Reggae Music News

A look at the new and returning shows hitting TV this summer

By Bill Brioux

THE CANADIAN PRESS

Zoo_TV_series_promo_poster

TORONTO _ Remember when summer was the time to turn the TV off? This year, between the networks, cable and specialty channels _ as well as digital streaming services _ there seems to be more summer TV blockbusters than ever. Maybe it’s because some of these shows can now be binge-viewed the way people used to tackle summer novels.

Here are some of the most anticipated summer offerings:

“Zoo” (June 30). The success of Stephen King’s “Under The Dome” two years ago seemed to spike a renewed interest in scripted network drama during the summer months. That series is back for a third season on June 25. Last summer’s space serial, “Extant” starring Halle Berry, returns July 1. “Zoo” makes it three in a row for CBS. Based on James Patterson’s bestseller, the series (which will also air on CTV) is about a zoologist (James Wolk from “Mad Men” and “The Crazy Ones”) who notices that all the big kitties and other animals at his game preserve are suddenly turning into man-gobbling monsters. Next thing you know, animals are fighting back everywhere.

“The Brink” (Sunday). Now that the unpleasantness known as “Game of Thrones” is out of the way, HBO Canada is set to launch this political comedy that will remind some of “Dr. Strangelove.” Tim Robbins stars as a bed-hopping Secretary of State and Jack Black is a low-level government employee as all hell breaks loose in Pakistan. Carla Gugino and B.C.-born Pablo Schreiber also star. The plan is to feature a new cast each season. Speaking of which?

“True Detective” (Sunday). Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson were sensational in the first season of this moody, award-winning drama. Season 2 features Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, Kelowna, B.C.-born Taylor Kitsch and a very angry Rachel McAdams as cops and robbers working a town just outside L.A. This new story arc lurches sharply into David Lynch territory. All eight episodes were penned by series creator Nic Pizzolatto.

“The Amazing Race Canada” (July 8). Canada’s most-watched series the past two summers returns with 12 new teams from all across the nation, including wrestlers, cops, soldiers and a CFL hall of famer. The CTV series will venture out of Canada this season and offers the biggest payday yet with over a million dollars in total prizes.

“Killjoys” (Friday). Aaron Ashmore, Hannah John-Kamen and Luke Macfarlane play a trio of bounty hunters who chase bad guys throughout a distant planetary system. The Space drama is from the production house that brought you “Orphan Black.” The Toronto-based sci-fi series “Dark Matter” also premiered earlier this month. Marc Bendavid and Zoie Palmer are among the thugs lost in space.

“Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll” (July 16). Denis Leary returns as an aging and broke rock star from the ’90s in this edgy FX comedy.

Even CBC has found some spare change between the cushions for two summer comedies premiering June 23:

Don’t call Will Sasso’s new CBC comedy “Fool Canada” a hidden camera prank show. “I don’t like the term,” says the Vancouver-native and “MADtv” alumnus. He prefers to think of the series as a social experiment. “I get to do long-form improv with people who don’t necessarily know they are scene partners,” he says. “It exploits how polite Canadians are.”

Jonny Harris (Const. Crabtree on “Murdoch Mysteries”) hits the road for “Still Standing.” The half-hour series finds the Newfoundland and Labrador native travelling to 13 different small towns across Canada. “We’re looking for survival stories _ towns that are hanging in despite the odds,” says Harris. Stops are made in Berwick, N.S., Lytton, B.C., Rowley, Alta., and Manitou, Man. Harris spends a few days getting to know folks and calls the show “more of a toast than a roast.”

A few U.S. network scripted shows, including two shot in Toronto _ NBC/City’s “Hannibal” and CW/Showcase’s “Beauty and the Beast” _ are already back. The third season of “Orange is the New Black” dropped earlier this month on Netflix. There are new seasons of Showtime’s “Masters of Sex” and “Ray Donovan” and FX’s “The Strain” coming in July. A fifth season of shot-in-Toronto “Suits” arrives next week on Bravo. Finally, the B.C.-based frontier drama “When Calls the Heart,” starring Erin Krakow and Daniel Lissing, makes its CBC debut June 28.

_ Bill Brioux is a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.

www.upload.wikimedia.org

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *