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?

It was good while it lasted. Launched with much fanfare and intense audience interest, "FlashForward" brilliantly recreated the mysterious, fascinating, are-they-prophetic? two minutes and seventeen seconds on October 6, 2009, when almost everyone on Earth lost consciousness of their ordinary surroundings and caught glimpses of their lives on April 29, 2010. An ambitious attempt at transposing Robert J. Sawyer's "high-concept" novel from the printed page to the small screen, "FlashForward" focused on the team of FBI investigators charged with determining what had happened. One of the FBI agents enjoyed the special privilege of seeing his team crack the case in his vision of the future; all he has to do is recreate the six months of investigative work that yield the break-through. Meanwhile, the principal characters attempt to cope with the consequences of their visions for their lives in the present, because they have seen broken marriages, lives lost, and great portrayals on their horizons. Most viewers and critics sadly agreed "FlashForward" unfortunately juxtaposed a brilliant high-tech crime drama on some pathetically ordinary people and lives.

"The Handmaid's Tale" is a TV series based on a novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood. It takes place in a dystopian society called Gilead, where a fundamentalist Christian group has overthrown the US government and created a new society based on strict religious laws. Women are treated as property, and many are forced to become "handmaids," whose sole purpose is to bear children for wealthy families.

Slackers serving Satan as his bounty hunters? At a bare minimum, "The Reaper" does offer conclusive proof that colluding with the devil is considerably more exciting than a job at the Work Bench, a fictional Seattle home improvement store. Imagine Sam Oliver's surprise when he learns on his twenty-first birthday his parents negotiated a long-ago deal with the captain of the underworld: Save daddy's life, and they will give Satan their first-born child. Of course, mom and dad used every form of contraception imaginable until Satan released their doctor from his gambling debts in exchange for Doc's telling mom and dad they could not conceive. Sam ensues. Satan himself shows-up at the big twenty-first gala to detail "The Reaper's" new job description. Sam, who once complained that college "made him sleepy," naturally balks at the devil's deal; but the devil is at least as persuasive with Sam as he was with Eve. Satan tells Sam, should he decline, his mother forfeits her soul. Sam grudgingly accepts new super-powers and goes to work hunting down wayward sinners who have contrived to escape Hell. Television drama ensues. "The Reaper" earned an extremely devoted"”albeit somewhat cultish"”following. A representative review explained the attraction: "This show is so refreshing - great premise, great characters, and they don't take themselves too seriously. The Devil is a hunk, and just couldn't be played better than Ray Wise."

Royal Pains TV Show is one of current rated cable network TV series in the U.S. It's another medical drama that corners the misadventures of an ex-E.R. doctor, Henry Hank Lawson (Mark Feuerstein), turned into an exclusive doctor for the wealthy and famous. This radical career change springs from his expulsion caused by the death of a rich patient under his watch in his former hospital. In Royal Pains TV Show, Dr. Lawson is largely based in the uppity community of the Hamptons. It is local hospital administrator, Jill Casey (Jill Flint) who provides the balance in Dr. Lawson's medical career by egging him to help some poor patients in the area. This TV series is inspired by the rise of the practice of concierge medicine in America.

You could think of "Pretty Little Liars" TV show as "Gossip Girl" goes to the suburbs, except that the vapid world of Park Avenue apartments is, frankly, really boring compared to Rosewood, Pennsylvania. Based on a series of young adult novels by the same name, "Pretty Little Liars" shows the genuinely dramatic, morally-challenged lives of four teen-age girls, a cliquish little group"”Hannah, Aria, Emily, and Spencer. They could be renegades from the American Girls doll collection, except that they are frighteningly rich and more-than-tragically flawed. Hannah, for example, shoplifts, inviting her mother to complain, "I buy you everything you need to be popular," and leaving everyone to assume that's the last word on the subject. Conscience lives somewhere well beyond the city limits, exacting big penalties from those who transgress. As the show opens, Ali, leader and style-setter of the group, disappears a la "Blair Witch." The real action begins, though, three years after Ali's mysterious disappearance, when the "Pretty Little Liars" begin receiving text messages that very strongly suggest someone is watching them"”especially in their most compromising moments. Adding piquancy and spice to the digital displays, the sender signs them cryptically "A."