It won’t be all World Cup and semiquincentennial.
The summer television and streaming schedule includes the return of favorites like “Ted Lasso” and (for the last time) “The Bear,” and movies that will wrap up the stories of “Call My Agent!” and “Heartstopper.”
The new shows include a “Big Bang Theory” spinoff featuring Stuart the comics guy (“Stuart Fails to Save the Universe”), a comedy about an aging professional golfer starring Will Ferrell (“The Hawk”) and a stare-down between J.K. Simmons and Titus Welliver (“The Westies”).
Here are 30 shows that might catch your eye, listed in chronological order. All dates are subject to change.
‘AfroPop’
This documentary anthology — the full title is “Afropop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange” — is back for an 18th season, even though its producer, Black Public Media, lost about half its funding to congressional cuts. The season begins with “Listen to Me,” about maternal health care for Black women, and continues on July 2 with “This World Is Not My Own,” about the artist Nellie Mae Rowe (portrayed by Uzo Aduba). (PBS.org, June 15)
‘Sugar’
Colin Farrell returns as a private eye who takes being an outsider to a whole new level. The first season of this movie-besotted, sci-fi-inflected fantasia on film noir style was terrifically entertaining. Its big twist (at least its first one) is out of the bag, and Mark Protosevich, the show’s creator, is no longer the showrunner, so we’ll see how it goes. (Apple TV, June 19)
‘The American Experiment’
Netflix’s contribution to the celebration of America’s 250th birthday is a five-part documentary, from Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s production company, about the early years of our democracy. In addition to historians and political scientists, the interviewees include a bipartisan selection of political figures, including Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi along with Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Mike Pence. (Netflix, June 24)
‘A Woman of Substance’
Barbara Taylor Bradford’s best seller about a servant girl who becomes a retail mogul was made into a mini-series shown on Channel 4 in 1985; the 13.8 million viewers for the final episode is still the British channel’s record. So naturally Channel 4 has made an entirely new mini-series out of the same story, this time with Brenda Blethyn as the older Emma Harte, who was played by Deborah Kerr in the original. (BritBox, June 24)
‘The Bear’
The fifth and final season begins the day after Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) announces that he is leaving the restaurant. (FX and Hulu, June 25)
‘Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness’
Larry David and the Obamas collaborate on a series that will have something to do with American history. It could be great or it could give a whole new meaning to cringe comedy. (HBO and HBO Max, June 26)
‘Adventure Time: Side Quests’
The latest “Adventure Time” series puts the focus back on Finn and his magical dog, Jake. It’s a prequel in which the boy and his dog will have “lighter, self-contained adventures.” (Disney+ and Hulu, June 29)
‘Zorro’
Jean Dujardin brings his swashbuckling charm to Don Diego de la Vega, who, in this lighthearted French costume drama, has renounced violence and retired his masked alter ego, Zorro. Of course events in 1821 Los Angeles will conspire to change his mind. (MHz Choice, June 30)
‘Elle’
“From the World of ‘Legally Blonde.’” Lexi Minetree plays the future Harvard law student Elle Woods in a prequel series set in high school. (Amazon Prime Video, July 1)
‘Human Vapor’
The South Korean writer and producer Yeon Sang-ho (“Train to Busan”), the Japanese studio Toho and Netflix collaborated on this series about a serial killer who can transform into gas. It is based on a 1960 Toho film by the Godzilla-meister, Ishiro Honda. (Netflix, July 2)
‘Silo’
Among the dystopian life-underground shows, which include “Paradise” and “Fallout,” “Silo” has been the most absorbing. Season 3 will try to keep up the tension while adding a second timeline that flows out of the aboveground twist at the end of the Season 2 finale. (Apple TV, July 3)
‘Das Boot’
The first season of this German drama — a sequel series to the claustrophobic 1981 film set on a World War II U-boat — appeared on Hulu in 2019; the three subsequent seasons have not been shown in America. MHz Choice is promising to show all four, with Season 2 scheduled for Aug. 4. (MHz Choice, July 7)
‘The Five Star Weekend’
TV’s current favorite iteration of the “woman’s picture” is a glossy melodrama or thriller set at a beach house bound to inspire murderous jealousy in the viewer. This one stars Jennifer Garner as the famous food blogger whose life isn’t as perfect as it seems; D’Arcy Carden, Gemma Chan, Regina Hall and Chloë Sevigny play the friends who come to her house on Nantucket to hash things out. (Peacock, July 9)
‘Little House on the Prairie’
This new adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s frontier novels (set in what we now think of as the Midwest) addresses what Netflix says is “the surging demand for feel-good, heartland-rooted comfort programming.” (Netflix, July 9)
‘The Westies’
It’s tough-guy heaven: J.K. Simmons as the leader of the Westies, the famously brutal Irish gang that ran New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, and Titus Welliver as an Irish cop. Created by Chris Brancato, who gave us “Narcos,” the series is set in the 1980s during the construction of the Javits Center. (MGM+, July 12)
‘Lucky’
The crime caper based on a best-selling novel is a broad category these days, but maybe the cast justifies this one: Anya Taylor-Joy as a con artist on the run, along with Annette Bening, Timothy Olyphant, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, William Fichtner and Eric Lange. Jonathan Tropper (“Your Friends and Neighbors”) created the show based on the novel by Marissa Stapley. (Apple TV, July 15)
