Living in the Material World falls short of Scorsese's terrific two-part PBS film, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan.

Wild Things is very nicely shot and buoyed throughout by its star's upbeat persona.

It's HBO's most mature half-hour series ever, rising above the material worlds of Sex and the City and Entourage to offer a road worth taking in pursuit of a "higher self."

CW is just a little network trying to make some noise. It makes more headway with iZombie, a “cute” but never cloying show centered on brainy brain-eaters and their present-day dilemmas.

Looming Tower, for which author Wright is a co-executive producer, is visceral and fully engaging in its best moments, but also head-hurting with some of its efforts to diagram the myriad goings-on abroad. By the end of Episode 3, however, the story has gotten a firmer grip.

Gregg’s resurrected Coulson so far is the much-needed glue, lending a familiar presence and sturdy countenance.

The Blacklist is watchable but patently unbelievable and increasingly unpalatable.

Its downward slide shows signs of leveling off by the end of Sunday’s opening two hours. Danes’ Carrie is steelier than ever, her heart hardened to near-concrete while going about the exhilarating business of eliminating terrorists no matter what the collateral damage.

As holiday newcomers go, this is much better than socks and underwear from Grandma. Just don’t expect a shiny new train set.

They have more than enough laugh out loud moments to justify this completely unexpected return trip to Camp Firewood, circa the summer of 1981.

The first two hours of Last Resort are bracingly strong on pulling power.

Twin Peaks is rambling on anyway, providing little morsels of enjoyment amid all the numbing nonsense.

Although her time on-screen is limited, Cruz makes some strong impressions as the ever-demanding Donatella Versace.

Coal has the right stuff, putting viewers of a mind to hurt for these men--who hurt right back.

The thrill of discovery is long gone for True Blood. But the thrill of a new season is still very much in play. The first three episode of Season 4 had just enough pulling power to keep me in the fold.

It’s too late to scrub some of the dialogue, though.... Klondike isn’t always this way. Its one-liners can be nifty in spots.... The miniseries also has some engaging supporting characters in grifter Soapy Smith (Ian Hart) and Haskell’s ad hoc mine mate, Joe Meeker (Tim Blake Nelson).

Be assured that Shrill gains its footing en route to being something special by the end of its first season.

Harlots tends to teeter between being a lark and a social tract. The flesh is willing throughout, but the structure can be a little weak. Still, this is a decidedly different and bracing look at ye olde England, with power struggles aplenty as women strive to assert themselves while men mostly just want to insert themselves.

[A] very amusing and splendidly acted comedy about what happens when an American television network mucks up a long-running, award-laden British hit.

Through these first four episodes, Westworld flexes its lavish production values and has the kernels of what could turn into an increasingly absorbing morality play.

Cinema Verite's strength is in dramatizing the off-camera seductions and betrayals that led to the Louds being vilified in many quarters before the entire family went on The Dick Cavett Show to both tell their side of the story and confront filmmaker Craig Gilbert.

In the end, fans of well-paced political potboilers will find much to like about Game Change. As will those who simply want to be entertained by a crackling good melodrama.

Thursday's series premiere ends up being watchable but not really something to phone your friends about.

I Love Dick very much shows as well as tells. ... A series that is completely willing to offend sensibilities while also engaging them.

HBO’s six-part Mosaic, also available as an “interactive movie” on mobile apps, begins as an immersive spellbinder before eventually plodding to the finish line under its own diminishing power. Accomplished director Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven and its two sequels, Traffic, Erin Brockovich) does succeed, though, in resuscitating the acting career of Sharon Stone, who gives a bravura performance until her character suddenly goes missing.

Purefoy and Williams are standouts throughout while Hendricks pretty much settles in. The bloody goings-on apart from their fractious triangle can be jolts from out of the blue. But there’s always some cauterizing banter just around the corner.

Crashing has enough mostly gentle amusements to keep it on track. And it’s increasingly easy to get on Pete’s side.

