Here’s your summer TV preview.
Summer brings a wealth of intriguing new shows worth staying indoors for
It figures to be a very different kind of summer this time around. Though the calendar — and weather — indicate that it’s time to embrace some outdoorsy fun, many of us will still be spending plenty of time close to home. Fortunately, television programmers are providing lots of new content to keep us occupied, including a fresh take on “Perry Mason,” a rousing performance of “Hamilton,” a traveling culinary series hosted by Padma Lakshmi and much more. And, yes, there’s even another new streaming service on its way as NBCUniversal’s Peacock gets set for a July debut. With all that in mind, here are 15 new summer offerings that have us intrigued.
“LENOX HILL” >>
Arriving at a time when our admiration of frontline health care workers is off the charts, this documentary series takes an intimate look at four New York doctors as they navigate the day-to-day challenges of tending to their patients while struggling to balance their professional and personal lives. It is named for the Upper East Side hospital where the series takes place. (Available now on Netflix)
“ARTEMIS FOWL“>>
Author Eoin Colfer’s beloved kid hero (Ferdia Shaw) comes to life in this family adventure film directed by Kenneth Branagh. The story follows Artemis, a 12-year-old genius, as he desperately tries to save his abducted father. In order to pay his ransom, he must infiltrate an ancient, underground civilization populated by powerful fairies. (Debuts Friday, Disney Plus)
“CROSSING SWORDS” >>
This wildly offbeat medieval stop-animation series is full of cute, Lego-like characters, but it’s aimed at adults. It follows a kindhearted peasant named Patrick who dreams of being a knight. Unfortunately, the kingdom is a cesspool of depravity. Even the queen has her own sex dungeon. (Debuts Friday, Hulu)
“MASTERPIECE: BEECHAM HOUSE” >>
Viewers are whisked back to 1795 India in this lush six-parter. It’s a time before British rule, when the Mughal Empire was on its last legs and incredible wealth was up for grabs. Determined to start a new life, former East India Company soldier John Beecham (Tom Bateman) buys a grand mansion in Delhi. There, he and his extended family soon find themselves caught up in an intriguing mix of greed, treachery and romantic entanglements. (10 p.m. Sunday, PBS) Producers insist this sixpart documentary series represents the most comprehensive examination — in a “visual medium” — of Charles Manson and the horrific crimes committed by his cultish followers. It features never-before-accessed interviews with former family members and journalists who were first on the scene and in the courtroom. (9 p.m. Sunday, Epix)
“TASTE THE NATION WITH PADMA LAKSHMI” >>
The cookbook author, “Top Chef” host and producer takes viewers on a journey across America, exploring the rich and diverse food culture of various immigrant groups, and seeking out the people who have so heavily shaped what American food is today. (June 19, Hulu)
“LOVE, VICTOR” >>
This young adult dramedy follows a teen boy (Michael Cimino) on a journey of selfdiscovery. After his family moves from Texas to Atlanta, he finds himself adjusting to a new city and high school while exploring his sexual orientation and facing challenges at home. The series is set in the world of the 2018 groundbreaking film “Love, Simon.” (June 19, Hulu)
“PERRY MASON” >>
This is not your father’s courtroom drama. Matthew Rhys (“The Americans”) plays the title character in an eight-episode limited series that follows the origins of Erle Stanley Gardner’s legendary criminal defense lawyer. Living paycheck-to-paycheck as a low-rent private investigator in Depression-era Los Angeles, Mason is haunted by his wartime experiences in France and suffering the effects of a broken marriage when a major case comes his way. Tatiana Maslany and John Lithgow also star. (9 p.m. June 21, HBO)
“I’LL BE GONE IN THE DARK” >>
Based on the true-crime book of the same name, this six-part documentary series explores Michelle McNamara’s investigation into the violent world of the serial predator she dubbed the Golden State Killer. McNamara lived a quiet life as a writer, mother and wife, preferring to stay on the periphery of the Hollywood scene of her comedian husband, Patton Oswalt. But at night, as her family slept, she indulged her obsession with unsolved cases, beginning her probe into the man who terrorized California in the 1970s and ’80s and is responsible for 50 home-invasion rapes and 12 murders. She died in 2016, two years before Joseph DeAngelo, a former cop, was arrested. (June 28, HBO)
“HAMILTON” >>
Couldn’t make it to New York to see Lin-Manuel Miranda’s captivating, hip-hop infused stage sensation about one of America’s founding fathers? No worries. Arriving just in time for the Fourth of July weekend, this “live capture” of a performance featuring Miranda and the original cast will put you in the room where it premiered. It was filmed at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway in June 2016 and the musical continues to reverberate now — in a world turned upside down. (July 3, Disney Plus)
“THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB” >>
Ann M. Martin’s bestselling books have been adapted for the screen before — via a short-lived series in 1990 and a feature film in 1995. But this fresh production looks to bring the characters to a new generation. The saga follows the adventures of a group of middle schoolers who launch a babysitting business in the fictional town of Stoneybrook, Connecticut. Producers say the show will “champion friendship, female empowerment and entrepreneurship.” (July 3, Netflix)
“TOUGH AS NAILS” >>
Phil Keoghan, host of “The Amazing Race,” celebrates everyday hardworking Americans in this competition series. He ventures out to realworld job sites, asking employees to engage in tests of strength, endurance, life skills and mental toughness. At stake? A prize of $200,000. (9 p.m. July 8, CBS)
“LITTLE VOICE” >>
Described as “an intensely romantic story,” this series from executive producer J.J. Abrams focuses on a talented young singer (Brittany O’Grady) in New York City who is struggling to fulfill her dreams while dealing with rejection, love and complicated family issues. The show features original music from Sara Bareilles. (July 10, Apple TV Plus)
“BRAVE NEW WORLD” >>
Aldous Huxley’s 1932 dystopian classic gets a 21st-century update. It imagines a utopian society — New London — that has achieved peace and stability through the banning of monogamy, privacy, money, family and history. But it’s on a collision course with the citizens of the brutal Savage Lands. The cast includes Alden Ehrenreich, Jessica Brown Findlay, Demi Moore and Harry Lloyd. (July 15, Peacock)
“THE GOOD LORD BIRD” >>
Ethan Hawke stars as abolitionist John Brown in this humorous and dramatic limited series based on James McBride’s acclaimed novel. It’s told from the point of view of “Onion,” a fictional enslaved boy who becomes a member of Brown’s motley family of abolitionist soldiers battling slavery in Kansas, and eventually finds himself in the famous 1859 Army depot raid at Harpers Ferry. Oakland native Daveed Diggs plays Frederick Douglass. (10 p.m. Aug. 9, Showtime)