Must-See Summer TV Shows That You’ll Want to Ditch the Pool for

By Ed Gross June 22, 2017

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summer,
TV

If you’re a fan of Stephen King, superheroes, laughter, or even some good old cartoons, television has got you covered this summer.

In fact, this really is an incredible time to be a television fan, because there is a seemingly never-ending supply of shows to watch.

Not so long ago, we’d get our TV seasons from roughly September/October to May, and then we’d be stuck with reruns until the new season began. But that was in the ancient days of only a handful of networks. Now, of course, we’ve got those networks, various cable channels, and streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. And rather than just airing reruns of network shows, which is also the way it used to be, all of them are determined to capture our attention with originals.

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Fans of King or horror in general? There are shows like The Mist, Mr. Mercedes, Midnight, Texas; or the animated Castlevania. Can’t get enough of those superheroes on the big screen? Netflix brings four of them together for The Defenders, while Amazon has the parody of the genre, The Tick. The laughs are brought by Friends From College, I’m Sorry, Marlon and Raven’s Home. And then there’s the drama of Kathy Bates‘ show Disjointed and the hard-hitting Snowfall.

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From there, see if the Earth can be saved from impending doom in Salvation, or travel the globe on an adventure before that doom arrives with Hooten & The Lady. Feel like a trip back to the past? There’s The Last Tycoon, or maybe you’d prefer a good old fashioned manhunt, like in Manhunt: Unabomber.

There are so many TV choices, and the above is only a sampling.

Scroll through the gallery below for a look ahead to our television-filled summer.

This post was written by Ed Gross. For more, check out our brother site FHM.

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Summer Series Mist

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The Mist (June 22, Spike) Stephen King’s 1980 novella "The Mist" has managed an awful lot of mileage since its publication, not only for the horror anthologies Dark Force and his own Skeleton Crew, but as a 2007 film directed by Frank Darabont or this new series as well. The concept is pretty simple: a mysterious mist envelopes a Maine town, unleashing horrors on the populace, and what follows is an exploration of how the characters respond to them. Like Under The Dome, it’s a cool concept that seems to have a limited shelf life, and the question will be how much mileage they can get out of it without diluting the power of the source material.
Summer Series Glow
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GLOW (June 23, Netflix) In this series set in the 1980s, Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie) is an out-of-work Los Angeles actress desperate for a break. It’s arguable whether or not that break comes in the form of an equally desperate director of “B” films, Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron), who is inspired to get Ruth and a dozen other “Hollywood Misfits” to become a part of female wrestling, having them go full spandex in the process.
Summer Series Hotel Transylvania

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Hotel Transylvania: The Series (June 25, Disney) Dracula’s daughter, Mavis, takes center stage in this prequel series to the CG animated films. With Dracula away on “vampire business,” the teenage Mavis decides to put her plans for running the hotel into effect. Enlisting the aid of her best friends Hank N Stein, Wendy Blob and Pedro, she goes into action — until the arrival of Aunt Lydia, Drac’s older and considerably meaner sister.
Summer Series Tales

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Tales (June 27, BET) The BET network describes this series as a scripted anthology of “song stories” that weave classic and current hip-hop songs into “captivating visual narrative from the lyrics of some of hip-hop’s greatest hits… Each song’s lyrics are imagined as cinematic adventures with different directors… Each week, the suspenseful stories reimagine the meaning of each original song and take viewers on an exciting adventure into some of the stories that play inspiration to the most iconic hip-hop hits.”
Summer Series Gypsy

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Gypsy (June 30, Netflix) Gypsy sees Naomi Watts (most recently on screen in The Book Of Henry) as therapist Jean Holloway, who develops intimate and potentially dangerous relationships with her patients. Billy Cuddup is her (no doubt soon-to-be emotionally suffering) husband, Michael.
Summer Series Snowfall

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Snowfall (July 5, FX) The year is 1983, the city Los Angeles. The first crack cocaine epidemic is spreading and this series looks at its impact on the city’s culture. Several characters are “doomed to intersect,” among them Franklin Saint (Damson Idris) as a 19-year-old drug dealer; Gustavo Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), a Mexican wrestler; Lucia Villanueva (Emily Rios), daughter of a Mexican drug lord; and Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson), an operative the CIA.
Summer Series Castlevania

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Castlevania (July 7, Netflix) Even this close to its debut date there isn’t a lot known about this animated adaptation of the game series, beyond the fact that it is supposed to focus on that franchise’s Belmont clan. According to Netflix, it “follows the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, trying to save Eastern Europe from extinction at the hand of Vlad Dracula Tepe himself.” Producer Adi Shankar, who enlisted the aid of writer Garth Ennis, says, “This is very much Castlevania done in the vein of Game Of Thrones.” Uh-oh, that's how the recent Wizard Of Oz series Emerald City was described as well. Oops.
Summer Series Bold Type

