Journalism

Reviews

• Hank Stuever

  In 1977, DC Comics unveiled a superhero named Black Lightning, hoping to fill an obvious void with a token character who, inspired somewhat by the characters in blaxploitation cinema, exhibited a lot of street sense on the blighted side of Metropolis. Black Lightning, a wholehearted and energetic live-action revival of the character on CW. It is a fine example of what television might look like once we move past the more ceremonial aspects of diversity. This is a black show on a network filled with white superheroes, and it displays no insecurity or self-consciousness about that.

• Alexis Soloski

  In Amazon's Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the creator of Gilmore Girls introduces another brainy, mouthy heroine, this time in the male-dominated comedy world of the 1950s.

• Hal Boedeker

  A reassuring example of older means getting better, Will & Grace struts back to NBC bolder, brassier and bawdier. Some like it tart, and this frisky frolic delivers. After eight seasons, the beloved sitcom felt faded at its fade-out in 2006. Eleven years later, the revival packs a joyous kick in the first three episodes. Here is an absolutely fabulous return with four irrepressible stars who are at their very best. Will & Grace is no gay dinosaur.

• Matt Zoller Seitz

  Wonderstruck, overstuffed, corny and stirring, Star Trek: Discovery stands tall alongside the best-regarded incarnations of the Trek franchise even as it raids elements from all of them (including the recent J.J. Abrams film series, which Paramount says is set in an alternate timeline that has nothing to do with this one). Though handsomely produced, the show’s imagination seems to have been slightly reined in by commercial mandates — namely, reinvigorating Trek as a TV property and serving as a marquee title that would lure customers to CBS All Access, the network’s subscription-only service.