The summer TV season '10

With the networks pretty much all ending their shows in May, and USA starting up their summer season, I ask: what were you all planning on watching on TV this summer? Naturally, I plan to be out and about and enjoying the summer fairly often (I don't have a choice, the wife will make me get out), but I also enjoy winding down at the end of the day with a good TV show.

Usually the summer is a little more sparse, with maybe 3-6 first-run shows that [my wife and] I watch, as opposed to the fall/winter/spring when there might be as many as 15 or more.

For me the big ones, as alluded to earlier in the post, are USA Shows:

Burn Notice
Royal Pains [a fun summer show]

Then the other ones I'm looking forward to are:
Eureka [which has been off the air for around 537 months]
The Closer [which has been off the air for around 538 months]

Then there are other shows that are continuing into the summer, like:

In Plain Sight

and...

Wow, that's about it. I won't know what to do with myself! I'm counting in my head right now, and the number of fall/winter/spring shows I watched last year total about...20 shows a week. Yeah, I watch a little too much

Well, it'll be a good summer to get my wife caught up on a few older shows. We're about 15 episodes shy of finishing up the Buffyverse (this has been my 4th time through Buffy and Angel), to be followed by Firefly and Dollhouse (my wife is a huge Whedon fan now). I'm also going to risk it all by seeing if she enjoys my favorite show of all time, Avatar (the real one).

You may notice that I've left out a few popular shows, especially True Blood. That's easy to explain: I just don't like it. I watched the entire first season, and I was just annoyed by all the characters. The biggest problem for me was Anna Pacquin, who had the worst accent and the worst acting on the show, which is not good when she's the main character.

So what else are you people looking forward to? Mad Men? Should I try watching that? I also usually include Dexter as a summer show, but this year it doesn't appear to be airing until mid-September. Lastly, I know reality TV is the big thing these days, but it's discouraging to see a list of premieres and it's almost all reality shows.

I'm looking forward to Lost. Oh, and the new series of Top Gear. Outside of that, whatever looks interesting on the TV rack at Frys or iTunes, but probably not much else.

Not planning on watching any broadcast shows over the summer. There's simply nothing I'm interested in.

I'm busily ripping down DVDs of shows we have and purchasing others on itunes so we are stocked for the summer. So far the plan is:

-Rewatching LOST.

-Rewatch Season 1 of Chuck and then moving on to 2 and 3 (we somehow lost track of Chuck- I don't know what because I really liked it).

-Star Trek: TNG- entire series (I already had 1-4, and my father has acquired the rest).

Will probably re-watch Firefly and possibly Dollhouse as well. That should keep us busy.

I'm undecided atm about BSG- we watched it before and somehow dropped about 2/3 through season 2. I haven't heard a strong enough opinion about the show to decide whether it's worth investing in getting the entire series (I'd probably want to start over to remember the plot line), which is probably about $150. An extremely positive review or tiring of our existing DVDs might sway me.

My wife has also recently acquired the entire series of Charmed and Sex and the City- neither of which I'll be watching (ripping down Sex and the City is kinda painful, tbh), but they should keep her entertained at least. Also may be ripping down Buffy for her as well (we have season 3+- I'd have to get 1 and 2)

It remains to be seen if these shows will really keep me interested through the summer months with material I've (mostly) already seen.


As an aside- we purchased two Apple TVs and it has made us super lazy now. We don't even have a DVD player hooked up any more because we can't be bothered to change disks.

True Blood (starts in 2 weeks)
The IT Crowd (soonish if I recall correctly)
Weeds (Late August)

It is very unlikely that I will turn my TV on, unless it is to watch a DVD.

tanstaafl.

Entourage - 26th June
Top Gear - 20th June
The IT Crowd

This is one of the things I'm turning out to love about Netflix, being able to watch TV shows that I never bothered to watch (or stopped watching) the first time around. My brother convinced me to give BSG another shot, and it is sitting there in my queue waiting for me to get to it. It is slower than having the DVDs (it isn't available for streaming), but it is a lot cheaper (if slower) than buying it without knowing if you are going to enjoy it.

I watched BSG to the end, and while I don't regret the hours I'll never get back and did enjoy it somewhat, I wouldn't do it again. It was only just good enough to keep me from giving up...

I don't watch SGU because of it. One series like that was enough... SGU seems a BSG knockoff...

I think you can watch BSG all the way through the first half of the finale, then once the big fight scene is over, just turn it off and walk away. Once they tried to "explain" everything, it was all downhill.

Strangely, I've kept up with the newer Caprica show, even though it's based on much of the same bogosity. We'll see whether it shakes out to be something interesting or not.

