If you watched "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" before you watched "The Sopranos," you would get the uneasy sensation art was imitating life just a little too closely. They are two versions of the same story: Wiseguys attempt to balance the strange demands of life in the suburbs with the everyday business of running a criminal empire. The problem with posing as a respectable businessman is that you sometimes must actually be respectable. It's almost funny in a painfully awkward sort of way, but nothing good could come from laughing out loud. "Ayy, fahget abowt it," Tony Soprano and his New Jersey mobsters would say. Are you genuinely surprised to discover that prom dresses and cement overcoats do not easily reconcile? Are you genuinely surprised to learn "The Sopranos" is cable television's greatest financial success? "The Sopranos," in fact, was the foundation of a major cultural phenomenon and marketing franchise, which supported books, videogames, soundtrack CDs, and more than a few critical blogs. Of course, the producers and cast had to hijack a semi-trailer to cart home all of their Emmys and Golden Globes.

When Captain Jack Harkness came from Doctor Who and the 51st century he was a happy man. But circumstances such as the deaths of friends, his grandson, and a lover, Ianto Jones made him realize that life is short, and precious! John Barrowman (Desperate Housewives, Tonight's The Night) plays Harkness who's character jumped from the Doctor Who series over to Torchwood, and is joined by a talented cast plus interesting guest stars each episode. Harkness loves Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles from These Foolish Things, Doctor Who) even though she still lives with and has feelings for her husband, Rhys Williams (Kai Owen from Being Human, A Chorus of Disapproval). C. Thomas Howell, Wayne Knight, and Ernie Hudson have each participated with guest appearances on Torchwood: Miracle Day. When Rex Matheson (Mekhi Phifer from ER and Lie To Me) joins up as a CIA operative the plot thickens and the challenges become huge. Someone who faces lethal injection just will not die, and the rest of the world lives on as well. Jack Harkness himself is considered immortal since leaving the Torchwood Institute. What is there about that place that makes men immortal?

Created by Josh Appelbaum, Happy Town depicts your typical small pleasant town full of average and friendly townsfolk until a series of kidnappings occur. Most of the residents assume the one called the "Magic Man" is responsible for the disappearance of seven who are never heard from again. The small sleepy town in Minnesota has been a Happy Town in which to live up until some of the local residents simply vanish in what apparently is a mystical way. The town's deputy, Tommy Conroy (Geoff Stults) can't figure out where the folks are going and residents Jay Paulson (as the deputy known as "Root Beer" Rogers, Rachel Conroy (actress Amy Acker), John Haplin played by Steven Weber), and Merritt Grieves (actor Sam Neill) can't help but worry who will be next to disappear. With the arrival of Henley Boone "Chloe" played by Lauren German the mystery gets deeper as she is determined to solve the intriguing case and find who is behind the disappearances once and for all. Set in a small town in Minnesota much of the show was filmed in and around Ontario, Canada.

Fiercely reminiscent of Lord of the Rings and at least as complicated, HBO's "Game of Thrones'" chronicles the genuinely epic story of seven noble families' struggles over control of Westeros, their mythical homeland. Observing all the properly epic conventions, and developing truly epic heroes and villains, "The Game of Thrones" was adapted for television from George Martin's fantasy novel, Song of Ice and Fire. The ten-episode series weaves together seventeen major characters' political and sexual schemes, mixing-in plenty of knightly sword-play and lots of nightly trysts. Mark Addy, Peter Dinklage, Iain Glen, Jennifer Ehle, Lena Headey, and Sean Bean lead a powerful cast. Shot entirely on location in Ireland, "Game of the Thrones" is as beautiful as it is complex and treacherous, and the landscape lends itself to The Game's mystic and horrible undertones. While the Lannister and Stark families challenge the Baratheon family's rule, "an ancient evil awakes," and only a band of renegade knights errant stands between Westeros and "the horrors beyond the realms of men." Somehow, in "Game of Thrones'" far away medieval realm, civil war and imminent apocalypse look a lot more noble, sexy, and glamorous than they appear in the post-modern world.

Intensely cerebral, narrated more or less in the style of a Latin American magic-realist novel which shows the conclusion before the story begins, "Damages" TV show strangely fulfills the immanent promise in cable television programming, appealing very strongly to what the poet Milton called "fit audience though few." "Damages" series'unmistakable style, sophistication, and subtle sizzle are spellbinding, and the writers have crafted heroes you love to love and villains you love to hate with a team of attorneys working both sides of the continental divide between good and evil. Unabashedly stealing its premise from the Bernie Madoff case, "Damages" asks and answers, "What if you were Madoff's antagonist?" Glenn Close plays Patty Hewes, the high-powered and equally high-priced attorney determined to bring down ponzi-schemer Louis Tobin, portrayed by Len Cariou. The word "perfect" appears in most critics' discussions of their performances. A New York Times reviewer aptly summarized, "It's impossible to overestimate how delicious Ms. Close is as this fiercely driven, mercurial and manipulative woman. " In a stroke of casting genius, the producers chose Lily Tomlin to quicken the character of Mrs. Tobin, long-suffering wife of the arch-villain; the audience remains in suspense about her true colors and motives, suspecting she may be "Damages'" answer to Lady Macbeth. Martin Short also stars as Tobin's family attorney.

Lisa Jane Smith, author of a whole library-shelf full of Vampire Diaries for literate tweens, has every right to feel like a Shakespearean monarch whose throne is usurped in a tragedy's first act. She pioneered the genre, took a little sabbatical, and came back to find her world dominated by Harry Potter and all those "Twilight People." In 2008, The Vampire Diaries were reprinted in cool new covers and fonts, and L.J. Smith returned to writing full time. In the fall of 2009, "The Vampire Diaries TV Show" came to the CW, developed and produced by Kevin Williamson of "Dawson's Creek" fame. To his everlasting credit, Williamson expertly preserves the goodness and sweetness of Smith's characters and situations. Although the vampires naturally want to seduce the sensitive young heroines into their dark world, the pretty little women always bring the flesh-hungry bad boys back into the light. Of course, the show's production values allow lots of room for good music and teen-aged angst"”there is no shortage of fog, but it also has plenty of attitude. In addition to foretelling evil events, the show's prophet can predict fashion trends. The story turns on a tween's eternal dilemma: wistful good girl falls in love with the good vampire brother but is constantly tempted by bad-boy vampire other-brother. What is a girl to do?