Mad Men stays relevant and exciting by moving forward.

The first three episodes of Season 3 indicate there has been no slippage at all, but rather a digging in of the philosophy at hand.

Archer proves exactly why it's been so great since the beginning: Smart writing, great voice cast, cool animation and, just so you understand, still more smart writing.

Smash is excellent, a bar-raiser for broadcast networks.

Every actor nails their lines, which keeps Veep moving at a brisk pace. In fact, the episodes seem to end so quickly, you'll wish they lasted an hour.

It seems to be shifting into a higher gear, when no one thought that option was even available.

Not only is the pilot a wonderful mix of hilarious moments (pretty much any time Faxon is in the picture) and subtle sentiment, but it's one of those shows where the acumen of the off-camera talent (Fox) is impressive and clear, which gives hope for long-term success.

It's a heavyweight new contender in the drama category, just as Netflix now is as a content provider.

The dialogue remains as pin-prick sharp as usual, with that clever mix of directness and humor.

It's too early to really judge Americans against Homeland, but if the latter is getting away from what hooked you in the first place, then you might find what you're missing on Americans.

The Rashomon-style storytelling takes a bit to get used to, and the sometimes feverish flow of the jokes (which fans may remember from the hall-of-fame first three seasons) struggle to unleash themselves in the first couple of episodes, but then it snowballs into seven-and-a-half hours of hilarity just waiting for a movie to follow it up.

It is, flat out, one of the most intriguingly entertaining new series of the year, and it’s so much more than pure entertainment. For a sci-fi series, there’s some real heft to it.

What’s intriguing and partly amazing about the two hour "movie” called “The Doorway” that opens the season April 7 is that Weiner has not lost his touch at writing a beautifully crafted script--jammed with the sadness and humor and personal revelations we’ve all come to appreciate. But in addition to that, he’s decided to really hit home Mad Men’s key theme in the first two hours with a kind of ferocity of intent we’ve rarely seen from him.

What makes Rectify so rich and compelling are the choices it makes to avoid predictability--not just in its bold choice of immersive pacing, but because it puts characters (and complicated ones) into what feels like a familiar story and makes it seem new.

A very original, extremely well-acted and complexly written drama.

A winning, extremely funny new sitcom.

"Friday Night Lights" is not good. It's great.

What helps separate "The Nine" from others in this season's crowded field are stellar performances throughout and a steady, sure hand in the pilot.

Darabont uses the TV-series format to break convention not only by defying the predictabilities of the horror genre (boo!) but also by infusing the recipe with more storytelling elan.

The escapism is sky high. Valley remains as charismatic as ever, with McBride's disdainful asides and Haley's chilly creepiness intact. It would be unfortunate if Human Target somehow got soapy or dumber, because good popcorn is rare.

So, during the course of three episodes, there's not much sucking up, enough dissing to keep the whole thing honest, tons of magnificent cars, fast driving and enough goofiness to make this Top Gear get off the line without any mishaps.

Code is not a game-changer in a genre that likely won't be changed again for some time, but judging by the first three episodes it's already gripping television and Fox has found a competitive new drama.

Seriously, one day, NBC will be run like a real network--and bask in the fact that our Pawnee pals have returned, and there are plenty of excellent episodes in store.

It could be argued that Fox has pulled off something even more remarkable with the debut of the less-than-thrillingly titled Traffic Light, a romantic comedy whose concept was imported from Israel: because it is both funny and remarkably realistic.

Beers and his crew are old hands at this, and they wring the drama out of Coal very quickly and compellingly. They get beyond the danger into the emotional territory, and that's where the gold is.

The good news for Sons Of Anarchy fans is that series creator Kurt Sutter leaves no doubt that he's put the series back on solid ground in Season 4 and, in turn, delivers all of the larger-than-life storytelling that viewers mop up.

HBO's Too Big to Fail is mesmerizing and, if you can call watching an economics lesson from hell entertaining, then yes, it's entertaining.

Creator Elizabeth Meriwether manages to make the situations funny and lets Deschanel channel her charm--a winning combination.