The Summer TV Schedule

i know the resident blogstresses are fans of the CW, FOX, and the other big networks, but i've found that many of the shows i most enjoy these days appear on TNT (We Know Drama) and USA (Characters Welcome), and their primary seasons are during the other networks' off-season. jenn already blogged about the fall 2011 season; let's look at the summer 2011 season!




TNT: We Know Drama

The Closer - my favorite show on TV, returns 11 July. Kyra Sedgwick's performance as Los Angeles Assistant Chief of Police Brenda Lee Johnson is the best part of the show: a girly-girl from Georgia out of her regional element and in a tough, traditionally male position, she wins the day in the interrogation room. and her wardrobe is terrific, too! the surrounding cast of characters are also well-developed. moreover, i think the show does the best job in recent memory of capturing LA's local color.

Memphis Beat - i've blogged about this show before. returns this tuesday, 14 june!

Rizzoli & Isles - returns 11 July. this is a buddy cop show, except that the buddies are women and only one is a cop; the other is a medical examiner. i like this show, but i don't love it. angie harmon is a good texan, so i always root for her. both stars are likable (the medical examiner is played by somebody i don't know), but the show needs to step it up conceptually this season in my opinion, to have any legs. in their favor is the fact that they're using this great Grace Potter & The Nocturnals song in their promos :)

Men of a Certain Age - already started. i understand what this show is about and i think the 3 leads are great, but i've only watched it a couple of times and haven't warmed up to it. maybe i identify too much with that demographic and would prefer not to see myself as pathetic as they are. the show gets great reviews, though.

Franklin & Bash - a buddy lawyer show, new this season and has already started. it's about two unorthodox lawyers (F. Lee Bailey meets Barnum & Bailey) working for a big law firm (malcolm mcdowell gets to ham it up as the firm's patriarch). i've seen the pilot and it's okay. not sure how much substance it will have.

Leverage - returns 26 June. a successful formula: a bunch of outcasts/outlaws team up to be do-gooders (think A-Team). i've only seen the show once. i prefer USA's take on this concept (see Burn Notice below) and Fox's (Human Target).

Falling Skies - a new show premiering 19 June. here's the concept: earth has been almost entirely wiped out by an alien attack, and this show focuses on a group of survivors who are trying to rebuild their part of civilization. Noah Wylie stars...i think he was in a hospital show. i've enjoyed books with an post-apocalyptic them (Alas, Babylon and The Stand, for two examples) but i'm not sure how it'll work in a TV format. we'll see.

USA: Characters Welcome

In Plain Sight - already started. i love this show about two US Marshals in the Witness Protection Service based in Albuquerque. i like the concept of what the Witness Protection Service does (i've used it in my stories), i like Albuquerque, and the stars are great. mary mccormack's character was perfectly described by somebody in a recent episode as "the snarky smirk in the leather jacket." she's all of that, and fun to watch. her partner, whimsically named "Marshall Mann," is the perfect foil: thoughtful, methodical, and full of arcane facts & trivia that drive his partner nuts.

Royal Pains - returns 29 June. this show is just a pleasant diversion. a nice doctor and his wacky brother playing concierge doctor to rich people in the Hamptons. not very deep, but entertaining.

Burn Notice - returns 23 June. a spy forced out of the business and forced to stay in Miami. like all the USA shows, there is a lot of good local color here. the cast is cool (you can never go wrong with bruce campbell, right?) and the show carries out the outcast-turned-samaritan concept well.

Covert Affairs - already started. season two of new CIA agent Annie Walker as she continues to adapt and excel in the spy business. kind of the exact opposite show of Burn Notice. i thought that season one was uneven and lacked substance, so we'll see what season two has in store.

Necessary Roughness - a new show, premiering 29 June. stars Callie Thorne as a psychotherapist whose new client is a professional football team in New York. haven't seen that before, so i'll give it a shot.

Suits - a new series, debuting 23 June. another lawyer buddy show. this time, only one is a real lawyer; the other is a savant who finds his skills useful in a law firm. to be honest, doesn't do much for me. i'm usually not a fan of legal shows (though i'm a big fan of USA's other legal show, Fairly Legal).

White Collar - returns tuesday, 14 June. i've never seen this show about a white collar criminal who now helps the feds solve other white collar crimes.