The severe downhill momentum for BSG for me started at "All Along the Watchtower". I'm not sad I watched it all the way through, but the first two seasons, with some exceptions, were nearly brilliant, IMO, and the later seasons didn't even come close.

Yeah, total agreement. What a mess.

Yeah, I'd have to agree with that. I could have forgiven the "All Along the Watchtower" stuff if the show didn't end the way it did. I know there's plenty about Lost that's unexplained, but nothing about the use of that song on BSG made any sense at all. Ugh.

Was the "New Caprica" stuff in seasons 1/2? If not, I'd say that just after that was when I thought it went downhill. I liked it despite Lee-XL


Oh, I just remembered my other USA shows:

Psych
White Collar [which had a big 1st season ending]
Covert Affairs [going to try this one out - not sure if I'll like it]

I think USA has turned out to be my favorite network overall. They don't have my absolute favorite shows, but they put out consistently enjoyable stuff, and they really give their shows a chance. I don't seem to recall a series they launched that only got one season, and they've stuck with a few until long after they were viable (Dead Zone).


I guiltily admit to having watched almost all of Charmed (not Sex in the City). As I've said before, I'm a sucker for fantasy, and Charmed had an okay mythology around it. It's definitely a soap opera, but it's fairly entertaining. For whatever reason, my wife and I just stopped watching with only a season or two left.

That reminds me, my wife and I will have to watch Buffy season 1. We actually skipped that one, because the two previous times she's tried to get into the show we started with that season, and she found it too silly (it's pretty darn silly in places). We started with season 2 and went from there...

Oh, almost forgot. Hell's Kitchen, which I just started watching tonight. It can be a little over the top sometimes and I definitely prefer the non-dramatic episodes.

Watch with Kristin has a good list of shows starting in the next few months.

Futurama - June 24th

Oooo, I forgot about that new show "Pretty Little Liars!" That looks really good!

...

Hahaha, no, it really doesn't

We saw a "sneak peak" of it at our movie theater's pre-show reel. I laughed all the way through it.


Thanks for the list, though. There were one or two things I didn't see on my list. I'm nervous about Futurama. I liked the movies, but they didn't completely work for me. I think that's because that world works better in tight bursts, so perhaps the new series will be a return to form.

Just found out about The Walking Dead an AMC series directed by Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile). Sounds SWEET. No release date announced yet, AFAIK.

I love me the zombie movies, a TV show will be sublime.

I've been following that since it was announced, and I'm really excited about it. Here's an interview with the creator of the comic about the series. Unfortunately it's slated for the fall, so we'll have to wait for ~October for the premiere. Still, I can't wait. Have you read the comic? It's fantastic. Super depressing, but fantastic.

Oh, I'll also be finishing up episodes of Sons of Tucson and Happy Town which will be on within the next two weeks.

Another premiere on Fox, The Good Guys. And I just found out that Leverage is back in a few weeks for season 3.

I'm willing to give Jason Lee's new show, Memphis Beat a shot, but I haven't heard anything about it other than the loosest of synopsis on TV.com

Ooo, I forgot about that show. I'll watch pretty much anything Jason Lee is involved in. I saw Almost Famous again the other day. He's great.

Happy Town is still going strong in my books and IMO, just getting more interesting. I truly think ABC axed two of its best shows this season (HT and Flashforward). I've now set up The Gates and Scoundrels as favorites and will do the same for Rookie Blue to see if ABC's summer schedule lives up to its past lineup.

I don't like they way they debut and axe shows before they've even had a realistic chance, but at least they have a diversified lineup, unlike CBS which pretty much has CSI on every night of the week in almost every timeslot - sure, they're under different names, but they're all CSI.

While I'm not going to disagree with your overall point, CSI Miami is DEFINITLY a different show from the other two. LV certainly was better when Grissom was on it, but it has not descended to the ridiculous level of Miami. CSI Miami just silly with the overacting, overuse of lens flares, a set that look nothing like a crime lab (WAY worse than LV, which is pushing credibility as it is), running around in Hummers, action sequences that don't belong, and overacting (did I mention overacting?). Humorously enough, the majority of people I've met who like CSI: Miami don't really care for the other two.

We did catch an episode of Miami once that made me laugh out loud- the dialog was something like this

Distraught Hispanic mother says, "A white girl goes missing and every is excited about it. Our girl goes missing and no one cares"

Caruso looks at her sternly and says "ALMOST no one"

Yeah, way to make her feel better, champ.

