The dog days of summer may soon be approaching, but Peak TV didn’t get the message. While August is generally viewed as the summer “dead zone” for film (although that perception is changing), it is simply yet another month for premieres of new television series and new seasons of old favorites. At least the heat will give most people an excuse to stay indoors and chip away at their DVRs while cranking up the AC.
Here is a roundup of August’s cream of the crop television to dive into before school starts up and the Emmys insanity comes to a crescendo.
“The Sinner”
Synopsis: A young mother tries to find out what caused her to commit a public act of incredible violence, of which she has no memory doing.
What You Need To Know: Jessica Biel, she of the grand cinematic achievements “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry” and “Playing for Keeps,” finally got the memo that television is no longer the bargain bin of entertainment and snagged herself the lead in USA’s eight-episode miniseries. While “The Sinner,” adapted from acclaimed German crime writer Petra Hammesfahr’s novel and also starring Bill Pullman (“While You Were Sleeping”), Christopher Abbott (“James White”) and Abbey Miller (“Justified”), sounds interesting on paper, I am detecting a strong whiff of “Gypsy” vibes from the series. However, I would be happy to be proven wrong if “The Sinner” turns out to be a taunt, nail-biting mystery-thriller instead of yet another basic first-world, white mommy navel-gazing slog.
Release Date: August 2nd
“Comrade Detective”
Synopsis: In the thick of 1980s Cold War hysteria the Romanian government created Comrade Detective, the country’s most popular and longest-running series. The sleek and gritty police show’s first season find Detectives Gregor Anghel and Iosef Baciu investigating the murder of a follow officer and in the process, unraveling a subversive plot to destroy their country fuelled by the greatest enemy….CAPITALISM.
What You Need To Know: Amazon Prime is saving the craziest for last this summer season with the Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt executive produced Cold War comedy. Florin Piersic Jr. (“Killing Time”) and Corneliu Ulici play detectives Anghel and Baciu, while Tatum and Gorden-Levitt provide the hilarious so-bad-its-HILARIOUS English language dub. The Romanian and English casts deftly pull off the delicate balance required of such an earnest and lovingly meta spoof of 1980s Communist propo-tainment (with special props to Nick Offerman and Adrian Paduraru as Captain Covaci). For a certain generation, “Comrade Detective” will be sure to bring back memories.
Release Date: August 4th
“Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later”
Synopsis: Ten years later we uncover what has happened to and where the lives our favorite Camp Firewood campers and counselors have taken them in the early 1990s.
What You Need To Know: David Wain and Michael Showalter (“The State, “Childrens Hospital,” “They Came Together”) are triple dipping back into the Camp Firewood well, but when you can still mine so much gold from a premise (and are in business with deep-pocketed Netflix), you keep on digging. The gang holds the promised reunion ten years later and as every reunion proves, some have taken better to adult life than others. Janeane Garfalo, Molly Shannon, Michael Ian Black, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Amy Poehler, Marguerite Moreau, David Hyde Pierce and Ken Marino reprise their roles, as well as Chris Pine, Kristin Wiig, Josh Charles, Lake Bell and Jason Schwartzman from “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp.” They are joined by Mark Feuerstein, Alyssa Milano, Jai Courtney, Adam Scott and Dax Shepard in ‘Ten Years Later.’ Who would have thought Jai Courtney could be funny? Maybe he should take a page from Chris Hemsworth and start lining up more laffers…
Release Date: August 4th
“Ray Donovan”
Synopsis: Ray Donovan, a professional “fixer” for the rich and famous of Los Angeles, can make anyone’s problems disappear – except those created by his own family.
What You Need To Know: “Ray Donovan” has become one of Showtime’s steady performers of the 2010s, now chugging along with its fifth season. Liev Schreiber’s Ray is throwing himself back into the fixing business, now working for powerful media mogul Samantha Winslow (Susan Sarandon). Unfortunately things soon get messy when Samantha sets Ray against her own fixers, fearing they know too much, all the while Ray tries to come to terms with his family issues, in particular his father (Jon Voight) and older brother (Eddie Marsan). You can fix other people’s problems, but try as one might you can’t fix family.
Release Date: August 6th