The holy trinity for television programmers, whether on cable or basic: cops, doctors, and lawyers. When all else fails during pilot season, just give green-lights to whatever new dramas are set inside precincts, hospitals, or courtrooms, and make sure the characters are as emotionally troubled as they are good at their respective jobs. That's why, every fall season and mid-season, the majority of new TV shows look and feel maddeningly like NYPD Blue, E.R., and L.A. Law. But restrict your attention to the last two years and you'll notice something else: TV executives are now all about horror.
Stemming from the huge Nielsen successes of AMC's The Walking Dead and FX's American Horror Story, programmers have fallen ever so slightly back on those aforementioned character types in favor of vampires, werewolves, demon hunters, Washington Irving protagonists, and other genre mainstays. But how to choose which ones are worth DVRing or, gasp, actually watching live? Who wants to waste their time away from school or work watching dull ghouls fall in love without ever doing anything, you know, horrific? Isn't that what YA movie adaptations and reality TV dating shows are for?
Because we're dedicated to making your TiVo pre-setting decisions count, allow us to help you sift through television's darkest hours. This is our guide for answering the following question: Which Type of Scary TV Show is Right For You?