It's still Homeland, and it's good.

They know how great the show looks, they know how much their actors can give them, and they know just how much they can get away with.

The acting, writing and directing are superb.

Louie viewers don't know exactly what they're getting in any given week, but the show is so elastic that nothing it tries feels like something it shouldn't.

Now, I wouldn't say I loved it. Parts of it I didn't even like. I became quite engaged with what was going on downstairs with the servants, while I found virtually everything having to do with the Granthams (at least the parts unrelated to how they dealt with the staff) a chore to get through.

Homeland functions terrifically as both a thriller and a commentary on our post-post-9/11 world, where the War on Terror and the concept of being constantly under surveillance are both facts of life.

Darn it if Justified showrunner Graham Yost and company haven't found a way to equal--if not top--that bunch [of opponents], while at the same time building on the lessons they learned in the first season.

By forcing Raylan to retrace his father's decades-old steps, Yost is reinventing his show yet again, but he's also going deeper into the heart and mind of the man with the big hat and gun.

In a season overstuffed with crime dramas, Boomtown is one of the two or three best, alongside CBS' "Without a Trace" and "Robbery Homicide Division." It has complex, compelling characters, a terrific cast of actors and a beautiful feature film look. But it would have all those things even if the stories were told in strict chronological order. [27 Sept 2002, p.53]

Game of Thrones remains a very entertaining series set in a very rich world. But the longer it’s on, the more it feels like Benioff and Weiss are only scratching the surface of that world--even if that may be the only way to coherently explore it.

Silly or sober, Louie is one of the best shows on television.

The sheer number of colorful characters maneuvering keeps things lively.

AMC’s "Breaking Bad" [is] still the best drama you’re not watching.

If you enjoy seeing wealthy, petty people get their deserved comeuppance, this is the show for you. If you enjoy laughing, this is definitely the show for you - the funniest new comedy of the season by a wide margin...For a show about dumb, unfocused people, Arrested Development is wickedly smart and quick, willing to go anywhere for a good gag. [31 Oct 2003, p.49]

A gimmick in search of a show.

The fifth and final season may be the most overtly farcical, but only because things in this slightly fictionalized Baltimore have become, if you can imagine, worse than ever.

As with the best of these broad canvas series, the players and their allegiances become clear within an episode or two. And from that point on, Boardwalk Empire becomes everything that HBO (and I) had hoped for it.

As the follow-up to an incredibly strong debut season, it's even more fun.

This is a smart, exciting thrill ride with a tick-tock momentum that will keep you glued to the edge of your seat. [6 Nov 2001]

The premiere suggests that the only other show that belongs with it in the discussion for the best drama on television is the same one we were talking about last season. At the top level, there is "Breaking Bad," and there is also--finally, thankfully, exceptionally--Mad Men, and then there is everything else.

The other six episodes I've seen have their ups and downs, but that's kind of the nature of the beast with comedies that push the outer edge of the envelope of taste and common decency; their batting average will be lower than their comedy peers, but their slugging percentage will be higher.

There's definitely a joy to this series, no matter how dire things get for its characters.

Felicity is very clearly targeted at the Clearasil set that worships at the altar of the WB's "Dawson's Creek," but if the show can maintain the charm and poignancy of the pilot, adults may also want to pay homage to television's newest star. [29 Sept 1998, p.47]

It continues to be one of the most satisfying dramas in the history of the medium.

Treme may lack the obvious narrative engine that the cops vs. drug dealers narrative gave "The Wire," but it's already a smart, engaging, moving and funny series, one that in many ways is more accessible than its predecessor.

The hour offers up office intrigue, romantic complications and a classic Don Draper pitch, not to mention the usual brilliant acting from all involved.

The Lost season three finale was no fluke. The show has got its mojo back, and then some.

It definitely has a voice, and it's a great one: witty and wise and warm and not exactly like anything you've heard before.