In the three new episodes I’ve see, the show too often makes the laughs secondary to its progressive messaging.

Most of the time, Girls remains impressive.

For all its cynicism about the elites who run the finances of the country, Mr. Robot is almost genially high-spirited: It excites you to keep following Elliot, Mr. Robot, and their improbable plan of revenge.

Well-acted and ponderously paced, The Haunting of Hill House would have benefited from less straining for the artistic and more of a desire to jolt its viewers.

The show manages to juggle suspense with light moments without spoiling either mood.

Anne with an E both stands apart from the 1985 Anne and connects to it in its openhearted eagerness. McNulty gives an exceptionally deft, nuanced performance that is the equal of any adult performance I’ve seen on television this year. Beautifully shot, and full of marvelous supporting performances, Anne with an E is a fresh version of Anne of Green Gables that newcomers and cult fans can enjoy equally.

There’s not much suspense or any thrill of discovery as we watch Holden and Bill slowly tumble to the patterns in serial-killer methodology. ... That said, Mindhunter is engrossing, and the central performances by Groff and McCallany are highly distinctive and complementary. The whole production has an assurance that’s comforting in the midst of all the unsettling time we spend with depraved law-breakers.

There is so much quick-fire dialogue and subtle physical comedy in Togetherness, the four stars sometimes seem like a full-functioning comedy machine.

A vivid character study, a tense law-firm drama, and an educational deep-dive for any viewer who’d like to learn the ins and outs of what we researchers call “transactional sex.”

Too Funny to Fail succeeds in being funny about failure.

The pilot episode is pretty much a non-stop pleasure, packed with funny scenes and big, billowy musical numbers.

Three seasons in, Kemper’s performance has become remarkably nuanced for such a slapsticky, cartoonish creation, and Kimmy Schmidt herself is starting to look like the indomitable figure that the title’s “unbreakable” was always meant to signify.

The material about being a black American is Tamborine’s gold mine, which is probably why it leads off the special, to get you hooked. To be sure, it’s heavy-duty stuff. ... When he starts to discuss the divorce, the roaring energy of his performance ebbs and slows.

Better Call Saul has its own tone--it's a different, unique creation.

Thankfully, those voice-overs seem fewer this season, the better to concentrate on the show’s action, which is frequently startling and absorbing.

At his best, as is frequently on display here, Harmon knows how to overload a scene with references to everything from dinosaurs to Lawnmower Man, and still keep the action moving.

The Emmy-nominated Archer is one of the most satisfying comedies of any sort, its densely packed jokes contrasting with the airy, assured confidence a show achieves when its characters seem so three-dimensionally real to their audience.

The sad thing--but also the thing that makes this show so compelling--is that the contestants care so much about winning this hideous, spirit-killing show. It’s that paradox that gives UnREAL its true soul.

Sharp Objects turns out to be everything you might have wanted. And also some things you didn’t know you wanted: This eight-part HBO miniseries is a scary thriller, a Southern gothic melodrama, a serial-killer murder mystery, and a dual portrait of motherhood and sisterhood--all of it combined with a sleek ease that rarely lets any effort show.

Two hour-plus stand-up specials premiere on Netflix today, and they’re both very good, one better than the other. ... The Age of Spin is a brilliantly organized concert that’s structured around O.J. Simpson.

The documentary does a good job of filling you in on the Slenderman mythos and how it has spread.

Meyers delivered a carefully crafted monologue that took well-phrased shots at Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and Woody Allen, while also making room for Poehler, talking from her seat, to deliver the biggest laughs of the segment with a couple of raucous, mansplaining jabs. ...Sure, some of the chatter was a little bit tedious because of sheer repetition, but it was a higher class of tedium — nobler and more heartfelt, and effective in its fervor and sincerity. Later in the evening, Oprah Winfrey turned her acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille Award into a stirring talk about race and class and history. It was a world-class speech.

Last Kingdom is imaginative and amusing, and Uhtred makes for a smart, tough, randy central character.

It affirms all the reasons you liked the first Stranger Things, and deepens your knowledge and affection for its storytelling and characters.

Okay, I’ll buy into it for the sake of the wonderful acting being done here. Then too, Jeffrey Reiner’s direction is superb, the rhythm of his framing and the cameras’ points of view underscoring without intruding upon the drama.

It makes for a funny pilot, but the exact quality that made Parks and Recreation such a novel, engrossing series--its exploration of goodness and decency; its rejection of cynicism--is what weighs down The Good Place somewhat. Its punchlines, after a while, seem based on the same set-up: Eleanor bad, Good Place good.

Cranston carries the movie past its occasional biopic clichés and leaves you feeling appropriately ambivalent about Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is super-clever, features a winning performance by The Office’s Ellie Kemper, and moves like a well-oiled joke machine.