Summer TV Offers Some Treasures If You Look
Normally Summer television is a sea of reruns from late May to early September.
A new characteristic of Summer TV these days is reality shows, and there are plenty to be found.
You can follow along with the adventures of "John and Kate Plus 8" on TLC (or more accurately John minus Kate), or revel in the fact that you aren't actually one of the contestants whose pratfalls provide endless entertainment on ABC's "Wipeout.
" One bright spot in reality TV is new episodes of "Ghost Hunters" on Sci-Fi.
Now back to scripted TV.
HBO's take on the current vampire craze started by "Twilight" is back for a second season.
"True Blood" returns June 14.
"Mental" is a medical mystery drama featuring Dr.
Jack Gallagher (Chris Vance) as an unorthodox psychiatrist who becomes Director of Mental Health Services at a Los Angeles hospital (think "House" lite.
) "The Goode Family" on ABC is an animated sitcom from Mike Judge of King of the Hill and Beavis and Butt-head fame.
This would edgy if it was 1994, but in 2009 it comes off as a "Family Guy" clone.
ABC also offers "Dating in the Dark," a new reality dating series will follow single men and women as they go through all the usual motions of dating without ever actually seeing each other.
(Think a twisted a variation on The Dating Game for the 21st century.
) TNT serves up the fifth season of "The Closer" with Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson.
The first episode focused on a quadruple murder that may be linked to an FBI case, in other words, business as usual for this refreshing crime series.
CBS will run the remaining episodes of "Harper's Island" (already moved from Thursdays to Saturdays) up through mid-July.
The who-done-it about a series of murders on an island full of wedding guests and an about to be bride and groom (none of whom have sense enough to flee the island even as the body count rises) where a serial killer went on a rampage seven years prior lost my interest after 2 episodes.
Happy Summer viewing.
A new characteristic of Summer TV these days is reality shows, and there are plenty to be found.
You can follow along with the adventures of "John and Kate Plus 8" on TLC (or more accurately John minus Kate), or revel in the fact that you aren't actually one of the contestants whose pratfalls provide endless entertainment on ABC's "Wipeout.
" One bright spot in reality TV is new episodes of "Ghost Hunters" on Sci-Fi.
Now back to scripted TV.
HBO's take on the current vampire craze started by "Twilight" is back for a second season.
"True Blood" returns June 14.
"Mental" is a medical mystery drama featuring Dr.
Jack Gallagher (Chris Vance) as an unorthodox psychiatrist who becomes Director of Mental Health Services at a Los Angeles hospital (think "House" lite.
) "The Goode Family" on ABC is an animated sitcom from Mike Judge of King of the Hill and Beavis and Butt-head fame.
This would edgy if it was 1994, but in 2009 it comes off as a "Family Guy" clone.
ABC also offers "Dating in the Dark," a new reality dating series will follow single men and women as they go through all the usual motions of dating without ever actually seeing each other.
(Think a twisted a variation on The Dating Game for the 21st century.
) TNT serves up the fifth season of "The Closer" with Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson.
The first episode focused on a quadruple murder that may be linked to an FBI case, in other words, business as usual for this refreshing crime series.
CBS will run the remaining episodes of "Harper's Island" (already moved from Thursdays to Saturdays) up through mid-July.
The who-done-it about a series of murders on an island full of wedding guests and an about to be bride and groom (none of whom have sense enough to flee the island even as the body count rises) where a serial killer went on a rampage seven years prior lost my interest after 2 episodes.
Happy Summer viewing.
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