So far, muy bueno. Somewhat amazingly, this turns out to be a comedy whose time has come again.

Kurt Sutter, SOA's creative mastermind, has kept the scripts tight and the action invigorating.

Life in Pieces offers some very good reasons to walk on the wild side and let the laughs come without any in-show inducements. Whether that’s still asking too much is one of the new season’s more intriguing open questions.

Making History doesn’t get everything right. But the series’ principal trio commit themselves fully, with Meester particularly fresh and appealing as a transplanted colonial having the time of her life as a newly liberated woman.

Game of Silence does a pretty solid job of stitching together flashbacks and the ongoing efforts to get justice either by the book or by any means necessary. The strongest performance is by Raymond-James as the deeply tormented, trigger-tempered Gil.

Carnival Row, whether airborne or down-to-earth gritty, keeps flexing the power of its oft-breathtaking visuals. The worlds it creates are the greater sums of its whole while the messages it sends can be a little two telegraphed.

Viewers are advised to stay with Grace and Frankie and watch it both blossom and bear fruit. It’s not a great, game-changing series by any means. At least not yet.

Not everything lands squarely on target in the first three half-hours of Documentary Now!. But there are enough moments--and quite a lot of them in Episode 3--to keep this ambitious enterprise on track and well worth a roll ‘em.

Together they'll be the brains and brawn of this operation in times when the broadcast networks aren't particularly interested in take-charge men with acquired tastes for pounding the hell out of bad guys--or shooting them in their thighs. Thanks. We maybe needed that.

Saldana carries the full load throughout. Her skepticism grows--as does her performance--in tandem with her belly before it all boils over into a full-out escape plan.

A grossly uneven but still oft-scintillating mess-terpiece.

While Preacher sometimes just barely manages to keep its overall story together. Even so, seeing how it all comes out in the bloody wash for now seems like a risk and an adventure worth taking.

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.

Standout performances and what looks to be a sure-fire, durable premise give Fox’s Almost Family the key ingredients of a potentially long-running, soapy serial drama.

Suits is made of somewhat sterner stuff than other USA originals. But it always gets down to how well the lead characters hold up. Once again, it looks as though we have a winner on a network that knows what it's all about while big brother NBC keeps stumbling on TV's main stage of actors and their roles.

Longmire, with spacious New Mexico standing in for Wyoming as the series' production base, makes a solid overall first impression without rising to the level of critical huzzahs.

Empire, its flaws notwithstanding, looks as though it has the potential to be a mainstream success. It roars into view and keeps everything humming throughout its all-important first episode.

It works surprisingly well as sort of a Community in camouflage fronted by a teacher figure and his hapless platoon.

More than halfway through, Shots Fired is still without any indictments while bobbing and weaving through various subplots. Still, it’s drama of a fairly high order.

Wayward Pines looks as though it has the potential to rise above its false starts while grippingly spooling out truths that are “worse than anything you could even imagine.”

As galvanizing hours of television go, this isn’t Mad Men with a bang. It’s more like beginning a closing 100 meter dash somewhere in between a slow trot and a false start. But surely things will pick up.

The producers of Love Is __ clearly know this terrain better than most. And they hope to make it accessible to audiences of all colors without losing the flavors that make it unique.

For now, you’re advised to ride out The First, sluggishness and all. There are enough bright spots to bring it all home, with Mars very gradually getting closer to becoming more than just a talking point.

It's a lot to process, and at times too much to take. Still, Horror Story often is a wonder.

Deadly Class also misfires at times with this tale of disaffected, dysfunctional young outlaws being trained to lethally rage against the machine. But the first four episodes also vividly embed themselves with their blend of fierce action, relatable characters, striking visuals and a pounding, dynamic soundtrack that offsets some of the ham-fisted spoken words.

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.

You’ll likely at least be grinning, if not sometimes laughing out loud. Because after a halting start, the amusements are plentiful during the three half-hours made available for review.

The new Gong Show set is a suitably gaudy mix of reds and oranges, Which proves to be perfect for Married with Bananas (don’t ask) and Uncle Clutch, a fright mask-wearing slayer whose thorough commitment to character is quite hilarious.