Lost is over for good. Glee just ended for the summer. And all my other network shows are done. So what do you watch when there’s nothing to watch? Your Mom is here to help. Aside from catching up on shows I missed through Netflix (my list includes Tru Blood, Breaking Bad and the Showtime line-up of Dexter, Nurse Jackie, and United States of Tara), there are some non-terrible shows to keep you entertained during the summer.
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1) Justified
So, technically, this show’s season just wrapped up, but I’ll be none of you watched it. Which is a real shame, because it is real good. Timothy Oliphant as a modern, more sarcastic, only-slightly-less-tortured version of his Sheriff Seth Bullock from Deadwood? Yes, please.
Timothy’s character Raylan is a trigger-happy US Marshall who is sent back to his home state of Kentucky, kicking and screaming, after shooting a drug dealer at what may or may not have been the Delano Hotel in Miami. Lots of bourbon drinking and sultry crime fighting ensue. [Query: whether the crime is sultry or the fighting of the crime is sultry. Answer: yes.] It also has bad-ass opening credits, with some sort of dirty Southern rap song that totally sets the mood. You can catch the 2nd half of the season on Hulu now, but hopefully they will reshow the whole thing on FX throughout the summer.
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2) Royal Pains
This show tops my “Non-Terrible Summer Shows” List. Yes, it is a pretty stupid premise: Manhattan doctor lets a powerful hospital trustee die, is blackballed, and is forced to become a concierge doctor in the Hamptons. And it reaches MacGyver-levels of unreality. “Come quick, Doctor: I have been exposed to mercury poisoning and, somehow relatedly, am being crushed by a panic-room door.” “Come quick, Doctor: I am a super-rich woman on a remote island with no cell-phone service and am going into labor at the same time that my grounds-keeper is septic because of a broken leg.” But don’t poo-poo it too quickly; it’s non-stupid summer fun and quite entertaining. Plus, it gets the rare DJ Seal of Approval. And I think Mark Feuerstein is dreamy.
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3) Burn Notice
This is at the top of my “Cable Shows That Look Stupid But Are Really Great.” I have always liked this show that adroitly balances cheeky spy action with dark spy action. Michael Weston is a burned spy who will stop at almost nothing to get back into the spy game (dark spy action). In the meantime, he helps Miamians in need with the various imbroglios they have gotten themselves into using his years as a spy to help him out (cheeky spy action). Four reasons to watch the show:
- Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar are ridiculously attractive and have crazy chemistry;
- Lots of stuff gets blown up and/or shot at;
- Miami has never looked better; and
- Bruce Campbell.
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4) Leverage
This show would probably go on my list of “Ok, It’s Kinda Dumb, But Lighten Up, It’s The Summer And This Show Is Fun.” Timothy Hutton leads a rag tag bunch of con artists including Lindsey from Angel, who still needs to cut his hair; the arrogant New Orleans quarterback who almost took the lead spot from Saracen before Coach Taylor sees the error of his ways on Friday Night Lights; the slutty one from the British Coupling; and Pilot Inspektor’s mom. It’s the most fun you’ve had watching criminals solve crimes since Remington Steele.
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5) Remington Steele!
Why not! Thee first three seasons are on Hulu, and it’s even better than you remember. I still want to be Laura Holt when I grow up. Her hat collection would be the envy of every hipster this side of the Hudson.
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