Summer has arrived! Now that you’ve binged OITNB and revisited the Dome, it’s time to jump into new worlds including Halle Berry’s Extant and Guillermo del Toro’s The Strain. Skip after the break for the full rundown of anticipated July premieres you can’t miss.
Wednesday, 7/9: Extant (CBS, 9PM)
Movie star Halle Berry transitions to the small screen this summer in the new mysterious CBS sci-fi drama Extant. The show’s log line is just enough to pique one’s interest and it goes like this:
In a thrilling drama, Berry will play an astronaut who returns home from a year-long solo mission in space and tries to reconnect with her husband and son in their everyday life. Her experiences in space and home lead to events that ultimately will change the course of human history.
The serialized 13-episode season is executive produced by Steven Spielberg and also stars Goran Visnjic (ER). Preview the series in a first look video.
Sunday, 7/13: Masters of Sex (Showtime, 10PM) // The Strain (FX, 10PM)
Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan reprise their pivotal roles as Dr. Bill Masters and Virginia Johnson, respectively, in the second season of the acclaimed, steamy series Masters of Sex. As much as the show is sexual in nature it is quite educational, too; Masters and Johnson play pioneering researchers of human sexuality and over the course of the first season audiences witnessed the progression of their sensual, behind-closed-doors “study” which involved the collection of all sorts of bodily data during intercourse. The more they worked together the more Masters developed feelings for his work partner. Season 2 will no doubt continue to explore the blurry mess that is their work/personal relationship. Watch the season 2 trailer here.
Guillermo del Toro is bringing his very particular style to TV in a new vampire horror series called The Strain that’s based on his comic book trilogy of the same name. His Strain comic book co-author Chuck Hogan is also on board as executive producer, as is the now-prolific showrunner Carlton Cuse (Lost, Bates Motel).
The Strain is a high concept thriller that tells the story of “Dr. Ephraim Goodweather,” the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City. He and his team are called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism. As the strain spreads, Eph, his team, and an assembly of everyday New Yorkers, wage war for the fate of humanity itself.
The Strain stars Corey Stoll (House of Cards‘ Peter Russo), David Bradley (Harry Potter‘s Argus Filch), Kevin Durand (Lost‘s Martin Keamy), Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings), and Mía Maestro (The Twilight Saga).
If the trailers or this specific poster embedded above have anything to say it’s that The Strain promises to be a gross, exhilarating, frightening time.
Thursday, 7/17: Married (FX, 10PM)
I’m going to throw a comedy into the July mix. I picked FX’s half-hour sitcom Married pretty much for one, very justified reason: star Nat Faxon. The guy is simply laugh-out-loud hysterical in whatever’s he’s in–just watch an episode or two of the short-lived but very funny Fox sitcom Ben And Kate). He stars alongside Judy Greer (Arrested Development‘s Kitty Sanchez), another remarkably funny person.
Married is a half hour comedy about being miserably in love. Russ (Nat Faxon) and Lina Bowman (Judy Greer) can barely remember what life was like before kids, debt, and suburbia rained on their romance — but every once in a while, in between the arguments about their declining sex life and who’s driving carpool, they are reminded what drew them together in the first place — they’re best friends. The show also features Russ and Lina’s friend AJ (Brett Gelman), who is recently divorced and pretending he’s over his wife, and their other friend Jess (Jenny Slate), who is married to a much older man who can’t keep up with her.
That’s right; Married also includes Go On‘s surprise star Brett Gelman (he played the ellusive Mr. K) and SNL‘s Jenny Slate (who proved to be an absolute riot in HBO’s Stephen Merchant series Hello Ladies. Preview clips here.
Saturday, 7/26: Phineas & Ferb: Star Wars (Disney Channel, 9PM)
Phineas & Ferb, the Disney ‘toon for kids and adults alike that will never get old, is readying another special crossover episode following their “Mission Marvel” installment. This summer the anticipated P&F/Star Wars crossover airs and its plot borrows majorly from Episode IV: A New Hope and will feature prominent Star Wars characters such as Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Han Solo.
The event episode’s story begins a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away – in summer. Phineas and Ferb are living happily on Tatooine, just one moisture farm over from Luke Skywalker. They love simply hanging out and creating new adventures under the twin suns but find themselves thrust into a global rebellion when the plans for blowing up the Death Star accidentally fall into their hands.
Now that fate has suddenly pulled them into the fight for freedom, they must go in search of a pilot who can take them to the rebels so they can hand over the plans. Complicating matters, Candace has a Stormtrooper-like intent on “busting rebels” and chases Phineas and Ferb across the galaxy in hopes of retrieving the Death Star plans.
Meanwhile, back on the Death Star, Darth Enshmirtz, a low level Darth, has created a Force-powered “Sith-inator” that he plans to use against the Rebel Alliance. Agent P, working undercover for the Rebellion, is dispatched to stop him, but quickly gets trapped in carbonite. Then, things take a startling turn when Ferb is accidentally hit by the full blast of Dr. Darth Enschmirtz’s “inator” and becomes….an evil Sith.