Leaning into the community (what are Oregon’s strengths, for example) and showing Joyce out in it, would give “St. Denis” the specificity it needs. It’s a fun half-hour. It just needs to uncover situations everyone can identify.

Like the comedians, the scripts try too hard. Once the stage is set (and those conceits are out of the way), I’m Dying starts to breathe and draw us in.

What gets lost, though, is the camaraderie of the dissidents. It’s still around, but so much time is spent showing Homelander railing at everyone, it doesn’t give them their due – at least not in the early episodes. ... But the beauty of “The Boys” is you just never know where it’s headed.

While Adams and McDorman dominate, they’re not the only ones to watch. The other five get their moments; their families do, too.

By the time the first episode ends, “The Leftovers” has planted enough interest to make you want to stick around. By the time the third installment unfolds, the action really heats up.

Ford and Regalbuto aren’t given enough new things to do and Charles Kimbrough (who played Jim Dial) checks in long enough to let you know he’s still around. The mother/son angle is the show’s best. ... But it’s English’s smart writing that will keep them [viewers] around.

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.

“She-Hulk,” in fact, is probably the most network-like series Marvel has produced. It goes for the quick laughs, embraces a cavalcade of bizarre guest stars and lets Maslany play both sides of her Priscilla Presley hairdo.

“SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night” is a fascinating dissection of the series’ later years. .... “More Cowbell” makes a little too much out of the sketch (particularly when there are others that deserve the micro-surgery) but it shows how that defining moment can be the difference between success and failure.

Episodes isn’t made for mass viewing. Its world is too insular (even for the biggest television fan); its take on success is limited. But LeBlanc is a good sport and Mangan and Greig are too good to be limited to British series.

This is a very quirky, specific world that could repel the very people who might love it. It's a slow go but if you're not in a hurry, it might be worth dropping by.

Making It isn’t as heavy as you’d like but it does cut the clutter of talking heads and political spin. It’s very low-key. So low-key, in fact, you suspect someone will decide to use the felt to make the kind of puppets that populated “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Or a very special edition of “Ya Heard? With Perd!”

While Rauch was the one who got the laughs on “The Big Bang Theory,” she’s largely the set-up person here. ... Larroquette, however, isn’t just stunt casting. He delivers. ... De Beaufort and Talwalkar are largely window dressing in the opener but they become active participants as the series unfolds. ... Lacretta, though, has the ability to steal every scene she’s in.

While Vicious plots don’t stick, they do entertain.

Veep doesn’t have as many pointed one-liners as it did in the past (could the absence of creator Armando Iannucci be the reason?) but it still boasts a cast that’s as sharp as ever. The addition of John Slattery as a possible love interest is clever, but some installments get bogged down by a parade of guest stars trying to share a bit of the fun.

Falco is such a nuanced actress she could elicit tears from a blank script. Anna Deavere Smith (as her boss) provides some challenge but most of the other actors are pushovers. Chestnut's addition could give her the resistance she needs.

The show's producers don't veer too far from the reality mold in crafting their series. They get a lot of plot and character in the first hour but if they're counting on a revelation every week, they could be forcing the story.

While none of the jokes land with the same precision as "Veep's", they do play in the same pool. If Kudrow had been given more screen time, she just might have made this zing as well as "The Comeback."

“Defending Jacob” is fairly straightforward. It has a murder. It has a suspect. It has a trial. And then it starts sprinkling in reasonable doubt. If there’s a greater lesson to be learned, we missed it. ... Thanks to a great score and lingering cinematography, “Defending Jacob” is good. It just seems supersized to justify a film star showing up on television.

If there’s a disappointment, it’s that Reubens doesn’t open up more about his feelings during the scandalous times. .... What “Pee-wee as Himself” does provide is a look at the building blocks that made the quirky character.

While Blanchett waltzes through the miniseries like Eleanor Parker, she doesn’t quite get the hardscrabble woman who tilted at the ERA windmill. She’s too patrician for those of us who remember her. ... Martindale and Ullman have done their homework, but it’s Elizabeth Banks as Jill Ruckelshaus and Byrne who impress. They capture the movement’s urgency and help us understand their place in it. ... “Mrs. America” might have benefitted from an additional episode to explain how many of [Schlafly's] disciples went on to win seats in the House and the Senate.

Spread over eight episodes, this “Perry Mason” deserves the time you give it. It lets supporting characters have their moments and it gives Rhys yet another opportunity to display just how fertile his imagination is. If there’s a second season – and that’s quite likely – it’d be nice to see cases closed after two or three episodes.

The performances were solid and the in-your-face direction was what something like this needed. ... While Fox’s “RENT” was a bit too sanitized for its own good, it had the right people in the key roles, particularly Jordan Fisher, who, as Mark, served as the tour guide through the past, the heartache and, most of all, the brilliance of writer Jonathan Larson.

“Adults” is very adult and may take some time to warm to, particularly since it’s impossible to get a bead on Samir, Billie, Paul Baker, Issa and Anton.

Shephard (and others) muddy the waters with detail that isn’t necessary. Gladstone gets her own family disconnects and has a tie to Reena that makes the case important. But Godfrey’s approach doesn’t always emerge as acceptable. To fully understand what’s at play, “Under the Bridge” needed footnotes that didn’t require whole episodes of backstory.

While “Dinner with the Parents” doesn’t seem like it will last 10 years, it could surprise in ways we haven’t imagined. As long as the entrée is good, you can serve it every time guests come over.

Little by little, Hello Ladies grows on you.

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.