TV's fall season at the midpoint: The good, the meh and the horror shows

Broadcast TV’s fall season is at the midpoint — and rather than give thanks, we decided to review what’s worth watching and what deserves to be scraped into the big black plastic bag with the rest of the holiday trash.

Making our jobs easier, ABC, CBS, the CW, Fox and NBC didn’t wait until Thanksgiving to serve some turkeys.

Six shows — “Mulaney” and “Utopia” on Fox, “Selfie” and “Manhattan Love Story” on ABC, and “A to Z” and “Bad Judge” on NBC — have already been canceled. Dead meat.

A half-dozen more are almost certain to follow.

But all of the news isn’t as grim.

Six shows seem to be certified hits: ABC’s “How to Get Away With Murder” and “Black-ish,” the CW’s “The Flash,” Fox’s “Gotham” and CBS’ “NCIS: New Orleans” and “Scorpion.”

And two others — CBS’ “Madam Secretary” and NBC’s “The Mysteries of Laura” — are building respectable audiences.

So do the math: In the notorious killing field of prime-time broadcast television, it’s been a reasonably successful season.

But what of all the shows in the middle? Which are actually worth watching — and which are worth avoiding? Here’s a rundown.

THE BEST STUFF

“Gotham,” an “origin story” for the Batman juggernaut, has kept a wonderfully evocative vision of a crime-riddled city, and it’s got great lead detectives in Ben McKenzie and Donal Logue. One caution: Some episodes get dense.

Some critics were hesitant about “Black-ish” because race is such a delicate subject, but the comic touch has been generally deft. It’s a good half hour.

“Scorpion,” a dream team of oddball geniuses saving the world every week, has one of those ensemble casts that clicks perfectly.

Fox’s “Gracepoint” has had lousy ratings, probably because it’s such a fast remake of last year’s Brit-hit “Broadchurch.” But it’s a splendid closed-end murder mystery with David Tennant and Anna Gunn. It wraps up Dec. 11.

“A to Z” has been a charming love story with Ben Feldman and Cristin Milioti. We will miss it. This is where mere viewers need to listen to us Very Important Critics.

GOOD LUCK STOPPING THIS ONE

Some of us VICs, even if we enjoy other Shonda Rhimes shows, like “Scandal,” found “How to Get Away With Murder” unpleasant, with overstretched plots and characters we didn't much like. But Rhimes fans didn’t listen to the VICs on this one. Fine — but it's still the weakest of her shows.

MAYBE ON A SLOW NIGHT

The CW's “Jane the Virgin” tries hard to transfer the unique flavor of telenovelas to prime-time drama. It isn't quite there.

CBS' “The McCarthys” has good jokes about Boston sports fanaticism.

Fox's “Red Band Society,” which is “The Breakfast Club” set in a long-term-care hospital ward, has had genuinely touching and funny moments. Others have been gooey, repetitive or predictable.