An entire season of no conflicts and Shrill’s series finale ends with a mess of loose ends, that makes it feel like all Annie’s and Fran’s personal accomplishments have amounted to nothing and leaves viewers with no resolution.

Brown does a decent job with what she’s given. But when her character’s name is the title, it’s around Queenie that everything revolves and with a weak central figure, that’s too much time is spent on her.

If their latest appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers as the Talking Heads parody band "Test Pattern" is any indication, Season Two isn't purely a high concept exercise in direct imitation, there will also be plenty of LOLs.

This may not be the strongest first showing, but if it finds its rhythm soon, playing off of its existing strengths and shedding its weaknesses, this will be a compelling hour.

Those two alone [Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader) and Liz Keen (Megan Boone)] are worth watching Blacklist, but the drama's storytelling is powerful enough to make you commit to it from the very first episode.

David Wain and Michael Showalter's quirky brand of comedy is still the heart of the series, and works because it is so youthfully rudimentary, playing up romantic comedy tropes with bratty sneers and whimsy. First Day at Camp is essential summer TV viewing nobody asked for, but nobody's complaining either.

With a star-studded cast (notably featuring Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, Anthony Hopkins, James Marsden, and Jeffrey Wright), lush production design, epically sprawling story, and astonishingly huge budget, HBO is banking on the J.J. Abrams-produced Westworld to become a tentpole series. In a rare case, the network's investment pays off.

Starstruck gets off to a dull start, then becomes predictable and uninteresting. But, as the episodes progress, Matefeo rediscovers the instinctive humor that made the first season such a delight.

There is a certain amount of suspension of disbelief required for Nobody Wants This. .... The highly bingeable series has excellent comedy writing and a strong cast who move the episodes along at a quick clip. But even with all its on-point humor, Nobody Wants This has an undercurrent of seriousness, which puts it a few notches above the average sitcom.

The Flash continues the CW's streak with the perfect mix of humor and gravity intrinsic to The Flash comics. [Sep/Oct 2014, p.83]

While the pilot sets the series off to a rather slow start, once you warm to the unique pace and rhythms of their comic delivery, Garfunkel and Oates makes for an endearing half hour experience.

Every cheap sexual innuedndo, obvious adolscent pun, and cliched puerile situation is exploited here. [Holiday 2009, p.86]

Shangri-La is not an advertisement for the studio, nor is it a biography on Rubin. It touches on the history of the space, which was built in 1976, featuring some classic footage with Scorsese and The Band, and the titular character for the television show Mr. Ed, who lived in a stable at Shangri-La when on hiatus.

The premise provides an interesting hook for a period drama, but the show straddles too many lines, as far as tone and genre go. If it committed more fully to any one direction, it would be exponentially stronger. As it is, it feels too concerned with casting as wide a net as possible and could fail to catch many return viewers.

Nothing about this reboot is a disappointment. If you were a Will & Grace fan the first time, you're going to love it all over again. This is how comedy is done.

Despite the disappearance of his top lip when smiling, newcomer Wolk employs the same conman charm on the viewer. Rooting for both the wife and the girlfriend--maybe a little bit more for the latter, Lone Star has the makings for a sudsy tune-in.

Ultimately, Kiri is an admirably executed story of confusion, emotion, and consequence, though not without a handful of fumbles.

The remaining first half of this ten episode season (I only binged the five so far) are equally strong as the premiere, falling short of only the series’ absolute apex, which is of course Season Two’s famous “Forks” episode.

With contributions from horror luminaries such as Ana Lily Armipour (A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night), the visionary Panos Cosmatos (Mandy) and Jennifer Kent (The Babadook), and stars like Dan Stevens and F. Murray Abraham, there’s a good deal of hope that the series might transcend its conventional presentation and predictability to offer something a little more substantial.

Duntsch’s story would be tough to stitch up in even the steadiest of auteur’s hands. Hats off to Macmanus and directors Maggie Kiley, Jennifer Morrison and So Yong Kim for their ambitious vision, not to mention the ace cast. At the same time, it’s a shame that Dr. Death is too often so dull.

There is an interesting dynamic of a cast so compact in a setting so large. They literally have the entire world at their disposal.

For fans craving the next dark, disturbing weekly watch in the spirit of The Walking Dead, The Strain will prove too cheeky and eye-roll inducing. Those that appreciate late '90s B-horror flicks such as The Faculty might enjoy The Strain for the kind of creepy, often goofy ride it is, even though it never gets too deep.

At half-hour each, Cobra Kai is an easy binge that will only make you want more.

It’s the tending to his deeper wounds: familial, romantic and professional, however, that make The Old Man not just highly watchable but truly memorable.

Down Cemetery Road’s first season starts off as a pulse-pounding journey that sadly hits a dead end.

Gordon and the graft permeating the GCPD can be compelling enough to sustain a Gotham story in which Batman doesn't yet exist. However, without the foil of Batman, the villains run the risk of appearing cartoonish.

Head of promotions/payola master Zak Yankovich (Ray Romano), giftedly shady head of sales Skip Fontaine (J.C. MacKenzie), and ill-fated artist Lester Grimes (Ato Essandoh) are among the engaging characters who could ensure that Vinyl lives as much more than a destination for leisure suits, coke noses, and Foghat.

Maron is at its greatest when the comedian plays into the abrasiveness that lands him in trouble with others.