewers have to buy into Sutter's premise that murderers can be sympathetic and heroic, but that's not hard to do with such intelligent writing and so many mesmerizing performances.

The smartly written series throws a lot of information, historical context, beautiful sets and costumes at viewers early on to create what eventually becomes a first-rate thriller.

Hardy and the supporting cast deliver.

Cougar Town returns with its wit, silliness and good-heartedness fully intact.

The relentless bleakness would be my only quibble with the series; one doesn't often choose to feel as battered as the characters on screen. But you won't be able to turn it off.

[It's] a new season of jump-from-your-seat scares and shivery twists that will leave you breathless.