Summer TV 2008

'So You Think You Can Dance'

Premiere Date: May 24
Network: Fox
Starring: Cat Deeley, Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy
The 411: In its third season, the 'American Idol' of dancing lets contestants audition for a chance to experience "hell week" in Las Vegas. Where's Apolo when you need him?


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'The Simple Life Goes to Camp'

Premiere Date: May 28
Network: E!
Starring: Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie
The 411: For season five, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie take their (freak)show to summer camp. Lock up your kids!

'America's Got Talent'

Premiere Date: May 29
Network: NBC
Starring: Jerry Springer, Sharon Osbourne, David Hasselhoff
The 411: Calling all ventriloquists, mimes, jugglers and magicians. It's your second chance to make David Hasselhoff proud.

'Hex'

Premiere Date: June 2
Network: BBC America
Starring: Laura Pyper, Jemima Rooper, Michael Fassbender
The 411: Medenham Hall gets a new heroine in the battle between good and evil. And we thought our high school years were tough.

'Hell's Kitchen'

Premiere Date: June 4
Network: Fox
Starring: Gordon Ramsay
The 411: Returning for season three, chef Gordon Ramsay inspires all of us who dream of marching into a restaurant kitchen and screaming at the cooks.

'Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List'

Premiere Date: June 5
Network: Bravo
Starring: Kathy Griffin
The 411: Comedian Kathy Griffin returns for a third season. If she keeps this up, she'll have to join to the C-list soon.

'Criss Angel Mindfreak'

Premiere Date: June 5
Network: A&E
Starring: Criss Angel
The 411: Criss Angel freaks our minds for a third season of setting himself on fire, tying himself up under water and turing motorcycles into girls.

'Footballers Wive$'

Premiere Date: June 6
Network: BBC America
Starring: Zoe Lucker, Ben Price, Laila Rouass
The 411: Season three ended with both Tanya and Amber pregnant. Looks like Conrad's been scoring on both sides of the field.

'American Inventor'

Premiere Date: June 6
Network: ABC
Starring: Peter Jones
The 411: Season two sets out in search of the brightest idea. Our concept for a self-producing reality show didn't make the cut.

'Tyler Perry's House of Payne'

Premiere Date: June 6
Network: TBS
Starring: Allen Payne, LaVan Davis, Cassi Davis, Larramie "Doc" Shaw, China Anne McClain, Denise Burse
The 411: Pops has even more Payne on his hands, as CJ's kids just keep getting bigger -- and more rebellious -- in season two.

'Ghost Hunters'

Premiere Date: June 6
Network: SCI FI
Starring: Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson
The 411: Returning from their mid-season-three break, The Atlantic Paranormal Society will pick up their tools and Roto-Rooter more ghosts out of hiding.

'Top Chef'

Premiere Date: June 6
Network: Bravo
Starring: Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, Ted Allen
The 411: The third season will have have us thinking maybe we should try cooking non-frozen foods every once in a while.

'Standoff'

Premiere Date: June 8
Network: Fox
Starring: Ron Livingston, Rosemary DeWitt, Michael Cudlitz, Gina Torres, Raquel Alessi
The 411: Ron Livingston applied his FBI negotiator skills to get his show back from hiatus.

'Kyle XY'

Premiere Date: June 11
Network: ABC Family
Starring: Matt Dallas, Marguerite MacIntyre, Bruce Thomas
The 411: In season two, Kyle's not the only kid on the block without a belly button. Jessi XX better play nice.

'Big Love'

Premiere Date: June 11
Network: HBO
Starring: Bill Paxton, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny, Ginnifer Goodwin
The 411: When season one ended, everyone's favorite polygamist family had been outed by Harry Dean Stanton. God only knows how they'll get out of this one.

'Last Comic Standing'

Premiere Date: June 13
Network: NBC
Starring: Bill Bellamy
The 411: Season five goes international, with comedians from all over the world competing for big prize money and a Bravo special. That's some serious business.

