With the scripted content boom still very much in effect, I’m guessing that you’re behind on more than a few shows right now. There’s so much quality TV being produced in 2015 that even the most discerning of viewer can find themselves trapped underneath an increasingly weighty DVR, their eyes hungrier for more content than they feasibly have time for. But after a while, looking at the same list of shows that you need to catch up on gets old, especially if they’re shows that aren’t high priority or shows that are just barely hanging onto their spots in your rotation.
That’s where KSiteTV comes in, as Craig Byrne, Stephanie Hall, Derek B. Gayle, and Shilo Adams have felt what you’re feeling right now. We’ve all needed a little diversion during the summer, which has become nearly as busy as the traditional TV season and evolved away from its time as DVR cleanup; we’re also not ones to shy away from good TV, so we’ve put together a list of 12 shows that you should catch up on during the summer. Considering how much TV is actually out there, it’s understandable for projects to slip by even the most attentive of news watchers, so this is as much a “What You Might’ve Missed” article as it is a catch up guide.
For every show, we’ve included where they air, when they next premiere, how many episodes are available to watch, what the premise behind each show is, and who’s included in the cast. Additionally, we argue why you should catch up on each show, recommend a few episodes just in case you don’t have time to fully marathon something, and link you to the legal ways to consume the show of your choosing.
Marvel’s Daredevil (Netflix)
Premiere Date: April 2016 (Season 1 premiered April 2015)
Number of Episodes: 13
Premise: Based on the Daredevil comic book from Marvel Comics, Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer who grows up with extraordinary abilities that allow him to deliver his own brand of vigilante justice.
Cast: Charlie Cox (Stardust); Rosario Dawson (Sin City); Vincent D’Onofrio (Law & Order: Criminal Intent); Elden Henson (The Mighty Ducks); and Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood).
Why You Should Catch Up: If you want your superhero vigilante dramas a lot more bloody and without snarky quips from blonde sidekicks, this is your show. Charlie Cox is likable as the series’ lead Matt Murdock, and the action sequences from the first season are fantastic. Vincent D’Onofrio steals the show as Wilson Fisk, a kingpin that instills fear in the viewer.
The five episodes I am recommending are only a sampling, but they feature a lot of the best of what they gave us in Season 1; really, out of thirteen installments, there were only one or two that I wasn’t big on. Still, it’s the best Marvel Television has had to offer so far, and it’s also just really, really good.
Recommended Episodes: “Into The Ring” (1×01); “Cut Man” (1×02); “Shadows in the Glass” (1×08); “The Ones We Leave Behind” (1×12); “Daredevil” (1×13)
How To Catch Up: All of Season 1 is available exclusively on Netflix. [Craig Byrne]
Younger (TV Land)
Premiere Date: January 2016 (Season 1 premiered March 2015)
Number of Episodes: 12
Premise A 40-year-old single mother lies about her age in order to get a job. She’s then forced to keep up the lie once she gets a younger boyfriend.
Cast: Sutton Foster (Bunheads); Nico Tortorella (Scream 4); Hilary Duff (Lizzie McGuire); Debi Mazar (Entourage); and Miriam Shor (GCB)
Why You Should Catch Up: After raising her daughter and voluntarily taking herself out of the publishing industry for over a decade, Liza Miller is forced to realize that the world might have passed her by. She no longer feels like she fits into a world that she once loved, but instead of giving into a life of mundanity and suburban ennui, she decides to seize the life that she wants. Not only does she have a clearer sense of direction with 15 years of life experience under her belt, Liza has finally been granted a second chance at the years and opportunities she missed once she had her child, though that chance comes at a major price.
Younger is a surprisingly sensitive, notably funny examination of age and connection anchored by a winning performance from Sutton Foster. As Liza, Foster is able to add depth to the material she’s given and present her character as a woman who, despite the lies she has to tell in order to support her initial fib, isn’t a bad person for wanting this new lease on life and who still has a lot to learn about life despite the years she has on her colleagues. Bursting with humanity and able to produce some seriously swoon-y romantic chemistry with Nico Tortorella, Foster’s performance sands down some of the potentially problematic aspects of her character and keeps the show’s premise grounded in reality.
Recommended Episodes “Girl Code” (1×05); “Broke and Pantyless” (1×07); “I’m With Stupid” (1×09); “Hot Mitzvah” (1×11); “The Old Ma’am and the C” (1×12)
How To Catch Up The entire season is available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and Vudu, while every episode except the finale is available to stream through Hulu and every episode is available to stream through TVLand.com. [Shilo Adams]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SucwNpgCD4M
Chasing Life (ABC Family)
Premiere Date: July 6 (Season 1 premiered June 2014)
Number of Episodes: 21
Premise: April Carver, a spunky and dedicated 24-year-old journalist, finds her perfectly constructed world crumbling around her when she learns that she has leukemia. In the wake of this news, April struggles to retain normalcy at home and at work, refuses to accept defeat on any front, and learns to love like it’s her last day on Earth.
Cast: Italia Ricci (Unnatural History); Richard Brancatisano (Bait); Mary Page Keller (Beginners); Haley Ramm (Into the Wild); Aisha Dee (I Hate My Teenage Daughter); and Scott Michael Foster (Greek)
Why You Should Catch Up: Chasing Life is a series about cancer that, at its core, is not a series about cancer. While it touches upon dismal subject matter, the emotions that it expresses are quite the opposite. It’s a show about hope and acceptance. A show about choosing to live when you’re faced with death. A show about seizing control of your own life when the world throws you a curveball. The diverse, compelling characters and gripping, human stories provide the audience the chance to relate to at least one aspect, even if you’ve never been in April’s situation.
