Summer Recap

Hello out there to all my blog readers (I know I'm kidding myself to think that more than 3 people actually read this thing).  It's been a while since I posted something and my posts have been scarce this summer but I have been watching a lot of summer shows but I've just been trying to enjoy the weather while I can and therefore haven't taken the time to sit down and post anything.

I started watching a few new shows this summer and several shows that were on last summer so I don't have a lack of shows to talk about but let's talk about some of the new hit shows I've been watching and then talk about some of the returning ones (despite the fact that most of the shows are ending for the summer by now and it's about time to gear up for the new fall season!)

Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family) was a great new show this summer based on yet another book series (ala Gossip girl) it mixes that high school drama with a little murder mystery and who doesn't love a mystery.  I know I'm 27 years old and probably should still want to watch these high school shows but I'm drawn to them for reason maybe it's because my high school experience really was nothing like these shows and I kinda wish it was...anyways...Pretty Little Liars has had its summer finale already but I think it's run this summer was great and worth picking up if you like the high school shows and like a good mystery.  It kind of has a little "Twin Peaks" feel to it because the premise of TP was who killed Laura Palmer (although they rushed right through and answered it fairly early in TP) but this show has yet to give us an answer to who killed Allison DiLaurentis (the uber popular girl who had a lot of secrets)?  Not only does it give us a high school murder mystery but we get to see Holly Marie Combs back on the little screen!

ABC Family also began airing a new showed called HUGE this summer about a group of kids at a camp to lose weight.  Of course "Hairspray" star Niki Blonsky was a big reason I started to watch but the show has a lot of heart and is pretty funny in parts.  The kids are relateable because they have real problems, unlike the kids on Gossip Girl or similar shows (don't get me wrong I still love Gossip Girl and those types of shows) but there are a lot of kids out there who are self conscious of their weight and this show deals with not only their weight but other teenage issues.  Next week is the finale and it will be interesting to see how this show plays out beyond this season because it may be weird to have a show on in the winter about kids at a summer camp so ABC Family may have to stick to this being only on in the summer unlike their other programming.

Finally ABC Family has just started a new half hour comedy called Melissa & Joey.   It's kind of a revamped "Who's the Boss".  We get 2 90s child stars getting a crack at their own show here although the feel is that this show could have been made in the 90s so it draws me in because in my opinion the 90s were the peak of television in my era.  Melissa is a successful woman in government who is taking care of her niece and nephew and needs to hire someone to help out around the house - enter Joey the new Tony Danza aka male nanny.  The show hasn't hit a stride but I'm going to give it a chance.  I really just want to watch Clarrissa Explains it All instead haha.  I love the house which has a very 90s sitcom feel with the two sets of stairs (no house has two sets of stairs leading to the second floor in it does it?) and parts of it are funny but I could do without the "live studio audience" laugh track and the kids in the show haven't impressed me yet.

Moving on to USA network which already has one hit summer show that I love in Royal Pains (but we'll come back to that) and it can now add another hit show - which has been picked up for a second season already - Covert Affairs starring Piper Perabo and the hottie Christopher Gorham as well as Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes) Kari Matchette and Peter Gallagher is about a girl who joins the CIA after her boyfriend skips town (who also happens to be a spy but she doesn't realize it).  The CIA calls her up out of training relatively early to work in the field.  Piper Perabo plays Annie Walker the young CIA agent who works with Gorham the hottie blind tech guy as a spy but what she doesn't know is that the heads of the CIA are using her to get to her ex-bf spy.  All in all an entertaining hour of television and getting to look at Christopher Gorham isn't half bad either!

TNT debuted it's new cop drama Memphis Beat this summer staring Jason Lee (My Name is Earl)  I have been watching it all summer and I can say it is fun to watch.  It's not my favorite new show and I can't tell if it's a show that will get picked up again but I enjoy Jason Lee and the southern cop he plays not to mention he sings at the end of every episode and I really love when shows incorporate good music.  That is one of the reasons the WB/CW shows are so great because they introduce new bands in or have a lot of opportunities for musical guests (I'll try to take a blog entry some time soon to talk about how music influences my choice in programming).  Still the show is good but not great however worth continuing to DVR.

Of course I did post an article earlier this summer about NBCs miniseries Persons Unknown.  I have been watching it but it has been struggling on air.  NBC moved it from Mondays to Saturdays which is a death toll in itself but I think the show started off really well but it's been kind of dragging a little.  Last Saturday NBC aired an episode and then on Sunday released the next episode online only (it's never good when episodes get released online only).  Next week is the last 2 episodes of the show and then it's done.  I don't know if NBC had planned from the beginning for this to be a 1 summer show or if it had the potential to be renewed, I personally was under the impression that it wouldn't be coming back again from the beginning but I could be wrong however I don't think it will be coming back again if it had the option to or not.  As long as we get an answer as to why these people were taken, where they are and what the "program" is, I'll be happy.

AMC began it's new series Rubicon a few weeks back.  It's basically a conspiracy thriller and so far it's really intriguing.  I'm really behind in watching it, I've only watched the first 3 episodes but so far I like it.  AMC hasn't done too bad for itself with Mad Men and Breaking Bad (I wish I had watched that show from the start but I haven't seen an episode so I doubt I can get into it now) now it has Rubicon and this fall it will premier a new show called The Walking Dead (kind of a zombie show).  But if you like movies about conspiracy plots you'll love this show.  It's only about 6 episodes in so you can still start watching if you find the episodes online and catch up, or maybe they'll run a marathon.  But it airs at 9pm on Sunday's before Mad Men.

Since this entry is rather long I'm going to save my other summer viewing habits entry for another day but stay tuned in the coming days for that plus a fall preview I have already seen the pilot episodes of The Event and Nikita and will be seeing Outsourced tomorrow (I love that my job in news television is finally giving me some entertainment television perks).  I'll try to get you a little insight into these new shows without telling you what happens.

Anyone who reads this tell your friends to read :) also feel free to comment on what you like or don't like about these new summer shows or any other summer shows you watched that maybe I didn't catch on to.  I'm always listening for great things on TV!