TV-Reviewed

Fall television has come and gone, leaving us with a cornucopia of terrible reality shows and just a handful of TV shows worth watching. I asked our writers to let me know what they will be watching this summer. We would love your picks as well. You can leave a comment in the box below.

James Chamberlin

I was really shocked when USA canceled both The Dead Zone and The 4400. Although The Dead Zone had seen better days and I would agree it would have been on my chopping block if I were heading up the network, I never saw The 4400 getting axed. This was a pretty big shakeup for me because during the summer, I always turn to USA for the terrific programming there.

There are a few decent shows on now… In Plain Sight, Fear Itself, Dirty Jobs, The Mole, but the good stuff isn’t here yet. I’m still waiting for PSYCH, Monk, and Burn Notice (all USA shows) to air this July. Burn Notice was a lot of fun to watch last year. I can’t wait to see it this year now that USA has an HD channel in the U.S.

I’ll probably catch up on some of my fall TV viewing. I’m still behind on several shows. I didn’t seem to have enough time to catch everything this past season. Other than In Plain Sight, the only new series I expect to be watching is ABC’s Wipeout. It looks like some of the Japanese gameshows I’ve enjoyed watching on cable TV.

Eric Lizotte

With summer comes several tasty TV treats. One of which is the most excellent Burn Notice, which is coming back for its second season this July. There’s nothing quite like quasi-realistic spy action–oh, not to forget ex-girlfriends that know to… handle themselves–to lift ones spirits. So, it’ll definitely be worth tuning into to see what Michael Weston and company get up to this time round, especially since he’s off to meet the man who burned him, or is he?

Another sweet morsel to check out this summer–particularly if you’re a history buff or like fun, useless knowledge–is PBS’s History Detectives. The researchers on this show are all top notch and are always able, through their findings, it seems, no matter how obscure the topic or item in question, to bring history to life.

Charles White

I don’t feel like there’s really anything special coming out this summer. Unfortunately due to the writer’s strike, a lot of the shows that I see are reality shows ripped off of other reality shows I’ve seen. There are a couple of shows though out there that might hold us over ’til summer.

In Plain Sight is interesting; it’s not nearly as good or as fun to watch as Burn Notice, but it has potential. Mary is an interesting character and even though she’s female, she very much has a male mindset. The show has started off decent, but it needs something more. The concept of the show is that she works in the witness protection, but in my opinion the interesting part is watching Mary control her personal life. There should be more personal life problems in this show and more of a focus on how much trouble she has balancing her personal and work life.

Weeds is probably my most anticipated show that I’m waiting for. Last season Nancy was forced to move out of Agrestic. The cast will be changed or downgraded quite a bit this season, so it should be interesting to see if Weeds has jumped the shark or if this could be the best thing for the show.

I’m also watching So You Think You Can Dance, which to me is better then American Idol. With the contestants and judges, it feels like this show really wants to help the contestants and you can see the passion that the dancers have.

I’d also like to start watching Burn Notice, I didn’t watch much of the first season, due to lack of time, but it was a very fun show to watch. This summer seems a little dry, but along with the shows I’ve mentioned, there will probably be some hidden gems that pop up along the way this summer.