If the first two episodes are any indication, this season of Homeland will be about Carrie not only recovering her balance but finding a measure of redemption. That's a trip worth taking.

Mad Men is off to one crazy-good start.

What seems like a straightforward question--Is Nick a traitor to his country?--might be the most devilishly complicated thing to answer, and definitely worth pursuing in this complex show.

Ultimately, Sherlock doesn't play fair, but the game is so enjoyable, you'll be happy you joined in.

Game of Thrones plays by its own rules--and remains irresistible.

Buscemi is the only big-name actor associated with this cast, and though he seems to be having a great time strutting onscreen, most of the others aren't up to sharing the screen with him.

Game of Thrones starts less like an epic and more like a session of "Medieval Sims."

The womanizing, booze-guzzling, chain-smoking ad exec (played brilliantly by Jon Hamm) at the heart of AMC's Emmy Award-winning drama Mad Men has found a curvy sliver of joy in his life.

The characters carry themselves with the kind of decency, maturity and occasional playfulness that is virtually unseen on prime time.

It's a bloody good, gory hour, and I don't know how Southland will top this. But I can't wait to see what's around the corner.

Mad Men is back with another ridiculously addictive season.

Unlike "The Wire," the pacing is lazy. Many of the moments seem authentic, but to paraphrase director Alfred Hitchcock: A good show is life minus the boring parts.

Many young women, if they're being honest, will see themselves here. And many parents will see their daughters.

If you don't tear up at least once during each episode, you've already coded. "Boston Med" is the cure for summertime TV blues.

By dramatizing the true stories of the men who fought there, Spielberg and Hanks craft perhaps their most psychologically grounded work.

Rest easy: The premiere is good; next week’s episode is flat-out superb.

Party Down, about a group of aspiring Hollywood types working as caterers, returns for a second season of stale jokes.

Nashville is the snarky showbiz drama NBC's "Smash" can only dream of becoming.

It's wonderful HBO is willing to subsidize so many artists, but Treme feels more like a tax write-off than an actual series.

There hasn't been a show since "The Sopranos" so concerned with bodily functions, and it makes its oft-compared predecessor "Sex and the City" look like a TeenNick production. But it's also fresh, bracing and original.

This is no CBS crime procedural, and viewers deserve the chance to delve into this smart mystery for themselves.

Series creator and writer Julian Fellowes has a habit of using dialogue to telegraph the obvious.

Arnold's Beyond Scared Straight hews to the premise of the original and proves to be just as gripping.

The discussion of vampire politics seems toothless at times, but True excels at setting up episode-ending cliffhangers. The episode pacing is superb.

Plotting is not Fellowes' strength, but Downton's appeal is visual.

Of the cast, Winger seems to be the weakest link, brittle and uncertain, but it's too soon in her arc to write her off. The series is like a mystery novel, but the crimes of the heart here are ones the patients unwittingly inflict upon themselves and the lengths they'll go to hide from the truth. Watching Byrne's sullen shrink match wits with Ryan's cool therapist is the best reason to book an appointment with In Treatment.

On Veterans Day, Wartorn is a somber reminder of the price that many pay when they serve their country and a wake-up call to the rest of us about the debt we owe them.

Friday Night Lights used high school football as a vehicle to explore plainly and authentically the way in which people live, struggle and thrive in small towns. It just might be the finest scripted series on prime time.