If you're still on board with wondering if Carrie will go off her meds again, whether she and Saul will patch things up, or if Quinn is an alienated killing machine or kind of crushing on Carrie, welcome back to Homeland. But if you're craving something more, Season 5 may feel like a retread job on tires that are showing their wear.

Season 2 of The Leftovers has its maddening moments, but I never knew what was coming next. And, in a crowded TV world, that anything-might-happen quality is enough to keep me interested. At least for a while.

Season 2 improves on Season 1 by broadening the story to give us the points of view of the wronged spouses, Noah's wife, Helen (Maura Tierney,) and Alison's husband, Cole (Joshua Jackson.) Tierney and Jackson are both so good, they left us wanting more in Season 1, and it's great to see their characters do some well-justified venting.

On Monday night, Stewart's spirit hovered over the proceedings so much it was hard to get a sense of what makes Noah special. He seemed relaxed, and smiled throughout the whole show, looking entirely happy to be there.

He was overeager, a tad hyper, and trying to do too many things at once. But after a bumpy start, Colbert seemed to gain in confidence as the show wore on.

Fear has some immediate strengths, as well as weaknesses that could drag down the proceedings considerably.

Documentary Now! is dazzlingly smart.... It's true that Documentary Now! is funnier if you're at least vaguely familiar with the movies that serve as the inspirations.

At times, the pace drags. Some scenes make the same points over and over again. Sticking with it may feel like eating your spinach. But the commitment is worth it.

Significant Mother isn't trying to be sophisticated, cutting-edge comedy. With its nonstop wisecracks about hooking up, body parts, and pop culture references (a raunchy "Downton Abbey" joke, for example), Significant Mother feels like a Millennial version of "Three's Company."

But nobody should watch Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp for plot. Instead, just park the questioning part of your brain, sit back and revel in the silliness of these terrific performers fooling around.

Sharknado 3 is so tediously lamebrained, it makes the original, and last summer's "Sharkado 2: The Second One," look like "Jaws."

Instead of taking any creative risks, Tut trundles along down the familiar "Game of Thrones"-wannabe path. The emphasis is on battles for power, conspiracies, warring tribes, with some cable-style sex scenes thrown into the mix.

In the first few episodes, there are enough snappy lines and funny ideas to make me wish Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll was better. But the cringe-to-laugh ratio is too high for it to really sing.

Fortunately, with its nutty playfulness, 7 Days in Hell is 45 minutes of fast-moving, goofy fun.

The first episode gets us in the mood for the TV equivalent of a beach read adventure..... [James Wolk] easily rises to the task, making Jackson charming, sympathetic, and capable. Though Zoo may turn out to be more silly than sensational, Wolk is always delightful TV company.

Looking into some murders that remind Molly of what she learned last season, Berry and [Jeffrey Dean] Morgan have the makings of a strong team. It also helps that the intriguing Gummer is still around, and that the cast now includes David Morrissey as a General who's in charge of an international security team. The Season 2 opener doesn't make it particularly clear, but apparently, we're still in for some blather about threats to humankind, global conspiracies, and blah, blah, blah.

Unfortunately, The Brink feels like a would-be daring political comedy that's lacking in insight and light on laughs.

The good news is that Ballers has its own energy, humor and terrific performances, notably by Johnson.

Poldark is juicy, romantic, melodramatic storytelling at its most enjoyable.

True Detective Season 2 may not be subtle ("this is my least favorite life," a performer mournfully sings at the Vinci bar.) But the actors provide enough light to make it worth navigating the gloom.

Season 3 is an utterly confident mix of gritty comedy and affecting, underplayed drama.

The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe is a glum retread of Monroe's legend, with a flat script by Stephen Kronish and direction by Laurie Collyer ("Sherrybaby") who gives it all a funereal, depressed tone even when Monroe's career is at its height.

As with the first season, the actors all do their best, and the loving but challenging relationship between Donna and Gordon remains the show's most appealing, layered element. But Halt and Catch Fire still lacks a point of view that would make this trip back to the '80s feel relevant.

Though the '60s music is sometimes laid on with a heavy hand, Aquarius benefits from its stylish look, and a moody atmosphere that doesn't become oppressive, thanks to Duchovny's mordant wit. It's an unusual summer season offering, sometimes unsettling, but worth checking out.

What should be a sweeping, exciting epic about Texas' fight for independence instead comes off as a muddled cross between a costume party and historic re-enactors convention.

The good news is that Wayward Pines is a creepy mystery that gets more compelling--and shocking--as it goes along.

Severance gets the second half of Season 7 off to a brisk start.

