Another reality television show that actually has merit is School Pride. The show is based on an actual restoration on Carver Elementary, a school in Compton, California seven years ago. The schools chosen on this program will receive around two million dollars worth of upgrades and repairs that were sorely needed plus plenty of exposure via the television program. Additionally the student participation helped with School Pride as they were a part of renovations and it is their family, volunteers, and neighbors that help organize the production. The premise is that schools in need of costly repairs can receive help when they showcase how much need there is for improvements and students participate by showing how much pride they have for their school. Somewhat based on the television program "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" the cameras follow students, teachers, and community members performing the renovations badly needed by a particular school. In seven days it's amazing how much can be done and camera crews will return a few months later to see just how much improvement has been made and how it affects the surrounding community.

When "The Good Wife" premiered in the fall of 2009, insiders whispered that Alicia Florrick, the good wife, was modeled after Silda Spitzer, the remarkably resilient former spouse of Elliott Spitzer, former New York prosecutor who ended-up himself prosecuted on charges of using public funds to support his prostitute habit. In the first few episodes, Alicia stood mute and shell-shocked as her politician husband admitted to "indiscretions," was tried and sent to jail. With only mild irony, the good wife emerges as the amazing woman as soon as hubby gets fitted for his orange jumpsuit. Played with tremendous grace, style, and power by Julianna Marguiles, Alicia Florrick, a la Silda Spitzer, returns to her old law practice. A little out of practice after thirteen years as wife and mother, she wobbles before she restores her professional standing. As "The Good Wife" evolved, it outgrew its need for "ripped from the headlines" comparisons. Episode by episode, Marguiles quickened, toughened, and deepend Alicia's character. Her imprisoned spouse becomes simply a footnote or sidebar as Alicia struggles to keep her family intact and build her career in a law firm riddled with scheming, scandal, and intrigue.

"Good Trouble" is a television drama series that premiered in 2019 on Freeform, an American cable channel. It is a spin-off of the show "The Fosters" and follows the lives of sisters Callie and Mariana Adams Foster as they navigate adulthood in Los Angeles. The show tackles various contemporary issues such as social justice, identity, and relationships.

Lovecraft Country is a television series based on the novel of the same name by Matt Ruff. The show is set in the 1950s and follows the story of Atticus Freeman, a Black man living in Jim Crow-era America who embarks on a journey with his family to find his missing father. Along the way, they encounter supernatural creatures and face racism from both humans and otherworldly beings.

"The Staircase" is a biographical drama streaming television miniseries created by Antonio Campos and based on the 2004 true crime docuseries of the same name by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade. The show follows the story of Michael Peterson, a crime novelist who is accused of killing his wife, Kathleen Peterson. Kathleen was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their home, and as the investigation unfolds, Michael's family becomes embroiled in a legal battle.

One critic characterized "Breaking Bad's" dark humor as "Thelma and Louise as seen by Dostoyevsky" and that was one of the perkier, more optimistic descriptions. A seven-part AMC series, "Breaking Bad" TV show tells the story of Walt White, high school chemistry teacher turned methamphetamine cooker and dealer. Of course, as Glenn Frye crooned, "The lure of easy money has a very strong appeal," but "Breaking Bad" does not allow for even a split-second of sunshine through the abysmal darkness. In this corner of the universe, crime never-ever pays. Walt, expertly portrayed by Bryan Cranston of "Malcolm in the Middle" fame, is neck-deep in problems, complications, and flat-out ugliness from the minute he lights the Bunsen burner. Although the writers have woven-in some amazingly ironic lines, known in the trade as "comic relief," the characters deliberately deliver their quips in such a super-slow, slack-jawed drawl they seem more tragic than funny. Of course, "Breaking Bad" TV series make some pretense toward allegory of the American middle class struggling through the throes of deep recession, and it scores some hard hits. Most of all, though, "Breaking Bad" shows that even when fine writers, directors, and actors can find humor and pathos in displaced white-collar workers' undignified struggle for dignity, it still looks awfully damned dreary and ugly.