“True Story” works best if you roll with all of that gratuitousness if you let its self-consciousness about legacy express itself with flaws.

‘Get Back’ is not even definitive as a documentary about the making of the Let It Be album. If anything, it’s the definitive volume of footage about it, but as a coherent, watchable story, this ain’t it.

It’s not the most exciting, challenging thing you can experience, but it’s never going to disappoint you, with its warm and cozy feelings. And that warm and cozy feeling primarily comes from the chemistry between Clint and Kate. Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld are just fantastic together.

All told, “Hit-Monkey” is a prime example of a show that has all the makings of a good time, with a ridiculous, borderline silly plot and a talented cast and crew to bring it to life, but somehow everything is botched along the way.

Even as “Hellbound” struggles in its second act, one has to admire Yeon Sang-ho’s ambition here, taking his own webtoon and really expanding it into a multi-character, multi-arc story that sometimes almost feels too full of ideas.

The twists are so wild that it would only make sense if this were scripted, but you have to remind yourself this isn’t a reality show. It’s very much a documentary. Only now, it’s about what the audience wants just as much as what it captures within these new celebrities.

As formulaic as the series’ writing can be (with typical liberal fodder, such as jokes about being triggered and complaints about the Brett Kavanaugh hearings), its ensemble hits the required comedic beats.

It’s a show that is so serious in terms of tone and dialogue as to verge on parody. There’s so little personality here, which is a hole into which almost all of the mediocre “Game of Thrones” riffs fall.

Viewers returning to the “Cowboy Bebop” franchise with fond memories for the anime might enjoy their favorite episodes receiving the live-action treatment even with the above caveats, but those turning in for the first time will likely be left wondering why this was a big deal.

While ‘Yellowjackets’ features strong performances from its leads and poses intriguing questions about human nature pushed to extremes, ultimately it feels crowded with too many plot points and characters. I’m hooked enough to want to find out what happens to them all in the latter half of the season, but I can’t help but think it would be stronger if the cast were pruned by half.

For now, it seems too content to wallow in a world of awful people doing awful things. And these first two episodes erect walls of toxicity from which the rest of the season could have a tough time escaping.

When the show is at its best, as this opening, it’s both emotionally and physically visceral. ... The clunkiest bit? A jarring, out-of-nowhere flashback that’s essentially just a long-form commercial for the upcoming “Yellowstone” prequel, “1883.” ... Still, the show has managed [to hold and sustain these emotional and philosophical contradictions] thus far.

“The Shrink Next Door” conveys such a bizarre true story that it’s never boring (even though it’s surprisingly unfunny given the comedic talent involved), but it’s such a tragic, depressing tale that it’s a hard show to live with for eight episodes. Viewers may need therapy after watching.

For a series predicated on the fantastical, there’s a sense that too much in “Dr. Brain” is meant to play it safe.

One wishes that “New Blood” had premiered with an ensemble as rich as its protagonist instead of delaying that satisfaction. There’s just too little to “New Blood” to hook anyone but the hardcore fans for the first few episodes.

Like a lot of shows about young people, “Swagger” has a habit of repeating itself a few too many times to make sure the message lands, but it never succumbs to its sizable “After School Special” potential because of Bythewood’s emphasis on people over theme.

It’s a show that is so consistently self-aware of its perceived importance as dramatic television, so shockingly humorless and flat in terms of character/plot, and so fragmented in its storytelling that viewers will just hope the aliens finally land to get these people to stop talking.

The cardinal sin of a mystery is to be not interesting enough to keep people wondering what’s going to happen next. You also have to be rooted in the struggles of these characters enough to care who is torturing them. Unfortunately, that’s the biggest problem with ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ the show: the only motivation for the audience to care who knows what these teens did last summer is so the show will finally end.

Like the pussy hat-wearing binders full of women, this brand of feminism feels woefully out of touch and in deep need of a crash course in intersectionality.

Hwang knows how much convincing he needs to do to bring his viewers on board with the premise; unlike the cop, the audience will buy into “Squid Game’s” world without a fuss, a credit to Hwang’s skills as a filmmaker and writer. Forget the negative connotations the phrase “bingeworthy” stirs up. In the binge era, this show is as good as they come.

“Muppets Haunted Mansion” feels more classically Muppet-y than anything that has been produced in nearly 30 years. This is the special that many have been waiting for since Disney finally acquired the characters. And trust me, it was worth the wait.

“Succession” is crisper, funnier, and more confident than ever. ... It may be rocky waters for the Roy family, but it’s smooth sailing for the show about them.

In her tender, fair, and largely non-judgmental, but honest exploration of the explosion that nearly decimated her family, Russo-Young creates a poignant story about love, loss, need, and the repercussions of some unfortunate choices you can never recover from.

This final season unfortunately ends with a whimper. Having lost its true direction and sense of purpose (the ’90s throwback thing never truly working as it should), nor ever capitalizing on 2020, “Dear White People” attempts to burst into song, but never truly sings.

There’s much to savor here, too, which makes the oversized sense of purpose and meaning frustrating. “Midnight Mass” has something to say. It just can’t help saying it too loudly—and without bothering to stop and spook us out.

The results stride with a sense of purpose, pomp, and grandeur; individual scenes are small enough to cut through the excess, but the excess is nearly stupefying.

There’s beauty here, a moment or two across the nine episodes that are genuinely stunning. But ... Each of them seems to be explicit pastiches of anime films and styles rather than wholly original constructions.

The second season of “The Morning Show” largely segments its cast into individual subplots (perhaps because of pandemic filming) and the result is a season that feels fragmented and lacks the confidence of the best of the first.