Summer’s here and the time is right for…watching television?
Yes, ignore that warm weather and get back inside. There’s a ton ‘o TV comin’ atcha.
The success of Under The Dome two years ago seemed to spike a renewed interest in scripted network drama. That series is back for a third season (how do they keep sneaking new characters in under the dome?) as well as last summer’s space drama, Extant with Halle Berry.
The new CBS drama, picked up by CTV, is Zoo. Based on the novel, it is about a zoologist (James Wolk from Mad Men and The Crazy Ones) who notices that all the big kitties and other animals at his game preserve are turning into man-gobbling monsters. Meow-ouch!
Summer has been show time for Showtime and other cable networks for years. There are third seasons of Masters of Sex and Ray Donovan coming in July. This weekend, HBO premieres The Brink, a dark, Cold War comedy starring Tim Robbins, a miscast Jack Black and Future Mrs. Brioux Carla Gugino. Sigh.
Now that all that unpleasantness with Game of Thrones is out of the way for another season, HBO is also set to return True Detective to their lineup. Season Two features Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn and a very angry Rachel McAdams. This new, eight episode story arc lurches sharply into David Lynch territory. Starts Sunday.
advertisement
Even CBC has found some spare change between the cushions and come up with two summer comedies. Fool Canada has Will Sasso performing sketch comedy on the streets of Canada, using ordinary Canadians as straight men. Jonny Harris (Constable Crabtree) uses his Murdoch Mysteries break to make Still Standing, a stand up comedy series where he travels to small towns across Canada, gets a feel for the locals and goofs on them for a night. Both shows premiere Tues., June 23.
There are many, many more, including the return of Orange is the New Black on Netflix (Season Three is now up for streaming) as well as the fifth season of Suits on Bravo.
For dates and times of most shows head here to TV Guide’s list of shows for summer.
I was also asked to guest on CTV’s Canada AM Tuesday morning to provide a summer TV snapshot. My old pal Murtz Jaffer, who has landed his dream job as a freelance producer there, assembled the package of clips, so pay attention as I yak away with the lovely Bev Thomson. You can watch the five minute segment here, which comes complete with my Orange is the New Black joke. Don’t say you weren’t warned!