'Rescue Me'

Premiere Date: June 13
Network: FX
Starring: Denis Leary, James McCaffrey, Andrea Roth, Michael Lombardi, Jack McGee, Steven Pasquale, Daniel Sunjata, John Scurti
The 411: Last we saw Dennis Leary, he was in bad need of rescuing. Will he make it to season four, or will he join his ghost buddies?

'The 4400'

Premiere Date: June 17
Network: USA
Starring: Joel Gretsch, Jacqueline McKenzie, Billy Campbell
The 411: Season four promises more hidden powers, more abductions of children from the future and seeding them in the past. You know, the usual.

'The Dead Zone'

Premiere Date: June 17
Network: USA
Starring: Anthony Michael Hall, Nicole de Boer, Chris Bruno, John Adams, David Ogden Stiers
The 411: Johnny Smith returns for season six. Once again, the fate of America -- and the world -- depends on him, and that part of the brain none of us use.

'Entourage'

Premiere Date: June 17
Network: HBO
Starring: Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jeremy Piven, Kevin Connolly, Jerry Ferrara
The 411: Vince and the boys return for season four, and the elusive dream project 'Medillin' could finally come true. But where are the boys going to live?

'The Closer'

Premiere Date: June 18
Network: TNT
Starring: Kyra Sedgwick, J.K. Simmons
The 411: Fresh after her Golden Globe win, Kyra Sedgwick will personally interrogate eveybody in America until they confess they love her show.

'Big Brother'

Premiere Date: July 5
Network: CBS
Starring: Julie Chen
The 411: Following last year's All-Stars season, a new set of houseguests will move into our TVs. Let's all give them a warm welcome.

'Doctor Who'

Premiere Date: July 6
Network: SCI FI
Starring: David Tennant, Freema Agyeman
The 411: The tenth Doctor in this eternally-running series continues his time-traveling adventures, only this time he's got a new companion. Cheeky bastard.

'World Series of Pop Culture'

Premiere Date: July 9
Network: VH1
Starring: Pat Kiernan, Lisa Guerrero
The 411: Pop culture junkies descend upon New York for a second season of a show that proves there's no such thing as useless knowledge.

'Eureka'

Premiere Date: July 10
Network: SCI FI
Starring: Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Joe Morton, Jordan Hinson
The 411: At the end of season one, this mysterious town was warped to the year 2010. Does that make this season four?

'Monk'

Premiere Date: July 13
Network: USA
Starring: Tony Shalhoub, Ted Levine, Traylor Howard
The 411: Tony Shalhoub returns for season six as a private detective who solves tricky cases while surviving terrible ordeals, both real and imagined.

'Psych'

Premiere Date: July 13
Network: USA
Starring: James Roday, Dule Hill, Corbin Bernsen
The 411: Season two offers more proof that pretending to be psychic can send someone other than yourself to prison.

'Design Star'

Premiere Date: July 22
Network: HGTV
Starring: Clive Pearse
The 411: Tired of looking at those old drapes and out-dated upholstery? Watch season two of 'Design Star' instead.

'Who Wants to Be a Superhero?'

Premiere Date: July 25
Network: SCI FI
Starring: Stan Lee
The 411: The person with the coolest superhero concept wins a comic book and a TV movie. Everyone else gets life-crushing humiliation.

'My Boys'

Premiere Date: July 30
Network: TBS
Starring: Jordana Spiro, Jim Gaffigan, Jamie Kaler, Kyle Howard
The 411: PJ and Brendan hooked up at the end of season one. What happens when "boys" becomes just "boy"?

'Biggest Loser'

Premiere Date: Aug. 7
Network: NBC
Starring: Alison Sweeney
The 411: This fat-burning beheamoth adds soap star Alison Sweeney as its host, and loses nothing.

'Weeds'

Premiere Date: Aug. 13
Network: Showtime
Starring: Mary-Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Kevin Nealon, Mary-Kate Olsen, Matthew Modine
The 411: Mary-Louise Parker has some new neighbors to contend with in the third season. Matthew Modine checks in, and Mary-Kate Olsen returns to TV sans-Ashley to play a devout Christian.