With the imminent conclusions of the current seasons of AMC’s Mad Men and HBO’s Game of Thrones, it might look as though we’re heading into a television no man’s land this summer.
Not so: while the broadcaster networks are airing their usual fare of reality competitions—So You Think You Can Dance, The Bachelorette, Hell’s Kitchen, and America’s Got Talent are all on the schedule—and second-rate fare (NBC’s Saving Hope, to name one), there is still a ton of original programming to be seen.
AMC’s Breaking Bad returns for the first half of its final season in July (you’ll have to wait until 2013 for the final eight episodes); Showtime brings back the Botwin clan for another season of Weeds and British expat TV writers on Episodes (both return on July 1); TNT serves up new episodes of Falling Skies (June 17) and Rizzoli & Isles (June 5); ABC Family delves deeper into the mysteries of Pretty Little Liars (June 5); and Starz offers more political drama on Boss (August 17). Tabloid fodder Charlie Sheen, meanwhile, returns to television with FX comedy Anger Management, beginning on June 28.
But what shows should you be putting on your TiVo’s Season Pass? Jace Lacob offers 14 new or notable shows, from the expected (True Blood) to the unusual (LinkTV’s Danish political drama Borgen and DirecTV’s Hit and Miss).
AMC ; DirecTV (2) ; HBO ; USA
Danish governmental potboiler Borgen (The Government), already a hit in its native Denmark as well as in the United Kingdom and France, returns for a second season of political intrigue. From the producers of Forbrydelsen (remade in the U.S. as The Killing), Borgen revolves around Birgitte Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudsen), Denmark’s fictional first female prime minister, and the public and private lives of the politicians and spin doctors around her, as well as the reporters who document every moment of the gamesmanship going on in Parliament and behind closed doors. Airing Stateside on the little-known LinkTV network—and available on DirecTV, Dish Network, and some cable operators—Borgen returns for a triumphant and riveting second season that finds Nyborg beginning another year in office as she attempts to juggle her fraught personal life with the needs of her administration and balance her moral code with the sacrifices necessary to run a nation. NBC is currently developing a U.S. remake with executive producer Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights), but be sure to catch the sensational original now. (Returns June 3 at 9 p.m.; episodes available online for two weeks after broadcast)
DR
The word “worthy” doesn’t typically come to mind when it comes to docusoaps, a reality subgenre that has spawned the zillion iterations of Real Housewives and Real World, but Sundance has a reality series that manages to be entertaining, provocative, and important. Push Girls follows the lives of four gorgeous women, each of whom is paralyzed either from the neck or the waist down. What follows is an examination of embracing life in the face of physical adversity and a poignant and sophisticated look at how society wrongly desexualizes the disabled. A sequence screened for critics at the Television Critics Association in January—in which one of the women slides into a swimming pool for the first time in over a decade—left the entire room engulfed in silence. A rare reality show that manages to celebrate, rather than exploit, its subjects, Push Girls is provocative and, yes, worthy television. (Launches June 4 at 10 p.m.)
Sundance
After a rocky season of witches, faeries, and vampire amnesia, HBO’s True Blood returns to Bon Temps for a fifth go-around, which will mark the final season of the show under the leadership of showrunner Alan Ball. The aftermath of the shooting of Tara (Rutina Wesley) and Sookie (Anna Paquin) killing Debbie Pelt will be dealt with immediately as well as the long-awaited return of Russell Edgington (Denis O’Hare). The show also will delve deeper into the vampire power structure, shining a light on the Vampire Authority. New cast members for Season 5 include Scott Foley (The Unit), Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Valentina Cervi (Zen), and Lucy Griffiths (Robin Hood). (Returns June 10 at 9 p.m.)
