Sevigny works hard at being complex, haunted, etc. while the show around her collapses into a voyeuristic mess with a denouement that makes one wonder how Catherine Jensen could possibly remain on the force beyond the opening episode.

Whatever becomes of Ragnar, Vikings has emerged in its second season as a series of appreciably higher quality. Its characters and storytelling, all within a world quite unlike any other on the TV landscape, have gone far beyond the cardboard stage.

It’s an acquired taste worth acquiring--or at least sampling. Because you just won’t know until you’ve tried.

Red Road gets more gripping by the hour, although it still feels like a drop-off whenever Momoa isn’t on screen.

Based on these first five episodes, The Americans shows every sign of maintaining if not exceeding the high bar it set in Season 1.

The producers of this series, who include Ryan Seacrest, nonetheless are asking viewers to patiently sort through a lot of characters.

Mind Games just doesn’t work on any level.

This old sidewinder still packs a kick.

Growing Up Fisher is no About a Boy, although at times it’s not half-bad. The relationship between the freewheeling Mel and wide-eyed Henry has its sweet spots.... Elfman’s Joyce, however, is an all too typical blend of aging TV mom striving to be young, cool and alluring again. Her clashes with sour teen daughter Katie (Ava Deluca-Verley) tend to get old in a hurry.

Solid writing and even sharper delivery (all without an intrusive laugh track) make this one of the season’s upper tier freshman comedies.

Buoyed by two blow-away performances by U2, Fallon got past a rather obsequious start in which he walked viewers through the basic mechanics of a monologue and said he’d be doing 10 minutes worth every night in case the Jay Leno faithful might have thought otherwise.

Not everything meshes perfectly. But far more often than not, House of Cards remains an absorbing tale of high-level government dysfunction populated by double-dealers who hold their aces under the table.

Star-Crossed looks as though it intends to take itself very seriously as an allegory for a futuristic brand of race relations. It’s also a budding love story, with Emery and Roman blowing hot and cold for one another while a seemingly goodly human student named Grayson (Grey Damon) hopes to cut in and claim her.

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.

Cooper and Pulver are fine in the lead roles, although there’s little to like about either character’s comportment. The music swells on cue but the story just doesn’t jell.

Its two featured newcomers skid along just fine, earning exceedingly small victories en route.

Kinnear carries himself ably, and his character’s amiable rogue presence wears fairly well for starters. The long haul may be problematic, though.

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).

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.

This season instantly ratchets up the sadism with the aforementioned treatment of a comely corpse as a living doll. Unlike the first time around, that’s pretty much doused my interest in playing along any further.

The whole enterprise is alternately laughable and affecting without committing the eighth deadly sin of being boring.

Bitten is mildly diverting while also being pretty goofy in spots--even for a werewolf drama.

Brain-dead male teens without any social skills or purpose in their lives might find this a highly entertaining diversion from their violent video games.

There’s a gainful, functioning relationship among the four oft-miserable principals. And so far it’s still in place after the first three episodes.

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

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

Helix isn’t always laughable, though, and at times can be pretty gripping. The makeup and props departments also have done their jobs well. But can this story sustain itself for 13 hours within a claustrophobic frozen outpost? Crises and mini-revelations are dispensed with the frequency of commercial breaks.

These first two episodes are gut-busting, non-stop fun.