Alan Sepinwall

There is still a deep affection for the genre, and for New York City itself. The cracks in the Arconia’s foundation are starting to show this year, and the same is true for Only Murders in the Building. But both are still lovely places to visit.

It offers exactly what the poster promises, in two excellent performances from Bridges and Lithgow (plus strong supporting ones from Amy Brenneman, Alia Shawkat, and Gbenga Akinnagbe), and offers a bonus in some gripping close-quarters combat sequences. But the story itself feels like an afterthought, and the energy level tends to droop whenever Bridges is not getting his homicide on.

A gripping, pulpy drama with a tangible sense throughout that the people telling this story know what is distinct about it, elevating the more familiar thriller components into something that feels special.

At its best — which it still so often is — For All Mankind is able to present so many different, exciting movies at the same time that the missteps stick out more than they would on a series not trying to do as much, let alone as widely capable. By heading to Mars, FAM is reaching further than ever — a reach that sometimes exceeds its grasp, even as it’s a lot of fun to see them try.

Bisha K. Ali and the other writers have crafted a compelling, smart, funny, and poignant coming-of-age story, and found a terrific young star to embody it in Iman Vellani. ... But, then, a lot of the super material feels less inspired than the more personal material.

It all reaches satisfying — if usually bittersweet and sometimes downright tragic — closure by the end, even as there is clearly much more to be done with this world, and this main character, should Kay and Whishaw be interested. It’s been a while since TV has had a great hospital drama. This Is Going to Hurt definitely qualifies.

Just as McGregor almost superheroically carried large swaths of the prequel films, he is again nothing less than incredibly watchable. And Obi-Wan’s reawakening is a strong enough hook to pull the viewer through the parts of the show that don’t work quite as well.

It’s nice to have Stranger Things back, period, especially the Hawkins-based parts. But it would be nicer without having to wade through everything else to get to the scenes that work best.

Thanks to Boyle, the cliched nature of Pistol is disappointing but not crippling. Still, the show seems as overdone as the dinosaur bands the Pistols were rebelling against, with a story that moves at a leisurely pace for five hours. [May 2022, p.78]

Birch, Abrahamson and company are using Rooney’s first novel, but everything that seemed so magical and easy in 2020 is more labored this time around.

As Deborah and Ava work to hone their new material, Hacks itself begins to feel sharper. Both the act and Deborah’s off-the-cuff insults feel more plausibly funny, strengthening the illusion of Smart as a comedy legend.

I’ve asked for Kurtzman and company to just let Star Trek be Star Trek. With Strange New Worlds, they finally have, and the power of possibility is palpable throughout.

This is another terrific show. Just don’t expect to come out of it being able to explain a lot of what happens. Kirby’s story is all that matters, and that plays out as well as you would expect when you pair a great actor with a great director and potent material.

A series with such a precarious high-concept as Barry should have no business being better in its third season than it was in its first. Yet it is.

Because the actors are so good, and because Simon, Pelecanos, Burns, and company have been making Eat Your Vegetables TV for two decades and counting, We Own This City is almost always extremely watchable(*) in a way that eludes so many other sober-minded dramas about tears in the national fabric. (*) That said, the group’s experiment in nonlinear storytelling results in mixed success.

It never feels like Saul is repeating itself, as the characters keep making huge shifts. ... These episodes still feel alive with possibilities. [Apr 2022, p.73]

So, no, it is not the immaculate experience that the first season was. But in reaching further and trying more, Russian Doll Season Two ultimately justifies the series’ existence as more than just a one-shot.

Tokyo Vice definitely has its moments, including a prolonged yakuza action sequence in which swords ultimately prove more useful than guns. But it’s hard to not come away with the feeling that the show could have been so much more.

Everything complements everything else and makes it more interesting, rather than the humor making the plot feel dumb, or the life-and-death stakes making the gags seem in poor taste.

There are many interesting aspects to Moon Knight, but neither the comic books nor this TV show named for him quite know what to do with them all.

FX is going with two episodes for the long-awaited season premiere night, and they somehow have even less in common tonally than “Barbershop” and “Teddy Perkins” did, while being alternately as ridiculous and chilling as the most memorable moments of each of those.

The series offers genuine insight into the subjects Joyce cares about, but wrapped around them is an exceedingly charming workplace comedy. [Mar 2022, p.75]

Pachinko is technically impressive on all levels — it’s visually stunning, with a knockout score by Nico Muhl. The show is also gorgeous to look at in in each era it covers. ... But early and often, Pachinko makes clear that where our people come from, and what they’ve been through, is always a part of who we are in the present. And it delivers that message with precision force throughout. Don’t miss it.

Life & Beth is, like its heroine, imperfect. But if it occasionally trips over its own ambitions, it also demonstrates that whatever Amy Schumer wants to try next — as an actor and/or a creator — she has the varied and impressive skills to make it work.

We’ll see if Season Two turns out any better, but by leaning on some of what Star Trek has always done well, it’s off to a more promising start.

This isn’t a game-changing drama, but it’s an absurdly entertaining one.

It’s a maddening, gripping, and at times startlingly funny recreation of a story that would feel too absurd to be true if we didn’t already know otherwise.

The reality of Bel-Air has its moments, especially whenever it stops trying to draw attention to the story’s sitcom roots. But once you take away the nostalgic link to a beloved series from decades past, the end result is just a decent approximation of a CW drama like All-American, which has a very similar culture-clash premise.