An extraordinary show, not so much for the story it tells as how it tells it; you will have to go far to find another show so invested in and adept at portraying ordinary human speech and behavior, and even then you might not find one.

The performances are all impeccable, from the main players to the well-furnished minor ones (Grey in what amounts to a cameo, and when we get a glimpse of Harper’s wife, the great Jessica Harper). But it’s Bridges’ show. When the story leaves him for too long, you itch for his return.

Marvel TV’s first South Asian Muslim superhero expands its universe in this bold yet lighthearted series.

There is plenty of fun to be had in “Stranger Things 4,” which both celebrates and parodies a decade that pushed conformity, conservatism and questionable style.

Although there is a certain karaoke quality to the re-created live performances — Boon is tasked with playing perhaps the most charismatic performer in punk rock, a fool’s errand, as a glimpse of the actual band attests — “Pistol” gets the energy of the music and the crowds, and the look of the kids and the venues, right.

“Now and Then” is a compelling soap mixed with well-crafted drama and an even better cast [than Netflix's “Who Killed Sara?”].

While it is on balance a celebration (otherwise, what would be the point?), there is a respectable attempt to express the essential, if not always the actual, truth of the matter. The effect is a little schizoid, however, and it’s hard to know how to take the series at first, what’s meant to be funny ha-ha and what’s meant to be funny strange.

Well-written, expertly performed, unashamedly odd and full of beans.

It has a sort of modesty — the cast delivers appealing, workmanlike performances that do exactly what they need to without overshadowing any other actor or element of the series. (That’s not to say that some don’t get some heated moments to play.) The twists are twisted enough to keep things interesting, if that’s what you watch for, but as with most if not all character-driven procedurals, it’s the characters that keep one coming back.

Dawson's Creek doesn't cut it when measured against other adolescent coming-of-angst series.

It covers miles more ground, is not without ideas and marshals the power of HBO to gather stars, budget and screen time. And is good, if at times unavoidably problematic.

What “Strange New Worlds” brings back is some of the Buck Rogers brio of the original series. ... There is enough of William Shatner’s puckishness in Mount that one may easily forget that this is the Pike and Spock Show, and not the Kirk and Spock Show. ... It is in the “Star Trek” way of things to get a little cornball, a little goofball, a little silly. This is more feature than bug. Earnestness has the edge over sense; science, if you want to call it that — it often amounts to magic here — just serves the drama, the philosophy and the themes.

It’s taking nothing away from the rest of a fine cast to note that “Shining Girls” is 75% the Elisabeth Moss Show. ... That said, there are other things to recommend it, in the production and the performances, a sense of the ordinary that keeps the uncanny elements rooted to something recognizably real, and makes characters that flirt with cliche into people you can believe in.

His quest for forgiveness begets ever more violence, pulling the story in masterfully funny, tense and disturbing directions, and proving that this half-hour comedy is still one of television’s best suspense-filled thrillers.

It’s a solidly made, issue-oriented sci-if road trip, nothing to blow your mind, perhaps, but not at all a waste of time.

The series can be watched as dance, a pair of alternating actorly pas de deux, set off by ensemble pieces, and is completely enjoyable as such. ... Roberts and Penn do so well playing people in love, when they’re in love, that you don’t care who they are, historically.

The back-and-forth structure does tend to put the brakes on each story, which can make the series feel a little tedious after a while.

Stylistically and philosophically consistent with its predecessor, it’s different enough to not feel like a calculating retread; as before, it’s admirable in its ingenuity, a little radical and deeply felt in ways that are not radical at all.

The machinations of the plot are less important than the people it carries along; and it’s our concern for them — heightened by the feeling that things might go very wrong at any moment — that keeps “Tokyo Vice” suspenseful and, in the bargain, makes us care about the characters all the more.

Executed with Burns’ usual bounty of pictorial sources — success gets you access — a minimum of re-creation (some sailing ships, type being set, a key being made) and new woodcut-style illustrations, it’s a handsome piece, spread over four hours and two nights.

The new miniseries is thoughtful and intelligent.

Here is a series you want to like, if only it will let you.

An endearing new CBS hour from Glenn Gordon Caron that promises to be one of TV's shouldn't-miss series. [24 Sep 1999, p.F1]

In its acting, production, respect for character over machination (though there is plenty of machination) and for stillness over action (there is some action), in its interest in domestic details and the limitless depths of the human face, it transforms the most well-worn narrative gambits into something that feels real and alive and lived.

It’s frequently very funny, full of bright comic turns, and often quite moving, even beautiful, sometimes just for the space of a shot, in a way that might make you reconsider a character. It’s sentimental in the end, but that is what sometimes happens when artists grow happy in their life.

The film is an authentic and brave effort that works two-thirds of the time, when it’s not bogged down in needless animated interludes likening Wood to “Alice in Wonderland.” Segments dedicated to issues with her family, and father in particular, feel overworked.

You'd find answers here, but the premiere ends as inky as it begins, its ambiguity making it all the more appealing as Kanin gradually strips back layers of intrigue in a dark locale where nights outnumber days about 10 to 1, and the forest is a place to avoid unless you're carrying a bazooka. [12 Sep 2001, p.8]

This is all quite strongly rendered, and as the series goes on, it is best when it keeps its eye on small, real things.