Unfortunately, The Detour too often confuses the obvious for the outrageous, and mistakes hacky-ness for hilarity.

It has all the elements of a comedy, but it’d rather see us squirm than laugh, which makes it an intriguing but oddly uneven and unsatisfying series.

It doesn’t always hit on all cylinders, but it delivers the fireworks we’re looking for from a show like this. It’s like a battering ram slamming through a screen door: not very subtle, but undeniably effective.

Netflix’s Wednesday has a ghoulish tone and a superb lead performance, but the story is strictly cookie-cutter YA mystery.

Rachel Sennott's "I Love LA" feels like a mash-up of earlier HBO comedies about young people, but it never quite finds a voice of its own.

With too many new characters and not enough family togetherness, Hulu's "Malcolm in the Middle" revival can't recreate the anarchic thrill of the original.

All told, the “new-ish” Designated Survivor seems serviceable, if not (though understandably) in the same league as the venerable White House drama it aims to emulate.

"Star Trek" tries to get a fresh start with "Starfleet Academy," but it's dogged by the same pitfalls that have hampered recent "Trek."

Garland’s singular vision is in full effect — Devs contains some of the most stunning imagery I’ve seen on TV in recent years — but unfortunately, the story gets stuck at the starting gate, bogged down by dense tech jargon and a frustratingly cryptic conspiracy plot.

While Episode 1 overexerts itself juggling multiple storylines (there’s a B-story involving a young tailie that simply vanishes for long stretches), the episodes that follow are more tightly wound as the murder case, which dominates half of the 10-episode season, takes frightful turns.

Until Jack Ryan finds a way to make its drama as compelling as its action scenes, it’ll go down as a mission not quite accomplished.

It’s crass and formulaic, and a lot of the jokes boil down to “Hey, that old guy sure doesn’t act old!” But these seasoned sitcom veterans know how to sell a punchline to a live studio audience.

The Young Pope feels more like an eccentric foreign film than a TV series. Except it is a TV series--and little quirks that might seem charming in a 90-minute movie can begin to grate across several episodes.

If The Great Indoors can maintain a balance of smart, and not tired, barbs lobbed between “the human version of dial-up” and the “stupid twentysomethings” with whom he must now work, there surely is a show here.

Reiser and Hunt’s veteran presence and the nostalgia factor help nudge it slightly above your standard sitcom, and maybe that’s enough to earn a spot on your holiday watch list.

The new Password is… not bad? And even a lot of fun at times. No, I’m still not a fan of the set, which has none of the coziness from the (deep cut alert!) Allen Ludden-hosted era, but instead seems dictated by the law that every primetime game show since 1999 has to evoke Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. ... But the gameplay is faithful to that which we all know (save for a flourish or two), and the proceedings are overseen by a pretty perfect host.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow remains an odd bird. ... The better news is that once aboard the ship, the ensuing backstory on the Legends’ predicament tees up a rollicking, rat-a-tat recap of their off-season flitting through time.

Tim Allen and Kat Dennings make an entertainingly feisty duo as father and daughter in ABC’s new family sitcom Shifting Gears.

NBC’s Quantum Leap reboot has a charming star and slick action scenes, but gets bogged down by corny dialogue and dead-end mysteries.

The show’s supporting players--in particular, D.B. Woodside’s Amenadiel, sent down from Heaven to insist Lucifer go back from where he came, Rachael Harris as Lucifer’s shrink, and Lesley-Ann Brandt as Maze, Lucifer’s ass-kicking assistant--hint at the possibility of a more interesting show (as does a closing twist in “Favorite Son”). Until or unless the show’s writing staff digs down and explore those darker instincts, however, Lucifer feels stuck in creative purgatory.

The result is a show that’s far too scattered, and never builds any narrative momentum because it’s always cutting away to another plotline.

Despite the presence of Krause, Enos and Walger--all of whom have been standouts in modern TV classics--The Catch is barely worth investigating.

Rockwell and Williams are shoo-ins for Emmy nominations this summer, it’s true, but the material they’re given here never quite rises to meet their level.

This is all perfectly interesting. It just isn’t... compelling.

It’s frustrating because all of the elements are there but Interrogation unknowingly sacrifices its own quality by allowing us to choose where to go.

The hour is stylishly directed by Adam Wingard (V/H/S). But there just isn’t much here that we--or at least I--haven’t seen before.

After three episodes, we’re no closer to figuring out what is really going on than when we started. The Changeling is ultimately a missed opportunity: eerie moments that don’t build up to anything, and random philosophical musings that don’t add up to much.

Hulu’s How to Die Alone is a dark comedy that is perhaps a little too dark.