Those familiar with Law & Order will appreciate the concept of approaching legal cases from more than one perspective. In The Whole Truth we see each case from both the prosecution and the defense angles so have an opportunity to decide whether a defendant is guilty or innocent judging by the evidence presented to us and to a judge and jury. One memorable episode includes the addition of Judd Hirsch (Taxi) to the cast as a beloved judge who has been charged in a murder. Seems he approved a wiretap on a dangerous drug lord before it turned into a far larger problem involving federal charges. Rob Morrow (Numb3rs, Northern Exposure) portrays Jimmy Brogan is the prosecuting attorney for the state of New York (actually the filming was done in Los Angeles, California) and Maura Tierney (ER) is Kathryn Peale a strong advocate of personal and legal rights for her clients. The two attorneys are on opposite sides of the courtroom in each episode and we must decide who we think has the upper edge or who puts on the best case for their clients, then we see the results in the finale.

Arguably the best medical drama in television history, House thrives on genius writing and equally brilliant acting. Set in a teaching hospital at Princeton University, the show builds its plots around complicated, complex, elusive, credulity-straining diseases and a team of diagnosticians willing to move heaven and earth to find their causes and treatments. Long-time House fans eventually demystify the show’s dramatic formula, which devotes the first third to diagnosis and discovery, the middle third to trial and which seem to lead to a cure, and then the climactic ending which undoes all the drama of the first two thirds, curing the disease by revealing The Truth. Hugh Laurie plays Dr. Gregory House to perfection, sustaining the tension and contradiction between House’s arrogance and his irresistible compulsion to save people from their illnesses and often from themselves. One Los Angeles television writer sums-up, “A vicodin-popping, wise-cracking, gimp-guy who walks with his cane on the wrong side while he demystifies illnesses so bizarre they almost defy imagining—what’s not to like?”

Admittedly indebted to Jack Kerouac and the cinematic stylings of Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones series, "Supernatural TV show" wobbled as it took its first tentative steps into the paranormal, but it has grown stronger and smarter with age and experience. Fans of "The Gilmore Girls" immediately will recognize Jared Padalecki who plays Sam, a Stanford undergrad who wants nothing more than to escape his family's ghost-busting business and go to law school. Of course, that's not gonna happen. Instead, Sam gets stuck riding shotgun on a road trip with his profligate brother Dean, played well by Jensen Ackless recently of "Smallville fame. As the boys travel from San Francisco to LA, normally a boring ten-hour trip, they encounter ghoulish and ghostly creatures brought to life from American folklore and legends. Describing steady improvement in the show's writing and acting, one critic said it went from being "a pretty good show to being a pretty great show." Just before the show launched its fifth season, Rolling Stone was more effusive in its praise as it numbered "Supernatural" among its "Fifty Best Reasons to Watch TV".

The lives of Camelot, Guinevere, and King Arthur has been a popular subject for story telling for a long time now and it may be time for a reality check. The true story of Camelot and the lives and times affected by swords, magic, sex, betrayal, and the absolute monarchy of the times is played out on Starz television's Camelot. This time the story is told from a youthful perspective as Jamie Campbell Bower is a young and intrepid Arthur who is on his way to the throne. King Arthur himself is a complicated and complex character who came from humble beginnings to reach the seat of power. His lady Guinevere is the one bright and shining light in his life and the challenges faced by the man who would be King of England include moral issues, deception, and wars that never seem to end. The concept has long been put to film or play with many varying opinions on what kind of man Arthur actually was. The cast of characters, including Lancelot, Lady Guinevere, and Morgan, his overly ambitious half-sister make for intriguing viewing and this time around it seems more true to the facts than previous ventures.

The Scribner authors who rose to 1930s and 1940s prominence under Max Perkins's skilled tutelage understood the best way to change the world is to represent it precisely--in minute detail and in all its grim, unforgiving, and frightening ugliness. MTV's "16 and Pregnant" brings the same principle to television, accurately and unblinkingly showing the lives of four expectant teen-agers, mercilessly exploiting every ugly stereotype of life on the perilous edge of poverty and powerlessness. The New York Times suggests, "The implicit message at the center of ["16 and Pregnant's] class prejudice tells us that if you're not setting out for Berkeley or Wesleyan, then raising a child when you ought to be working on the yearbook is as good a road to character development as any." The Times unfortunately mistakes power and poignancy for "prejudice." After viewing even one episode of "16 and Pregnant," any observant sophomore will make a headlong dash for Planned Parenthood, the glee club, and an SAT prep course.

America cannot get enough "True Blood." Derived from Charlaine Harris's series of novels, The Southern Vampire Mysteries, and produced by the same characters and company who brought you're the macabre comedy hit "Six Feet Under," this rough, raw, foul-mouthed, sexed-up and blood-sucking series has become America's summertime Sunday night guilty pleasure supreme. Meet the "True Blood" TV show! Set in fictional but aptly named Bon Temps, Louisiana, "True Blood" TV series makes vampire life look a great deal like a serious but not thoroughly detestable drug addiction. Once bitten, new recruits discover all kinds of voracious appetites,of which blood-thirst in fact may be the least. Although a host of undead characters work their insidious plots and attempt world conquest just for fun, the plot centers on Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), not a vampire but showing beguiling signs of being a fairy, who falls in love with Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), definitely a vampire but reluctant about it. To the writers' and producers' credit, the series shows minimal gore and serves-up maximal suspense and irony. "True Blood" has collected an armload of awards, including Golden Globes and Emmys.