Katie’s Top 5 Must-See Shows of the Summer

Long gone are the tedious summers of repeats. I remember being young and dreading the summer. Not only was school out, but there was nothing on television. I would have to go do terrible things like play outside with friends, go to parks, and interact with the world instead of sitting in front of the television. Thankfully, those days are gone because in the media age, television producers have finally figured out that it is beneficial to have shows that run through the fall and shows that produce new episodes in the summer.

For your convenience I’ve assembled my own personal list of the top five shows I’ll be keeping an eye out for this summer. These are just what caught my eye as I was scanning through the list of summer shows and your interests may vary, but I would encourage you to check these out!

5. Suits (USA)

I wasn’t sure how I felt about USA producing a legal drama. It took a lot for me to get over the fact the lead’s name was Harvey, too, because I kept having flashbacks to Sabrina the Teenage Witch. However, the more I watched, the more I was pleasantly surprised at just how good the show was. The writing is fabulous and brings in a good mix of drama and humor, which is critical for me in a show. It is also well acted, for having a lot of not-so-well-known actors and actresses. Gabriel Macht and Patrick Adams are not only nice to look at, but they have some seriously powerful chemistry on screen and play off of each other really well.

It also boasts a wonderful supporting cast which includes Gina Torres, who is one of my heroes, and wonderful actresses Meghan Markle and Sarah Rafferty (which if you’re not following Sarah on Twitter, please fix this grave error in judgment and go take care of that because she is brilliant). The cast list goes on and everyone plays their characters well. Of course, what gets me most about the show is just how well it is shot. I don’t know if it is the air up in Toronto that creates ascetically pleasing shows (since Hannibal is also filmed up there) or what, but it is such a visually dynamic show it always keeps me hooked. So Suits will definitely be on my summer to-watch list. Suits premiers June 11th, 2014 on USA.

4. Halt and Catch Fire (AMC)

I didn’t know what this show was about but when I saw Lee Pace’s name by it, I knew I needed to see it. Maybe that is shallow of me, but I feel like anything produced on cable television that utilizes the skills of a talented actor like Lee Pace is probably going to be worth watching. Of course I hope the writing is going to be up to snuff in order to match the acting skills, but it is definitely going to be worth a watch.

From what I understand, it is a series set in the 1980’s and focuses on the rise of personal computers. I enjoy modern history, so I have a feeling I will enjoy the general premise. The rise of the personal computer will be seen through the eyes of Lee Pace’s character who is a visionary in the field. Halt and Catch Fire (which is a computer coding term) will premiere on June 1^st, 2014 right after the Mad Men finale. I’ll be checking it out and hopefully you’ll be joining me!

3. The Leftovers (HBO)

I know not everyone has HBO or access to HBOgo, so to those of you who don’t you can go ahead and skip this one. However, I’m all for post-apocalyptic stories and this has a great cast, so I have high hopes. It is based on a book by Tom Perrotta of the same name and follows the stories of people left behind after a rapture-like event occurs and a huge chunk of the population on earth disappears.

This is another one of those that also caught my eye because of the cast line-up, as well as the potential storyline. At first glance I was tempted to disregard it because of how similar the story line sounds to the Left Behind series and I, frankly, don’t want anything to do with any of that. However, since it is going to be on HBO and has an awesome cast, I have a feeling it is going to take that typical post-rapture story line and put some awesome twists on it. It is going to be worth a try, at least, and premieres June 29^th on HBO.

The Leftovers stars Justin Theroux, Amy Brenneman, Christopher Eccleston, and many more. To be honest, Christopher Eccelston is the name that caught my attention, so I’ll definitely try to tune in and see how they’re going to play out this series.

2. The Musketeers (BBCA)

The Three Musketeers is one of my favorite stories. I was enraptured by the Disney movie as a child (and learned to love Kiefer Sutherland), loved Man in the Iron Mask, enjoyed reading through part of the original novel as a teen, and try to keep up on all of the new adaptations of the old story. This one already aired in the UK but will be arriving on American television screens on June 22^nd. It is a ten episode series and appears to have been well received in the UK.

From the sound of the summary, it follows the story line of the book and centers on young d’Artagnan and his quest to become a Musketeer. Along the way he meets three older, jaded Musketeers named Athos, Aramis, and Porthos. Together they fight for King and country against the corruption in 17^th century France. I’m looking forward to seeing the latest adaptation and hope it does the story more justice than the movie that came out in 2011 in the US which was a huge flop.

1. The Last Ship (TNT)

Finally, The Last Ship is probably going to be the show of the summer and definitely number one on my “to watch” list. You can read an in-depth review of it OVER HERE since our editors got the chance to watch the pilot while at Wondercon. It is definitely something people are going to want to tune into. Not only does it have an A+ cast (Eric Dane, Adam Baldwin, Rhona Mitra, oh my!) but it looks to have a great story line.

It follows a crew of a navy ship in a post-nuclear war situation. The crew is forced to try and survive as the world around them crumbles and collapses. As Sam said in her review of it, after seeing the pilot, the cool thing about this series is that it chronicles the human struggle to try and save the world as it is dying all around them. This isn’t pure post-apocalyptic, in the sense that everything has been destroyed a la The Walking Dead and the few survivors are trying to simply stay alive. Rather, the crew on the ship is fighting to try and save a world that is quickly deteriorating.

It is a new kind of struggle and is my number one pick of the summer for my line-up. The Last Ship is going to premiere June 22^nd at 9pm on TNT.

What summer shows, new or returning, are you looking forward to this summer?

Sound off in the comments or tweet us @nerdophiles!