TV: 2010 Summer TV Schedule

MAY

27th - Thursday
8:30pm "100 Questions" (NBC)
Plot: A young woman (Sophie Winkleman), desperate to find love in New York, decides to sign up for an exclusive dating service that requires her to answer 100 questions before they can help her. Each episode begins with her being asked a question at the dating service and then segues into a flashback that will answer the question.
Cast: Sophie Winkleman, Chris Moynihan (For Your Consideration), Smith Cho ("Knight Rider" and Fired Up!), Collette Wolfe (Hot Tub Time Machine), David Walton (Fired Up! and "Quarterlife"), and Michael Benjamin Washington
Why Watch: It could be interesting—like a more focused "How I Met Your Mother."


28th - Friday
8pm "Past Life" (FOX)
They're going to burn off the rest of the series this summer. It's canceled and the lead, Kelli Giddish, will star in the new CBS series "Chase" this Fall.


JUNE

2nd - Wednesday
9pm - "Are We There Yet?" (TBS)
Plot: It's sort of based on the movie. It's about newlyweds who face the challenge of maintaining their blended family.

Cast: Terry Crews ("Everybody Hates Chris"), Essence Atkins ("Half & Half"), rapper Ice Cube (Are We There Yet?), Coy Stewart, Teala Dunn ("The Naked Brothers Band"), Keesha Sharp ("Girlfriends"), and comedian Christian Finnegan

Why Watch: I rarely enjoy TBS family shows, but I'm sure fans of the film and of Ice Cube's comedic timing will appreciate it. 

3rd - Thursday
9pm "Burn Notice" (USA)
This season: "In season four, Michael finds himself in a whole new relationship with the people that burned him that has a whole new set of opportunities and a whole new set of challenges. Michael, Fiona and Sam make a new friend (Coby Bell from "The Game") who is both very useful and very complicated." Fiona and Michael start off strong and then trouble starts to brew within their relationship. Robert Wisdom joins the series as Michael's main nemesis, a veteran spy handler who works for the group that burned him.


10pm "Royal Pains" (USA)
This season: "Trauma" actress Anastasia Griffith is joining the cast as Dr. Emily Peck, a no-nonsense MD and a potential business rival of Hank’s. Boris hires her when Hank is MIA, searching for his dad (Henry Winkler from "Happy Days"). Meanwhile, Jill gets an adversary-turned-mentor (Marcia Gay Harden from Whip It and "Damages").


6th - Sunday
7:30pm "Sons of Tucson" (FOX)

They will air the rest of the episodes, but the series is canceled.

9pm - "Drop Dead Diva" (LIFE)
This season: Natasha Henstridge ("Eli Stone") will play a partner during the latter part of the season who has a thing for Jane's boss Parker, and Jaime Ray Newman ("Eastwick") will play a cutthroat rival lawyer who goes head-to-head with Jane.

11pm "The Hard Times of RJ Berger" (MTV)

Plot: The new scripted teen series is like Superbad meets HBO's "Hung." The title character was a geeky outcast, pining after the most popular girl, until the day the resident dumb jock pulls his pants down and reveals that RJ is very well-endowed. Suddenly, he's the man.

Cast: Paul Iacono (Fame), Jareb Dauplaise (My Life in Ruins and Transformers 2), Kara Taitz ("The Suite Life of Zack and Cody"), and newcomers Amber Lancaster and Jayson Blair

Why Watch: Aren't you curious what a teen series sounds like when MTV admits that it's scripted?

7th - Monday
8pm "Lie to Me" (FOX)
This season: Lightman will investigate a police department, an unjust life-sentence, one of his mentor's graduate students, and two assassination attempts, as well as help Torres' half-sister, who resides at a juvenile detention center.


8pm "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" (ABC FAM)
This season: Amy and Ricky get closer, and Ashley and Ricky get even closer when she tries to sleep with him. Meanwhile, Ben and Adrian deal with her impending pregnancy, and Grace mopes about getting dumped.
Watch the promo!

9pm "The Good Guys" (FOX)
Plot: Dan, a washed-up, drunken, old-school cop clashes with his new partner Jack, a snarky, ambitious, young cop. Jack feels like he's paying his dues in the Property Crime Division, babysitting Dan, and is all too eager to get back to real police work. With the help of the assistant district attorney, his ex-girlfriend Liz, maybe he'll be able to survive this new partnership.

