Contributor: Paul Asay

Ironically, this smart show can feel pretty dumb.

Seven twentysomethings return to high school, pretend to be students and report their findings in this A&E reality series.

It doesn’t take much time for the lovely Dulcinea to realize that Puss in Boots has his share of flaws. But she insists that our titular tabby has a good heart. And the same could be said for his new Netflix show.

Every cop-and-crime-based buddy show seems to have two mismatched detectives working together. But how many of them actually have to go to couples’ counseling?

Scott Bakula takes a quantum leap over to CBS to head up the cast for the second NCIS spinoff that moves from L.A. to La.

While Olivia’s team likes to think they’re the ones wearing the white hats, it’s a very black business they’ve gotten into.

As if ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘The Hills’ weren’t enough, Bravo comes up with a reality show that’s little more than a sickening parade of wealth, privilege and exploitation.

UPDATED REVIEW: Dexter seems nice enough. He’s got a nice job, a nice pad, a nice life. But it’s all a convenient cover for his not-so-nice hobby—killing people.

Who wants to be a millionaire instead of falling off the roof of a 10-story building? Somehow that just doesn’t have the same sizzle. But ABC game show Downfall makes up for it by smashing a whole heap o’ stuff.

UPDATED REVIEW: Even the “world’s best boss” can’t stick around forever. And now Michael is no more. But, of course, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

This USA series, like the movie franchise that spawned it, is predicated on wanton, indiscriminate killing.

It’s a pretty place just down the street from Twin Peaks, a county or two over from Gracepoint, and just a stone’s throw away from The Twilight Zone.

UPDATED REVIEW: Is Fox’s Family Guy crass? Vulgar? Offensive? Inappropriate? Of course—and those are perhaps the only things Plugged In and creator Seth MacFarlane would agree on.

Everyone in Arcadia is seeing dead people these days—or people who used to be dead. Why are they all coming back? What does it all mean? If ABC has its way, we might not know the answers for several seasons.

UPDATED REVIEW: Paranormal battles with an alternate reality all but consume J.J. Abrams’ effort at stitching together a Frankensteinian sci-fi police procedural. But the drama’s real showstoppers each week are its blood, gore and squirm-inducing torture scenes.