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The Bold Type (July 11, Freeform) Inspired by the life of Joanna Coles, former editor-in-chief of Cosmo, at the center of the show are three friends (played by Katie Stevens, Aisha Dee and Meghann Fahy), who work for the global magazine Scarlet. The show, according to Freeform, “will explore their outrageous lives in New York City as they learn to find their own voices and explore their sexuality, identity, love and fashion.”
Summer Series Im Sorry

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I’m Sorry (July 12, TruTV) Andrea Savage, who created the series, stars as Andrea (we'd imagine she won't have problem remembering her character’s name), a wife, mother and comedy writer who seems to exude confidence, but is a basket of insecurities and neuroses coupled with an inner immaturity that she can’t seem to get a handle on. Also starring are Tom Everett Scott as her husband, Mike; and Olive Petrucci as daughter Amelia.
Summer Series Salvation

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Salvation (July 12, CBS) This one kind of sounds like a TV version of the feature film Armageddon. An asteroid is discovered on a direct heading for Earth and should be here in about six months (which is before Avengers: Infinity War — damn!). The public is kept in the dark while different factions work up a possible solution. Tech billionaire Darius Tanz work with MIT grad student Liam Cole and aspiring science fiction writer Jillian to come up with a plan. At the same time, the government is coming up with its own plan to deflect the asteroid. We’re predicting that both sides will have to work together to make it happen. Or we’re all gonna be dust.
Summer Series Hooten And The Lady
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Hooten & The Lady (July 13, CW) Although they start off as reluctant partners, adventurers Ulysses Hooten (Michael Landes) and Lady Alex Lindo-Parker (Ophelia Lovibond) seek out the world’s greatest mysteries, exploring the world of the mythical and the legendary. Describes Wikipedia, “They travel from the snowy Himalayan Mountains in an attempt to track down the only scroll written by Buddha, to the catacombs of Rome to find the Libri Sibyllini, and to Alexandra on the hunt for Alexander The Great’s lost tomb.” Sounds like the sort of thing that would get Indiana Jones’ rocks off.
Summer Series Friends From College

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Friends From College (July 14, Netflix) A group of friends who attended Harvard together are trying their best to deal with life in their forties. Says IMDB, “With interwoven and oftentimes complicated relationships with one another, Friends From College is a comedic exploration of old friendships, former romantic entanglements and balancing adult life with nostalgia for the past.” Highlighted by a great cast that includes Fred Savage (he was so cute on The Wonder Years), Cobie Smulders, Keegan-Michael Key, Annie Parisse, Nat Faxon and Jae Suh Park.
Summer Series.Ravens Home

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Raven’s Home (July 21, Disney) It’s been eight years since the Disney Channel series That’s So Raven concluded its run, so the timing seems right for this spin-off series. Flash forward and Raven Baxter (Raven-Symone) and Chelsea Daniels (Anneliese van der Poi) are both divorced and pooling their resources by bringing their families together under one roof. Things get out of hand when Raven and Chelsea realize that Raven’s son, Booker (Isaac Ryan Brown) has inherited his mom’s psychic abilities. Expect some outrageous situations (well, as outrageous as Disney gets).
Summer Series Midnight Texas

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Midnight, Texas (July 24, NBC) If you’re one of those people who miss HBO’s True Blood, then you may be able to get your fix again, though admittedly without much of the graphic nudity and blood splatter. Like that show, this one is based on the novels of Charlaine Harris and viewers can expect, according to the network, vampires, witches, psychics and hitmen who come to the town of Midnight, Texas, “a safe haven for those who are different.” Yeah, probably not.
Summer Series Somewhere Between

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Somewhere Between, July 24, ABC This one sounds really intriguing. Paula Patton is a mother who knows without a shadow of a doubt that her daughter is going to be killed, and all of the details surrounding her death with the exception of who the murderer is. Desperate to keep her daughter safe, she is nonetheless terrified that everything is moving towards what she has foreseen. Sounds chilling. Patton, of course, co-starred in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.
Summer Series Last Tycoon

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The Last Tycoon (July 28, Amazon Prime Video) Matt Bomer (White Collar) stars as Monroe Stahr in this TV series based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s final novel. Considered Hollywood’s golden boy, Stahr finds himself in battle against studio boss Pat Brady (Kelsey Grammer), a father figure to him, for the soul of their studio. Things are set in a post-Great Depression world where there is a growing influence of Nazi Germany. Says Amazon, “The Last Tycoon illuminates the passions, violence and towering ambition of 1930s Hollywood.”
Summer Series Room 104

