TV watching, so much TV watching

I still cruise the television offerings, though sometimes not for long. "Blood and Treasure," the CBS summer series, wasn't even worth finishing the first episode, a clumsily forced attempt at clever action. I managed to make it through one episode of Spectrum's "L.A.'s Finest," a gender-reversed visit to the "Bad Boys" formula, but one was enough; again, everything seemed to have been borrowed elsewhere, and not very well. I've seen a little more of the new Netflix-backed season of "Designated Survivor"; it seems to be trying to be less of a thriller and more of a political tale (including via real-people documentary footage) but it's not very good at it -- at times a blatant reworking of things "The West Wing" did better.

And I can say that from current memory, since I've been binge-watching "West Wing," with six seasons done and the seventh to go. The original flaws are still there -- the unkindness to women in the Aaron Sorkin era, the struggle to find its footing after Sorkin left, the too-dark settings in the later seasons, the excessive love of straw men -- but it's still watchable all the way through, and as timely as ever -- problems with North Korea, an obstructive Congress, smart politicians making dumb mistakes.

But there are other shows I am bound to. Probably HBO's "Big Little Lies," although one episode into the second season is a little early to say it holds up -- only that Meryl Streep is, not surprisingly, just killing it in that season premiere. Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale," four episodes into its third season, has way too often let June survive behavior which would have put any other character on the wall -- but its meditation on gender remains powerful on its way to what looks to be revolution. And there's always the miracle that is Elisabeth Moss's face, iconic in sorrow, fury and joy.

I've also been engrossed in "Dead to Me," the Netflix drama with Christina Applegate as a new widow and Linda Cardellini as a woman who befriends her -- for reasons that drive the suspenseful side of the show. I'm also done with the first season and the suspense elements have become the least interesting to me. What keeps me watching is that, from the beginning, it so well understood loss and grief, and how fucking horrible the latter can be to handle. And, as with so much of what I am talking about here, there are two fine performances at the center, from Applegate and Cardellini.

"Fosse/Verdon" also highlighted a marvelous performance, in this case Michelle Williams as Gwen Verdon. Hell, Williams is perfect in just about everything -- look at her in "Blue Valentine," or "My Week With Marilyn" (an iffy film overall but she's extraordinary), or giving full value to what could have been an unmemorable part in "The Greatest Showman." All right, so I don't even remember her in "Venom"; it's not a movie worth remembering generally. Williams is nevertheless key to this rendering of the saga of director-choreographer Bob Fosse (played here by Sam Rockwell) since the central conceit is that, absent Verdon, Fosse never would have been FOSSE. It's an important interpretation of Fosse's career; see Sam Wasson's book "Fosse," which inspired the film, or Kevin Winkler's Fosse book "Big Deal." And it was the Fosse/Verdon relationship that kept me watching even when the time-shifting devices and the use of secondary characters were distracting. But more so, Williams -- eerily on the money as Verdon.

There is no limit to my love for "Brockmire," IFC's comedy about a thoroughly messed up sportscaster (Hank Azaria). (The first two seasons are on Hulu; the third and parts of the previous two are On Demand.) The most recent, third season found Jim Brockmire trying to handle his sobriety (the lack of which drove the first two seasons) while working with a new partner and following yet another booth legend (J.K. Simmons). The Simmons-Azaria scenes, especially late in the season, are simply beautiful, the series as whole is fearless comedy.

Other things worth a look: "Barry," HBO's series with Bill Hader as a hitman turned aspiring actor, which is violent, funny and blessed by the support of Henry Winkler, Stephen Root and others; "In the Dark," the CW series nearing the end of its first season, where a bitter, blind woman sets out to solve the murder of a friend -- and where, again, the day-to-day lives of the characters are more interesting than a murder mystery that has gone on too long; and "grown-ish," Freeform's companion to "black-ish," which has a grasp of college life so solid that it should be shown at freshman orientations.