This film is much more than that. From the boyish exuberance of Ben Affleck’s and Matt Damon’s joint 1998 acceptance speech to Hanks’ anecdote about a hard-of-hearing Bette Davis, this is a rich-bodied appetizer for TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar main course.

The Flash pushes most of the right buttons with its engaging first episode. It’s alternately action-packed, character-driven and poignant, with dashes of humor here and there.

Tennant and Colman still command center stage, but not without considerable help from the incoming fellow thespians. Under these circumstances, It’s not a case of the more the merrier. Instead it’s an even richer recipe for a seriously dramatic series that already had an A-game in place.

Filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (The Black List, The Latino List) might have done well to just keep the camera on [Carmen Dell'Orefice] and let everyone else hit the cutting room floor. But other former supermodels are quite interesting as well, among them Isabella Rossellini, Jerry Hall, Paulina Porizkova, Carol Alt, China Machado, Marisa Berenson and Lisa Taylor.

Looking isn’t a comedy, but it’s much bouncier on its feet. Not slap-happy, but comfortable in its own skin as the three principals.

Arrow may not be a-point-ment television. But for starters at least, it's a sharper little tale than expected.

Although affecting at times, Parade's End tends to congeal rather than gel.

Whether young, old or in-between, all of these characters resonate in their own distinct ways as The Chi builds both momentum and suspense. This is no small achievement for Waithe, whose first TV series under her direct control is bursting with flavor and humanity in a South Chicago proving ground. The footing is always slippery, but the storytelling remains bracingly sure-footed.

The five episodes I’ve seen have enough small pleasures to carry them to their finish lines. Just don’t expect to be blown away.

Not everything entirely adds up during the very winding course of China Girl’s six hours. ... The performances, however, are uniformly on target. Kidman, part of the recent ensemble in HBO’s Emmy-nominated Big Little Lies, is even more impressive here as the possessive, high-strung Julia while Dencik completely inhabits the role of thoroughly oily “Puss.” Moss again is impressively nuanced as the unsteady Robin, whose flaws and needs are palpable.

Outlander is beautifully shot throughout, which somewhat makes up for some of the early tedium. It may not ever rise to the level of enthralling. But by the second episode, the story at hand is flexing a firmer grip.

The broad histrionics of Will, Grace, Jack and Karen, who are still cavorting before a guffawing live studio audience, at times seem more dated than NBC’s early reluctance to let Will have a same-sex kiss or be seen in bed with another man. But there’s no hesitancy from the actors in terms of re-committing to these roles with a vigor that still drives the series like an old Wild Mouse amusement park ride from back in the day.

Wednesday’s premiere episode veers back and forth story-wise almost as crazily as the show-starting wild ride. ... That’s the overall point and thrust of Stumptown, where a woman drinks, fights and has sex on her terms in the same manner numerous men did in an assembly line of earlier ABC action dramas.

Season 3, which again will have 12 episodes, shows strong signs of fully regaining its bite, passion and fury.

PBS made all but the final two hours of Season 4 available for review. And while certainly not a slog, they end up being more than a bit saggy.... ownton Abbey has no scenes or sequences of knockout import during these first seven episodes.

Veep has some funny lines and sight gags during the course of doing its dirty Washington business.

Those who swoon at the name Marvel are likely to be entertained anew by a short-run series that pushes all those familiar buttons before the next feature film attraction kicks in with bigger stars, bolder visuals, better battles and a tease for the next one.

Welcome to Sweden is more charming and amusing than laugh-out-loud funny. But its charms are considerable and the overall premise is bracingly unique.

Seduced and Abandoned doesn’t always stay on track, but nonetheless never derails. It’s both a romp and a stomp, with Cannes the go-between.

Dear Mom, Love Cher is both a pleasant and evocative way to spend an hour.

Confirmation is an effective movie, although certainly not a great one, in terms of reconstructing how Hill was first persuaded to come forward and then left distraught, defeated and convinced it was “a mistake.” Washington and Pierce are both strong in these pivotal roles.

Ripper Street is pretty ripping good for the most part.

