Being Mary Jane May Cure You Of Wanting To Have It All

Show: Being Mary Jane, which airs Tuesdays at 10 PM on BET.

Plot: Cable news anchor Mary Jane Paul (Gabrielle Union!) is a conscientious, polished, accomplished professional. But her personal life is a mess! (How big a mess? She sperm-jacked an ex and kept his stuff in her freezer.) And yes, I know that is the lot of virtually every single woman on television, but somehow this show manages to make it feel fresh.

Soapy Intrigue: WHERE TO BEGIN. Mary Jane started seeing Andre after meeting him at the gym, and couldn't make herself break it off even after she discovered he was married! Now he's separated from his wife and shacking up with Mary Jane while he waits for his apartment to be ready (mmmmm hm, sure), and even though she should be happy, she's still hung up on her ex, David (who's much more suitable for her overall and not just because he isn't a liar), and very upset that he's gotten serious with another lady. Meanwhile, her teenaged niece is pregnant, and her college-student nephew is dealing drugs on the side. Oh -- and one of her colleagues at work is trying to figure out whether the time is right for him to come out of the closet.

What It Will Remind You Of: It has the "lady stomps into room and tells everyone what's up" energy of Scandal or Nashville, and the news aspects of The Newsroom if everyone who worked at ACN wasn't a complete imbecile.

What's Best About It: Union is such a pleasure to watch because she gets to be a complete person. She's not saintly or perfect or the moral compass for everyone around her; she fucks up, gets called on it, and moves forward -- sometimes to make the same mistakes over again, much as people do in actual life. She also has a lot of sex with hot dudes that pushes the bounds of network standards.

What's Worst About It: For a show aimed at adult women, it's very didactic: a scene about a character learning that a guy she's been sleeping with is not being exclusive with her will be followed by an ad for Oraquick, the at-home HIV test. On another occasion, Andre's wife comes to Mary Jane's office to ask about the sex she's had with Andre, and when she asks about cunnilingus, Mary Jane shirtily declares that it's required, in a way that suggests the character is modelling behaviour for sexually frustrated viewers to try out at home.

But If I Save It Until Friday, Don't I Risk Having Someone Spoil It For Me Before I Watch It? It's kind of an under-the-radar show, but get on board before everyone bails on stupid Grey's Anatomy and gets on the Being Mary Jane train!

Finally, And Most Importantly, Do the Female Leads Wear Cute Outfits? 100% of the time. Mary Jane's whole wardrobe -- at work and home -- is perfectly on point and in the latest episode we got to see her in a gorgeous gown for a charity gala! If the whole show turned out to be a stealth marketing program for Nordstrom (or, since it's set in Atlanta, for Belk), I would be neither surprised nor offended.