Summertime and the TV Watchin's Easy

Historically summertime television has generally been made up of the bottom of the barrel dredges of reality programming, leftovers of cancelled shows and reruns, which is why I am pleasantly surprised and pleased that my DVR has been spoon-feeding me some of the best television of the year this summer all thanks to a couple little cable networks called HBO and Showtime.

Between the sizzling hot returning series' True Blood and Weeds and the quirky newcomers Hung and Nurse Jackie, I am up to my eyeballs in great characters, excellent writing and just plain old fashioned escapist entertainment. While the networks are busy pumping out gems like Who Wants To Marry A Complete Stranger On National Television and Make A Jackass Out Of Yourself On An International Gameshow, HBO and Showtime are busy proving once again that they are the homes of the best television on television. I loved Nurse Jackie from the first episode and was immediately hooked, Hung is a slow starter as some HBO series tend to be but I'm enjoying the premise and particularly love the two female characters Tanya and Lenore. True Blood picked up right where it left off and shot full steam into new but equally intriguing plots and some great new characters. Weeds is off to somewhat of a shaky start after last season's fantastic run which highlighted the amazingly talented and hysterical Justin Kirk as Andy (he was clearly robbed of an Emmy nod), but at it's heart it's still the show I know and love and I'm hoping for a three-peat in the widow department for Nancy Botwin to send them running back to safety and absurdity of suburbia.