Contributor: Paul Asay

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

iCarly

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?

Read more

Beauty & the Beast

The CW’s Beauty & the Beast bears little resemblance to the animated Disney classic.

Read more

Born This Way

Born This Way has its problems, but at its core it’s a deeply hopeful show that humanizes a group of people that, for too long, have been marginalized.

Read more

Jersey Shore

Drinking, swearing, hooking up … and lots and lots of Snookisms. MTV’s Jersey Shore relocates to Miami, but the song is still the same.

Read more

The Librarians

The title might not sound very exciting. But you should know that these librarians specialize in the Danger Decimal System!

Read more

Revenge

Revenge is a dish best … scrapped. Emily Thorne might be slowly learning that lesson, but not before she and everyone watching her suffers for a good long while.

Read more

Knight Rider

This is a turbocharged update (or downgrade, as the case may be) of the popular 1982-86 David Hasselhoff series of the same name.

Read more

Victorious

Girls just wanna have fame. And it doesn’t seem to matter much to some of them how stupid you have to act in order to achieve it.

Read more

Harry’s Law

What do you get when you wedge a gregarious group of lawyers, led by the indomitable Kathy Bates, into a Cincinnati shoe store? A legal show with sole.

Read more

Between

Sure, Jennette McCurdy made some unfortunate missteps that got Sam & Cat canned. But starring in this Netflix show might be cruel and unusual punishment.

Read more

Liv and Maddie

Disney’s always told us to follow our dreams—usually by way of Hollywood. So it’s kinda nice to watch Liv and Maddie finding and fulfilling their dreams … at home.

Read more

Taboo

Taboo tries to clear a space in the crowded world of prestige television by being darker, bloodier and more taboo than anything else around.

Read more

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life feels like that sweet, funny friend whom you enjoy having coffee with but wouldn’t leave your kids with for the weekend.

Read more

The Messengers

The end is near. But, if the programming execs at the CW have their way, not so near that their salaciously supernatural series gets cut short.

Read more

Teachers

The lessons these Teachers impart aren’t the sort that any child should learn.

Read more