Television

A slice of distorted Americana, “Jersey Shore” has become the latest darling of reality television.

The three lead characters on “Men of a Certain Age” aren’t buffoons, the role that middle age men play in most sitcoms.

Students in Michael Sandel’s class accept with studied nonchalance ethical choices at which Catholic ministry students rightly shudder.

The PBS series “Scenes From a Parish” chooses not to dwell on the forces that sap the energy from so many church communities today.

The miniseries “V” operates at cross purposes, drawing on a popular political trope while adopting an unnuanced, apolitical stance.

“True Blood” seeks to be sophisticated and edgy, but the only thing sharp about it is the actors’ prosthetic fangs.

Both “Gossip Girl” and “Glee” provide startlingly authentic accounts of the primitive needs of contemporary adolescents.

Like Flannery O’Connor, “Mad Men” radically resets a situation so that viewers see themselves from a previously unknown vantage point.

The titular character in TNT’s “Saving Grace” confronts both the wrongs she has committed and the wrongs committed against her.

The theme of family is coded into the language of the CBS show, ‘How I Met Your Mother.’