SOME LIKE IT HOT
Small-screen fans can start planning for a sizzling season of summer TV,
Summer doesn’t arrive for another six weeks. But with some of your favourite shows wrapping up for the year, it’s time to start thinking about which series you’re going to want to binge watch when the weather (finally), starts to warm up.
If you’re a fan of the small screen, you already know there’s no quiet time when it comes to television and the days between now and Labour Day will prove to be no exception.
We know you won’t have time to sit indoors and watch TV all summer long, so we’ve selected the series we think are worth checking in over the next few months.
PATRICK MELROSE
(Limited Series airs Saturdays on CraveTV)
Fresh from battling Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, Benedict Cumberbatch stars as a man struggling through severe substance abuse in New York before he seeks redemption back home in Britain. Adapted by David Nicholls (One Day), the five-part series also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh, Anna Madeley, Blythe Danner, Allison Williams, Pip Torrens, Jessica Raine, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Holliday Grainger, Indira Varma, and Celia Imrie.
THE BACHELORETTE
(Season 14 première May 28 on ABC, City)
After Becca Kufrin’s happily ever after with Arie Luyendyk Jr. was abruptly cancelled in what was probably the most awkward moment in television history (Arie broke up with Becca just weeks after proposing to her on the finale of The Bachelor), the spurned sweetheart will be back looking for love. Will the Midwestern gal be able to pick up the pieces after such a heart-wrenching breakup? Is it wrong to say we hope not?
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
(Season 5 première May 29 on Netflix)
Five years after Season 4 debuted on the streaming service, the dysfunctional Bluth clan are back together, and finally getting the award they think they deserve – for family of the year.
WORLD OF DANCE
(Season 2 première May 29 on NBC, CTV) In case So You Think You Can Dance (which returns to Fox for
Season 15 on June 4), isn’t enough cha-cha for ya, J. Lo will be back alongside Derek Hough and NEYO – with host/mentor Jenna Dewan – for another season of World of Dance. The series brings the world’s elite dancers together to compete in epic battles for a $1 million prize.
REVERIE
(Series première May 30 on NBC)
The new thriller follows Mara Kint (Sarah Shahi), a former hostage negotiator and expert on human behaviour, who is brought in to save ordinary people who have lost themselves in an immersive, highly advanced virtual-reality world.
MASTERCHEF
(Season 9 première May 30 on Fox and CTV)
Foul-mouthed chef Gordon Ramsay, acclaimed chef Aaron Sanchez, and renowned restaurateur Joe Bastianich return to put another group of home cooks through the ringer in hopes of turning one of them into a culinary master.
UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT
(Season 4 première May 30 on Netflix)
Netflix’s hit comedy, now in its fourth season, returns – this time following Kimmy (Ellie Kemper), and Jacqueline (Jane Krakowski), as they eagerly start their new careers. The first six episodes start streaming on May 30, and the second half of the season will debut later in 2018. According to Variety, the series will end after this season, so get your hankies ready.
DIETLAND
(Series première June 4 on AMC)
Sarai Walker’s debut novel gets the small-screen treatment with The Mindy Project’s Joy Nash starring as Plum Kettle, a ghostwriter for the editor (played by Julianna Margulies), of one of New York’s hottest fashion magazines.
CLOAK & DAGGER
(Series première June 7 on ABC Spark)
Marvel goes for the teen crowd with the story of Tandy Bowen (Olivia Holt), and Tyrone Johnson (Aubrey Joseph), – two highschoolers who find themselves mysteriously linked to one another after they acquire new superpowers.
GOLIATH
(Season 2 première June 15 on Amazon Prime Video)
Golden Globe winner Billy Bob Thornton returns as L.A. lawyer Billy McBride who, after winning a huge verdict in the Borns Tech case, is reluctantly pulled back into the legal sphere when his friend’s 16-year-old son is arrested for a double homicide. However, as Billy, Patty (Nina Arianda from Florence Foster Jenkins), and the team start to investigate what appears to be an open and shut murder case, they begin to untangle a deadly conspiracy where drugs, real estate and politics intermingle.
