Remember when summertime TV was nothing but rehashed reruns and low-rent reality shows? Not in this era of Peak TV, with summer 2018 serving up an exciting array of television that runs the gamut from a craft-based reality competition hosted by “Parks and Rec” duo Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman to John Krasinski taking on the role of Tom Clancy’s iconic CIA analyst in “Jack Ryan”. Here’s a look at this summer’s upcoming TV highlights.
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In this intriguing drama, Sarah Shahi ("Chicago Fire") stars as Mara Kint, a former hostage negotiator whose former boss (Dennis Haysbert, "24") hires her to help rescue people who have become trapped in a highly advanced virtual reality program where they can live out their wildest fantasies.
PREMIERE: Wednesday, May 30 on Global
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The third and final season will see Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) land a new job in HR — what could go wrong? As those who've watched the first two seasons already know... a lot!
PREMIERE: Wednesday, May 30
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Based on J.K. Rowling's crime novels (which she wrote under the non de plume Robert Galbraith), a war veteran turned private detective who uses his expertise to solve complex cases that have stymied the police.
PREMIERE: Friday, June 1
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The latest from uber-producer Ryan Murphy is set in the world of the NYC ball culture that Madonna thrust into the mainstream with her single "Vogue". Fun fact: "Pose" features the largest transgender cast ever assembled for a television series.
PREMIERE: Sunday, June 3
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Described as a dark dramedy, this HBO series centres on group of spoiled siblings jockeying for position when their aging father (Brian Cox) decides it's time to step down from being CEO of the family-run media empire and determine which of his children will replace him — a tough decision, because none of them seem particularly up to the task.
PREMIERE: Sunday, June 3
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The long-running improv comedy show returns with a new season, featuring an array of guest stars joining regulars Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles and Wayne Brady. Aisha Tyler hosts.
PREMIERE: Monday, June 4
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Host Cat Deeley and judges Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy are back with a new season of this summertime staple, once again searching for America's best dancer. PREMIERE: Monday, June 4
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In this provocative, subversive dark comedy, a plus-sized writer (Joy Nash) who ghost-writes a column for the editor of a fashion magazine (Julianna Margulies of "The Good Wife") is recruited by a radical feminist group that punishes powerful men who have sexually abused women – by killing them.
PREMIERE: Monday, June 4
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Sutton Foster is back for a fifth season of chicanery, playing a 40-something woman who pretends to be half her age in order to restart her career.
PREMIERE: Tuesday, June 5
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The relationship between humans and Synths becomes increasingly fraught in the third season of this futuristic drama.
PREMIERE: Tuesday, June 5
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Following a short run earlier this year, this singing competition that cuts out all the prelude by starting with the final four is back, with host Fergie returning alongside judges Sean "Diddy" Combs, DJ Khaled and Meghan Trainor.
PREMIERE: Thursday, June 7
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The latest Marvel series follows a pair of teenagers from very different backgrounds who are brought together by their newly emerging superpowers.
PREMIERE: Thursday, June 7 on ABC Spark
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The final batch of episodes begin as the country music drama prepares for its series finale in July.
PREMIERE: Thursday, June 7 on W Network
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When Netflix decided to cancel this intriguing sci-fi series from the Wachowskis ("The Matrix") fan outcry was so great that this standalone finale was produced to wrap things up with a satisfying conclusion.
PREMIERE: Friday, June 8
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The new season of the celebrity version of the popular game show kicks off with the Kardashians (led by Kris Jenner) and the Wests (captained by Yeezy himself) facing off, with host Steve Harvey presiding over the shenanigans.
PREMIERE: Sunday, June 10
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Yet another game show revival, hosted by "black-ish" star Anthony Anderson, with the season debut featuring guest stars Nikki Glaser, Gabby Douglas, Dermot Mulroney and Octavia Spencer.
PREMIERE: Sunday, June 10
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Produced by Viola Davis (“How to Get Away With Murder”) and her husband Julius Tennon, this seven-episode docu-series explores flaws in the criminal justice system by focusing on death-row cases, approaching from angles to reveal things aren’t as cut and dried as it may appear.
PREMIERE: Tuesday, June 12
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The profanity-spewing celebrity chef is back with a tricked-out 18-wheeler (dubbed “Hell on Wheels”) that he takes to struggling restaurants throughout the U.S., working on a 24-hour deadline to turn these failing businesses around as only he can.
PREMIERE: Wednesday, June 13
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Marlon Wayans is back with a second season of his self-titled sitcom (based on his actual life) about a divorced dad who clashes with his ex as they attempt to amicably co-parents their kids.
