Switching channels to Summer TV show settings

It's now become the norm that both cable and broadcast networks offer their viewers more than just batches of reruns during the summer season. Granted, cable took the lead on this trend but the Big Three are pretty well caught up with them on this front by now.

I may not watch every show that's featured here in my pick of the summer TV litter rundown but they all do at least peak my interest and maybe yours as well:

RETURNING TO THE LINE-UP:

EXTANT: Halle Berry and her space alien baby saga is back for another round and this time, she has a new champion on board. Jeffrey Dean Morgan joins the cast as Richter, a bounty hunter type of cop who teams up with Molly Woods in order to find that now on the loose child and discover what his new plan of attack is.

I'm happy to see this series get another shot, as the plot line was slowly but surely well developed and plenty of doors were left open for more stories to be told here. True, it helps to have Steven Spielberg as your executive producer but that's no guarantee of longevity.

With any luck, the world of Extant will be widened as the search for Molly's alien offspring takes us to new places(and can they bring robot boy Ethan back?) and  perhaps explore some new horizons as well:

UNDER THE DOME: The Spielberg magic is strong on CBS as the Stephen King adaptation is set to make a third season go-around by the end of June. To be honest, I didn't think it would return, as that last season really went off the rails at times and has pretty departed from the King novel altogether at this point.

I'm not sad to see it back,mind you, just surprised. Will I watch it season three? Oh, sure,what the hell-I like a lot of the characters(the ones still surviving from the craziness of last year) and for Big Jim Rennie alone, it'll be worth seeing what comes next for the folks of Chester's Mill:

NEW TO THE GAME:

THE WHISPERS: ABC has kind of a hit or miss record with sci-fi fare and the premise for this new series is pretty off the charts there.

Children all across the country(and perhaps the world) are being encouraged by "imaginary friends" to stage accidents that kill the adults around them. Turns out these new buddies are space invaders, trying to conquer from within by communicating on a frequency that only youngsters can hear.

Of course, certain grown-ups(such as Lily Rabe's FBI agent character)catch on to the scheme and do their best to stop it. The concept is somewhat based on a Ray Bradbury short story,"Zero Hour", so it might be good yet on the other hand, using kids as the main source of the menace can be tricky.

One advantage this show has is being backed by Steven Spielberg(what is with him and summer TV these days?). With that kind of support, The Whispers may be able to shout instead of mumble their way through the summer haze of small screen entertainment:

THE ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB: Believe it or not, I finally found a summer show not put out by Steven Spielberg! This female friendly series,based on Lily Keppel's non fiction bestseller, is centered on the ladies who kept each other company on earth as their husbands went into space.

With Mad Men taking it's final bow, folks looking for American period fare might well take to this and with such a solid set of actresses(including Joanna Garcia of Reba and Once Upon a Time), this promises to be a nice change of pace from the typical action packed genre offerings of summer:

CABLE READY:

 THE HUMANS: Instead of adapting a British TV show, AMC chose to bring the original series(which is based on a Swedish show, how meta is that?) to their network and have it play along with it's intital run on England's Channel 4.

The set-up is that a futuristic reality allows average people to buy "synths", robotic servants that feel a bit too real to some. William Hurt is one of the stars of this show and from what I've seen in the promo, this looks rather promising.

Will this be another form of robot uprising or does the true danger lie in the all too human owners of this automated species? Should be fun to find out:

BALLERS: HBO's upcoming series has former pro athletes looking to stay relevant in the sports world as well as make big money in their retirement.

 Now, I have little to no interest in sports but I do appreciate the acting style of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who happens to the point man for this series, and for him alone, I will watch the pilot episode at the very least.

 Dwayne Johnson has a great attitude about his strengths as an actor,with no delusions other than what the script calls for his character to have there, and making him the lead is a truly smart move.
Having him come off of a cinematic success like Fast and Furious 7 is a nice bonus(he also has an earthquake disaster movie coming out soon called San Andreas) and with any luck, his lucky streak will extend to the small screen as well:

This is only the tip of the summer time iceberg, as more new shows are heading our way to help us stay cool during the upcoming dog days. I just hope that if any of them falter on the ratings ladder that the actors and crew will have a solid set of friends to offer them emotional support.

 Maybe even a shoulder to cry on or a nice non verbal way of providing comfort because with some of these shows, you can tell that they're going to need it bad: