Contributor: Paul Asay

When it comes to family viewing, Trial & Error feels like one long trial and a whole lot of error.

UPDATED REVIEW: The Foster family is a throwback to shows from the 1950s and ’60s, where families were largely aspirational. This, its makers suggest, is how a healthy family looks—sort of like The Waltons with a rainbow-friendly vibe instead of black-and-white traditionalism.

MTV knows a thing or two about transmogrifications. Handy information, that, when nurturing a coming-of-age show about a werewolf.

Think being leader of the free world would be tough? Try being a father to a cadre of free-spirited kids. Or maybe a midseason replacement sitcom on NBC.

Big Little Lies offers some little lessons along with some big problems.

This Canadian show’s gray-obsessed content just keeps getting darker.

Will the Alphas fight each other … or us regular humans? Or maybe they’ll just change their name to X-Men and call it a day.

AMC’s stylishly noir murder mystery is now on Netflix. It still features a compelling cast of police and suspects and red herring twists. But it paints an even more brutal and heartrending picture of pain and tragedy.

Year after year, iCarly wins a Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Award. So it’s clearly a fave among tweens. Should parents feel the same way?

These seaworthy heroes are usually, well, heroic. Indeed, The Last Ship swings wide of the prickly antihero trend so in vogue today.

Not many cucumbers or tomatoes would be all that appetizing after 24 years. But Larry and Bob are still ripe for the watching.

The Hot Zone is often horrifying and occasionally nauseating. But it could’ve been far worse.

Josh treats his neighbors like family. Why? Because that’s what they are in a sitcom that’s both sweet and rough around the edges.

Well, at least ABC Family got the name right.

We’re sure there are folks who live in the 90210 area code who have solid families, strong values and wear their purity rings without irony. They don’t make it onto this tawdry retread of a show, though.