PREMIERE: Tuesday, June 14
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Available on the CBS All Access streaming service (which just launched in Canada), this fact-based drama tells the shocking true story of Jack Parsons, a maverick rocket-builder who founded the famed Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This series, however, focuses less on his rocketry than his obsession with occultist Aleister Crowley and his attempts to usher in the coming of the Anti-Christ through sex magick and occult rituals.
PREMIERE: Tuesday, June 14
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Get ready for a clash of cops as "Shades of Blue" kicks off its third and final season, with Harlee (Jennifer Lopez) desperate to get away from the corruption she was dragged into by Woz (Ray Liotta), who will go to great lengths to prevent her from testifying against the precinct's dirty cops.
PREMIERE: Sunday, June 17
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The ripples of Noah’s affair with Alison continue to reverberate in the fourth season of this complex drama in which a sexual liaison forever changes the lives of four seriously damaged people. In the new season, Noah’s tangled web becomes even more so now that he realizes the severity of the mistake he made and must live with the consequences.
PREMIERE: Sunday, June 17
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Ten eligible women selected by a blue-ribbon panel of matchmakers vie for a chance at love with mystery suitor Mike, a police officer from Bakersfield, California, in search of his soul mate. By the end of the night, Mike will propose to one of two remaining women. Then, the newly acquainted couple will trust fate and exit the stage possibly engaged to be married.
PREMIERE: Monday, June 18
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It's taken a year, but ABC is FINALLY admitting that British comedian Tommy Maitland is actually heavily disguised Mike Myers, and both Myers and Maitland are back for a second season of this Will Arnett-produced reboot of the classic 1970s game show hosted by the late Chuck Barris.
PREMIERE: Thursday, June 21
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This new rom-com cop show from the creator of "Castle" stars Rachel Bilson ("Hart of Dixie") as the former star of a hit cop series whose epic breakdown is broadcast to the public and sends her to rehab. Desperate to restart her career, she talks her way into shadowing a lone-wolf private investigator (Eddie Cibrian) as research for a potential comeback role. Though he resents the babysitting gig, the high-spirited actress uses the skills she learned playing a cop on TV and unexpectedly proves herself to be surprisingly valuable in his investigations.
PREMIERE: Thursday, June 21
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Season two of "Luke Cage" finds the indestructible superhero (Mike Colter) adjusting to his new status as a celebrity — forget about the fact that people can now track his whereabouts with the "Harlem's Hero" app. When a new threat arises, will Luke find himself forced into an uneasy alliance with nefarious Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard)?
PREMIERE: Friday, June 22
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The third season of this Seth Rogen-produced series will send Jesse (Dominic Cooper), Tulip (Ruth Negga) and Cassidy (Joseph GIlgun) to a Louisiana plantation called Angelville, where Jesse was raised by his mother's ruthless family — who reveal that they're still very much interested in tormenting him.
PREMIERE: Sunday, June 24
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More magicians attempt to fool master illusionists Penn & Teller, who will bring that magician onstage with them in their Vegas act if they can't figure out how a particular trick is performed.
PREMIERE: Monday, June 25
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Alison Brie and the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling are back with a second season of this comedy chronicling the beginnings of a briefly popular footnote in the annals of professional wrestling.
PREMIERE: Friday, June 29
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Dean Cain returns to host of a new season of this series that showcases some of today's hottest stage magicians.
PREMIERE: Friday, June 29
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The first season of this screwball comedy followed the off-the-rails murder trial of a dotty professor (John Lithgow) accused of murdering his wife. In season two, the action surrounds a wealthy heiress (Kristin Chenoweth) on trial for allegedly killing her husband and stuffing the corpse in a suitcase. Dont worry, it's funnier than it sounds.
PREMIERE: Thursday, July 19
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The ladies of Litchfield Penitentiary are returning with a sixth season, which will see some dire consequences after last season's prison riot, with the action shifting to the prison's dreaded maximum security
PREMIERE: Friday, July 27
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Fans of "Parks and Recreation" won't want to miss this reality competition featuring co-stars Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, who preside over the action as contestants tackle an array of arts-and-crafts projects.
PREMIERE: Tuesday, July 31
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Teenagers Harry and June run away together, not knowing the secrets their respective families have been keeping from them: namely, that they've got extraordinary superpowers that are about to make themselves known.
PREMIERE: Friday, August 24
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Following in the footsteps of Alec Baldwin, Ben Affleck, Harrison Ford and Chris Pine, John Krasinski is the laster actor to portray the heroic CIA analyst in a new Amazon series based on the novels of the late Tom Clancy.
PREMIERE: Friday, August 31