★★★½ (3½ out of 4)
Is it too early to declare that “Bait,” on Prime Video, is the best streaming series of the new year? Maybe, but I don’t care. Riz Ahmed as series creator and star has put together the kind of must-see TV that gets everyone talking. It’s that good, that funny, that fierce and that Emmy worthy. And it really will make you laugh till it hurts. Ahmed doesn’t need awards—he already has Emmys for “The Night Of” and “Girls,” plus an Oscar nomination for “Sound of Metal”—but the kind of daring he displays here in the guise of six, half-hour sitcom episodes really is remarkable.