day 190

summer tv!

now that we know what will and won't be back in the fall, we can figure out what the hell we want to watch this summer! woohoo.  summer tv has never been that great, mostly filled with reality shows and series that wouldn't cut it in the fall season.  so, when will your summer staples and new favorites be hitting the airwaves this season?  here's some highlights.  lifetime will try their hand at the campy miniseries with maneater, which premiers this sunday, the 31st.  the program is only 2 episodes long, but comes from the mind of gigi levangie grazer, the author and exec producer on last summer's the starter wife and its subsequent short lived series adaptation, so you'll know it will be a guilty pleasure.  the series stars scrubs' sarah chalke as a young heiress in her 30s looking for love in all the wrong places.  next to the starter wife, maneater is gigi's biggest seller.  the next day, june 1st, you'll get your first look at heidi and spencer's exploits in the costa rican jungle for nbc's i'm a celebrity ... get me out of here! relaunch.  from the looks of the show's site, it still looks like nbc is hoping to cast 2 or 3 more "celebs."  joining spedi in the jungle are janice dickinson, steven baldwin (both of whom are no stranger to reality competitions), john salley, idol's sanjaya, and former "wrestler" torrie wilson.  doesn't this just sound great?  the show will air for four weeks, multiple episodes per week. so, if you want something to induce blowing your brains out, this is your best bet.  on june 7th, lifetime brings back their biggest series ever, army wives, for a third season.  check out the show's trailer here - if you haven't already watched the show, i suggest you track down the first two seasons on dvd and have a mini marathon. it's like desperate housewives, but less campy - similar in style to grey's anatomy.  not surprising since the creative forces behind those two shows are behind it. that same night, e! brings back denise richards (minus the "it's complicated") for a second season.  rumor has it that denise was kind of desperate for the show's return and took a major pay cut to keep it on the air, while sister series living lohan was kicked to the curb.  richards will, therefore, be joined by girls next door spin-off kendra, following kendra wilkinson's new life as an engaged woman living outside the mansion.  the original series will be back in the fall, following hef's new lady loves.  because we all want to watch ugly post-jail twins.  june 8th is a big night for shows.  bravo brings back emmy winning kathy griffin: my life on the d-list for a 5th season (the show's creators recently inked a deal with the reality show centric net for even more seasons and shows).  the series will look a little different though; kathy is down one assistant, jessica, who left the "company" because she didn't get a long with her former boss.  showtime's weeds returns (yay!) as well, continuing to follow nancy and her dysfunctional family as they balance life in a california/mexican border town.  weeds will be joined by edie falco (of the soprano's) new series, nurse jackie, a dark comedy about hospital life.  both should be good if you're interested in the darker side of life and want to laugh for 30 minutes straight.  june 10th leads to bravo's new show top chef: masters.  the series will be very similar to its predecessor, but have a different host (kelly choi, a supposedly well known food critic) and feature contestants who are already well known in the restaurant biz.  click here to learn more about the show.  if you're a top chef fan, you'll probably watch this.  from there, it's a little bit of a stretch until other shows premiere, starting june 22nd with abcfamiliy's the secret life of the american teenager returning post-baby and new seres make it or break it.  the latter appears to be a loosely veiled tv version of 2006's stick it.  but full house fans, you're in luck - dj tanner (aka candice cameron bure) will be a regular on the series as one of the gymnast's step-mom to be.  i doubt this show will take off like secret life and greek, though.  the peacock net brings back america's got talent for another go-around on june 23rd (around the time i'm a celebrity... ends), with sharon osbourne, david hasselhoff, and pearce morgan all back on board. mr. mariah carey, nick cannon, will serve as the show's third host (after regis philbin and jerry springer).  maybe a us susan boyle will come out of the woodwork somewhere?  (i know reading this is getting tedious, but we're almost done!).  abcfamily takes a whack at another original series with 10 things i hate about you on june 7th.  the series will serve as a remake (somewhat) of the 1997 movie. instead of cameron james being a new student, the stratford sisters (bianca and kat) will be the new girls in town.  the only returning cast member from the film will be larry miller, the girls' father.  two former children's tv stars (?) will be starring in the series, with nickelodeon's lindsey shaw as kat and camp rock's meaghan jette martin as bianca.  this show will probably be a big mess; i just don't see the movie's tone translating well to the small screen, week to week.  i mean how many stories can you tell about the sisters not getting along and not being able to date?  and over 10 years after the movie was in theaters? huh? abcfamily what are you thinking?  okay, we'll stop there - july's dates will come later.  now get to planning your tv schedule!

fyi for the summer, there will probably just be one story a day, unless i get bored.  but, i will update the twitter more often with little blurbs. mmkay? mmkay.