Twenty years ago, the TV landscape was very different. There was no “summer” or “winter” season. Shows began in September and ended in May. Aside from a few specials or made-for-TV movies, there was rarely new content on television during the summer months. Thankfully, we no longer have to worry about that. Television is just as plentiful during the summer months as it is during the “regular” fall season, and it is no longer a dumping ground for shows made on the cheap.
Summer is usually filled with strange offerings, and this summer is no exception: comic book adaptations (Preacher); superheroes (Powers); serial killers (Scream, Dead of Summer); rock stars (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Roadies); aliens (BrainDead); killer viruses (The Last Ship); computer nerds (Mr. Robot, Halt and Catch Fire); criminals (Animal Kingdom, Queen of the South); cops (Aquarius, The Night Of); women in prison (Orange Is the New Black); human-hunting animals (Zoo); and of course, Sharknados. I may need another DVR to watch all this stuff!
We’ve compiled some of the shows premiering this summer that seem worthy of skipping a day at the beach to watch. Get those DVRs ready, and let us know which Summer TV shows you are most looking forward to!
TV Preview: Summer 2016
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Preacher
May 22 - Preacher on AMC
Based on the popular comic series of the same name, Preacher follows small-town preacher Jesse Custer who, along with ex-girlfriend Tulip and Irish rake Cassidy, investigate a "mysterious entity" that allows Jesse to develop a "highly unconventional power."
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Wayward Pines
May 25 - Wayward Pines on Fox
From executive producer M. Night Shyamalan, Wayward Pines is a combination of dystopic futurism and small-town weirdness. Season two replaces leading man Matt Dillon with Jason Patric, and sees a rebellion rising up against the First Generation.
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Scream
May 30 - Scream on MTV
The TV version of the horror film series returns for a second season. The few people who were left alive at the end of last season (Emma, Audrey, Jake, Brooke, and Noah) will return, along with a whole slate of new machete fodder. Audrey tries to hide her connection to the Killer, but BFF Noah is getting closer to the truth.
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Powers
May 31 - Powers on PlayStation Network
The PlayStation Network continues their superhero series with season two of Powers. The series follows cops in a special police division devoted to crimes involving people with superpowers. After Retro Girl's murder in season one, the city is in turmoil and the FBI wants to outlaw the use of superpowers. Can Michael Madsen's SuperShock change things by coming out of retirement?
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Angie Tribeca
June 6 - Angie Tribeca on TBS
This "spoof-tastic" comedy from Steve and Nancy Carell returns for a second season. (That's what TBS is calling it, even though the first season aired a few months ago.) Angie Tribeca is like a MAD Magazine devoted to cop dramas come to life.
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Animal Kingdom
June 7 - Animal Kingdom on TNT
Ellen Barkin leads this crime drama about a "Southern California family whose excessive lifestyle is fueled by their criminal activity." The show was inspired by the 2010 Australian film of the same name.
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Hell on Wheels
June 11 - Hell on Wheels on AMC
Hell on Wheels is the tale of a former Confederate soldier who seeks revenge on the Union soldiers that killed his wife. Along the way, he gets involved in the building of the first transcontinental railroad. This is the second half of Hell on Wheels' fifth and final season.
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The Last Ship
June 12 - The Last Ship on TNT
TNT's action-drama about a Navy ship at sea when a worldwide pandemic breaks returns for a third season. The new season sees the President aboard the ship and heading towards China when they discover the Chinese government is hording a cure, though that might not matter when rumors circulate that the virus has mutated.
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Ride with Norman Reedus
June 12 - Ride with Norman Reedus on AMC
The Walking Dead star takes his love of motorcycles on the road as he explores biker culture throughout the country. Look for stops at custom shops, roadside BBQ joints, tattoo parlors, and garages with various "riding companions."
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BrainDead
June 13 - BrainDead on CBS
This is not a TV version of Peter Jackson's 1992 horror-comedy (released in the states as Dead Alive). Instead, it is a political comedy about aliens who come to Earth and eat the brains of members of Congress. From what I understand, this is not a documentary. Tony Shaloub and Mary Elizabeth Winstead star.
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Wrecked
June 14 - Wrecked on TBS
Like Lost, but intentionally funny, Wrecked follows a diverse collection of people stranded on a deserted island. Starring Rhys Darby, Ginger Gonzaga, Jessica Lowe, and Mariana Vicente.
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Aquarius
June 16 - Aquarius on NBC
David Duchovny returns for the second season of the 1960s cop drama. Charlie Manson and his hippie cult are certainly the focal point of the series, but race relations and gender equality are just as important as the show races towards the infamous Tate/LaBianca murders.
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Orange Is the New Black
June 17 - Orange Is the New Black on Netflix
The fourth season of the popular Netflix series returns with what promises to be a darker season. Alex isn't dead; Stella isn't expected to return; Sofia is still in the SHU; and hopefully we will find a happier future for Daya's baby. Much like real life, Litchfield is experiencing significant overcrowding, which will create stress all over the place.