This is a concept that so far doesn’t lack for execution. Last Man On Earth has no chance at all to be a blockbuster in league with Fox’s new Empire. But it’s another distinctive example of what the Big Four broadcast networks should dare and do.

The Mayor can be preachy and predictable, but is also spirited and reasonably amusing in this opening scene-setter. Hall brings considerable charisma to the lead role and Brown supplies the needed anchoring presence. Michele, the former Glee star, still seems to be finding her way, though, in a role that at the moment doesn’t really fit her.

People of Earth has built a small-town universe with just enough quirks and intrigue to keep its premise in play. It has both heart and a sense of the absurd, making it increasingly “accessible” with the proviso that you’re just not going to get a laugh riot.

Overall impression: look for them [the episodes] to get better, stronger and funnier.

Under the Dome parlays solid special effects and an intriguing storyline, giving CBS’ a bracing breeze of fresh air during a summer season that previously has been a playground for Big Brother and “procedural” crime series reruns.

By the end of Episode 4, subtitled “It’s Not For Everyone,” the series is earning its mettle as a truly macabre, chilling and rousing war of attrition in which the winner will either take all or stop hell on earth in its bloody tracks.

Rust and Jacobs are the drive shafts, though, keeping Love on all fours with characterizations that likely will keep most viewers invested.

Ali is impressive in all three life stages, but his performance as the haunted and addled 70-year-old Hays has the most resonance.

Stephen Colbert’s better half generally has been the second halves of his still formative show.

Kids Are Alright has some fine, funny lines and also plenty of companion story lines to follow besides Timmy’s. It’s the best of the fall season’s new comedies from a network that’s become well-practiced in turning back the clock and making shows like these tick.

It’s a solidly told whodunit with a payoff that’s worth your investment.

Wednesday’s opening episode, the only one made available for review, solidly sets the hook while only partly weaning Sutherland from all those years as Jack Bauer on 24.

In short, a lot is very right with Get Shorty, which may well come calling again during next year’s awards season.

America In Color is by no means the full story. But its overall artistry breathes new life into these two incredibly eventful decades, with three more yet to come.

This one looks like a keeper but certainly not a sleeper. Lowe’s recent track record and pre-sold star power already make The Grinder a comedy of which much is expected--and so far delivered.

Gotham feels like a larger-than-life event. The challenge will be to build on that--or at the very least hold steady.

Downward Dog obviously could have gone very wrong. Instead it gets almost everything irresistibly right, whether it’s Martin’s simple yet challenging life (“I’m only human,” he reasons) or the accompanying two-legged human endeavors that shift his mind into overdrive and this series into the realm of the near-sublime.

Pullman and Biel are solidly in charge of their pivotal roles in a drama where “close-ended” presumably means a firm conclusion and no Season Two. So at an economical eight episodes, all this gloom and doom at least has the benefit of also being foreseeably finite. Expect your tolerance to be tested, though, particularly in the first half of Episode One. But if I were you, I’d proceed.

Principally armed with Ritter and Van Der Beek, [series' creator/executive producer/writer, Nahnatchka Khan] makes Don't Trust the B a find if not a treasure just yet.

As end-of-the-world tales go, it’s watchable, fairly unpredictable and garnished with a palpable subplot that in some ways is more intriguing than whatever the end game might be.

It’s all very, very ambitious, with hits that keep on coming while storyline misses seem to be almost beside the point. Vinyl is thoroughly rousing at its core, a crazed, dope-filled, sometimes dopey trip that begins in 1973 and has nothing in common with the earlier, comparatively sedate decade brought to you by AMC’s Mad Men.

Maron, 49, seems to be effortlessly gliding through his angst, laughing only rarely while giving viewers far more reason to do so.

For now, Levy is an OK mix of insolence and vulnerability, Hines is her usual hoot and Sisto shows signs of being nimble on his feet in an arena where he's still learning the ropes.

It's coarse and sometimes dirty to the touch, but pretty damned hilarious at crunch times. FX just might have the standout new comedy series of this season.