Cast: Bradley Whitford ("Studio 60"), Colin Hanks (The House Bunny), Jenny Wade ("Reaper"), and Diana Maria Riva (Our Family Wedding)

Why Watch: Because Colin deserves a break. It's been almost 10 years since "Roswell," and he's overdue.


10pm "Persons Unknown" (NBC)
Plot: A group of strangers must come together to solve the puzzle of their lives when they are locked in a building and put under surveillance without any explanation.

Cast: Sean O'Bryan (Princess Diaries), Jason Wiles ("Third Watch"), Chadwick Boseman ("Lincoln Heights"), Reggie Lee (Tropic Thunder and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End), and Tina Holmes ("Six Feet Under")

Why Watch: The mystery is slowly revealed over the season and if you like slow-reveals it could be a nice summer treat.

8th - Tuesday
8pm "Pretty Little Liars" (ABC FAM)
Plot: "One year ago, Alison, the Queen Bee of their group, disappeared and the girls swore they'd never tell what really happened that night. Now, as the mystery surrounding Alison's disappearance resurfaces, the girls begin getting messages from A, saying – and threatening – things only Alison would know. The girls are friends again, but will they be there for each other if their dark secrets come to light?"

Cast: Lucy Hale ("Privileged"), Ashley Benson ("Eastwick"), Trolan Bellisario, Shay Mitchell, Sasha Pieterse ("Heroes"), Ian Harding, Laura Leighton, Holly Marie Combs ("Charmed"), Bianca Lawson ("Vampire Diaries"), and Janel Parrish (Bratz)

Why Watch: It's kind of like "Veronica Mars" meets "Desperate Housewives"-for-teens.

9pm - "Glee" Finale (FOX)
They'll explore the funky music genre, Will serenades Sue, Terri seduces Finn, Emma starts dating a dentist, and they finally perform at Regionals.

13th - Sunday
9pm "True Blood" (HBO)
This season: Sookie searches for Bill with the help of a werewolf bodyguard named Alcide (Joe Manganiello from "One Tree Hill"), Bill's maker returns, grief-stricken Tara befriends the shady vamp Franklin (James Frain from "The Tudors"), Sam reconnects with his mom and little brother (Marshall Allman from "Prison Break"), Jason trains to be a police officer, and Lafayette gets a new love interest in the form of his mom's nurse Jesus (Kevin Alejandro from "Ugly Betty" and "Southland"). There'll also be a gay love triangle involving Eric, despite an intense moment he has with Sookie that will reveal another reason he's attracted to her and lead to a flashback that illustrates his desire to avenge someone. There will be three villains: Tara's new admirer Franklin, Alcide's jealous ex-werewolf-girlfriend Debbie (Brit Morgan from "Middleman"), and the vampire King of Mississippi Russell (Denis O'Hare from The Proposal).


20th - Sunday
7pm "The Phantom" (Syfy 4hr movie)
In this reimagining of the 1996 superhero film starring Billy Zane, the Phantom's son (Ryan Carnes from "Desperate Housewives" and "General Hospital") must take his place. With the help of his advisor (Sandrine Holt from "24") and a modern exoskeleton suit, he will try to stop the Brotherhood and juggle the life he must leave behind and the girlfriend (Cameron Goodman) he must protect.


9pm "The Gates" (ABC)
Plot: A cop moves to a gated suburban community with his family and becomes the police chief. At first it seems like there's no crime to police, but the townspeople have a well-kept secret that he'll soon discover.

Cast: Frank Grillo ("Prison Break" and "The Guiding Light"), Rhona Mitra (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans and Doomsday), Marisol Nichols ("24"), Chandra West ("90210"), Travis Caldwell, Colton Haynes, Victoria Platt ("The Guiding Light"), Janina Gavankar ("The L Word"), Luke Mably, Skyler Samuels (The Stepfather), and Justin Miles.

Why Watch: I think the big secret is that the town is made up of vampires and werewolves. Think of it as a supernatural "Desperate Housewives."

9pm "Leverage" (TNT)
This season: Gina Bellman (Sophie) is back from maternity leave, so the gang's back together again. And George Clooney's girlfriend, Italian actress Elisabetta Canalis, will guest star.


