If there's one thing that I took away from the pilot of ABC's newest comedy Suburgatory , it's that the old adage "don't judge a book by its cover" may still have some validity. It's hard not to judge the suburb that Tessa Altman (Jane Levy) has just m more

If you've been reading my reviews of new fall shows, you're aware that pilots often change between when critics (and advertisers) first see them in May and June and when they air in September or October.   Sometimes you start off with a pilot about e more

The suburbs are weird. As a kid, growing up in a series of suburban wastelands, I often wondered about my parents' decision to subject me to the conformity, weird expectations and dullness of suburbia. Was I better off? Are good schools really worth all t more

On Wednesday (Sept. 28), "Suburgatory" joins ABC's family-focused line-up as a sort of bridge between "The Middle" and "Modern Family," but where the established shows are straight-forward comedic takes on family life, "Suburgatory" takes a different tack more

There's a rich tradition on the big and small screen of the high school girl as amateur anthropologist: Molly Ringwald in "Sixteen Candles," Winona Ryder in "Heathers," Alicia Silverstone in "Clueless," Lindsay Lohan in "Mean Girls," Claire Danes in "My S more