As someone who tends to watch TV series more in the sci-fi/fantasy fiction vein, I didn’t expect to love Chasing Life as much as I do, but it was instantly compelling. The first ten episodes of the series comprise one of the strongest opening runs that I have ever seen. From the beginning, the show knows what messages it wants to send and succeeds in sending them with flair. So much more than a young adult soap opera, Chasing Life includes elements of a family drama, a workplace drama, and a romantic drama that elevate its content to an impressive level comparable to that of Italia Ricci’s flawless performance.
Recommended Episodes: “Pilot” (1×01); “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” (1×04); “Death Becomes Her” (1×08); “Finding Chemo” (1×10); “One Day” (1×21)
How To Catch Up: The series is available for purchase through Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, and Xbox Video, while every episode is available to stream through ABC Family.com and Netflix. [Stephanie Hall]
Orange is the New Black
Premiere Date: Season 4 premieres Summer 2017 on Netflix.
Premise: A yuppie finds herself in a minimum security women’s prison with a diverse array of convicts, and slowly integrates herself into an entirely different community with its own cliques, rules, and social norms.
Cast: Taylor Schilling (The Lucky One); Uzo Aduba (Pearly Gates); Laura Prepon (That ’70s Show); and Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager).
Why You Should Catch Up: It feels weird to “recommend” this show given how it takes social media by storm every time a new season arrives, but there still tends to be a notion that Orange is the New Black is for a narrow audience; a show about a women’s prison, admittedly, doesn’t sound up everyone’s alley. But it’s worth giving a shot even if it’s not your normal genre, because it’s nearly impossible to not find someone or something incredibly charming or that resonates. The scope, even in its limited prison environment, is huge – with perhaps one of the biggest developed ensembles on TV – and yet it manages to bring depth to literally every character on screen. Utilizing the flashback structure better than Lost did, even background characters are expanded upon as much as the primary ones, giving a sense of surprise not just to what will happen in the present, but who we’re going to learn more about in the past. But it’s perhaps most famous for its level of diversity, not just with a cast of exceptionally well-developed female characters, but ones of all races, genders, and sexualities. The show also brilliantly balances escalating dramatic stakes and story arcs both in and outside of the prison, while never not being uproariously funny and thought-provoking, even at its darkest.
Recommended Episodes: “Lesbian Request Denied” (1×03); “Bora Bora Bora” (1×10); “A Whole Other Hole” (2×04); “It Was the Change” (2×11); “Finger In the Dyke” (3×04); “Trust No Bitch” (3×13)
How You Can Catch Up: The series is available to stream through Netflix. [Derek B. Gayle]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLyUlTu4KbI
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
Premiere Date: March 2016 (Season 1 premiered March 2015)
Number of Episodes: 13
Premise: Unbreakable! They’re alive, dammit! It’s a miracle! Females are strong as hell.
….it’s all in the theme song, really.
Cast: Ellie Kemper (The Office); Tituss Burgess (You Must Be Joking); Jane Krakowski (30 Rock); and Carol Kane (Taxi)
Why You Should Catch Up: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was never the right fit for NBC, but it is perfect for the Netflix model. It’s also like a bag of chips, where you can’t have just one.
Going through episodes is a breeze and the 13 episodes will be over before you know it, which is kind of a sad thing, because then you’ll want more.
I also personally believe that Kimmy Schmidt is what Punky Brewster would be if she lived underground for a few decades. And who doesn’t love Punky Brewster? The rest of the Kimmy supporting cast is also top-notch.
Recommended Episodes: “Kimmy Goes Outside!” (1×01); “Kimmy Goes To School!” (1×06); “Kimmy Goes To A Party!” (1×07); “Kimmy Rides A Bike!” (1×11); “The Old Ma’am and the C” (1×12)
How To Catch Up: The series is available to stream through Netflix. [Craig Byrne]
Man Seeking Woman (FXX)
Premiere Date: January 2016 (Season 1 premiered January 2015)
Number of Episodes: 10
Premise: A man in his 20s finds himself in awkward and surreal situations while searching for love.
Cast: Jay Baruchel (How to Train Your Dragon); Eric Andre (Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23); Britt Lower (Unforgettable); and Maya Erskine (Betas)
Why You Should Catch Up: Though dating is one of the most popular topics on television, I think Man Seeking Woman has found a truly original, wholly compelling way of looking at such a familiar subject. Following a young man who experiences a break-up with a long-term girlfriend, the series presents various mile markers in the dating world (e.g. being invited to an ex’s wedding, feeling inseparable from a new significant other, being physically unable to perform in the bedroom, etc.) in visually innovative, charmingly literal ways. Through the course of the first season, there were dystopias resulting from time travel, treks to find the last woman on Earth, and dates with actual Trolls, all blending in with the show’s “normal” elements and underlining just how surreal dating can be.
But what makes Man Seeking Woman so special is that these comedic elements are often grounded in emotion. You get to see Josh’s psyche play out on screen and while he undergoes a series of specific problems with his search for “the one,” there’s always a relatability that keeps him as a rootable character and fosters a connection with the audience. Everyone has felt the pains of moving past an ex; everyone has immersed themselves too quickly in a new relationship, only for it to bite them in the end. The only difference here is that Josh has his internal turmoil play out in his external environment, an interesting choice that made the show’s first season quite exciting.
Recommended Episodes “Traib” (1×02); “Sizzurp” (1×05); “Branzino” (1×08); “Teacup” (1×09); “Scepter” (1×10)
How You Can Catch Up The entire season is available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon, and Vudu. However, there are no episodes currently available to stream, either online or On Demand. [Shilo Adams]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihYlryAaFJE