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Room 104 (July 28, HBO) This comedy anthology series tells a variety of stories over its first season run, all of them set in Room 104 of what is considered to be an average American Motel. Basically each episode will tell the story of one person who stays in that room. Sounds like a low budget show to us (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
Summer Series Manhunt Unabomber

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Manhunt: Unabomber (August 1, Discovery Channel) Discovery, which usually goes non-fiction with their series, decides to go the scripted route with this show that looks at the hunt for Unabomber Ted Kacynzki (Paul Bettany—Vision from the Marvel films) through the eyes of FBI profiler Jim “Fitz” Fitzgerald (Sam Worthington).
Summer Series Sinner

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The Sinner (August 2, USA) The first season consists of eight episodes and there will be an ending to the initial storyline. Jessica Biel plays Cora Tannetti, a young mother who commits a public act of violence, but has no idea why she did it. If you want to spoil it for yourself, check out Petra Hammesfahr’s novel of the same name. Although there’s the distinct possibility that spoiling it could be a sin.
Summer Series What Would Diplo Do

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What Would Diplo Do (August 3, Viceland) What a fine young man Dawson has become! James Van Der Beek serves as writer, executive producer and star of this fictional version of the life of acclaimed DJ Diplo. Says Deadline, this is a “collection of parables about life as told through the eyes of a guy who can bring 60,000 people to their feet… but kind of sucks one-on-one.”
Summer Series Mr Mercedes

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Mr. Mercedes (August 9, Audience) Stephen King is certainly on a roll this year (like he hasn’t been on one every year since the 1970s), and this is yet another adaptation. Based on his 2014 novel, the series follows the actions of demented killer Brady Hartsfield, who taunts retired police detective Bill Hodges with a series of lurid letter and emails, forcing the ex-cop to undertake a private—and potentially felonious—crusade to bring the killer to justice before he is able to strike again. Penny Dreadful’s Harry Treadaway is Harsfield, Brendan Gleason is Hodges.
Summer Series Get Shorty

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Get Shorty (August 13, Epix) Elmore Leonard’s novel has already been a hit movie starring John Travolta and Danny DeVito, and now it’s become a television series starring Chris Dowd and Ray Romano. Describes Epix, “Miles Daly works as muscle for a murderous crime ring in Nevada. For the sake of his daughter, he attempts to change professions and become a movie producer, laundering money through a Hollywood film. But instead of leaving the criminal world behind, he accidentally brings it with him to Los Angeles.”
Summer Series Marlon

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Marlon (August 16, NBC) Loosely inspired by the real life of star Marlon Wayans, this update to the classic family comedy centers on a loving (but immature) father committed to co-parenting his two kids with his very-together ex-wife. While his misguided fatherly advice, unstoppable larger-than-life personality and unpredictable Internet superstardom might get in the way sometimes, for Marlon family really does come first. Other stars are Essence Atkins, Notlim Taylor, Amir O’Neil, Bresha Webb and Diallo Riddle.
Summer Series The Defenders

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The Defenders (August 18, Netflix) As with most things Marvel, details on this one are under wraps. We do know that the eight-hour event series will bring together Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdoch/Daredevil, Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones, Mike Colter’s Luke Cage and Finn Jones’ Danny Rand/Iron Fist, as they go up against uber villain Sigourney Weaver. Not that we’re saying Sigourney is evil. By all accounts she seems perfectly lovely, we just don’t know a lot about her character.
Summer Series Disjointed

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Disjointed (August 25, Netflix) This one is worth checking out based on the pedigree of the talent involved. Chuck Lorre, co-creator of The Big Bang Theory and Mom among others, and actress Kathy Bates. As Stan Lee would say, ‘Nuff said. However, we’ll say more. Bates play Ruth, a woman who is finally achieving her dream of owning a Los Angeles cannabis dispensary, and running it involves various family and friends. For his part, Lorre is always pushing the network envelope with his shows. It will be interesting to see if he pushes even further here.
Summer Series The Tick

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The Tick (August 25, Netflix) You just can't keep Big Blue down as Ben Edlund's creation returns for his third adaptation (having starred in animation and live action before this). Little is known about the direction of the series itself, but the pilot suggests a surreal and wacky take on the ever-burgeoning superhero genre. Peter Serafinowicz is the title character, Griffin Newman his sidekick Arthur Everest, and Jackie Earle Haley is nemesis The Terror.