Once upon a time, summer TV was a dumping ground for reruns and rejects, but now the warmer months debut some of the best series of the year. To catch you up on the freshest new shows of summer, we’ve put together a list of recent small-screen gems and where to watch all the episodes you’ve missed — right now!
What It’s About: By day, Elliott (Rami Malek) is a corporate computer programmer, but by night, he is enlisted by Mr. Robot (Christian Slater) to hack into the very computer system he’s employed to protect.
What Critics Think: Mr. Robot is a suspenseful cyber-thriller with timely stories and an intriguing, provocative premise.
Airs: Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on USA
Number of episodes you’ve missed: Two
Where to Watch:
Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, Hulu, iTunes, PlayStation Video, USANetwork.com, Vudu, and Xbox Video.
What It’s About: William Hurt and Katherine Parkinson star in this remake of the Swedish sci-fi hit Real Humans, an eight-part drama in which the most essential tech gadget is a “Synth” — a highly-developed robotic servant eerily similar to its live counterpart.
What Critics Think: Humans is a mature, high-octane thriller offering emotional intrigue and thought-provoking suspense that should prove irresistible to sci-fi fans while remaining accessible enough to lure in genre agnostics.
Airs: Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC
Number of episodes you’ve missed: Two
Where to Watch:
Amazon Instant Video, AMC.com, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, and Xbox Video.
What It’s About: Portraying the real events, culture wars, and political realities of Germany in the 1980s, this eight-part drama series tells the story of Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay), a reluctant spy for the Stasi Foreign Service sent to West Germany.
What Critics Think: An engrossing drama with a fun ’80s soundtrack, Deutschland 83 chronicles an intense spy story that brings viewers uncomfortably close to the Iron Curtain.
Airs: Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Sundance TV
Number of episodes you’ve missed: Three
Where to Watch:
Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, and Sundance.TV (with cable subscription).
What It’s About: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is Spencer Strasmore, a former NFL superstar trying to get his life on track and mentoring other athletes on how to navigate the life of a pro baller, in this half hour comedy from exec producers Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg.
What Critics Think: Ballers may not be a game-changer, but it scores points with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who brings charm and depth to the NFL version of Entourage.
Airs: Sundays at 10 p.m. on HBO
Number of episodes you’ve missed: Three
Where to Watch:
What It’s About: Almost 40 years ago, Captain Ross Poldark was one of Masterpiece‘s first beloved characters. Now he’s back with Aidan Turner (The Hobbit) in the lead role, a redcoat who returns to Cornwall after the American Revolutionary War to a home he doesn’t recognize.
What Critics Think: Like an epic romance novel come to life, Poldark offers a sumptuous visual feast, from gorgeous scenery to a charming, handsome lead.
Airs: Sundays at 9 p.m. on PBS
Number of episodes you’ve missed: Three
Where to Watch:
Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, iTunes, PBS.org, and Vudu.
What It’s About: Starring Hannah John-Kamen (Black Mirror), Killjoys follows a ragtag team of bounty hunters as they chase warrants through the Quad, a distant system on the brink of a bloody, multi-planetary class war.
What Critics Think: Fast-paced and amusing, Killjoys uses its narrative momentum to distract from a conventional space-action setup.
Airs: Fridays at 9 p.m. on SyFy
Number of episodes you’ve missed: Three
Where to Watch:
Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, Hulu, iTunes, PlayStation Video, SyFy.com, Vudu, and Xbox Video.
What It’s About: In 1806 England, set against the seemingly endless Napoleonic Wars, the reclusive and skillful magician Mr. Norrell (Eddie Marsan) is challenged by the emergence of a brilliant novice, Jonathan Strange (Bertie Carvel).
What Critics Think: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell sets engaging performances against an enchanting canvas, even if some of the magic from the source material gets lost along the way.
Airs: Saturdays at 9 p.m. on BBC America
Number of episodes you’ve missed: Four
Where to Watch:
Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, iTunes, PlayStation Video, Vudu, and Xbox Video.
What It’s About: When a one-week stand leads to an accidental pregnancy, a Boston ad exec (Rob Delaney) and a London schoolteacher (Sharon Horgan) realize that they don’t know the first thing about each other.
What Critics Think: Catastrophe proves that there’s still a place for simple romantic comedy on television, as long as the actors have chemistry and the jokes are laugh-out-loud funny.
Airs: Currently streaming on Amazon Prime
Number of episodes you’ve missed: Six
Where to Watch:
What It’s About: By creator Marti Noxon (Girlfriends Guide to Divorce), UnREAL is a satirical scripted drama about Everlasting, a fake Bachelor-style reality show with producers who know exactly how manipulate the contestants for juicy television.
What Critics Think: The revealing and thought-provoking UnREAL uses reality TV as a suitably soapy springboard for absorbing drama.
Airs: Mondays at 10 p.m. on Lifetime
Number of episodes you’ve missed: Six
Where to Watch:
Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, iTunes, MyLifetime.com (with cable subscription), PlayStation Video, Vudu, and Xbox Video.
What It’s About: In Bravo’s first half-hour comedy, real-life fashionista and author Jill Kargman plays a version of herself, the “odd mom out” among the Upper East Side’s most wealthy and fabulous (and horrible) momzillas.
What Critics Think: Odd Mom Out should offer laughs to its niche target demographic, but will prove most enjoyable in small doses.
Airs: Mondays at 10 p.m. on Bravo
Number of episodes you’ve missed: Six
Where to Watch:
Amazon Instant Video, BravoTV.com (with cable subscription), Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, and Xbox Video.
What It’s About: Based on Ray Bradbury’s 1951 short story, “Zero Hour,” ABC’s new thriller shows a number of children who take the dangerous advice of their imaginary friends — who might not be imaginary after all.
What Critics Think: Though predictable and, at times, poorly paced, The Whispers is a structurally sound and stimulating supernatural mystery with an enjoyable ensemble of creepy kids.
Airs: Mondays at 10 p.m. on ABC
Number of episodes you’ve missed: Six
Where to Watch:
Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, iTunes, PlayStation Video, Vudu, and Xbox Video.
What It’s About: When a Secret Service agent (Matt Dillon) goes to a small Idaho town called Wayward Pines in search of a missing colleague, he realizes that he may never make it out of this bizarre place alive.
What Critics Think: Creepy and strange in the best way possible, Wayward Pines is a welcome return to form for M. Night Shamalyan.
Airs: Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Fox
Number of episodes you’ve missed: Seven
Where to Watch:
Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, Hulu, iTunes, Vudu, and Xbox Video.
