Guide #253: As the surprise season kicks off, this summer’s TV has left the heat | Culture

Back in 2015, when I worked on the former publication of the Guide, us ran for cover inviting readers to “Stay inside this summer”. Where did our argument go, this was it a large amount of TV broadcast in the months from June to August of that year (True Detective, My Mad Fat Diary, Veep and, err, the Abz demo from boyband 5ive’s new farm project), you’d be a fool to go outside and get your vitamin D.

This was not a controversial opinion. The sudden rise of Stream tore down the walls that had previously left summer a barren wasteland and kept quality TV a prime time to watch in the summer and fall. Now, new shows will arrive throughout the year. In the years that followed, some of the most talked about TV shows were discussed around or after the solstice: Stranger Things, Yellowstone, Euphoria, I May Destroy You, The Bear, and many more besides.

But, if Guide magazine was still around in 2026, its identical cover would be very different.

“Hold a straw, not your TV remote”.

TV viewing offers this year, in the UK and US, have not been worth chasing the sun. There may be a few returnees (The Bear for its final season, Silo, House of the Dragon) and a few entertainments (the BBC’s delicious trash series Two Weeks in August, or the Apple TV fun For All Mankind spin-off Star City), but new shows to set the agenda have failed to materialize. If you’re feeling generous, you can expand what you want to include Widow’s Baywhich ended its most destructive season on the 17th of June, but I do not feel generous: that it was doubtless the passion of spring; its quivering, slightly radiant charms against the June heat. And, minus the display, the cabinet is empty.

There is a big discount here, of course: The biggest World Cup ever, which, as well as taking over the BBC and ITV TV channels in the UK, was due to the events in North America, it was consumed in the time of the US when you usually also experience the big shows of the summer. However, I’m not sure that alone is enough to excuse the lack of exposure this summer, especially when many have been looking for non-football programs. And things are not looking good now that the World Cup is over. I can see only two series coming in the whole of August that would fall into the “big new show” bucket: The Lamp, the HBO series that is very interesting to be Damon Lindelof’s first show since the best watchman; and The Shards, FX’s Bret Easton Ellis feature from Ryan Murphy (and was given Murphy’s in the near future historywhich has a lower chance of being a major disappointment).

Where are the showrunners – who don’t bother with concepts like “prime time” and “schedule” -? Netflix, in particular, has endured a rotten summer so far, following an equally miserable spring. Do you remember the last Netflix series? The failure to produce major new shows is said to be a big concern for the top brass, according to Vulture’s TV. industry columnist, Joe Adalian. Amazon didn’t fare as well – its most talked about show, the original Legally Blonde Elleit has caused people to talk about its evil. Disney+ can actually point to the final season of The Bear as a worthy success this summer (Mindy Kaling’s They don’t have to work after being quickly recalled), while HBO has released a bit on the side of House of the Dragon and Larry David’s animated show that arrived quickly. Only Apple TV seems to be making an effort this summer, with regular jumps: Sure Fun, Star City, Lucky, Cape FearIt’s not, Sugarand, next month, the returning Ted Lasso.

Moreover, this is not just a one-off, the summer season of 2025 was also interesting. The only series not quickly forgotten from that time was Alien: Earth. This reflects a larger shift in summertime, and is likely due to the increased emphasis on the Emmy awards, which broadcast services in particular tend to continue to focus on. Voting for the Emmys ends on May 31st, and in recent years there has been a great desire to establish the best new series before the deadline. And why leave new shows in June, July and August when most viewers will still see the flood that comes in the spring? (The same thing can be said to be happening in the UK, where the Bafta TV awards were canceled by 31 December, which led to a lot of confusion.)

All of this means that TV-wise, summer may be a washout for a while. Yes, you may need to go outside to enjoy the sunshine. Fortunately, I know.

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