Garrett Martin

It’s fast, fun, action-packed, and fully sells the intended vibe, with all the warm connotations its 1970s setting promises. If only the rest of the show lived up to those credits.

Even though it all feels a little slighter than that first season, there’s enough juice in this basic concept to run for a while—especially if it downplays the bullshit meter. Poker Face’s second season is less a modern Columbo than a hipster Elsbeth.

The plots are lean and clear, the emotional climaxes avoid saccharine sentimentality, and series-long mysteries are paid off without any official on-screen confirmations for either the characters or the viewers.

It reaffirms that Fielder is as much of a conceptual artist as he is a comedian or TV show creator, imbuing what other comics would treat as disposable bits with great depth, and committing to them to an extent that beggars belief. Season two might not have an Angela, but it’s a stronger, smarter, more thematically coherent show, and one that doesn’t flirt with outright cruelty the way some accused season one of doing.

It’s not great satire, but it’s a well-made, likable, genuinely funny show best suited for show biz junkies who love Hollywood no matter how much they might complain about it.

The strength of The Righteous Gemstones has always been its characters and the top-to-bottom perfect performances of its exemplary cast. That’s still true with this final season, even as it builds to a thrilling but stressful conclusion that almost turns into a Southern-fried Grand Guignol.

Daredevil: Born Again starts to hit its stride about eight episodes in. That’s a problem, because this is a nine episode season. .... Approach it with patience and maybe you’ll stick around long enough to see it work out its issues. That’s a lot to ask of an audience, though—maybe too much.

Ultimately SNL50 was a good microcosm of Saturday Night Live as a whole. The special was in love with itself but selective about its history, and still aware enough to frequently mock its own conventions and weird institutional baggage. It also was a special dominated by one man who was rarely mentioned on camera and only seen for a brief moment at the very end.

Based on its first six episodes, the third season of The White Lotus lives up to the show’s previous work, while perpetuating some of its established weaknesses. We’ll know where we really land on this one after we’ve seen the whole thing.

The power of Spider-Man and that original formula are reinforced by the new animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, which premieres on Disney+ today, and which tells an excellent Spider-Man story despite changing almost everything other than that most basic formula.