Vikings enthrallingly captures the world of Norsemen and oarsmen, circa 793 in the Eastern Baltic but soon heading West to England.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, with its solid supporting cast aiding and abetting Samberg, has a so far/so good first outing that rises above the majority of this season’s new fall comedies.

A summertime winner here on the strength of strong acting, engaging writing and an immediately gripping premise.

Clooney and company have tried their utmost to navigate the swervy Catch-22. It may well be the last such effort. And they fare better than the movie did without fully sticking the landing. Then again, who could? Bronze stars to all.

The fight scenes are easily digested but those down times can really make your head hurt.

Some of its mumbo jumbo may hurt your head, but the last words of Episode 2 are precisely on point. They whet the appetite for more, more.

The special effects are better than decent and the ensemble cast wears pretty well as Falling Skies begins to hit its stride.

Outcast is beautifully composed cinematically, with a conveniently nearby woods providing an extra layer of creepiness. By the end of the initial four episodes, a spellbinding hook has been set, with the mythology enticingly unfolding amid week-to-week new vistas in exorcism.

On the surface at least, it's hard to imagine responding to CW's three-pronged tagline attack of "Small fish. Big pond. Huge dreams." Wonder of wonders, though, this series sells its premise while only occasionally trying way too hard.

Fox made the first two episodes available for review. They’re watchable but also sadly a little comical, with Jack again all clenched up while speaking in a gasping-for-air rasp or silently clenching his jaw.

At least it's different, even though your basic "reality" competition trappings remain firmly in place.

All in all, National Geo should be justifiably proud of this production, which serves Kartheiser well while also telling the companion stories of the people who got to Plymouth first.

The scenes from the set of Soul Train are well-captured and choreographed. But BET’s still limited production budgets are reflected in recurrent Vietnam War sequences involving the Clark kids’ father. They’re phony-looking to say the least, and really not needed at all. Walls, formerly of Starz’s Power series, is effective as Cornelius, although not to the point of blowing anyone away.

It’s another nice original series try by Hulu in its efforts to someday play in the same league as fellow streamers Netflix and Amazon Prime. But as with Hulu’s ongoing 11.22.63, there’s just not enough in the tank to make the engine really hum.

Inventive and frequently hilarious. ... Future Man has a firm grasp of what it is and where it’s going. Coupe and Wilson excel as goal-fixated warriors from the future without any social graces while Hutcherson shines as a nebbish who both talks them down and strives to keep his own heart from beating off the charts.

Quantico moves along briskly without nailing down an overall believability.

The NBC series deteriorates from a graphic but promising first episode to a third hour that basically falls apart from any rational credibility standpoint.

Billions is full of itself in a good way, with Giamatti and Lewis dynamically leading the way while a solid supporting cast hangs in with them. The perplexities of stratospheric finance are not easily digested at times. But you’ll never be too far from another scene in which one or the other protagonist hits the spot and makes this latest Showtime series worth both your time and your money.

[There's] quite a lot to unpack--and the first episode is awkward at times compared to the two subsequent ones made available for review. Barr’s acting is noticeably mechanical in the early going while Goodman (who seems to have made a million movies in the interim) initially seems a little lost in the transition back to playing a character for which he received seven Emmy nominations without ever winning.

The premise is nothing new under the sun, which still exists. But it’s decently executed with enough periodic action and revelations to perhaps lure a decent-sized fan base.

That initial heat from Season 1 has been lowered to room temperature. Kinnaman continues to give The Killing a pulse. But he can’t do it alone, and at this point merits a new, more vital vehicle in which he can really gun his engines.

[The episodes] sequentially get better and deeper, with the tragic back stories of Athos and Aramis fueling hours three and four.

So far it’s promising without being riveting, with the potential to be Facebook--or Myspace.

Clear History is amusing enough to pull a viewer through it, although those who haven’t yet acquired a taste for Curb might find it the equivalent of a pricey two-drink minimum without enough payback.