HBO
The latest show from Amy Sherman-Palladino contains several tropes familiar to devotees of Gilmore Girls. Idyllic small town populated by lovable eccentrics? Check. Sam Phillips musical cues? Check. The presence of Kelly Bishop? Check. These are likely to be major draws or deterrents, depending on how you felt about Gilmore Girls. The setup of Bunheads is slightly more complicated than the Stars Hollow-set dramedy: Michelle Simms (Sutton Foster), a former ballerina turned Vegas showgirl, impulsively marries a suitor (Alan Ruck) and sets off for a new life in Paradise, Calif., where she is forced into an uneasy alliance with her mother-in-law, imperious dance instructor Fanny Flowers (Bishop), and a mentoring role with Fanny’s young dancers. The series also stars Kaitlyn Jenkins, Julia Goldani Teiles, Bailey Buntain, and Emma Dumont, and features former Friday Night Lights star Stacey Oristano. (Launches June 11 at 9 p.m.)
ABC Family
No, it’s not a dream: TNT goes back to Southfork with a sequel to the original Dallas. Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy, and Linda Grey reprise their respective roles as J.R., Bobby, and Sue Ellen Ewing from the original Dallas, which ran for more than 350 episodes between 1978 and 1991 on CBS. They are joined by newcomers Josh Henderson, Jesse Metcalfe, Jordana Brewster, Julia Gonzalo, and Brenda Strong for a whole new series about the betrayals, ambitions, and scandals of the wealthy Texas oil clan. Whether this cable drama can recapture the magic of the CBS prime-time soap remains to be seen, but fans of the original will definitely want to check out the latest iteration. (Launches June 13 at 9 p.m.)
TNT
From creator Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, The Social Network) comes new drama The Newsroom, which revolves around a cable news anchor (Jeff Daniels) who has been playing it safe his entire career, his newly hired executive producer (Emily Mortimer), and the staff of the titular newsroom as they attempt to recount the day’s events while faced with enormous corporate and commercial hurdles, as well as their own internal dynamics. The rest of the cast includes Sam Waterston, Allison Pill, Dev Patel, Olivia Munn, John Gallagher Jr., and Thomas Sadoski. This isn’t Sorkin’s first foray into the behind-the-scenes world of television; his last effort was Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which offered a through-the-keyhole look at a late night sketch comedy show…and lasted one season. Whether his latest show will replicate the flaws of Studio 60 or reach the heights of The West Wing is decidedly unclear. (Launches June 24 at 10 p.m.)
HBO
If you’re not already watching Louis C.K.’s mordant and brilliant observational comedy Louie already, there’s very little I can do to convince you otherwise now. But if you’re not watching Louie, you’re missing out on one of the most astute and painfully realized depictions of midlife urban manhood on television, one that’s not afraid to face hard truths and awkward situations head on. In the hands of Louis C.K. and FX, this makes for an extraordinary venture into the comedy of the uncomfortable, one that’s as likely to make you laugh as it is to make you wince. (Returns June 28 at 10:30 p.m.)
FX
Former Doctor Who star David Tennant narrates BBC mockumentary comedy Twenty Twelve, about the Olympic Deliverance Commission (ODC), the team responsible for organizing the 2012 London Olympics, and the publicity obstacles, personal issues, and logistical nightmares that get in their way as the countdown to the Olympic Games gets under way. From creator John Morton (People Like Us), Twenty Twelve boasts a cast that includes Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), Jessica Hynes (Spaced), Olivia Coleman (Peep Show), Amelia Bullmore (I’m Alan Partridge), Vincent Franklin (The Thick of It), and Karl Theobald (Green Wing). (Launches June 28 at 11:59 p.m.)
BBC America
One of the great mysteries surrounding John Thaw’s Detective Chief Inspector Morse for much of his television career was the identity of his first name, revealed finally in the 11th season of the mystery series as Endeavour. This prequel to the much-beloved and still very much missed PBS mainstay Inspector Morse follows the master detective as a young copper in 1965, newly returned to Oxford, where he attended university, as a detective constable. Shaun Evans (Ashes to Ashes) takes over the role of Morse made famous by Thaw, while Thaw’s daughter Abigail appears in the prequel as Oxford Mail editor Dorothea Frazil. (And, yes, Morse’s Jaguar Mark 2 makes an appearance here as well.) It’s also a historic moment: Endeavour arrives as PBS celebrates the 25th anniversary of Morse’s debut. If that weren’t enough Oxford crime, Masterpiece Mystery presents a new season of Morse spin-off Inspector Lewis, with four new crimes for Kevin Whately’s Robbie Lewis and Laurence Fox’s James Hathaway to solve. (Endeavour airs July 1; Inspector Lewis airs Sundays July 8-29. Check your local listings for details.)
