The Night Manager is easily the best miniseries of the year--in a year packed with monumental ones. Hiddleston, Laurie and Bier aren’t just adding another credit to their resumes. They’re part of a series that’s quite likely a game changer.

Murphy gives his eight-part series a lush old Hollywood look and lets both Lange and Sarandon have fun recreating the quirks that made the actresses so memorable. While Sarandon is a dead ringer for Davis, Lange has to work harder to find the outsized Crawford. Both are ably abetted by a host of actors as recognizable names.

It was an overwhelming original, complete with inspired casting and staging choices.

As easily digested as gelato, this season has action that hinges on those two young women (Beatrice Granno and Simona Tabasco) making visitors feel welcome. That means the stakes are high and the room service bills even higher. Coolidge continues her winning ways (Emmy No. 2? It’s possible) and DiMarco has just enough innocence to make you wonder what his future will be. “The White Lotus” still ranks among television’s best.

“Cheer” isn’t so much a new take on an old story as it is proof there’s drama wherever two or more gather. It’s an addicting reality show that will make you think twice the next time you see someone accomplish something amazing.

Winters hits the bases but doesn’t necessarily come all the way home. In “Showbiz Kids” there are enough storylines to fill a stadium.

Running seven hours, “Mare of Easttown” often exchanges action for atmosphere. A few more cases could have pushed this along, but it does engage. Winslet never falters, making “Easttown” seem like the place she was born, raised and disappointed. Peters and Smart are great sparring partners but Mare is the deserving main attraction. Winslet is the reason.

By breaking the books into digestible chunks, it goes down smoothly and, yes, makes you want more.

Ken Burns’ stellar documentary. ... “Country Music” isn’t definitive, but it comes pretty darn close, particularly when it uses those unforgettable songs as evidence. ... Absorbing every step of the way, “Country Music” is like a class reunion you don’t want to leave. You learn something about the people you thought you knew and you come to appreciate them for the faults you never thought you could excuse.

While the first season surprised with behind-the-scenes talk (and action) among the superheroes, it didn’t have the depth this one does.

It's bursting with ideas initially but once it leans into to specifics it becomes the series you may just want to embrace. Barinholtz and Wonders are great support; O'Hara may well have found her new "Schitt's Creek." Rogen, though, needs a chill pill.

Created by Noah Hawley, the new season is among the series’ best, using wild characters and round-about storytelling to pull you in. By the second episode, you will be hooked.

While Brunson has the format for a good series, she doesn’t have all the elements. Sometimes, the comedy is forced. ... This is a start but it's like Brunson's character -- a little naive. To be the show we need, "Abbott Elementary" needs to do more than dance around the obvious.

The last season is stuffed – and remarkably so. It gives newcomers like Reid Scott and Jason Ralph a good foothold in the series and suggests there’s much more that could be mined. ... Season Five wasn’t just business as usual. “Marvelous” is only one word to describe it.

The four lead vampires feed on pretense and find laughs in something as simple as hissing. But it’s Guillen and Feldstein who bring the spice.

“Black-ish” has found a great way of talking about current events without sounding like “Meet the Press.” The Carmichael Show will get there, too, once it lets its very good supporting cast get out and do more.

Kohen, basing her series on Piper Kerman's memoir, immediately gives us characters worth watching.... Orange is the New Black is TV that'll have you talking for days.

“Lovecraft Country,” which tips its hat to the novels of H.P. Lovecraft, has the gloss of a Steven Spielberg summer blockbuster. It also has Spielberg’s way of tucking messages in places you wouldn’t expect.

Caplan’s narration guides the journey and makes the trip rewarding. When she and Brody get a minute to size up their friend, “Fleishman” does more to capture the value of friendship than any number of episodes of “Friends.”

Like life, it unfolds in quirky ways. Knowing Dunham, its ending will leave questions: Will we get to see what great work comes from her character's experiences? Easily, this could be the "Go Set a Watchman" for something more.

Fey and Carlock constantly keep audience members on their toes, thrusting ideas that sound so wacky they’d never work. And yet they do.

While “The Pitt” hits familiar notes (overcrowding is still a problem; understaffing is a given), it benefits from the “24” approach to storytelling. After one episode, it’s impossible to leave the “day in the life.” Binging is a likely diagnosis.

Come Inside My Mind brings tears repeatedly, but it also gives Williams life. Those moments on stage (particularly during “Comic Relief,” which showed him at his best) pop.

The new series has enough hallmarks of the old to please O.G. viewers and snag new ones. Key to much of the new fun is how exacting Thiele is at suggesting the younger Henrie. He’s a dead ringer for the dad and a fine comedian. Brown has hints of Gomez but she’s blazing her own trail, particularly since we’re not sure where she’s from or why she’s here.

The eight-episode series stretches its mystery to nearly unbearable lengths. ... It’s not as dense as Vallee’s “Big Little Lies,” but it does give its female cast meaty roles to savor. Clarkson gets the biggest slab, but Adams, Perkins, Scanlen and Lillis make the most of theirs. For them, it’s an acting banquet. Cut thinner, it might have been prime time prime.

While it’s too early to determine where this is going (even they admit “we’ve been very lucky with people dying in our building”), it could unravel in interesting ways.

All the Way works because Cranston is so determined to make Johnson relatable. He shows there’s more to the guy than baling wire and spit. Best of all, he isn’t afraid to let him look weak and afraid.

While Kemper’s mood can grate, she’s working from a very logical base. There’s the Elizabeth Smart innocence that suggests this does have legs. How long they can maintain the guise is anyone’s guess.