A new Marvel hero, some really old dragons and Neil Patrick Harris, all just in time for summer.
Here are the buzziest new TV shows of the season to watch, try or avoid — based solely on trailers and descriptions (no spoilers here).
Watch
“Irma Vep,” June 6, HBO
Alicia Vikander has been tasked to lose her mind playing Mira, an American actress who, disillusioned with her life, moves to France to star in a remake of a French silent film classic about an underground crime organization called “The Vampires.” But as Mira gets deeper into production, she begins to lose track of what’s real and what’s script. If the show can avoid falling into ugly stereotypes about crazy women, it could be a fascinating study of fiction, reality and everything in between.
“Ms. Marvel,” June 8, Disney+
Obviously, the person best suited to save the world is a teenage girl from New Jersey. Who else? After more superhero movies than you can count about buff white guys named Chris, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), a Pakistani-American high school student from Jersey City finally gets her MCU show as she figures out how to control the cosmic energy she can create from a magic bangle. Let the girls run the show.
“Queer as Folk,” June 9, Peacock
A “reimagining” of Russell T Davies’ groundbreaking show, “Queer as Folk” is set in New Orleans this time and follows a group of LGBTQ friends, reeling from a Pulse-like shooting and trying to get back to their brand of normal.
“The Summer I Turned Pretty,” June 17, Prime Video
Remember those empty teenage years where you just floated by, untethered from the realities and miseries of the world? “The Summer I Turned Pretty” isn’t quite as rose-colored, but Jenny Han’s (“To All The Boys”) adaptation of the first book of her same-named trilogy promises a hazy throwback to when life was at least a little easier, littered with teenage crushes and cotillion dresses.
“Loot,” June 24, Apple TV+
One of the first images released of “Loot” was of Maya Rudolph and an alpaca. Do you need more? How about Rudolph as a rich woman whose life is turned upside down when her husband betrays her, leaving her with nothing but the tabloid headlines and a charity foundation that wants nothing to do with her drama? Bring on the alpaca.
“Black Bird,” July 8, Apple TV+
This doesn’t exactly sound like an odd couple comedy, but the series, based on James Keene and Hillel Levin’s true crime memoir “In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption,” sets up two unlikely partners: a police officer’s son (Taron Egerton) doing 10 years for drug dealing and a serial killer (Paul Walter Hauser). If the former can extract a confession from the latter, he gets out early. What happens behind bars doesn’t stay behind bars if you’re a narc.
“House of the Dragon,” Aug. 21, HBO
Nothing said here is going to sway your decision in any direction. If you’re still mad about the “Game of Thrones” finale, you’re not going to watch the prequel. Or maybe you are because you miss the dragons so much. If you didn’t care about “Game of Thrones” the first time, you’re not going to watch another one.
“The Patient,” Aug. 30, FX
Steve Carrell as a therapist trying to talk a serial killer (Domhnall Gleeson) out of killing again while being held hostage could be great or terrible, especially once you throw in the murderer’s mommy issues. What should put “The Patient” on the right side of that line is the creators: Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, who last made a little show called “The Americans.” If anyone knows how to do damaged relationships, it’s them.
Try
“God’s Favorite Idiot,” June 15, Netflix
Apart, Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone are two of the funniest working actors. Together, their work often boils down to ‘yeah, sure, fine,’ which is unfortunate. And yet we just keep giving them second chances. This time, Falcone plays a tech guy who gets struck by lightning and is chosen by God to help save the world. McCarthy plays his girlfriend and Leslie Bibb plays Satan. Yeah, sure, fine.
“Players,” June 16, Paramount+
“American Vandal” had a really simple premise: someone drew penises all over a high school and a bunch of teens try to solve the “crime.” The mockumentary style, plus the ridiculousness of the whole thing was addictive. In “Players,” co-creators Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault are trying to capture the same mockumentary magic, but in the world of League of Legends and an esportsteam trying to capture glory. Sure, gamers are easy material to ridicule, but at some point it just seems a little cruel.
“The Old Man,” June 16, FX
FX’s “The Old Man,” starring Jeff Bridges, is based on Thomas Perry’s 2017 novel of the same name, but if you assumed it was just a ripoff of “Red,” no one would blame you either. A former CIA agent living off the grid who suddenly has to go on the run when an assassin tracks him down? Yeah, Bruce Willis already did that. But hey, “Red” was great, so who are we to complain?
“Uncoupled,” July 29, Netflix
Darren Star’s “Emily in Paris” was the subject of a truly ridiculous level of discourse for a mostly silly show about, well, a girl in Paris. Will his next show, about a newly single gay man in his mid-40s (Neil Patrick Harris) in New York City, cause the same agita among people who think they are too good to just watch a silly show? Please, for all our sakes, say no.
Avoid
“The Terminal List,” July 1, Prime Video
Jack Carr’s 2018 novel was a bestseller, praised as an action-packed thriller about a Navy SEAL wrapped up in a government conspiracy after his platoon is ambushed. Chris Pratt as a soldier on a mission and a list of a bunch of people to kill — thus “The Terminal List” — feels like yet another anti-hero who would be better served talking through his feelings.
“Flowers in the Attic: The Origin,” July 9, Lifetime
You know what absolutely no one needs right now? A prequel series about a woman who eventually locks her grandchildren in an attic and, if the trailer is to believed, watched the incest at Foxworth Hall start early.
“Resident Evil,” July 14, Netflix
Resident Evil has been a third-person shooter game, a first-person shooter game, a six-film movie series, some novels and a few comic books. Now it’s a TV show. But has anyone stopped to ask if we actually want to watch another zombie apocalypse?
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