The Great Summer TV Cram (2015 Edition): 9 Returning Series to Catch Up On Now
The end of the television season is upon us and soon the only thing left on your DVR will be the 31 episodes of House Hunters: International that have accumulated while you watched The Flash and the final season of Mad Men. Sure, we've still got a handful of episodes of Game of Thrones, and summer will bring all sorts of new programs to look forward to, but right now, the best thing about the current TV schedule is that its lack of enticing programming is really getting us jazzed about what's ahead. And now is the perfect time to ease yourself into the warmer months by sipping lemonade and binge-watching shows that don't have anything to do with superheroes. Below, we've compiled a checklist of nine soon-to-be returning shows that deserve your eyeballs, so grab the remote, fluff up the sofa pillows, and start cramming!
Season 2 drops all at once on Friday, July 17 at 12:01am on Netflix
COMMITMENT: 12 half-hour episodes that will take you on a journey (plus one special for extra credit)
WHY YOU SHOULD CATCH UP NOW: On the surface, this animated series looks like a sophomoric story about a drunk horse. And at times, it is. But throughout the course of the first season, it becomes an earnest look at fleeting fame, the emptiness of Hollywood, alcoholism, and depression. YEAH, I KNOW, I was shocked, too. But it works really well, and its serialized nature will have you clicking "Play Next Episode" about 11 times. Don't worry, it isn't always depressing. The vibrant half-animal world provides plenty of sight gags, and the voice work from Will Arnett, Aaron Paul, Alison Brie, Amy Sedaris, and Paul F. Tompkins is fantastic. It's a must watch for anyone looking for a Hollywood satire with anthropomorphic animals.
CHEAT SHEET: Sorry, no shortcuts here. You gotta watch 'em all. — Tim Surette
Season 2B premieres Monday, August 31 at 9:30pm on MTV
COMMITMENT: 18 half-hour episodes of young love, heartbreak, self discovery, fake lesbians, real lesbians, croquembouches, and Shane Harveys
WHY YOU SHOULD CATCH UP NOW: MTV's coming-of-age series revolves around the relationship between teenagers and best friends Karma (Katie Stevens) and Amy (Rita Volk), specifically the confusion that results after another classmate at their liberal Texas high school mistakenly believes them to be—and subsequently outs them as—lesbians. Realizing that their social status has skyrocketed, they decide to continue the ruse, but it soon becomes clear not everyone involved in the relationship is faking their feelings. A careful and thoughtful exploration of acceptance, sexuality, and young love, Faking It is a humorous series populated with layered performances (Volk is a true standout) that celebrate individual differences. Blurring the lines between comedy and drama, Faking It tackles the emotionally and sexually charged years of youth for both both gay and straight relationships, and it does so in a way that feels true to young adulthood.
CHEAT SHEET: It feels wrong for me to tell you what to do since so much about the series is about charting your own path. Plus, it's serialized and you'll miss important relationship developments if you skip too much. But if you HAVE TO jump around, be sure to watch Season 1's "Pilot," "Homecoming Out," "Three to Tango," "Faking Up Is Hard to Do," and "Burnt Toast," and Season 2A's "The Morning Aftermath," "Lying Kings and Drama Queens," "The Ecstasy and the Agony," "Date Expectations," "Zen and the Art of Pageantry," and "Busted." — Kaitlin Thomas
Season 2 premieres Sunday, May 31 at 10pm on AMC
COMMITMENT: One season of 10 (Only 10! You have no excuse!) hour-long episodes
WHY YOU SHOULD CATCH UP NOW: Halt and Catch Fire really wants to be Mad Men in the '80s, in Texas, and with computers. One of its leads even gets to struggle with a mysterious past and identity issues while oozing smarm and cultivating sexual tension with his attractive female protege. That's where the similarities end, however. Halt and Catch Fire is its own show, following the exploits of an underdog electronics company as it attempts to create (or straight-up copy) a computer that will dominate the budding personal-computer market and knock reigning champion, IBM, off the map—if IBM doesn't sue them first. My techie friends tell me the techie-speak is lacking, but if you can bring yourself not to be a tool and just enjoy the bitchin' soundtrack, Lee Pace's eyebrows, and occasional side-boob, you'll find that this show isn't about the computer itself anyway. The computer is just the thing that brings a rag-tag group of screwed-up misfit geniuses together in a cubicle farm to commit corporate espionage and accidentally invent a bunch of shit that Apple probably patented years ago.
CHEAT SHEET: It's only 10 episodes, it's heavily serialized, and it's all on Netflix, so I recommend just burning through the whole thing over a weekend. I will admit though that some episodes are stronger than others and there's some drag in the middle. In a pinch, hit "I/O," "Landfall," "Giant," "The 214s," "Up Helly Aa," and "1984." Yeah, just watch them all. — MaryAnn Sleasman
Season 3's Italian-themed feast premieres Thursday, June 4 at 10pm on NBC
COMMITMENT: Two seasons of 13 hour-long episodes that are filled with grotesquely beautiful murderscapes, psychological traumas, and emotional manipulations
WHY YOU SHOULD CATCH UP NOW: Because it's still among the best shows on TV? Because it's the first Bryan Fuller series to get a third season? Because the first season is an in-depth interrogation of the effects of violence? Because the second season is a twisty-turny battle for the soul of Will Graham? Really, to be any more specific would ruin the experience of watching this intense and emotionally draining show.
CHEAT SHEET: You really shouldn't skip any episodes at all, but if 26 is too much for you, here's what to watch. From Season 1: "Apéritif," "Potage," "Entrée," "Fromage," "Buffet Froid," "Relevés," and "Savoureux." For Season 2, well, you pretty much have to watch every episode except "Hassun" and "Takiwase." Sorry, but Season 2's too much of a serialized slow burn to just skip around. — Noel Kirkpatrick
Season 2 pushes off Sunday, June 21 at 9pm on TNT
COMMITMENT: Season 1 was just 10 one-hour episodes long, so get to it, soldier!
