15 Summer Shows We Really Miss

Maybe it's the quarantine. Or the extreme heat. The incendiary political climate certainly has not helped. Whatever the reason, we find ourselves really longing for Summer TV of yesteryear — those warm-weather guilty pleasures (or just plain pleasures) that were the perfect tonic to the dog days.

Since we can't bring our favorite obsessions back from the dead, we at TVLine did the next best thing: We compiled a gallery highlighting the 15 summertime staples we are missing the most right now.

THE CLOSER

TNT's Major Crimes was a very fine follow-up and all, but its Kyra Sedgwick-led sire will always hold a special place in our hearts as the series that first gave us the MCD, Provenza, Flynn, Fritz et al.

COVERT AFFAIRS

Talk about a great escape. The oftentimes globe-trotting adventures of Annie, Auggie and any number of mercurial (or downright sketchy) associates perfectly paired pretty people with eye-popping international locales.

BURN NOTICE

"When you're burned, you've got nothing," Michael Westen explained to us at the top of every episode of the seven-season USA Network drama. And yet every week, the blacklisted spook (and friends) found or got roped into odd jobs that both thrilled, and amused, us.

MISTRESSES

We're still holding out hope that ABC — which unceremoniously cancelled the frothy, addictive soap in 2016 — will eventually do the right thing and give us the 13-episode "final fling" that EP Rina Mimoun said would've brought the series to a satisfying conclusion. 

ZOO

Invisible snakes? Industrious mole rats that conspire to collapse buildings? And, in the very end, hybrid creatures whose bites turned dead animals into feral zombies? This CBS lark was the epitome of bananapants summertime fare. 

DEVIOUS MAIDS

This underrated Marc Cherry gem was the perfect marriage of intrigue (murder mysteries galore!) and camp (Susan Lucci as an eccentric heiress named Genevieve!), soaping up our summers for four explosive seasons. When it comes to drama in Beverly Hills, the Real Housewives have nothing on these women.

TEEN WOLF

MTV's unexpected contribution to the already-oversaturated landscape
of supernatural teen dramas charmed us from the jump, thanks in large part to its extremely likable cast of fresh faces. Even in the show's later seasons, when the mythology became borderline incomprehensible, we were compelled to just shrug and go along with it.
 

TRUE BLOOD

Most people would say that summer begins on Memorial Day. But from
2009 to 2014, the season didn't officially arrive until we saw some
vampire sex — the weirder the better! From Bill and Sookie's first
graveyard rendezvous to the occasional homoerotic sex dream (Jason + Eric 4ever!), HBO's Southern-fried guilty pleasure kept us well fed for the better part of a decade.

THE LAST SHIP

For one, the TNT action-drama's fifth and final season was also one of its best. But also, it'd be nice to think the Nathan James crew is out there somewhere to put to bed our real pandemic. 

MIDNIGHT, TEXAS

NBC's adaptation of Charlaine Harris' novels was a perfectly spooky summer concoction: a supernatural soap with a healthy dash of sex and satire. The warmer months just haven't been the same without a psychic, a witch, a weretiger, a vampire, an assassin and one seriously ripped angel to steam things up.    

SEX AND THE CITY

Like an ice cold Cosmo on a steamy Manhattan night, HBO's fun and frothy rom-com was a perfectly refreshing antidote to the dog days of summer. (It even nailed that sticky, sweaty feeling of summer in the city.) We can always try to recapture the magic in reruns, of course... but there's nothing quite like that first summer fling, is there?

DIFFICULT PEOPLE

This Hulu comedy, which ended in 2017, starred Julie Klausner and Billy Eichner as struggling comedians living in New York City — and given the tumultuous times in which we're living, their frequent cynicism would ring even more relatable in 2020. Plus, the show never met a pop culture headline it didn't want to skewer, and we can only imagine the one-liners born out of current events. (Julie and Billy would definitely have strong opinions about TikTok, no?)

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

This is the first summer since 2013 that we haven't checked in with the ladies of Litchfield, and we sure do miss 'em. While Piper's story had reached its natural conclusion, the Netflix dramedy was still firing on all cylinders in its final season, telling timely stories about drug dependency, immigration policy and an unjust criminal justice system.

HALT AND CATCH FIRE 

As the technology within the AMC drama evolved, so did the show, which reinvented itself upon its return each summer. Its fourth and final season was among the best shows of 2017 — and while we wouldn't necessarily change a thing about how it ended, we'd still love to know what grand idea Donna had for Cameron in the closing moments of the series finale. 

ROOKIE BLUE

An extremely appealing cast, led by Missy Peregrym, plus compelling love triangles and a perfect mix of personal/procedural storylines made ABC's Canadian import the ideal summertime viewing.