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Queen of the South
June 21 - Queen of the South on USA
Described by some as Scarface led by a woman, Queen of the South is based on the novel La Reina Del Sur, by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, which also yielded a mini-series for Telemundo. Alice Braga plays Teresa Mendoza, "a woman who is forced to run and seek refuge in America after her drug-dealing boyfriend is unexpectedly murdered in Mexico. In the process, she teams up with an unlikely figure from her past to bring down the leader of the very drug trafficking ring that has her on the run."
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American Gothic
June 22 - American Gothic on CBS
Continuing in CBS's summer pattern of naming new shows after old horror properties, American Gothic (not to be confused with the Sam Raimi-produced series from 1995) "centers on a prominent Boston family reeling in the wake of the chilling discovery that someone in their midst is linked to an infamous string of murders. As shocking secrets from the past and present are revealed, their mounting suspicion and paranoia that one of them is a killer threatens to tear the family apart."
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Roadies
June 26 - Roadies on Showtime
Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous) returns to what he does best - the music world. Roadies is an "insider’s look at the reckless, romantic, funny and often poignant lives of a committed group of “roadies” who live for music and the de facto family they’ve formed along the way. The series chronicles the rock world through the eyes of music’s unsung heroes and puts the spotlight on the backstage workers who put the show on the road while touring the United States for the successful arena-level group, The Staton-House Band."
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Ray Donovan
June 26 - Ray Donovan on Showtime
Professional "fixer" Ray Donovan returns for a fourth season. Last season’s "intense battle with the Armenian mafia leads a wounded Ray to reconnect with his forsaken faith. With this second chance at redemption, Ray is on a path to becoming a much better husband and father. But while things at home are improving, his work introduces him to worlds more formidable and dangerous than ever before. Meanwhile, Mickey has fled Los Angeles, hoping to plant roots on his own terms and to begin anew, one scam at a time."
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Zoo
June 28 - Zoo on CBS
Based on the bestseller by James Patterson, Zoo returns for a second season. The series follows what happens when animals across the globe begin to specifically hunt humans and work together to create chaos among humanity. The first season featured lions, wolves, housecats, and bats turning against mankind. What kind of beasts can we expect in season two?
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Dead of Summer
June 28 - Dead of Summer on Freeform
Freeform jumps into the horror genre with this throwback to classic summer camp slasher flicks. Set in the late 1980s, Dead of Summer is set at an idyllic Midwestern summer camp, where a "dark, ancient mythology awakens." It sounds like the show is less Jason Voorhees and more Blair Witch.
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Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
June 30 - Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll on FX
Returning for a second season, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll follows aging rock star Denis Leary as he and his band try to make a second go at stardom with the daughter he just met.
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Tyrant
July 6 - Tyrant on FX
For its third season on FX, Tyrant will follow up last season's cliffhanger that left Jamal dying on the floor. Will younger brother Barry be able to finally close the power vacuum that his father left when he died?
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The Night Of
July 10 - The Night Of on HBO
Some critics think that The Night Of, HBO's upcoming limited series, just might make up for the disappointing second season of True Detective. Based on British series Criminal Justice, the series follows "the police investigation and legal proceedings of a fictitious murder case in New York City, while examining the criminal justice system and the purgatory of Rikers Island."
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Mr. Robot
July 13 - Mr. Robot on USA
USA's critical hit returns for a second season. We will get more of Elliot's backstory, more of his emotional journey, as well as an FBI investigation into the cyber crimes from season one.
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Stranger Things
July 15 - Stranger Things on Netflix
With Hemlock Grove wrapped, Netflix needs a new supernatural series: Stranger Things. The Winona Ryder starrer is about "a young boy [who] vanishes into thin air. As friends, family, and local police search for answers, they are drawn into an extraordinary mystery involving top secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one very strange little girl."
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Ballers
July 17 - Ballers on HBO
Ballers is like Entourage for the sports set, back for a second season. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (sorry, he will never lose that nickname) returns as a retired football player trying to reinvent himself as a financial manager for current players.
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Vice Principals
July 17 - Vice Principals on HBO
HBO's new comedy series, created by Danny McBride and Jody Hill, follows a "high school and the two people who almost run it."
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Sharknado 4
July 31 - Sharknado 4 on Syfy
What would summer be without a Sharknado? This cult favorite TV movie returns for a fourth installment, set five years after Sharknado 3. Other than that, it is sharks, tornadoes, and C-level stars. Ian Ziering and Tara Reid are joined by David Hasselhoff, Gary Busey, and Cheryl Tiegs.
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The Get Down
Aug 12 - The Get Down on Netflix
Set in the 1970s, The Get Down follows a "rag-tag crew of South Bronx teenagers in a broken down and beaten up, violent New York City at the brink of bankruptcy, which gave birth to hip-hop, punk and disco - a story told through the lives and music of the South Bronx kids who changed the city, and the world... forever." The musical series is executive produced by Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!).
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Halt and Catch Fire
August (date TBA) - Halt and Catch Fire on AMC
Season three of the show about the birth of the computer age gets under way with the team from Mutiny moving from Texas to Silicon Valley. While they look for the next big thing, Joe shows up ready to turn the Valley upside down.