While Going Clear is unapologetically one-sided in its dim view of Scientology, the issues it raises--what is a religion? What motivates people to follow a faith, even when it comes under attack?--will make you think about the film long after it's over.

By the time Corden sang a wry little tune thanking us for watching, he seemed as comforting as a cup of tea and a biscuit. He may not be boldly going where no late-night host has gone before, but based on first impressions, Corden looks like he'll be making himself at home in no time.

With witty writing, a likable leading lady, and a terrific cast, iZombie is full of life, and one of the season's best new shows.

While the first episode is comfortingly familiar to Community obsessives, the second one feels weirdly off.

Season 3 gets off to a busy, skin-crawling start.

The Returned has the nightmarish quality of a ghost story, but could benefit from some of Norma Bates' frenzied energy.

When Ridley's narrative threatens to get too heavy-handed, the individual struggles and tragedies of the characters keep the story grounded.

Dig spends too much time building ominous atmosphere, and hinting at vast schemes that may change the course of history--that again--and not enough time giving us a reason to stay tuned as he convoluted plot unfolds.

Though the cases are built around cutting-edge high-tech threats, everything else feels as stale as week-old bread.

The plot threads don't weave a very riveting picture, but Broadchurch Season 2 benefits tremendously from Colman, who remains the heart of the show.

It's definitely a smart, clever spin on the old opposite-personalities buddy-cop formula, with a terrific ensemble cast and immensely likable characters.

Lewis and Philippe have enough chemistry that his underplaying and her overplaying are a match made in whodunnit heaven. Secrets and Lies likely won't be earning any Emmy nominations, but it promises to be a juicy foray into melodramatic escapism, and sometimes, that's just what the TV-viewing evening calls for.

Odenkirk is a gifted comic actor, and the sadness in his eyes hints that he can fill in more dimensions to Jimmy McGill as time goes on. But the first two episodes of Better Call Saul take their own sweet time setting things up.

The Slap has the complexity and subtlety that's hard to find in a lot of broadcast network programming, and it's to NBC's credit that they're taking a chance with a limited-run series we'd expect to find on cable.

Unfortunately, in the first episode, the show overdoes Backstrom's unlikability to the point where it's an open question whether viewers will return to see subsequent episodes, where he becomes less hard to take, and we learn more about why he is the way he is.... The more encouraging news is that judging from two additional episodes made available for preview, Backstrom--which is based on a series of novels written by Swedish criminologist Leif G.W. Persson--calms down and gets better as it goes along.

In the first few episodes made available for preview, not every bit worked--it may always be too soon for jokes about Hitler, for example. But the tone never gets mean.

[The first 2] episodes are so solid and done with such polish, they're reason to think that Season 5 of Portlandia may be the best one yet.

The pilot has a propulsive pop energy, and melodramatic swagger.

It comes off as way too broad to be witty, and too raunchy to be a comfortable fit for family viewing.

Downton Abbey Season 5 may cover some familiar ground, but its steps are so lively, the company so delightful, and the scenery so fine, it's a trip well worth taking.

With a tone that swings between action and slapstick comedy, The Librarians isn't likely to show up on any end of 2014 Top 10 lists. But its high energy and good cheer are a comfortable fit for the holiday season.

A dutiful, perfectly fine, surprisingly dull evening of television.

State of Affairs is another generic Washington D.C.-set thriller drawing on current events for story points (terrorist threats, hostage-taking, global unrest) in a way that feels opportunistic and, frankly, insensitive considering the real-world tragedies that are showing up in the news.

While the first few episodes of the new Comeback make stingingly accurate points about the sexism and ageism Valerie has to contend with, The Comeback has its own problems. As in the first go-round, Valerie comes off as cartoonish, a caricature of a so-so celebrity.

Based on the first few episodes, Season 3 of The Newsroom has a few signs of life, notably a timely storyline about ACN getting spun off its parent company. The actors are, as always, doing their best with one-dimensional characters.

Adapted from a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Elizabeth Strout, Olive Kitteridge is an extraordinary character study, featuring a brilliant performance by Frances McDormand.

Unfortunately, the mystery isn't very gripping, and there's precious little wit in the proceedings, which come off like a CBS crime procedural dressed in Jane Austen clothing.

The best thing about the new NBC series, Constantine, which is based on The DC Comics "Hellblazer" series, is that its hero has a roguish sense of humor

Aside from a few off-key moments, based on the instantly compelling performances, and the novelty of the his-and-hers storytelling, The Affair has an appeal that may be hard to resist.

Brutal and intense, the season opener is an powerful blend of darkness and a few threads of light, as Rick again takes on the role of doing whatever it takes to protect those he cares for.

Homeland shows signs of coming back to creative life.

