10 shows that could brighten your summer
In the dog days of summer, finding a good show to watch can be a real beach. ❚ Save for your America’s Got Talent or Game of Thrones- sized hits, the season is typically a time when networks dump their cruddy newcomers or burn off that one series you stopped watching years ago. But fortunately for those of us who prefer surfing channels instead of waves, some bright spots emerge in the months to come. We pick 10 new and returning TV offerings that are shore things.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix) May 30
After a lackluster Season 3, the Tina Fey-Robert Carlock comedy is back in fine, funny form for its fourth and final season (or some of it, anyway; the second half premieres later this year). New episodes pick up as the always cheery Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) starts her new job as a tech start-up’s HR manager, only to get sidetracked when an unauthorized documentary about the cult she escaped paints her in a false light. Kimmy’s struggle to tell her story is the focus of the season, which also deftly tackles sexual harassment and toxic masculinity in its own outlandish way. — Ryan
Pose (FX)
June 3 (Sundays, 9 ET/PT)
Ryan Murphy’s latest takes viewers back to New York City in 1980s and the world of drag balls, prostitution and Wall Street excess. Boasting the largest cast of transgender actors in regular roles, FX says, the series follows competing “houses,” or tight-knit communities of LGBTQ people who have often been rejected by their families, on the drag ball scene, judged by fashion, attitude and dance. The series also stars Kate Mara, Evan Peters and James Van Der Beek. — Lawler
Dietland (AMC) June 4 (Mondays, 9 ET/PT)
Based on Sarai Walker’s best-selling novel, this twisty dramedy doubles as feminist screed against the beauty industry and diet culture and a revenge fantasy in which perpetrators of sexual assault mysteriously wind up dead. It stars Joy Nash as Plum, a plussize writer who answers letters to the editor (Julianna Margulies) of a vapid beauty magazine. Plum’s life is unremarkable until she’s drawn into a secret resistance. Dietland’s wicked, quirky tone and magical realist style combine into something fascinating, like a mixture of MTV’s short-lived Sweet/ Vicious and Ugly Betty. — Lawler
Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger (Freeform)
June 7 (Thursdays, 8 ET/PT)
Marvel’s latest TV venture is right at home alongside Freeform’s slate of socially conscious dramas about young people. The comic adaptation follows Tandy Bowen (Olivia Holt) and Tyrone Johnson (Aubrey Joseph), teens from different backgrounds who discover they have connected superpowers: Tandy can emit light daggers, and Tyrone engulfs people in darkness and can teleport. The show, set in New Orleans, tries to modernize the characters, which, in the comics, were sometimes criticized for Dagger’s sexist costume and a racist portrayal of Cloak. — Lawler
The Bold Type (Freeform) June 12 (Tuesdays, 8 ET/PT)
This delightful dramedy about three women navigating friendship, romance and careers in their 20s was a surprise last year. What could easily have been a clichéd and cheesy romcom turned into one of the most accurate and empathetic portraits of Millennial women, exploring serious issues such as racial profiling and sexual assault. In the second season, Jane (Katie Stevens) navigates her job at a trendy start-up; Sutton (Meghann Fahy) takes on more responsibility at work; and Kat (Aisha Dee) introduces her girlfriend. Adena (Nikohl Boosheri), to her parents. — Lawler
Yellowstone (Paramount) June 20 (Wednesdays, 9 ET/PT)
Paramount Network’s latest foray into original programming sounds enticing, thanks in large part to Oscarnominated screenwriter Taylor Sheridan, who has captured the harsh realities of life in the modern West in Wind River and Hell or High Water. Yellowstone promises an equal amount of grit and high-stakes family drama: Kevin Costner stars as a steely patriarch whose ranch is threatened by developers, and Gil Birmingham is a Native American chief who’s hungry to reclaim his people’s land. — Ryan
GLOW (Netflix) June 29
Things are a little rocky for the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling in the second season of Netflix’s Spandex-filled comedy. After the wrestlers, including Ruth (Alison Brie) and Debbie (Betty Gilpin), made it through training last season, it’s time to get down to the business of making a weekly TV show, a prospect that’s more challenging and divisive than any of them might have imagined. The first season was about the women taking control of their bodies and personas onscreen, but this year they’re learning to take control of the careers as actresses behind the scenes, too. — Lawler
Sharp Objects (HBO) July 8 (Sundays, 9 ET/PT)
What better way to tide yourself over until Big Little Lies Season 2 than with another pulpy, female-led murder mystery? Adapted from Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn’s 2007 novel and directed by Lies’ Jean-Marc Vallée, the eight-episode series stars Amy Adams as journalist Camille Preaker, who returns to her hometown to cover the violent murder and disappearance of two teen girls. But she finds herself identifying with the victims too closely as ghosts from her past come back to haunt her. Patricia Clarkson, Elizabeth Perkins and Chris Messina co-star. — Ryan
Castle Rock (Hulu) July 25 (Wednesdays)
How would it look if fan-favorite Stephen King characters were set loose in the very same Maine town where many of his best horror-mystery novels are set? Something like this psychological thriller, executive-produced by J.J. Abrams, about a lawyer, Henry Deaver ( Moonlight’s André Holland), who returns to Castle Rock to represent a Shawshank prison inmate ( It’s Bill Skarsgård). If the Easter-egg-filled Super Bowl teaser was any indication, look for plenty of clues to unpack in the King multiverse, with a case that also features Carrie alum Sissy Spacek. — Ryan
Making It (NBC)
July 31 (Tuesdays, 10 ET/PT)
The next best thing to a Parks and Recreation revival: a reality competition hosted by Leslie and Ron themselves, Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman. Each episode features two challenges (one timed, one themed) as contestants compete in craft areas such as painting, drawing and dollmaking to be crowned the “Master Maker.” Given Poehler and Offerman’s infectious offscreen chemistry — and their Parks characters’ affinity for scrapbooking, quilting and woodworking — this sounds like the best invention since JJ’s Diner waffles. — Ryan