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.

Hard Sun

Given all the blood and brutality we witness, Hard Sun can be hard to watch.

Stitchers

If it weren’t for the Freeform logo permanently stitched to the bottom corner of your screen, Stitchers would make you think you’re watching the CW.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

The denizens of this crazy precinct are charged with cleaning up New York’s streets. Too bad they didn’t do the same for the show.

The Carrie Diaries

UPDATED REVIEW: Ever wondered how Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw became the sex-manic fashionista she was for all those years on HBO? No, we hadn’t either. But the CW has.

2 Broke Girls

This sitcom’s writers pack more sex jokes into a half-hour comedy than some airlines pack in seats on their planes.

Elementary

UPDATED REVIEW: Sherlock Holmes will never actually die, it seems—a mystery he might set his keen mind to solving one of these years.

Touch

UPDATED REVIEW: Kiefer Sutherland’s back on Fox. But instead of torturing terrorists, he’s caring for a special-needs son with a very special (and spiritual) gift.

Austin & Ally

UPDATED REVIEW: Austin & Ally is a standard-issue Disney sitcom … with a Nickelodeon twist.

Louie

UPDATED REVIEW: Critics are calling Louis C.K.’s show on FX one of the best comedies on TV. And if best means raunchiest, then we just might have to agree.

Go On

Is grief ever funny? Matthew Perry and NBC sure hope so.

The Ranch

If Beau’s ranch was showered with as much rain as it is profanity, well, the place would be a fish farm instead of a dust bowl.

The Americans

If there’s one thing TV teaches us, it’s to never trust your neighbors. But The Americans tells us that trusting our TVs can be just as dangerous.

The Colbert Report

Stephen Colbert isn’t a conservative blowhard. He just plays one on TV.

The Event

Originality was one of the hallmarks of Lost, 24 and The X-Files. So in its quest for originality, this surreal NBC serial strives mightily to copy them all.

Parenthood

UPDATED REVIEW: It’s tough to be a parent—and sometimes parents themselves make the work even tougher. This NBC dramedy, based on the 1989 movie, unearths a whole lot of those sometimes.