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CABLE SHOWS  Noah Wyle leads a group fighting aliens who have invaded Earth on the new TNT series “Falling Skies,” executive produced by Steven Spielberg. Photo courtesy of TNT. |
Cable dodges reruns in favor of original shows
By DONNA J. PLESH
of TheColumnists.com
Time was summer TV meant reruns of your favorite, and some not-so -favorite shows. That all changed when the cable networks began programming new original dramas in the summer months.
Two cable networks, USA and TNT, have been the most ambitious with summer series over the past few years, and both networks are adding two new series to their stable of returning shows. Also adding two new series this summer is ABC Family.
Here’s a roundup to date of summer dramas.
USA
Gabriel Macht stars in “Suits,” a legal
drama about a top corporate lawyer out to hire a new associate.
The guy who impresses him and who he hires (Patrick J. Adams)
is a brilliant college dropout who, though he lacks a degree,
has book and street smarts. Gina Torres also stars in the drama
executive produced by Doug Liman (“Covert
Affairs,” the “Bourne” trilogy). It premieres
at 9 p.m. Thursday June 23.
In “Necessary Roughness,” Callie Thorne (“Rescue Me,” “Californication”) stars as a therapist who takes a job with a pro football team in order to make ends meet. She is so wildly successful with her tough-love brand of therapy that she is soon sought out by musicians, politicians and others living in the spotlight who need her help. She’s great at the job, but the job causes problems in her home life as a single mom raising two teenagers. Marc Blucas, Scott Cohen and Mehcad Brooks also star. The series premieres at 9 p.m. Wednesday June 29.
The network has also announced the dates
for its returning summer series. “In Plain Sight.”
starring Mary McCormack as a U.S. Marshall, starts its fourth
season on the network at 10 p.m. Sunday May 1. “Covert Affairs,” last summer’s hit series about a young CIA operative
(Piper Parabola), is back at 10 p.m. Tuesday June 7.
“White Collar,” about the partnership between a con artist (Matt
Boomer) and an FBI agent (Tim DeKay), returns for its third season
at 9 p.m. Tuesday June 7. Season
five of “Burn Notice” kicks off at 9 p.m. Thursday, June 23. Jeffrey Donovan
stars as a blacklisted former CIA agent who takes on all types
of crime-solving jobs while he tries to get his agency job back.
Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell, Sharon Gless and Coby Bell also
star. It’s summer and Mark
Feuerstein returns for a third season
as the “doctor for hire” in The Hamptons in “Royal Pains” at 9 p.m.,Wednesday June 29.
TNT
What happens when aliens invade Earth? Its remaining residents fight back in the new sci-fi drama “Falling Skies.” The story begins six months after an initial alien invasion when survivors band together to fight occupying alien forces. Noah Wyle stars as a resistance leader, and Moon Bloodgood co-stars. Steven Spielberg is the executive producer of the series that premieres at 9 p.m. Sunday, June 19.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Brecken Meyer play two young seat-of-their pants lawyers in “Franklin & Bash,” premiering at 8 p.m., Wednesday, June 1. Malcolm McDowell also stars as the head of a button-down law firm who hires the two young hotshots because they get results.
Back for a second season is “Memphis Beat,” premiering at 9 p.m., Tuesday, June 14. Jason Lee plays a Memphis police detective and Alfre Woodard is his very demanding boss. Jada Pinkett Smith stars in the hospital drama “Hawthorne,” which begins its third season at 10 p.m., Tuesday, June 14. Michael Vartan also stars. Season four of “Leverage” kicks off at 9 p.m., Sunday, June 26. Timothy Hutton heads a gang of thieves, grifters and con artists who help people get even against the big shots that have destroyed their lives. Gina Bellman also stars. Boston’s notorious criminals are the targets of police detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and medical examiner Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander) as “Rizzoli & Isles” begins its second season at 10 p.m., Monday, July 11. The seventh and final season of the police drama “The Closer” begins at 9 p.m., Monday, July 11. Kyra Sedgwick, who stars, won a 2010 Emmy Award as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Los Angeles deputy police chief Brenda Leigh Johnson. Season 2.1 of “Men of a Certain Age” returns at 10 p.m.,Wednesday, June 1. Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher star in this drama about three men facing the challenges of midlife.
LIFETIME
Brooke Elliott stars in “Drop Dead Diva,” which returns for a third season in June on Lifetime (date and time to be announced). Elliott stars as Jane, a wannabe model who dies in an accident and returns in the body of a brilliant, plus-size attorney. Margaret Cho also stars.
DIRECTV
“Damages” is moving from FX to DirecTV for its fourth season. Glenn Close stars as brilliant and ruthless lawyer Patty Hewes, and Rose Byrne plays her protégée. This season’s guest cast includes Judd Hirsch and Griffin Dunne. The series will air in July at a date and time to be announced.
SYFY
In “Alfas,” a team of ordinary citizens with extraordinary mental and physical powers, investigates cases to uncover what the CIA, FBI and Pentagon have not been able, or willing to solve. David Strathairn stars. The series premieres at 10 p.m., Monday, July 11.
Back for season three is “Warehouse 13” at 9 p.m., Monday, July 11. The series follows a team of government agents who work at a top secret storage facility that houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic and preternatural souvenir collected by the government. Saul Rubinek, Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly star as agents investigating reports of supernatural and paranormal activity as they search for new objects and retrieve ones missing from Warehouse 13. “Haven,” about the strange supernatural goings on in the small town of Haven, Maine, returns for a second season at 10 p.m., Friday, July 15. Emily Rose stars as an FBI agent unraveling the mysteries of the sleepy town, which has been a longtime refuge for people with supernatural afflictions.
ABC FAMILY
“Switched at Birth,“ premiering at 9 p.m., Monday, June 6, tells the story
of two teenage girls who discover they were accidentally switched
as newborns in the hospital. One grew up in a wealthy family,
while the other lost her hearing at an early age and
grew up with a single mom in a working-class neighborhood. Things
come to a head when both families meet and struggle to learn
how to live together for the sake of the girls. Katie Leclerc,
Vanessa Marano. Lea Thompson, Constance Marie and D.W. Moffett
star.
In “The Nine Lives of Chloe King," Chloe is looking forward to celebrating her birthday until she develops heightened abilities and discovers she is being pursued by a mysterious figure. She soon learns she’s part of an ancient race that has been hunted by human assassins for millennia and that she may be their only hope for survival. Skyler Samuels and Amy Pietz star in the drama premiering at 9 p.m., Tuesday, June 14.
Back for its second season is “Pretty
Little Liars,“ the story of an outwardly perfect little
town filled with many secrets…with some of the ugliest ones
belonging to the prettiest girls in town. When one of the girls
disappears, the others vow to never tell what happened the night
she disappeared. This season that mystery surrounding her
disappearance resurfaces, and the girls’ loyalties to each
other will be tested. Lucy Hale, Ashley Benson, Shay Mitchell,
Troian Bellisario, and Sasha Pieterse star. The new season begins
at 8 p.m., Tuesday, June 14.
©2011 by Donna
J. Plesh. This column first posted April 25, 2011.
You can
comment on this column online via our TALKBACK page. Please address your e-mail message
to either "The Editors" or Donna J. Plesh at Syndpack@aol.com
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