Hot Summer
No “dog days” on TV this year
There’s no taking vacation from summer TV. Used to be everything went mostly dark between May and September. No longer. This off-season’s deluge of shows includes the usual glut of reality TV, much of it disposable — though some, like Bravo’s delicious
Project Runway, are must-sees. Meanwhile cable networks deliver signature dramas and comedies nearly every night of the week. Even in normally sleepy late July, there are plenty of fresh and compelling choices. Here’s a sampler of the new series and specials, rated by whether they’re worth coming inside for.
Work Out
Tuesdays, 9 pm/ET, Bravo
Reason to stay in: To see how the rich and famous get in shape, as cameras follow the buff trainers at an exclusive Beverly Hills penthouse gym.
Worth watching? I’ve met barbells with more personality. Too little sweat, too much attitude from the chic lesbian owner, whose spats with her petulant girlfriend feel staged even by reality TV’s low standards. This one’s an abs-olute dud.
Heat index (0–10): 2
Life on Mars
Mondays, 10 pm/ET, BBC America
Reason to stay in: Leave it to the British to inject fantasy into a crime drama. Not sci-fi (the title is a David Bowie song), Mars plunges a detective from today back to 1973. Is he in a coma? Is any of this real? Were clothes really so ugly back then?
Worth watching? Surreal and harrowing, a version of this wildly original show is being developed by David E. Kelley for American TV. It’s easy to see why.
Heat index: 9
Inspector Lewis
Sunday, PBS; check listings
Reason to stay in: Fans of the late Inspector Morse may recall its hero’s stoic sidekick Robert Lewis (Kevin Whately), now promoted to the lead of his own Mystery! movie.
Worth watching? If you like your whodunits brainy, if a bit dry. As Lewis, now a melancholy widower, tries to convince his patronizing boss he has what it takes, he juggles clues ranging from math to Hamlet. Well done.
Heat index: 7
Who Wants to Be a Superhero?
Thursdays, 9 pm/ET, Sci Fi Channel
Reason to stay in: To tap into your inner comic-book nerd, as contestants compete in the costumes of their own superhero creations in hopes of being immortalized by the legendary Stan Lee.
Worth watching? Surprisingly, yes. It’s the most charming reality lark since Beauty and the Geek. Challenges test strength of character over brute strength. (My fave: earnest, goofy Major Victory.)
Heat index: 8
Walter Cronkite: Witness to History
Wednesday, PBS; check listings
Reason to stay in: To recall a bygone era when a pioneering anchorman known as “Uncle Walter” was considered “the most trusted man in America,” able to shape world events by his reporting.
Worth watching? Indeed. This American Masters profile is also a history of TV news, capturing Cronkite’s enthusiasms (like space travel) and pessimism (over Vietnam) with vivid interviews and clips.
Heat index: 9
