Just how much reality can we really stand? After being involved in a serious car accident with his wife and son Michael Britten, a police detective, must face the reality of one or the other of his loved ones having been killed in that wreck. He experiences "realities" involving each scenario and as we witness, his mind wraps around the existence of that reality being true. Scary as that may sound the detective does manage to perform his duties as a police detective and solve crimes. His captain (Laura Innes from ER, The Event) and his partner "Bird" Freeman (Steve Harris from Homicide: Life on the Streets, Law & Order) worry about Britten's sanity as he moves between two reality scenarios that are equally terrifying. Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter films, The Patriot) is detective Britten, a man who is Awake through his sorrow and visions. He wears colored rubber bands, each one different for the reality he sees. Red reflects his wife being alive and green for his son remaining alive. We, the viewing audience, can tell by color of those bands how much he pines for his missing loved ones.

Using state-of-the-art technology and amazing skill with make-up and costuming, Chance, the main character, becomes literally a human target. In each episode of "Human Target," Chance assumes the identity and everyday life of a prominent person in danger. Describing himself as an "extreme bodyguard," Chance uses his wits, skills, and wise-cracking bravado to turn serious danger into a trap for the villains. The sinister evil-doers plot kidnapping, blackmail, extortion, and especially death; the "human target" plots capture. Not the kind of thing for which an ordinary guy usually would volunteer. "Human Target" TV show was praised by the critics and audiences for the quality of the acting"”especially the performances by Earl Haley, Jr., which make a somewhat implausible premise absolutely believable and compelling. Because "Human Target," a decidedly out-of-the-box crime drama, is loosely based on the DC comic series of the same name, the creators have no shortage of bad guys, nor do they struggle to find quirky characters for Chance to impersonate. Critics and audiences agree that the actors playing the three main characters go a long way toward redeeming the show's average, sometimes genuinely awkward writing. They wonder, though, will the actors be able to hold the viewers' attention and loyalty long enough for the writing to fulfill the promise in the premise?

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.

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?

Medium is an American run drama and supernatural TV series that premiers on NBC. Medium showcases Allison DuBois played by Patricia Arquette who plays the role of a research medium for the Arizona District Attorney. Created by Glen Gordon, the show has five seasons with NBC and is currently in its seventh season with CBS.

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.