CSI (the original) is actually quite watchable. But it's still very formulaic and most episodes end up being very similar. Miami sucks for the same reasons (why do we need the same show with a different backdrop) plus everything you've said. I also feel the same about CSI:NY. Then we have NCIS, which has a decent cast, but it's really just another similar show. They do well for CBS, so they just spin them off.

CSI
CSI:Miami
CSI:NY
NCIS
NCIS:L.A.
Cold Case
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds (Suspect Behavior) spin-off (confirmed/coming)
Without a Trace
Numbers
The Mentalist

Of course NBC is spin-off guilty as well, but at least the two I'm thinking of (Law and Order, SVU and CI) are somewhat different than the original. They both completely suck, but they're different.

ABC and Fox are the only two of the big four that have done anything interesting every year for at least the past 5 years. But their churn is extremely high. On the one hand it gives new shows a chance, on the other, you never get to watch anything to conclusion.

Ah, I missed your point that you mean formulaic crime drama in general. Yeah- crime drama shows have gotten totally silly and out of control.

Yeah, I had to chuckle when you said that CSI was formulaic, because all those crime shows are formulaic.

I tend to watch those shows only when there's some sort of added twist to it. There has to be something special to keep me interested in the forensics.

That being said, I can add some shows to your list, Bruno:

Castle
Psych
Bones

These are all shows that are similar to the ones you mention, but they have another layer that keeps me interested (well, two of them I watch for Buffyverse people ).

Many of the medical dramas follow the same formula, too. Especially House. Don't get me wrong. I love House. It's a great show. But it's very formulaic, and it's very procedural. It's just that instead of criminals, you have diseases.

I just started watching Bones (now on Season 3 I think) and think it is great, if disgusting at times. Castle is just pure genius. I never heard of Psych.

However, House is following its own formula. The CBS shows all seem to follow a CBS/CSI formula - the same formula with mostly the same plots in each show - you only need one CSI show, not a dozen, on the same network. But, it's working for CBS in terms of ratings.

One of the best zombie designs I've ever seen. I can't WAIT for The Walking Dead:

I've been reading a lot about the production of The Walking Dead. Aint it Cool has even done a set visit, and from what I'm hearing about the approach of the cast and everyone involved, they're really trying to be faithful to the idea of the books.


As for other shows on the air right now, I've finished up this season of In Plain Sight, and have been thoroughly enjoying all the other USA shows.

My wife got me watching Top Chef, and I've very split on it. On the one hand, I despise the stupid and manufactured "drama" on the show, where they hope and pray that one of the contestants will go off on the others, and then only show those moments. After all, everyone knows that contestants on these shows aren't here to make friends. But on the other hand, I do love cooking shows, and it's fun to see this one in DC.

I've *just* started watching Burn Notice, Hung and Breaking Bad. All good pilots so far.

Great to hear! I love Burn Notice. Just be aware that they decide to [thankfully] completely abandon Fiona's Irish accent. The hilarious part, though, is that you'll continue to hear it twice in the intro before every single episode thereafter

Hung became meh for me. But Breaking Bad is amazing.

I wanted to keep watching Breaking Bad, but the cancer stuff rang incredibly true, and while that's the biggest compliment I can pay the show, it was too much for me to take personally. I stopped a little after season one.

I give them all the credit in the world, though, and the main guy in that show is phenomenal.

Burn Notice: Fiona occasionally busts out with a bit of accent, but I agree it's odd that they cut it completely. Of course, they also cut the mom's hair.

Breaking Bad: I'm not spoiling anything by saying that the main character survives. Eventually, the cancer issue fades into the other plot complications.

Ah, well, maybe I'll watch again some day.

Bruno asked about Justified. I've started it, though I'm only two episodes in. I like it, but it's tough for me to get into because I don't immediately gravitate to shows that aren't fantasy-based I do watch a few normal dramas, but not many. I mainly started this one because I'm a big fan of Timothy Olyphant, but I have a big complaint about him. Mainly, I think that in Justified they asked him to play the exact same character he played in Deadwood, but I thought he was kind of dull in Deadwood. So far I haven't seen him match the extremely charismatic performance he gave in The Girl Next Door.

Anyway, I think the show's pretty good, though a little slowly paced.

I just took a quick peek at the NBC line-up... They should really bring back Leno at 10pm. Apart from 4 comedies on Thursday nights, NBC has nothing. I don't yet know what their fall schedule looks like though.

Leno is bombing either way. He had horrible ratings at 10pm, and now he has abysmal ratings back in his old spot. I read a story last week about how one show matched a low point from '93. I'm not sad about it at all. He's terribly unfunny, and just didn't handle the situation right.

Team Conan! CoCo!

