Viewers craving a satisfying gourmet meal rather than another summertime "reality" Moon Pie are urged to make The Hour a Wednesday night ritual for the next six weeks.

Schilling, Prepon and Mulgrew are uniformly terrific throughout, whether in prison garb or flashback civilian clothes. But other characters are equally compelling, giving this series innumerable stories to tell for hopefully many seasons to come. Based on the first six of 13 episodes, Orange is the New Black has passed virtually every test with flying colors.

You might as well pencil in stars Rachel Brosnahan and Alex Borstein for return visits to the Emmy podium next year. They’re still that good in a comedy/drama series that remains peppy, snappy, musically magnificent and bursting with living colors. ... Mrs. Maisel remains loaded with special moments and deft asides.

Louis C.K. shoots from the lip and keeps scoring. The beauty is the seeming ease with which he does this. And the knowledge of how hard it really is.

Broadchurch, with its recurring crashing waves wiping some slates clean, is thoroughly captivating from start to finish.

Whatever your thoughts about country music, expect to be immensely entertained, educated and even edified throughout this master course in pickin’, grinnin’ -- and so very much more.

FX sent the first five half-hours for review, and they're all gems.

True Detective is a marvel of craftsmanship, storytelling and performances through these first three hours made available for review.

Be assured there’s still nothing else like it--on FX or anywhere else. Atlanta depicts “The Black Experience” without preachments, but with pride of authorship.

They thoroughly come alive in this instant classic about show biz addiction and rejection.

Haggard’s performance (she’s also a co-writer) is a marvel, whether she’s exuding vulnerability or dishing the sass. Used and abused but never quite de-fused, she propels Back to Life to the top tier of this season’s newcomers, with ample help from a crackerjack ensemble.

Watch at whatever pace you'd like--immediately. Given its quality, I think you'll be drinking it all in sooner rather than later.

HBO has done it again, investing in a project of substance and a lead actress who powers it home.

The new Fargo bobs, weaves and occasionally unravels a bit. Still, it’s never less than entrancing, with the recurring panoramic shots of an unforgiving deep freeze serving as stolid supporting characters.

Each hour’s blazing horns, during the closing credits, are a weekly must-hear. The dialogue is sharp and suitably dicey ... There’s nothing pretty here. But in the eyes of this beholder, you’ll otherwise know great drama when you see it.

[The first four episodes of Season 2 available for review are] riveting from the first minute, with stellar, resonant performances driving a story with a high fiber content.

Enjoy and appreciate all three of these principals in a Season Two that matches and sometimes surpasses the quality of the series’ initial 10 hours. The Crown remains a joy to behold and savor. ... This is drama of the highest calling.

When We Rise is an enriching, bonafide TV event of the first order and also powerful enough to change more than a few entrenched minds.

Performance is never a problem for the cast of Masters of Sex. Caplan, Sheen and the supporting players keep everything humming in the best new drama of the fall season. You’ll want to watch.

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."

Legion jars the senses as a jagged-edged jigsaw puzzle that can’t easily be put together. But there’s no inclination to ever stop trying because the overall artistry is beautiful to behold and just won’t quit.

The Americans in my view is the best TV drama of this season. It excels to even greater degrees on levels large and small, with the intimate details of human interaction mixing with the humanity-at-stake, cloak and dagger goings-on that keep Philip and Elizabeth tenuously on point.

This is a riveting film with a bravura performance by Cranston, who’s been the signature television actor of the past decade.

Gilligan and company keep on pushing Breaking Bad to new highs.

Thoroughly absorbing through the first six episodes made available for review, it fully lives up to the FX come-on: “You Don’t Know the Half of It.”

The fun is in the snappy dialogue and the impeccable actors delivering it.

Masters of Sex is without question in Mad Men’s league as a period drama that looks inward, outward and unsteadily ahead. The performances of Sheen, Caplan, Janney and Bridges rival those in any ongoing TV series.

Orange Is the New Black remains a vibrantly hued, singular achievement. Darkly dramatic and comedically spiked, it deals in the dehumanization and restoration of both guards and inmates.