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.

Insatiable

This Netflix show feels incredibly unseemly: A guilty pleasure with extra guilt, hold the pleasure.

Read more

Heartland

While the TV landscape has been getting drenched in blood and its inhabitants consumed by lust, this gentle Canadian drama takes us all back to the family ranch, both literally and figuratively.

Read more

13 Reasons Why

13 Reasons Why may, unintentionally, romanticize suicide for some teens, even though that’s not the show’s intent.

Read more

Scream Queens

Scream Queens is what you’d get if Jason, Freddie and Michael Myers all pledged to a 21st-century version of Animal House.

Read more

American Dad

UPDATED REVIEW: Seth MacFarlane is not known for his restraint. But American Dad may give us MacFarlane at his most foul.

Read more

Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter

Nobody ever said being the daughter of a bandit was going to be easy. But intrepid young Ronja is determined to make the best of her checkered lineage.

Read more

American Crime

Truth is, American Crime is a “good” television show. But that’s a fact that can cut both ways.

Read more

Castle Rock

Well crafted? Yes. Creepy? Certainly. But when it comes to content, Castle Rock’s a place I wouldn’t want to visit.

Read more

Siberia

Siberia is a salacious drama masquerading as a reality show—a lot like actual reality programs, now that we think about it.

Read more

Community

UPDATED REVIEW: Welcome to Greendale Community College, where everyone carries at least a minor in sexual deviancy and pop-culture references, and classes are graded on a steep downward curve.

Read more

Whose Line is It Anyway?

Comedy is hard, no question. And clean comedy? It’s even harder, as the latest iteration of Whose Line Is It Anyway? proves.

Read more

Falling Skies

UPDATED REVIEW: Don’t look now, but strange alien creatures have invaded. Again. Time to beat ’em back with a TV stick.

Read more

Naked and Afraid

Some television shows bare their hearts and souls for everyone to see. This one bares almost everything else.

Read more

Catherine the Great

HBO’s dramatic portrait of this Russian empress gives 18th-century debaucher a 21st-century makeover.

Read more

The Colony

This Discovery Channel program is positioned as a post-apocalyptic experiment, with 10 volunteers serving as Guinea pigs.

Read more