The best (and worst) fall TV show ads graded

From a diabolically clever "Dexter" campaign to a cringe-inducing "America's Next Top Model" billboard to a striking "Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles" ad, here you'll find 25 of the best and worst fall TV "key art" ads critiqued and graded in a first-of-its-kind slideshow.

Let's start with a real conversation piece --

“Too blatant,” says one marketing expert.

“Too dark, it looks terrible,” says a CW competitor.

Yeah, maybe, yeah. On some billboards, you can barely make out the ridiculously swollen tongue. Don’t care. The poster is eye-catching, lurid and all the better for its lack of convention -- right down to the critic's slam quote that reportedly annoyed "Gossip" showrunner Josh Schwartz. This ad isn’t for network insiders, or even the show's producers, but for the fans. It's that rare TV poster you can imagine a teenager hanging in their room (and annoying their parents).

Grade: A   >>>> NEXT: FRINGE 

[Jump to: Fringe, Heroes, Pushing Daisies, Entourage, Chuck, House, Biggest Loser: Families, 90210, Knight Rider, Privileged, CSI: NY, America's Next Top Model, My Own Worst Enemy, Dexter, Worst Week, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Grey's Anatomy, Simpson's/Family Guy/King of the Hill, Eleventh Hour, Desperate Housewives, Californication, The Ex-List, Lipstick Jungle, The Shield.]