The teen dynamics are a little familiar at times, but the revival dares to tackle class disparity and white privilege while playfully mocking the original’s consequence-free low stakes. It still has heartfelt inspirational speeches… but it makes fun of them at the same time.

It never goes as hard or gets as dark as, say, BoJack did… but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, either. The lighter touch makes it an easier watch, and it does deliver more laughs per minute than most anything out there these days. A TV comedy that’s actually funny — what will they think of next?

The premiere spends a fair amount of time laying pipe, so Episode 2 provides a more accurate picture of what the series will look like moving forward. And it looks really good.

Euphoria is admittedly better at establishing a distinctive mood and style than at telling a story, at least early on. ... But Euphoria‘s exhilarating style and achingly incisive observations more than make up for any storytelling flaws it might have.

he show allows these women to be substantially flawed and messy, and it resists the urge to get too mopey and maudlin. Plus, their banter is fun and snappy, in the vein of Coupe’s Happy Endings. ... The three leads have excellent chemistry right off the bat, too.

The Lowdown, I should note, does threaten to disappear into its own quirk at times. It moseys along at a deliberate pace, and the meandering narrative tends to wander around like Lee after one too many hits of his vape pen. But that’s OK: This show dances to its own beat. It’s not trying too hard to impress us, and that’s endearing, in a way. It’s worth checking out just to bask in Hawke’s greatness.

Sabrina is still working on finding the ideal balance between gruesome horror and soapy teen drama, and occasionally wobbles a bit in the process. (If anything, the scale tips too far towards horror at times. This is the first show I can remember that presents Satanism as a valid lifestyle choice.) But when it’s clicking on all cylinders, its intoxicating mix of supernatural thrills and deadpan one-liners approaches the heights of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The physical confidence exhibited by Sam in that set piece, followed by the fun banter between him and a government handler, quickly cements Mackie’s upgrade from sidekick to lead hero. ... If Disney+’s second Marvel series stays on track, it will be as well-received as WandaVision, even if it is a more traditional Avengers offshoot.

Season 2 of The White Lotus hits on a lot of the same themes as last season, but it still offers a terrific cast and insightful social satire.

As intriguing as Debris‘ central mystery is now, it could easily wear thin if the producers run out of ideas too quickly; I can’t really envision yet how this can be sustained across multiple seasons. But for now, at least, it’s a helluva fun ride. It’s rare for a network to hit us with something as smart and strange and ambitious as this. So let’s enjoy it while we can.

By the time Episode 5 rolls around, with the great Parker Posey guest-starring as a kooky artist looking to unload her cheating husband’s mega valuable record collection, High Fidelity has established a funky, unassuming charm all its own. It’s kind of like your favorite local dive bar: nothing too flashy, but a reliable combination of fun people, a killer jukebox and good vibes.

It’s more of a conventional thriller than Big Little Lies was, favoring plot over character as it spins a twist-laden murder mystery. And if it’s ultimately not as emotionally complex as Big Little Lies, it’s more immediately gripping, with a breathless pace and a wealth of compelling performances.

The real star here is the tension that gradually builds from episode to episode, finding genuine human drama in a confined space. Sometimes when you’re making great TV, less space is more.

I would not go so far as to say that Criminal Minds: Evolution is the product of “What if Criminal Minds and a prestige cable drama had a baby?” But that wouldn’t be too far off. It’s just wonderfully different, in assorted ways that longtime viewers may not have realized they wanted.

It bites off more than it can chew by taking on too many characters. We follow more than a dozen characters through a flurry of flashbacks and strange psychological detours, explaining how this parade of damaged men came to be so damaged. (It’s ten episodes, but it could’ve easily be six, or even four.) Its dynamic style and the intriguing personalities involved help it rise above all of that, though.

Both young Gibbs and NCIS: Origins take a minute to find their bearings, but once they do, this latest NCIS offshoot shows promise.

No matter how you watch it, The Patient is high-level drama told with admirable efficiency — all killer, no filler.

It’s a real high-wire act, blending teen soap, a murder mystery, biting humor and a beloved franchise. But Aguirre-Sacasa and uber-producer Greg Berlanti (who, with NBC’s Blindspot and The CW’s superhero lineup, seemingly has the magic touch these days) manage it all in surprisingly nimble fashion.

There’s a lot more afoot in Season 2--and that’s a good thing.

It takes a few episodes for Homecoming to start showing its cards, and the focus is on unspooling the mystery rather than building the characters, so emotional depth is sometimes sacrificed in order to keep the narrative freight train chugging along. But it is an awfully good mystery, after all, with each episode lasting just long enough and teasing us just enough to keep us hooked.

In the wake of CGI-saturated, cosmic movies like Ant-Man 3 and Guardians 3, Disney+’s Secret Invasion is a welcome blast of serious, grounded MCU fare.

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, a new talk show for Netflix that puts the emphasis back on “talk.” ... The conversation with Obama, while mostly dense, was not without moments of levity.

Again, Daredevil, Jessica Jones and now Luke Cage take… their…… time in unspooling a 13-episode story, rarely serving up action scenes just because.

It’s an incredibly entertaining dual performance that carries Living With Yourself… even when the show’s initial spark begins to fade.

High Potential works on the strength of Olson’s joyful performance. It’s still a network procedural, at the end of the day, but it’s smart and funny

It’s remarkably in-depth and at times revelatory, but a couple of missteps keep it from being truly insightful.

Through its first three episodes, Krapopolis provides enough giggles to put it right at the top of Fox’s recent animation efforts, a cut above the likes of Bless the Harts and Duncanville.

No, this is not the classic Sex and the City we first fell in love with… but what it is now isn’t bad, either.