10pm - "Scoundrels" (ABC)

Plot: It's about a woman who tries to make her family of criminals go straight after her husband is sentenced to 5 years instead of 5 months in prison.

Cast: Virginia Madsen (Sideways), David James Elliott ("JAG"), Leven Rambin ("Grey's Anatomy" and "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles"), Vanessa Marano ("Gilmore Girls"), Patrick Flueger ("The 4400") playing twins, and Carlos Bernard ("24").

Why Watch: Well Madsen is an Oscar-nominated actress, soooooo....

22nd - Tuesday
10pm "Memphis Beat" (TNT)
Plot: "A drama centered on a Memphis cop (Jason Lee) who moonlights as an Elvis impersonator and lives with his mother."

Cast: Jason Lee ("My Name is Earl"), Alfre Woodward ("Desperate Housewives"), DJ Qualls (The New Guy and Hustle & Flow), Celia Weston (Observe and Report), Sam Hennings, Leonard Earle Howze (Barbershop 2: Back in Business), and Abraham Benrubi ("Men in Trees").

Why Watch: Because Lee is funny and always does well in roles where he's the King of the Idiots.

24th - Thursday
9pm "Rookie Blue" (ABC)

Plot: A drama about five rookie cops.

Cast: Missy Peregrym ("Reaper"), Gregory Smith ("Everwood"), Charlotte Sullivan, Enuka Okuma, and Travis Milne.

Why Watch: I like the idea of watching cops that aren't Jack Bauer-invincible for once.

27th - Sunday
10pm "Hung" (HBO)

10:30pm "Entourage" (HBO)

This season: Cutthroat agent Autumn Reeser returns as a series regular, and the boys have to figure out what their next move is.

28th - Monday
9pm "Huge" (ABC FAM)

Plot: Seven teens at a weight-loss camp learn to love themselves as they struggle for acceptance.

Cast: Nikki Blonsky (Hairspray), Zander Eckhouse, Harvey Guillen, Ari Stidham, Ashley Holliday, and Hayley Hasselhoff (David's daughter).

Why Watch: Because overweight-themed TV is the new hot trend. Get inspired to appreciate every roll and jiggle on your body, because there are worst things than being fat.

10pm "Make It or Break It" (ABC FAM)
This season: There's the aftermath of Kaylie finding Lauren and Carter together and...other stuff. lol Gymnastics stuff, I promise.


29th - Tuesday
10pm "Rescue Me" (FX)

11pm "Louie" (FX)

Plot: It's described as "a comedy filtered through the observational humor of comedian Louis C.K. Each episode puts a spotlight on Louis' hectic life as a successful stand-up comedian and newly single father raising his two daughters."

Why Watch: He's a really funny guy, and who doesn't miss that "Seinfeld" format?

JULY
6th - Tuesday
9pm "Warehouse 13" (Syfy)
This season: Tia Carrere will star and we'll find out what happened to Artie.

9th - Friday
9pm "Eureka" (Syfy)


10pm "Haven" (Syfy)

Plot: The story is based on Stephen King's novel The Colorado Kid. "The series follows the shrewd and confident FBI agent Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) who has a lost past, and arrives in the small town of Haven, Maine on a routine case. Before long, her natural curiosity lands her in the epicenter of activity in this curious enclave, which turns out to be a longtime refuge for people that are affected by a range of supernatural afflictions. As the townspeople's dormant abilities begin to express themselves, Audrey helps keep these forces at bay while discovering the many secrets of Haven — including one surrounding her own surprising connections to this extraordinary place."

Cast: Emily Rose ("Brothers & Sisters") and Eric Balfour ("24").

Why Watch: It's the supernatural version of "Eureka."

11th - Sunday

10pm "The Glades" (A&E)

Plot: A hard to get along with homicide detective from Chicago gets shot by his captain after being wrongfully accused of sleeping with his wife. After being exiled from the department, he relocates to the sleepy, middle of nowhere town of Palm Glade, Florida, where the sunshine and golf are plentiful and crime is seemingly at a minimum. Only this town outside the Florida Everglades isn’t quite as idyllic as he thought, as he finds people keep turning up murdered. Between practicing his short game, trying to get a date with Callie - a quick-witted, beautiful medical student with a 12 year-old son and a husband in prison - and trying to solve countless homicide cases, Longworth’s transition to his new surroundings is a bit more difficult than expected.

