Back in the day, summer used to be the time to kick back and give your eyes a much needed rest from TV. Hah! Not anymore. Outside? Nature? What's that? Most every single network now fills their programming slate with new shows during the summer months, and now high-profile creators like Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Guillermo del Toro, Howard Gordon, Damon Lindelof and Steven Bochco are all in on the action. Even rapper 50 Cent is executive producing a new series for Starz.

24: Live Another Day

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You're gonna get vampires, werewolves, aliens, plagues, pirates, and super spies, as Netflix has three shows for you to binge-watch and movie stars like Halle Berry and John Malkovich headline high-profile genre projects. So here's your ultimate guide to summer TV, with some of the most notable shows listed out for you on the first three pages, followed by a longer list on the fourth.We've also included a handful of shows at the start of the list that already debuted earlier this month - but are worthwhile enough to still get a mention.FOX5/5/14Jack. Is. Back. Yes, four years after 24 ended, the series returned with a 12-episode limited series. Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) was still a fugitive when the story began, finding himself eventually being pursued by a "last day on the job" CIA agent played by Yvonne Strahovski. A new mission involving American drones being hijacked caused Jack to come out of hiding and into a much more antagonistic relationship than before with a "damaged" Chloe, who quit CTU and became part of a free information underground activist group.

24: Why Jack Bauer Rules

Penny Dreadful

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Showtime5/5/14The Skyfall team of John Logan and Sam Mendes have re-teamed to executive produce this new series, written by Logan, which includes classic horror characters like Dracula, Van Helsing, Dorian Gray and Dr. Frankenstein. Set in Victorian London, Penny Dreadful stars Josh Harnett as an American -- described as a "fake cowboy" -- who's hired to join a search for a missing girl by Eva Green's character, “a seductive and formidable beauty full of secrets and danger.”

Penny Dreadful: "Séance" Review

Last Comic Standing

Gang Related

NBC5/22/14Last Comic Standing returns to NBC for Season 8 this summer, with special guest judges Roseanne Barr, Keenen Ivory Wayans, and Russell Peters. Curb Your Enthusiasm's J.B. Smoove will serve as host for the 13-episode newly resurrected comedy competition series, which was last seen back in 2010.FOX5/22/14This new drama from Chris Morgan (Fast and the Furious movies) and Scott Rosenbuam (The Shield) centers on a cop who is torn between his loyalty to the officers he serves with and the gang leader who protected him in his youth. The cast includes Ramon Rodriguez (The Wire), Cliff Curtis (Training Day), Terry O'Quinn (Lost), RZA (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) and Sung Kang (Fast and Furious)

Gang Related: "Pilot" Review

The Night Shift

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The Wil Wheaton Project

Rogue

Undateable

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Crossbones

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Halt and Catch Fire

Orange is the New Black

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Power

NBC5/27/14Night Shift, from creators Gabe Sachs (Freaks and Geeks) and Jeff Judah (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), centers on the crazy lives of the kooky staff who work the late night shift in the ER at San Antonio Medical Center. So if you like your doctors rugged and constantly bucking authority, then you'll love Eoin Macken's Dr. T.C. Callahan. And you'll especially love this ridiculous publicity shot of him atop a motorcycle in the middle of the hospital.Syfy5/27/14Syfy's getting into the weekly comedy pop-culture wrap up game with The Wil Wheaton Project. Hosted by the former Wesley Crusher turned Big Bang Theory recurring player and noted geek icon/expert, The Wil Wheaton Project will, of course, lean towards the latest happenings in sci-fi, geek trends, and genre TV. In addition to hosting the 12-episodes, Wheaton will serve as producer and contribute to the show's writing.DirecTV's Audience Network5/28/14DirecTV's police drama returns for 10 new episodes as star Thandie Newton (ER, Crash) resumes her role as the morally and emotionally conflicted undercover detective Grace Travis. Cole Hauser (Transcendence, Olympus Has Fallen) joins the fray in Season 2 the charming and enigmatic Ethan Kelly. In Season 2, Grace will navigate her new life, separated from her husband, while balancing her job as handler for the FBI.NBC5/29/14Based on the novelty book Undateable: 311 Things Guys Do That Guarantee They Won't Be Dating Or Having Sex by Ellen Rakieten and Anne Coyle, this new sitcom comes to us from producers Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Cougar Town), Jeff Ingold (Surviving Jack), and creator Adam Sztykiel (Due Date). Chris D'Elia plays Danny, an alpha male who believes he can mentor his friends - nicknamed "The Undateables" - into becoming suave ladies men.NBC5/30/14On the heels of Starz' pirate series Black Sails, which is also set in The Bahamas, comes Crossbones - a "Ya har, me matey!" action-adventure series from Neil Cross (Luther, Spooks, Doctor Who) starring John Malkovich as a "later in life" Blackbeard. Based on the book The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard, Crossbones takes place on the secret pirate island of Santa Compana - where Blackbeard reigns over a rogue nation of thieves, outlaws and miscreants.AMC6/1/14This 80s drama revolves around a ragtag trio of outsiders in Dallas, Texas who aim to cheat and steal their way into the personal computer boom. Lee Pace plays "visionary" Joe MacMillan, who enlists an engineer and a compu-phile to reverse engineer a new operating system based on IBM's designs. The pilot episode is already available to watch on Tumblr, two weeks before the official premiere - marking the first time AMC has premiered a show on a social media platform.Netflix6/6/14All 13 episodes of Netflix's hit dramedy Orange is the New Black will be available to watch on Friday, June 6th. Which means spoilers for all of Season 2 will start popping up online, oh, Saturday, June 7th, as in keeping with the new culture of binge-watching. Sons of Anarchy alum Taryn Manning - who plays Pennsatucky - has been promoted to series regular status and Lorraine Toussaint (Friday Night Lights, Crossing Jordan) arrives on the scene as Vee, a woman from Taystee’s past who causes a lot of trouble.Starz6/7/14Power, created by Courtney Kemp Agboh (The Good Wife) and produced by the rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, revolves around James St. Patrick (Kick-Ass, The A-Team), nicknamed "Ghost" - a major player in one of New York's biggest illegal drug networks. James struggles to balance his lives as a criminal and an entrepreneur as those around him scheme to take him down.

Murder in the First

TNT6/9/14From crime-TV maestro Steven Bochco (L.A. Law, NYPD Blue) comes this new series starring Taye Diggs and Kathleen Robertson as San Francisco homicide detectives Terry Seagrave and Hildy Mulligan. The series is built so that we follow one case for the whole 10-episode season (like The Killing and True Detective). And yes, that is Harry Potter franchise's Draco Malfoy - Tom Felton - as a shady Silicon Valley prodigy!