‘Ride or Die’
Beginning with a James Bond-style Alpine escape on skis, we’re in the world of action comedy played against beautiful European scenery. Hannah Waddingham of “Ted Lasso” is a super-assassin, and Octavia Spencer is her true-crime-buff best friend; the wonderful Bill Nighy plays a character called, ominously, the Director. (Amazon Prime Video, July 15)
‘The Hawk’
Will Ferrell as a broken-down golfer who drags himself out on the course — and tortures everyone around him — because he is one major short of a grand slam. (Netflix, July 16)
‘Heartstopper Forever’
A feature-length finale should provide some clues to the future fates of 18-year-old Nick (Kit Connor) and 17-year-old Charlie (Joe Locke), and one last sugar rush for fans of the three seasons of this British romantic comedy. (Netflix, July 17)
‘Bloody Murray’
Naomi Levov and Rotem Sela play Murray and Dana, 30-something roommates who are a little too involved in each other’s lives in this bittersweet Israeli rom-com. (ChaiFlicks, July 19)
‘Stuart Fails to Save the Universe’
The supporting characters in “The Big Bang Theory” were always more believable nerds than the leads, and this new spinoff centers on them: the comic-shop owner, Stuart (Kevin Sussman); his assistant manager and girlfriend, Denise (Lauren Lapkus); the sad geologist, Bert (Brian Posehn); and the inexcusable Kripke (John Ross Bowie). This time around, they’re action heroes in an alternate reality. (HBO Max, July 23)
‘Fightland’
50 Cent extends his production mini-empire to Britain with a violent crime drama (natch) that combines boxing and the London underworld. Nicholas Pinnock, Deborah Ayorinde and Howard Charles play father, mother and boxing-champion-turned-convict son. (Starz, July 31)
‘Lioness’
The quality of Taylor Sheridan’s shows tends to be in inverse proportion to the number of cows involved; this spy series focused on female C.I.A. operatives has virtually no cows. Zoe Saldaña returns as Joe, the ultra-tough team leader, in Season 3. (Paramount+, Aug. 2)
‘Ted Lasso’
Season 4: Not bad for a show based on a couple of short comic promos for NBC’s soccer coverage. Three years after Ted (Jason Sudeikis) returned to America, he comes back to London to coach the Richmond women’s team. (Apple TV, Aug. 5)
‘The Shards’
Ryan Murphy and Bret Easton Ellis have collaborated to develop a series from Ellis’s autobiographical novel, set during his senior year at the exclusive Buckley School in Los Angeles. Apparently there were no regulatory safeguards preventing these two storytelling extremists from working together. (FX, Aug. 5)
‘Irreversible’
Set in an insular town on the Portuguese coast, this sober, closely observed crime drama follows a cop (Rafael Morais) and a psychologist (Margarida Vila-Nova) as they investigate a murder. (Viaplay, Aug. 13)
‘Lanterns’
It’s the third series in the canonical DC Universe — can you name the first two? Kyle Chandler plays Hal Jordan, a veteran Green Lantern and founding Justice League member, and Aaron Pierre plays a new Lantern; they’re intergalactic peacekeepers, but at the moment they’re looking into murders in Nebraska. The appealing cast includes Kelly Macdonald, Nathan Fillion, Garret Dillahunt, Nicole Ari Parker and Laura Linney. The answer to the quiz: “Creature Commandos” and “Peacemaker.” (HBO and HBO Max, Aug. 16)
‘Call My Agent! The Movie’
The popular French comedy series about a fictional talent agency and its semi-fictional clients, which ended in 2020 after four seasons, is revived in a streaming feature. Andréa (Camille Cottin) is beset by a series of familiar crises when she tries to direct her first film, and her old colleagues regather to “help.” (Netflix, Sept. 10)
‘South Park’
In the show’s 28th season finale in December, the Antichrist — the love child of Donald Trump and his tradwife, Satan — committed suicide in the womb in the style of Jeffrey Epstein. (How he got the bedsheets in there wasn’t clear.) Why do Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s corporate overlords — the same people who used to oversee “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and are currently streamlining “60 Minutes” — keep allowing this sort of thing? Maybe it helps that the show’s Trump is so svelte, active and gosh-darn cute. (Comedy Central, Sept. 16)
Other returning shows: ACORN: “Harry Wild” June 22; “Inspector Ellis” July 6; ADULT SWIM: “My Adventures With Superman” June 13; AMC: “The Walking Dead: Dead City” July 26; APPLE TV: “Camp Snoopy” June 26; “Trying” July 8; “Women in Blue” Aug. 12; ; “Dark Matter” Aug. 28; BRITBOX: “Trigger Point” June 18; DISNEY+: “X-Men ’97” July 1; HBO: “House of the Dragon” June 21; “Hard Knocks With the Seattle Seahawks” Aug. 11; HULU: “King of the Hill” July 20; “Futurama” Aug. 3; MHz CHOICE: “The Traveler” June 16; “The Art of Crime” June 23; “Nora Sand” June 30; NETFLIX: “Sweet Magnolias” June 11; “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders” June 16; “Another Self” June 24; “Avatar: The Last Airbender” June 25; “Survival of the Thickest” July 2; “Ransom Canyon” July 23; “One Hundred Years of Solitude” Aug. 5; “Tires” Aug. 13; PARAMOUNT+: “The Agency” June 21; “Tyler Perry’s Ruthless” June 30; “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” July 23; PBS: “Grantchester” June 14; “Marble Hall Murders” Sept. 6; “Marlow Murder Club” Sept. 6; PEACOCK: “The Capture” June 18; STARZ: “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” June 12; SYFY: “The Ark” July 29; UP FAITH & FAMILY: “Hudson & Rex” June 11
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