ITV / Masterpiece
USA’s slick and stylish caper show White Collar returns for its fourth season. When we last saw Neal Caffrey (Matthew Bomer), he had fled the country with Mozzie (Willie Garson) at the behest of his partner, FBI Agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay), lest Neal be shipped off to Washington D.C., where he’d be forced to work with Agent Kramer (Beau Bridges) and have no chance at freedom. Whether Peter still has a job at the FBI’s White Collar Crime Division, or whether there is any hope of rescuing the once promising partnership between him and Neal, remains uncertain. New faces for the fourth season include Treat Williams, Mekhi Phifer, Gregg Henry, Mia Maestro, Laura Vandervoort, Michael Weston, and Rebecca Mader. (Returns July 10 at 9 p.m.)
USA
The serpentine legal thriller returns for a fifth and final season that explores the notion of governmental and corporate transparency. Glenn Close and Rose Byrne reprise their roles as Patty Hewes and Ellen Parsons, whose complex and often chaotic student/mentor dynamic has powered four seasons of Damages. On opposite sides of a landmark case involving a WikiLeaks-like website and investment banking, these two adversaries will have a final showdown before the series comes to an end. As the two square off, preparing to take their case to court, there is far more riding on the outcome than just their careers…and both Ellen and Patty may be willing to do anything to win. Close and Byrne will be joined by a stellar cast that includes Jenna Elfman, Ryan Phillippe, Janet McTeer, John Hannah, Chris Messina, Judd Hirsch, M. Emmett Walsh, Victor Garber, William Sadler, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Gillian Alexy, and Zachary Booth. (Returns July 11 at 9 p.m.)
DirecTV
Former Big Love star (and Academy Award nominee) Chloë Sevigny stars as Mia, a pre-op transsexual hitman in the provocative and charged Sky Atlantic drama Hit & Miss, from creator Paul Abbott (State of Play, Shameless). When Mia, a former traveler, receives a letter from an old lover, she learns that she has an 11-year-old son and has been named legal guardian to four children. Attempting to balance suddenly having a family with ending the lives of others, Mia discovers that no woman can have it all, even one who used to be a man. This is one series that doesn’t pull any punches, depicting both the physicality of Mia’s transsexual identity and state between genders and the brutality and violence of her profession. The result is a transfixing and arresting drama about two worlds of which we rarely see the inside. (Launches July 11 at 10 p.m.)
DirecTV
The six-hour political miniseries, from creators Greg Berlanti and Laurence Mark, centers on a former first family, led by Sigourney Weaver’s former first lady, Elaine Barrish, who is perhaps roughly inspired by Hillary Clinton. Now the U.S. secretary of state, Elaine is recently divorced from the former POTUS and attempts to keep her family—each of whom struggles with their own inner demons—afloat while dealing with the highly politicized international crises facing the State Department and a journalist who is out to destroy her. The highly anticipated miniseries also stars Carla Gugino, Ciarán Hinds, James Wolk, Sebastian Stan, Ellen Burstyn, Adrian Pasdar, Dylan Baker, and Brittany Ishibashi. Definitely one to watch out for. (Launches July 15 at 10 p.m.)
USA
The final season of AMC’s award-winning drama Breaking Bad will be split into two halves, with eight episodes airing this summer and the final eight episodes airing…in summer 2013. While there is little information about the final season, here’s what we do know: Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) are back, Gus (Giancarlo Esposito) is—POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT—dead, and there is likely to be lots of violence ahead as the final fates of the characters move into focus. Viewer discretion is most definitely advised. (Returns July 15 at 10 p.m.)
AMC
