Television

Peacock launches with thousands of hours of old programs, plus a sampling of new ones. Most of the new shows are just average — except for Intelligence and The Capture, which are worth catching.

Colin Jost's new memoir, A Very Punchable Face, describes his experiences growing up in a middle-class household on Staten Island. "Part of writing this book was being excited to talk about parts of my life and weird episodes in my life that I thought that would be entertaining for people," he says. Or, he adds, for people to "just get another chance to laugh at me."

Welsh actor Matthew Rhys plays the title role in the new HBO series, Perry Mason. His version of the iconic criminal defense attorney is younger and more hardboiled than the one Raymond Burr played in the popular TV show from the '50s and '60s. The new series focuses on Mason as a divorced private investigator in the early 1930s in Los Angeles — before he became a lawyer.

Filmed in 2016 when the actors were at the height of their comfort and performance levels, the steadycam and close-ups make the Broadway sensation impressively impactful on the small screen.

Baranski started her career in theater and now stars as a progressive lawyer in The Good Fight. "I was a passionate acting student and nothing was going to stop me," the Emmy Award-winning actor says.

Currently in its fifth season on Sundance Now, the series focuses on the clandestine missions, office politics and kaleidoscopic personalities at France's big spy organization, the DGSE.

HBO's new 8-part miniseries stars Matthew Rhys in the title role. The show is full of delightful surprises, including its portrayal of Mason as a gumshoe — not an iconic defense attorney.

Saturday Night Live's Pete Davidson lost his firefighter father in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York City. Davidson explores the loss of his father in the new dramatic comedy, The King of Staten Island. In it, he plays Scott, a fictionalized version of himself who's grieving after his father dies fighting a hotel fire. Director Judd Apatow calls the film a "hopeful story about somebody who starts opening up and getting support."

Critic David Bianculli recommends the BBC Shakespeare plays, now available on Britbox. He's also been previewing HBO Max, a new streaming service, and the PBS documentary, An Accidental Studio.

Based on Sally Rooney's novel, Hulu's 12-part series centers on the unlikely love affair between two alienated high school students. Despite shortcomings, Normal People's romantic pull is addictive.

A limited series premiering on AMC deftly sketches the portrait of a married couple who get put on trial for cheating to win the top prize on the British version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

A new, 10-part miniseries follows the exploits of the Russian empress who rose to power in a coup against her own husband. The Great is shrewdly entertaining — if not exactly historically accurate.

We hardly get to know the lead character of new sci-fi comedy Upload — and the world of the near future in which he lives — before he stops living.

Critic David Bianculli says both shows have uncanny parallels to today's world. Homeland's final season has been truly unnerving, while Penny Dreadful's new season centers on a supernatural villain.

Actual crimes are scary and disturbing, but critic John Powers finds crime stories comforting. He recommends two shows he's been binge-watching during the pandemic.

TV critic David Bianculli recommends new shows, including FX's Mrs. America, as well as some off-the-beaten-path viewing alternatives, like free web showings of musicals from London's West End.

The Russian poet Joseph Brodsky once said that prison is a lack of space counterbalanced by a surplus of time. Our current lockdown can't be compared to being locked up, but with so much surplus time on our hands, many of us are eager for stories that will help us escape endless thoughts of COVID-19. Here are three that did that for me: Unorthodox, Baghdad Central, and Abigail.

Hulu's new eight-part series uses the fraught encounter between two families — one well-off and white, one bohemian and black — to raise tricky questions about race and social class.

Azaria has voiced dozens of Simpsons' characters, starting with Mo the bartender. In the IFC comedy series Brockmire he plays a troubled baseball announcer who always speaks in his broadcaster voice.