Summer is a great time to be a geek. With less competition from the vacationing networks, cable channels are free to air all the science fiction and fantasy television they want! These shows don’t have to worry about appealing to the TV-watching masses and can instead cater to the hardcore genre fans looking for their next obsession.
This summer is no exception. A handful of sci-fi and fantasy TV shows will be on the air, all of them twisted and funky enough to please the biggest of geeks. Sure, they won’t all appeal to each person, but we can all find something.
Teen Wolf
For everyone who wants the angst of Twilight, the nostalgia for a cheesy ’80s movie and the teen/supernatural drama of The Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf is the summer choice for you.
This is not a deep, involved show. But it’s a lot of fun and completely works in the guilty pleasure category.
Teen Wolf – MTV Shows
Plus, this time the werewolf plays lacrosse instead of basketball. How original!
Teen Wolf debuts on Sunday, June 5 at 11pm and airs Mondays at 10pm on MTV.
The Nine Lives of Chloe King
According to the show’s mythology, there’s been a race of cat-people throughout history. These cat-people have been hunted by nefarious evildoers (dog-lovers?). Chloe King gets to try to save the cats.
Yes, it’s a cheesy concept. But it’s a teen show, so that’s OK. Also, it sounds just cheesy enough to be kind of awesome, in a silly, don’t-admit-you’re-watching-it kind of way.
The Nine Lives of Chloe King airs on ABC Family starting Tuesday, June 14 at 9pm.
Falling Skies
The aliens are coming! The aliens are coming!
This summer’s token alien show features giant bugs who want us dead. Or something like that. Whatever the case, humanity’s fate rests in the hands of a history professor and his motley band of freedom fighters.
Falling Skies may have the added bonus of having enough advertising to get your non-geeky friends interested. It’s a conversation-starter!
Falling Skies airs debuts Sunday, June 19 at 9pm and airs normally at 10pm on TNT.
True Blood
Now that they’ve dealt with (and had sex with) vampires, shape-shifters, demigods, werewolves, were-panthers and fairies, obviously it’s time for witches!
You know, after awhile, you really have to question how anybody didn’t know about supernatural stuff before the vampires “came out.”
Season 4 Trailer
True Blood airs on HBO starting Sunday, June 26 at 9pm.
Torchwood
With its “Miracle Day” series coming up for the summer, fans of Captain Jack and Gwen are certain to enjoy the warm, sunny nights. This installment concerns a “miracle” that causes the world’s population to just stop dying. Gruesome deaths still occur (there’s a creepy about-to-be-executed murderer involved), but they don’t take.
And, pleasing as the concept might be, the non-dying becomes a huge problem. If you’ve been watching Torchwood in the past, you can probably guess some of the reasons.
Torchwood airs on Starz starting Friday, July 8 at 10pm.
Eureka
With all the heavy, dark science fiction on TV, sometimes you just want something a little bit lighter. That’s where Eureka comes in. Despite lots of fairly serious themes and consequences, the show manages to stay light-hearted. This is impressive, considering that Eureka‘s mad scientists have altered time, messed with reality and regularly almost-end the world.
It’s fun to watch nerds causing trouble.
Eureka airs on SyFy starting Monday, July 11 at 8pm.
Warehouse 13
The beauty of Warehouse 13 is that there will never be an end to the supply of artifacts wandering the Earth and wreaking bizarre havoc. Thus, infinite episodes.
And Warehouse 13 is the kind of show that conceivably could just keep going along its quirky way for years.
Warehouse 13 airs on SyFy starting Monday, July 11 at 9pm.
Alphas
Heroes didn’t work out so well in the end, but maybe Alphas can do better with the concept of uniquely evolved do-gooders trying to stop crime?
Even if it can’t, the show’s got a great cast, including David Strathairn and Ryan Cartwright (he played the dearly-departed Vincent Nigel-Murray on **Bones).
Alphas airs on SyFy starting Monday, July 11 at 10pm.
Haven
Some shows start off big and slow down. Haven kind of did the opposite in its first season.
Initially, the show was kind of like X-Files-light, with an FBI agent and a local cop investigating a town full of freaky psychics. Then, slowly, the show got more involved in its own plots and created a world of lookalikes without a past (or maybe too much past?), disappearing and reappearing tattoos, intergenerational conspiracies and crumbling (literally) sheriffs.
And it ended on a cliffhanger. Season 2 can’t come soon enough.
Haven airs on SyFy starting Friday, July 15 at 10pm.
Enjoy your summer indoors!
(Images and videos courtesy of MTV, ABC Family, TNT, HBO, Starz and SyFy)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
Laurel grew up in Mamaroneck, NY, Grosse Pointe, MI and Bellevue WA. She then went on to live in places like Boston, Tucson, Houston, Wales, Tanzania, Prince Edward Island and New York City before heading back to Seattle. Ever since early childhood, when she became addicted to The Muppet Show, Laurel has watched far too much TV. Current favorites include Chuck, Modern Family, Supernatural, Mad Men and Community. Laurel received a BA in Astrophysics (yes, that is possible) from Colgate University and a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies and History of Science from Columbia University before she realized that television is much better than studying.