I'm now on episode 6 of Burn Notice and so far I like it. Probably a bit less than Leverage, but that may change. One thing that bothers me about it is that everyone is a little too politically correct and gentle. Fiona with a passion for guns and violence is far too tame. Michael as a spy does the calculated risk thing well, but IMO, he should also be willing to go the extra mile - eliminate and dispose. There have been a few times where I expected to see a body count. It would have been the simplest thing to do in solving the situation. Especially in the previous episode (#5, the gun smugglers). The lead also has quite a blase attitude with regards to his burning. He's not driven enough by it. Compare it to the (main) character Charlie Cruze in Life for instance. Or Jason Bourne... The show reminds me a lot of 80's shows like the A-Team. In concept, not necessarily execution, this is way better of course.

I've watched both episodes of Rookie Blue and I'm still undecided. It's watchable, but a little too generic. It takes place in Toronto which caught me by complete surprise. They haven't yet mentioned the city's name, but the cars and uniforms are modeled on TO's police force, it's filmed in Toronto, they use only Toronto street names and of course Canadian money. I know that I'm not a big fan of police shows based on beat-cops, but I'l watch a few more to see where this goes. I do find the Toronto thing a little distracting, but only because I'm from the area.

I've been watching a lot of TV this week since I'm down with a terrible head cold - likely one of the 5 worst I've ever had. It's left me completely useless. UGH. It's also insanely hot outside and I can't take that for more than about 5 seconds.


EDIT: Figures that Burn Notice's main character would get a little more proactive about his burn in the episode I watched right after posting...

The aspect of "Burn Notice" that burns me is that, for a guy who takes on a new "client" each week, nobody's ever actually paying him any money. If he never gets paid, how is he supposed to afford all those nice firearms and explosives that he's always got laying around?

I have had the same concerns, but to be fair there are a few "outs." In one episode he takes a stack of cash, that if composed of $100 bills, would be over $100k easy. Or at least $20k if it's 20's. Fiona makes money herself and we're supposed to believe that Sam does as well, at least by mooching off the ladies. Though he also got a pile of cash the same size as Michael's in the same episode (#6).

I think you summed it up perfectly, Bruno, though I'd go even further and say that it doesn't matter to the show all that much. Burn Notice rarely gets caught up on the story details, and that's never bothered me. I figured he knew how to get the things he needed, and much of the time Michael works with what he has already, and doesn't always need guns and explosives.

And Bruno, you didn't mention what you thought of Sam. Bruce Campbell was made for that role

There's also no reason to believe that they show us all of his clients. It's reasonable to assume that he also has run-of-the-mill security consulting gigs that are not exactly TV-worthy.

Yeah, but...

The exact time scale of any given season of the show is a bit squishy, but it seems to be tracking in mostly real time, i.e., one episode = one week of real time, at least based on the progression of the larger plot arcs, which seems quite compressed. And then Weston is picking up a new client every week.

I really enjoy the A-story / B-story structure of Burn Notice, but it's clearly not intended to be something you take too seriously. If the Russians have taught us anything, it's that deep cover foreign agents are a whole lot less like James Bond / Jason Bourne / etc. and more like Ward and June Cleaver.

Back to something I mentioned previously... In the finale of Season 1, Michael and Fiona are seen putting together a decent collection of guns in preparation for their mission to go save Sam. In the narration Sam mentions that commandos are all about surprise, yadda yadda, and that this type of mission can still easily end in failure - something he'd also mentioned earlier. Two baddies depart leaving 3 up top on the boat and the main baddy below deck. Michael sneaks below deck and Fiona is perched with a rifle in a perfect position to eliminate any threats on deck.

When Michael finally jumps the main baddy below deck he has a completely dominant position and complete surprise on his side. Does he shoot him with one of the many guns he has? No. DOes Fiona start taking out the guys on deck? No.

That bothered me. Obviously the show is fantasy, but for even partial credibility's sake, they needed to kill all four guys. There's no way that leaving any of them alive would have been an option, otherwise their client would continue to be in danger.

Error on the bad guy's part? He only sent 2 dudes to go meet/eliminate Michael and Fiona. At this point he already knew they were serious threats, so that's also not a very realistic move.

I'm not looking for body count for the sake of gore, but if the plot requires it, leaving these guys still standing just makes the characters unbelievable.

Uh, yeah, like Dan said, I really don't take the show very seriously when it comes to stuff like that. I think they want to make Michael out to be as nice a spy as possible.

Basically I'm saying is that it doesn't bother me, but I can see where it might bother you. I'm also very used to the tone of USA shows, which are never really interested in the fine details...

seek out 6 part mini-series called "Luther". Really good cop drama.