Tambor's delicacy and sincerity as Maura are subtle and moving, though he never aims for sentimentality. The comedy and difficulty of what this all means for the Pfefferman family are beautifully balanced.

A tedious flash-forward, flashback structure involving the students doing something that looks very, very bad in the woods hints that "Scandal"-style plot craziness may be right around the corner. [But] It's worth tuning in to see Davis display her versatility in the kind of multi-dimensional, non-stereotypical lead role she hasn't had an opportunity to play in movies.

Black-ish is one of the best new shows of the season.

The cast has easy chemistry, the New Orleans setting is colorful, and Pounder lends class to anything she does. The CBS procedural formula works, but that doesn't make it feel any less formulaic.

Depends on how willing you are to suspend your disbelief that a man who's immortal couldn't find something else to do with his endless time than hanging around a morgue.

The brainy nerds are a stereotypical band of socially awkward types. Not helping lighten the cliché load is Katharine McPhee as the mother of a boy who's also a budding tech prodigy.

The mood and writing mix splashy comic book pulpiness with brooding film noir menace, sparked with bits of dark humor.

The cast is stocked with solid actors--Leoni, Tim Daly as McCord's husband, Zeljko Ivanek as the President's chief of staff, Bebe Neuwirth as McCord's chief of staff--and the writing is fairly sharp, if a bit pretentious.

In a gimmicky touch, it's narrated by a boy in a coma. But despite the easy grabs at our heartstrings–-who in their right mind isn't rooting for young people to get well?–-the pilot benefits from the vivid, likable performances of the cast.

Burns and his frequent collaborator, writer Geoffrey C. Ward, plunge into the elements that make The Roosevelts so engrossing, enlightening and entertaining. In a seemingly effortless balancing act, Burns and Ward do justice to the massive mark these three individuals left on the country's history, while also keeping a tight focus on their inner lives.

Instead of bringing us closer to what it felt like to be the great Harry Houdini, we instead hear Brody adopt a tough-guy tone as he rattles off clichés that sound like anachronistic film noir parodies.

We know very little about any of the characters, and it's hard to care about them as they go about their doings under an ominous cloud of supernatural dread.

Legends, which is based on a novel by Robert Littell and produced by a team that includes "Homeland" veterans Howard Gordon and Alexander Cary, has an unusual sense of melancholy, which seems to emanate from Bean's soulful performance.

For all its volatility and rough textures, after a few episodes, The Knick begins to draw you into its idiosyncratic rhythms.

Based on that limited sampling [of two episodes], the premise strikes me as both fresh and familiar enough to make me want to see more.

The Strain gets off to a busy, icky, unpretentious start, mixing the vigor of a '50s Grade-B horror movie with a convoluted mythology about an ancient virus that turns victims into vampires.

Masters of Sex is better than ever.

It's a pleasant enough blend of travelogue and gentle humor.

That broader scope may prove to be an improvement in terms of how much deeper The Bridge can go in its cross-cultural storytelling. But the first two episodes of Season 2 are a bit all over the map.

If the rest of the 13-episode Extant remains as compelling as its first episode, this will be the standout show of the summer season.

The fact that the show remains watchable, if challenging, is a testament to Perrotta and Lindelof's convincing portrait of how our society might respond to such an event. And Theroux's performance is a much-needed anchor to humanity.

By the end of the first episode, we're already sick of Jamal and weary of Barry's complaining about being back home.

The Last Ship aims for a big-canvas feel, but based on the first three episodes, the one-dimensional characters and action movie cliché dialogue ("Guys, let's do this thing!") make it feel cramped.

Quibbles aside, watching this superb cast working together remains a pleasure, and it makes Season 2 of Orange Is the New Black an irresistible summer viewing choice.

Reilly is intense and watchable.... But other elements of Black Box feel unconvincing, and overfamiliar, which is disappointing, considering the potential.

The setting is convincingly snowy and wintry (it was filmed in Calgary, Canada), the writing is clever, and the actors are outstanding.

With its signature mixture of tiny details providing texture and easy storytelling flow, Mad Men lures us back into its final season with all the confidence in the world.

It's quite a story, but the pilot for Turn takes a long time to get going, and isn't all that compelling.

With an appealing cast, a relatively fresh setting and smart jokes ("Every party in Silicon Valley ends up like a Hasidic wedding," i.e., the men and women are always separated), Silicon Valley is definitely worth your time investment.

Based on the first two episodes available for screening, Crisis is more promising than other recent network attempts to create a series that tells an ongoing story.

As always, you can't judge a late-night host by a first show. But Meyers' debut indicates that his blend of intelligence and goofy humor will be a welcome addition to the crowded late-night neighborhood.