Tim Grierson

The series is appreciably unsettling, but thus far it won’t make your head spin.

Ultimately, this meandering, often brilliant show is held together by Glover, whose charming, sensitive presence is akin to the way Atlanta bops along on its own bemused frequency.

From one episode to the next, it’s always a bit of a surprise which character will become the story’s central figure, the writers seemingly able to make any of its dramatic players utterly gripping.

The Get Down exudes the filmmaker’s operatic, lovingly campy spirit, and in small doses there’s a sugary rush to his ecstatic sequences of crowded dance floors, fervent gospel choirs and kids hanging out on the roof of their apartment complex, dreaming of a bigger world. But it’s what’s in-between those standalone moments where The Get Down gets bogged down, the drab storytelling lacking the punch of the show’s period-rich production design and outfits.

The Night Of doesn’t break new ground so much as it showcases a group of actors, writers and directors working at an exceptionally high level, merging potentially familiar genres into a thoroughly absorbing study of disparate characters brought together by a murder whose perpetrator remains a mystery.

Maybe over time Roadies will settle into a groove, but as of now it’s yet to find its rhythm.

Highlighted by a deliciously sleazy turn from Ellen Barkin, Animal Kingdom slowly finds its footing, but it remains to be seen whether the characters’ low-life machinations will produce sufficient drama to justify audiences’ patience.

[Amy Schumer] remains a potent original, torpedoing gender inequality and smartly dissecting cultural and sexual norms. And yet, Season 4 of the show also unconsciously struggles with heightened expectations.

At times Famuyiwa is so concerned with including the myriad supporting players that the film can be more of a competent procedural than a riveting, insightful exploration of a crucial moment in American politics. But those worries are mostly tempered by the slow reveal of the film’s true agenda.

In its seventh season, Archer remains as reliably funny and lovably immature as ever.

There are lots of juicy twists and some melodramatic intrigue, and Kerrigan and Seimetz execute them with nicely chilly precision. But The Girlfriend Experience is at its best when it puts aside plot machinations to deliver a sympathetic but clear-eyed portrait of a woman discovering herself.

Only mildly amusing and tending toward broad, obvious gags, this Fox late-night program, which is executive produced by the Lonely Island, could develop and grow in confidence over time. But for now, there’s not much life to this Party.

Later episodes get bogged down in subplots that feel like busywork meant to keep our characters apart, and perhaps there aren’t any major revelations to this show’s look at dating in your 30s. But Love’s modest, hesitant misadventures are charming in their own right. Maybe it’s not quite love, but it’s definitely like.

With Horace and Pete, [Louis C.K.'s] ambitions can sometimes outrace his execution, but the commitment of his cast to a consciously old-fashioned kind of drama reminiscent of Arthur Miller and Eugene O’Neill makes the pilot exciting even when it’s a bit stilted.

This sitcom’s battering ram of madcap inanity can run aground when a particular episode doesn’t have an especially memorable storyline, and perhaps Angie Tribeca caters too much to an audience in thrall to the old “Airplane!” style of so-broad-it-hurts humor. From the 1980s’ “Sledge Hammer!” to the more recent “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” smart-aleck cop comedies are nothing new. But in its minute-to-minute pleasures, Angie Tribeca is one big goofy grin of a sitcom. Season 2 can’t come quickly enough.

Not fun enough to be trashy and not resonant enough to make you care.... Lordy, is it silly--and worse, it lacks the wit or sharp self-awareness to own up to its campiness or help make its melodramatic elements more palatable.

The best that can be said about The Magician thus far is that it has so many balls in the air that you’re tempted to stick with it just to see where it’s going. Even then, though, the show puts more stock in atmosphere and attitude than in distinguishing its characters or sci-fi fantasy terrain from those of comparable projects.

The miniseries’ balance between individual narratives and humanity’s collective destiny remains a bit wobbly throughout.

A compulsively compelling series that grows richer and more emotionally nuanced as it gains momentum, The Man in the High Castle milks its provocative what-if premise for plenty of smart suspense and subtle shading.

Into the Badlands may not have a ton of smarts, but so far it’s a twisty, agreeable distraction.

Iif the path is well-worn, Casual mostly transcends predictability thanks to a finely calibrated tenor that mixes gentle laughs with a wistful, resigned air.

For a show about highly trained, incredibly intelligent agents, Quantico’s pilot often succumbs to lame-brained plotting and a less-than-convincing portrayal of its specialized milieu.

The plotting is pretty perfunctory, but McDorman wears the show’s hyperbolic intensity lightly, as if playfully mocking the hard-boiled self-seriousness around him. But he also brings pathos to Brian’s gnawing sense of failure.

What’s initially arresting about the concept remains unfulfilled after the pilot, and while it’s understandable that the producers needed to first establish its central characters, Dash and Vega aren’t particularly well-drawn thus far, creating a concern that this show will be more interesting theoretically than it is dramatically.

Documentary Now! is so wonderfully silly it may take viewers a moment to recognize just how smart it is, too.