Jen Chaney

Cape Fear doesn't have the same creative audacity as Fargo. It's perfectly fine, I suppose, but not more than that. Frankly, I was expecting a little more, Counselor.

Even with its flaws, The Testaments remains an undeniably addictive and satisfyingly dense work of television that certainly does not provide an escape from current events, but may allow for new insights into how a democracy can descend into fascism.

It's more like an elevated, multi-part Lifetime movie. Still, Washington and Moss manage to bring some real emotional depth and texture to their roles as women on the brink of unraveling. Whenever these two go at each other in a scene, particularly in the second half of the season, they raise each other's game and make us wish the rest of the series could be as compelling as those moments are.

A pretty good version of something we've seen before, but still: nothing exactly new.

If Hines and his collaborators had been daring enough to turn their own cameras more frequently on Carolyn and less on John, perhaps we could have truly felt what it was like to be in Carolyn's head, a place Pidgeon does her level best to center us, when her sense of normalcy imploded. Love Story gives us a sense of what that might have looked like, but it can't make us understand how it really felt.

It's as clear as the nose on Gonzo's face after watching this special that it is absolutely time to get things started on a new Muppet Show, immediately.

The show is not only focused in terms of run time, but in its storytelling. .... It is crucial that both of these characters come across as compelling and empathic, and they do, thanks in no small part to the actors who bring them to life.

While only nine of its 15 episodes have been provided for review and it's only early January, I feel confident that The Pitt will be considered one of the best TV shows of this admittedly very young year.

Stranger Things remains great at the most important and rare skill it possesses: the ability to appeal to audiences across the age spectrum.

It's a deeply appreciated bonus that The Beast in Me happens to be excellent: genuinely suspenseful, surprising enough to overcome any murder show tropes that occasionally creep into the narrative, and, obviously, well acted, not only by Rhys and Danes.