Underrated/Overrated

UNDERRATED

Louis C.K.’s online experiment: Though initially most notable among fans of FX’s “Louie” and those who enjoy stroking their chin about Internet commerce, Louis C.K.’s recent effort to film and self-release a downloadable stand-up concert from his website was a victory for the good guys. Selling it for $5 a copy with no digital rights restrictions, Louis made enough money to try it again, which is good news for comedy as well as for human nature.

The Roots’ ‘Undun’: Although the Philadelphia group is one of the top live bands and a longtime critical darling, its latest album seems to have floated under the radar amid all the year-end listmaking and holiday hype. Always known for ambitious recordings, the Roots up the ante with a taut concept album about the life and death of a street hustler, touching on elements of free jazz, atmospheric soul and something uniquely their own along the way.

OVERRATED

Bon Iver’s ‘Bon Iver’: Now that the ritual of listing the best music for the year has drawn to a close, it’s worth questioning the over-the-top praise heaped upon the second album by this artist, who also goes by the name Justin Vernon. While the Grammy-nominated “Holocene” is a gorgeously meandering piece of lush chamber-folk, the album is wildly uneven, especially “Beth/Rest,” a bafflingly straight-faced homage to ‘80s smooth-pop cheese.

‘Top Chef: Texas’: At a certain point, every series starts taking on water, and those in the unscripted world are not immune. After nine seasons of competition, this usually reliable cooking challenge seems to be fading with overly dramatic “chef-testants” and, most unforgivably, a talent gap compared with seasons past. Granted, the Voltaggio-Kevin-Jennifer axis of the series’ sixth-season peak is tough to duplicate, but this show needs new fire.

— Chris Barton