Cast: Matt Passmore, Kiele Sanchez (The Perfect Getaway and "Lost"), Carlos Gomez (Desperado), Michelle Hurd ("Law & Order: SVU"), Uriah Shelton, and Jordan Wall

Why Watch: There are a lot of shows where a cop is transferred to a less hectic location (Justified, Burn Notice, Eureka, The Gates, etc.) and then that location ends up being just as hectic. They essentially become a big fish in a little pond. If that's the kind of show you like watching, then have at it.
Watch a clip. 

12th - Monday
9pm "The Closer" (TNT)

10pm "Rizoli & Isles" (TNT)

Plot: A detective and a medical examiner partner up to solve crimes with the help of her rookie partner, her seasoned former partner and an FBI agent.

Cast: Angie Harmon ("Law & Order"), Sasha Alexander (Mission: Impossible III), Lee Thompson Young ("Flash Forward"), Bruce McGill (Law Abiding Citizen), and Billy Burke ("The Twilight Saga").

Why Watch: There's a chance it could be "Castle"-funny minus the sexual tension.

13th - Tuesday
9pm "White Collar" (USA)

This season: We'll see when Peter first caught Neal. We'll learn a lot more about Neal's sidekick Mozzie. Hilarie Burton ("One Tree Hill") will guest star for 6 episodes. And we'll watch as Neal hunts for the person who killed Kate.

10pm "Covert Affairs" (USA)

Plot: A CIA trainee is put in the field a month before her training finishes without explanation. There's a chance that the government is searching for someone in her past. With the help of a blind tech ops expert, she'll navigate her way through a new job and investigate her new employer's real motive.

Cast: Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly and Cheaper by the Dozen), Christopher Gorham ("Ugly Betty" and "Jake 2.0"), and Emmanuelle Vaugier ("Two and a Half Men").

Why Watch: It might be a funnier, lighter, and less legend-heavy version of "Alias."

14th - Wednesday
10pm "Psych" (USA)

25th - Sunday
10pm "Mad Men" (AMC)
This season: Jared Harris (Lane Pryce) became a series regular since he is now a partner, but it looks like there's no Sal in our future. :(

10pm "My Boys" (TBS) - Season 4


AUGUST

1st - Sunday
10:30pm "Rubicon" (AMC)

Plot: Will Travers is an intelligence analyst who cracks codes for a living. When Will’s world is shattered by an untimely death he begins asking questions, diving into a web of mystery and danger. Not every conspiracy is a theory.

Cast: James Badge Dale, Miranda Richardson, Arliss Howard, Jessica Collins, Dallas Roberts, Christopher Evan Welch, Lauren Hodges, Roger Robinson, Michael Cristofer, and Peter Gerety.

Why Watch: If you like puzzling thrillers, then you might find this one interesting.
Preview the Pilot NOW!

16th - Monday
10pm "Weeds" (Showtime)
This season: Celia will not be returning, but Linda Hamilton (Terminator) will be joining the series as an eco-conscious lesbian pot grower who helps Nancy settle in Seattle, and Peter Stormare ("Prison Break" and Constantine) will play a chef at the restaurant that Andy washes dishes for.

10:30pm "The Big C" (Showtime)

Plot: A suburban mom, diagnosed with cancer, tries to find the humor in the disease, and have more fun in her last months than she's had in her entire life.

Cast: Laura Linney (Love Actually), Oliver Platt ("Bored to Death" and 2012), John Benjamin Hickey (The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3), Gabriel Basso ("iCarly"), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)

Why Watch: While it may seem depressing, there's definitely something uplifting about grabbing life by the balls and not wasting a minute regretting. Besides, she's bound to do and say some crazy shit knowing she won't be around for the repercussions.

17th - Tuesday
8pm "Melissa & Joey" (ABC Family)

Plot: After a family scandal leaves Mel, a local politician, alone with her niece, Lennox, and nephew, Ryder, she hires a man named Joe to become the family's male nanny, or "manny".

Cast: Melissa Joan Hart ("Sabrina, the Teenage Witch"), Joey Lawrence ("Blossom"), Taylor Spreitler (Mia on "Days of Our Lives"), and Nick Robinson

Why Watch: It's the classic love-hate relationship.