As the broadcast networks launch their summer line-ups – even before summer starts – scripted shows are scarce.
Not to worry; cable and others are filling the gap. Freeform has set June or July starts for four of them – one new, two starting its season, one returning for the season’s second half ..,. and “Motherland: Fort Salem” starting its final season.
Some networks have been in a hurry to get their summer shows in place. ABC installed a games-and-reality night on Tuesday, May 3; Fox returns “So You Think You Can Dance” – for the first time in three years – on Wednesday, May 18.
But scripted shows are another matter. The Freeform summer has:
–June 21: “Motherland: Fort Salem” begins its final season. At first, these young women – Abigail, Tally, Raelle and Scylla – were training for the military, learning to harness their witchly powers. But now they’re on the run, hiding from witch-hunters and from some people inside the White House.
— July 7: “Good Trouble” returns for the second half of its season. It focuses on young people – a lawyer, a tech whiz, a teacher, an artist, a comedian and more – living together in Los Angeles.
— July 13: “Everything’s Trash” debuts. Phoebe Robinson created and produces the half-hour comedy, playing a podcaster, in her 30s, whose ragged life starts to change when her “perfect” brother runs for office.
— July 20: “Grown-ish” starts its season, with a new Johnson to focus on. Zoey has graduated from this fictional college; now her little brother, Andre Jr., arrives as a freshman. Both are from ABC’s “Black-ish,” which has just finished an eight-year run.