SHADES OF BLUE
(Season 3 première June 17 on NBC)
The Jennifer Lopez-Ray Liotta cop drama is turning in its shield at the end of its 10-episode third season. “I have enjoyed producing and starring in this beautifully complicated world and playing such an empowering yet flawed character – a woman, a detective but, first and foremost, a mother,” Lopez said in a statement.
LUKE CAGE
(Season 2 première June 22 on Netflix)
Apparently Thanos’s finger snap didn’t kill Luke Cage. After clearing his name, the hero with the unbreakable skin is back, now a celebrity on the streets of Harlem with a reputation that’s bulletproof. But with the rise of a formidable new foe – the indestructible Bushmaster – Luke is forced to confront what it truly means to be a hero (especially when half of them are gone). This season will also feature the super strong Misty Knight (Simone Missick), who busts out the bionic arm her character sports in the Marvel comics.
THE AFFAIR
(Season 4 première June 24 on CraveTV)
When season 4 picks up on June 17, Noah (Dominic West), Helen (Maura Tierney), Alison (Ruth Wilson), and Cole (Joshua Jackson), will be in their own “orbits, alienated from each other, spinning further and further away from where they all began” as the latest official plot synopsis for the Golden Globe-winning series says. “Every character is involved in a new relationship, forcing them each to decide if they ’re ready and willing to leave the past behind for good – with a season about new beginnings, tragic ends and the everelusive possibility of forgiveness.”
PREACHER
(Season 3 première June 24 on AMC)
West Texas preacher Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper), his badass ex-girlfriend Tulip (Academy Award nominee Ruth Negga), and an Irish vampire named Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun), are still on a road trip in search of God as the third season of the series based on the Garth Ennis comic returns. This time Jesse returns to the place he’s avoided his whole life – the Louisiana Plantation where he was raised.
GLOW
(Season 2 première June 29 on Netflix)
There’ll be more blood, guts and suplexes as Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin and the rest of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling return for another swing in the ring. Season 2 follows the women of GLOW as they confront the good, the bad and the ugly realities of their newfound fame.
THE AMAZING RACE CANADA
(Season 6 première July on CTV)
The most-watched Canadian series of the year is slated to return this summer to CTV with host Jon Montgomery welcoming a new cast of racers to the starting line. Season 6 will take viewers across Canada and to new far-flung destinations as it gets set to celebrate the heroes among us.
SHARP OBJECTS
(Series première July on HBO Canada)
From the twisted mind of Gone Girl scribe Gillian Flynn comes the eight-episode adaptation of her first bestselling book, Sharp Objects. Amy Adams stars as reporter Camille Preaker, who returns to her small hometown to report on the murders of two preteen girls. In the process she ends up unearthing a psychological puzzle from her past. Patricia Clarkson and It breakout actress Sophia Lillis also star, with Jean Marc-Vallée (Big Little Lies) directing.
MAKING IT
(Series première July 31 on NBC)
It’ll be a Parks & Rec reunion when Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman team up for a DIY crafting competition show. The six-episode series follows eight contestants showing off their talents in front of Poehler, Offerman and judges Simon Doonan and Dayna Isom Johnson.
BETTER CALL SAUL
(Season 4 première August on AMC)
Bob Odenkirk returns in the Breaking Bad prequel story that is slowly unveiling how Jimmy McGill (Saul Goodman), became Albuquerque’s most notorious criminal lawyer.
THE INNOCENTS
(Series première Aug. 24 on Netflix)
Young love never goes out of style, right? When teenagers Harry (Percelle Ascott), and June (Sorcha Groundsell), run away from their repressive families to be together, they’re derailed by an extraordinary discovery – June’s ability to shape-shift. And as the star-crossed lovers struggle to control this strange new power, it turns out that – surprise – they may not be alone.
JACK RYAN
(Series première Aug. 31 on Amazon Prime Video)
After a failed attempt to reboot the character on the big screen, Prime Video is bringing best-selling author Tom Clancy’s legendary character Jack Ryan to television for the first time. John Krasinski stars as the titular up-and-coming CIA analyst as he’s thrust into a dangerous field assignment for the first time. This time Ryan uncovers a new breed of terrorism that threatens destruction on a global scale. The eight-hour series has already been greenlit for a second season.