WHY YOU SHOULD CATCH UP NOW: Do you have a dad? He'll love this melodramatic and somewhat macho show about a Navy destroyer that's one of mankind's last hopes of surviving a viral epidemic that's wiped out almost the entire global population. Square jaws, high-caliber cannons, and plenty of Armed Forces jargon shouted across decks are all over producer Michael Bay's stand-in for military porn. Will these soldiers find a cure? Probably not until the ratings go down enough.
CHEAT SHEET: "Dead Reckoning," and the three that close out the first season, "Two Sailors Walk Into a Bar," "Trials," and "No Place Like Home." — Tim
Season 3 premieres Sunday, July 12 at 10pm on Showtime
COMMITMENT: Two seasons (24 episodes) of some of the best acting and complex storytelling on all of television
WHY YOU SHOULD CATCH UP NOW: You mean other than the fact that Masters of Sex is one of the best shows there is? Okay, fine. The two leads, Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan, are tremendous individual performers that also happen to have wonderful chemistry. The supporting cast is seemingly always changing—that happens when it's full of award winners that other shows really want too—but consistently amazing as well. Just look at these names: Beau Bridges, Allison Janney, Rose McIver, Teddy Sears, Ann Dowd, Annaleigh Ashford, Betsy Brandt, and Courtney B. Vance. Oh, and in the upcoming season, they're adding Josh Charles to the mix. Do you really want to miss out on all this? If that murderer's row doesn't convince you to watch, maybe Michelle Ashford's incisive writing, particularly of the tricky boundaries between sex and love and personal and professional lives, and lovely directing from Michael Apted, Michael Dinner, and Adam Arkin will do the trick.
CHEAT SHEET: I'll be real with you—this isn't necessarily a show you can skip around on. Sure, you could try to watch the pilot and a couple of episodes at the end of Season 1 before burning through the dozen episodes of Season 2, but you'd be doing yourself (and the show) a disservice. Masters of Sex rewards viewers who care about the intricacies of personal relationships; the "plot" is in many ways secondary, especially given the amount of time the show covers in a given season. But if you commit to Masters of Sex, you'll be more than satisfied. Please, don't make me plead with you again next summer. — Cory Barker
Season 2 premieres Tuesday, August 4 at 10pm on USA
COMMITMENT: 10 half-hour episodes about life-long friendship that will make you laugh and cry... and laugh until you cry
WHY YOU SHOULD CATCH UP NOW: Playing House is a rare gem about true female friendship—an arena rarely explored in television for inexplicable reasons—and it draws its power from the fact it's written by and stars two real-life best friends: Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair. When a pregnant Maggie (Parham) discovers her husband has been having an online affair, she kicks him out and her life-long bestie Emma (St. Clair) uproots her fancy life to help her raise the baby. It's a buddy comedy that is both incredibly funny and surprisingly emotional and it subverts many of the common tropes about women on TV. Maggie and Emma are not in competition, their lives aren't dedicated to men or finding a man, and they wholly support each other as they prepare to raise a baby together. The extremely talented supporting cast, which includes Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele) and Zach Woods (Silicon Valley), is just the icing on this very delicious cake.
CHEAT SHEET: This isn't your high school math class, there is no cheating here. With only 10 episodes there's no need to skip around. Plus, if you do, you might miss out on some great character building moments that will tug at your heartstrings. Or Bosephus. — Kaitlin
Season 2 Premieres Thursday, July 30 at 10pm on Comedy Central
COMMITMENT: One season of nine increasingly five-star dire episodes (available on Amazon Prime)
WHY YOU SHOULD CATCH UP NOW: One of the biggest comedy surprises of last season came from this long incubated project starring character mastermind and podcast wunderkind Andy Daly. Daly plays Forrest MacNeil, a somewhat sheltered but adventurous man with a unique job: he reviews "life experiences," which can be anything from stealing, trying cocaine, going into space, or getting a divorce. But the individual gags of each episode form up like Voltron to create a mega-gag when the season is looked at as a whole, because Review isn't about what activity gets how many stars, it's about the toll on Forrest's life that's taken from doing a job the best he can. Admire his commitment, feel sorry for his circumstances.
CHEAT SHEET: Come on, you can do nine half-hour episodes (they're on Amazon Prime). But twist my arm and I'll say don't you dare miss "Pancakes; Divorce; Pancakes," "Best Friend; Space," and "Quitting; Last Day; Irish." — Tim
Season 2 invades your life Sunday, July 12 at 10pm on FX
COMMITMENT: One 13-episode season of disappointment (you can skip a lot)
WHY YOU SHOULD CATCH UP NOW: Look, we all know that Season 1 of Guillermo del Toro's scientifically sound vampire drama didn't go as well as we wanted it to. But the early looks at Season 2 indicate that the show is dropping the dead weight of bogus personal relationships and concentrating on what we want to see: monsters that eat people. The best part of The Strain is its approach to vampirism: it's treated like a disease that changes its victims instead of some romantic, dark folklore, so you're more likely to learn about the beasts through an autopsy than some old man spinning wives' tales. If some of the kinks are worked out, the impressive effects and gratuitous gore should make this a fun summer watch. If not, well, then I'm sorry in advance.
CHEAT SHEET: Give looks at "Night Zero," "Gone Smooth," and especially "Creatures of the Night," which was the best example of what this show should be. — Tim
Which returning summer series are you most looking forward to? What's on your personal "shows to catch up on" list?
