We’ve officially entered the month that welcomes back summer. Typically, a TV draught takes place after the big finales in May and avid viewers are forced to twiddle their thumbs until the new season kicks into high gear in September. That has all changed. We’re living in the Golden Age of TV, after all, and the sheer amount of creative content isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The summer months are packed with great programs you simply cannot miss; the broadcast and premium cable networks, as well as streaming giant Netflix, have a number of exciting new series debuting this very month. To see what June has to offer, jump after the break.
THE WHISPERS /Monday, June 1, 10pm, ABC
Yep, this is the show about those creepy kids playing to their “imaginary” friends. You’ve seen the spots and the ads (see above for the official key art). Before it even airs, we’re already made aware that the kids are in fact communicating and interacting with some…thing. That mystery is being kept under wraps, but of course all signs point to aliens. Here’s to hoping the new series starring Lily Rabe (American Horror Story, Barry Sloane (Revenge), and Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes) surprises us. If you’re into mystery, suspense, and a race to save the world, give The Whispers a try. Click here to preview ABC’s summer thriller.
SENSE8 /Friday, June 5, Netflix
One moment links 8 minds in disparate parts of the world, putting 8 strangers in each other’s lives, each other’s secrets, and in terrible danger.
That’s the official logline for the next project from The Wachowskis, the makers of The Matrix Trilogy. In their first TV venture, Andy and Lana Wachowski bring to Netflix Sense8, a sprawling sci-fi drama with an ensemble cast including Naveen Andrews (Sayid from Lost). The high production value and combat sequences have much in common with The Matrix, and the theme of worldly connectedness and sensate (meaning “perceiving or perceived by the senses”) harkens back to the Wachowskis’ other popular film, Cloud Atlas. So basically sandwich the ideas from those movies together, add a dash of Heroes, and you’ve got Sense8. All 12 episodes unspool on the streaming service June 5. Preview it here.
HUMANS /Sunday, June 28, 9pm, AMC
[Humans] is set in a parallel present where the latest must-have gadget for any busy family is a ‘Synth’ – a highly-developed robotic servant eerily similar to its live counterpart.
Sound familiar? At first glance, Humans sounds a lot like I, Robot: The TV Series. Society grows dependent on robots in the home, and it’s not long before an uprising takes place and the mechanical beings take control. If you’re intrigued by fictional glimpses at what our future might look like as we continue to rely on artificial intelligences like Siri and Cortana, Humans may just be your cup of tea. Personally, I’ve been looking for a show to fill the Almost Human void, and this could be it. William Hurt and Katherine Parkinson star. Check out a handful of teasers here.
Returning series premiering this month
HANNIBAL returns for its long-awaited third season on Thursday, June 4 at 10pm on NBC. Bryan Fuller’s masterpiece of a series, in my humble opinion, is the best series on network television and ranks among the most profound across the majority of its competition. If there was any good time to jump into the bloody good show, that time would be now. Though many of the main characters’ fates were left up in the air following the season 2 finale, the new season serves as a bit of a reboot. Dr. Lector is on the run in a foreign country, and former FBI profiler Will Graham is on the hunt. Fuller, in fact, describes the season 3 premiere as a pilot starring Mads Mikkelsen (Lector) and now-series regular Gillian Anderson (who plays Lector’s shrink and possible partner-in-crime Bedelia du Maurier). NBC has been gracious enough to renew the criminally-low rated show for a third round, and I highly advise you devour as much of it as you can. Watch the season 3 trailer. Bon appétit!
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK is back for more when season 3 of the highly bingeable show about female inmates resumes Friday, June 12 on Netflix. What kind of mayhem can Piper, Red, Crazy Eyes and the rest of your favorite Ladies of Litchfield get themselves into next? Oh, just wait and see.
TYRANT, the surprise hit FX series about an unassuming American family drawn into the inner workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation, returns for its second season on Tuesday, June 16 at 10pm. Tyrant hails from the Homeland executive producers and even though it differs in many ways from that award-winning series, it manages to capture the same level of addiction and intrigue. At the end of the first season–spoiler alert–Bassam “Barry” Al-Fayeed was locked up for attempting a dangerous coup against his older brother of power Jamal. Season 2 will follow the ramifications of that dangerous power-play. See the season 2 trailer here.
TRUE DETECTIVE returns with an all-new cast, story, and location Sunday, June 21 at 9pm on HBO. Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are replaced with Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams, and Taylor Kitsch as the action moves from Louisiana to Los Angeles. In an interview with Medium, series creator Nic Pizzolatto described the new kind of vibe season has to offer. “The gothic horror suggested by Louisiana’s coastal landscape didn’t feel appropriate in this place,” he said. “These new landscapes have their own unique voice and their own unsettling qualities. While there’s nothing occult in this season, I think there’s a disconcerting psychology to this world, and its characters have other kinds of uncanny reality with which to contend.” Eye character stills and watch the two previously released season 2 trailers here.
UNDER THE DOME, the maddeningly silly yet still-intriguing show about a mysterious town sealed off from the rest of the world, continues to follow the people of Chester’s Mill on Thursday, June 25 with a two-hour season 3 premiere starting at 9pm on CBS. “We will tell you why the dome came down and what it’s about,” EP Neal Baer said at a summer press event as scooped by TVLine. “By the end of the season, you’ll know exactly why this happened the way that it happened. We’ve taken the viewers through all kinds of calamaties. But now, it’s really character-oriented. We promise you we will answer why the dome is there, but of course we’re going to ask more questions.” So that’s good, I guess. The way I see it, if you’ve invested this much time to the Stephen King-inspired series already, you might as well keep chugging along to uncover those answers. Joining the ensemble cast this year is CSI‘s Marg Helgenberger. Season 3 preview clip coming atcha.