With sunny weather that can literally burn your skin, backyard barbecues forcing you to eat unmentionable animal parts, and children running rampant with no school to show them reasonable bounds, you need something to get you excited for summer. So I figured I would do my civic duty and give you two handfuls of reasons to get excited about summer by doling out the only thing I know about: television!

Below you'll find 11 new shows that should keep summer from being a total bore, so cancel that trip to DisneyWorld and get on the couch like the rest of us.





11. Bullseye (Fox)





WHEN IT'S ON: Wednesdays starting May 27. But maybe not for long, because this could get canceled fast or sued off of television even faster.

WHO'S IN IT: Kellen Lutz (host) and a bunch of people stupid enough to risk their lives for television.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A stunt-based game show where the contestants become "human darts" and hurtle their bodies at bullseyes, presumably for fame and fortune.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: No list of summer television is complete without some dumb reality program, and Fox's lawsuit-waiting-to-happen caught us right in the eye. Ouch. Someone will die in this show.





10. Fear the Walking Dead (AMC)





WHEN IT'S ON: This summer sometime. AMC is being a jerk and not telling us when it will premiere. Come on, AMC, be cool.

WHO'S IN IT: Cliff Curtis (Trauma), Kim Dickens (Treme), Frank Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), Elizabeth Rodriguez (Orange Is the New Black), and Alycia Debnam-Carey (The 100).

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: It's a companion series to The Walking Dead, and takes place during the onset of the zombie outbreak that Rick Grimes slept through like a lazy bug. However, this L.A.-set show will concentrate on how one family deals with regular family problems while also on the run from man-eating monsters.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: We really want to see how this show will be different from its cousin, and the prospect of learning more about this universe from another angle is exciting. But mostly, we're dying to know what these people will call zombies. Crawlers? Munchers? LiLos?





9. Blunt Talk (Starz)





WHEN IT'S ON: Saturdays starting August 22 on Starz

WHO'S IN IT: Patrick Stewart! Also Jacki Weaver, Adrian Scarborough, and Dolly Wells. From Bored to Death's Jonathan Ames and Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Walter Blunt (Stewart) is a British newscaster who moves to America to host his own show where he harps on whatever it is he wants. He's also a trainwreck of a human being with failed marriages, cocaine addiction, and other problems weighing him down.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Patrick Stewart snorts cocaine in this. What more do you want?





8. The Brink (HBO)





WHEN IT'S ON: Sundays starting June 21 in a new comedy block with The Rock's Ballers.

WHO'S IN IT: Jack Black (Tenacious D), Tim Robbins (The Player), Pablo Schreiber (The Wire), Carla Gugino (Political Animals), and Aasif Mandvi (The Daily Show). And that, my friends, is a great cast.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: This farce focuses on a global geopolitical problem in Pakistan that threatens to put the world at war. So what does the government do? It sends in Jack Black. Each season will concentrate on a new crisis that has to be stopped.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: We'll admit that the trailer wasn't quite as good as what we had envisioned when the show was originally announced, but HBO is on a hot streak with comedy right now and this looks much better than Ballers.





7. Dark Matter (Syfy)





WHEN IT'S ON: Friday at 10pm, starting June 12. Season 1 will be 13 episodes long.

WHO'S IN IT: A gaggle of Canadians! Marc Bendavid, Melissa O'Neil (Canadian Idol), Anthony Lemke, Roger Cross, Zoie Palmer, Alex Mallari Jr., and Jodelle Ferland. From Stargate writers Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: It's an outerrrrr spaaaaace mysteryyyyyy! Several strangers wake up from cryo-sleep on a derelict space cruiser with no recollection of who they are or how they got there. And from there, we assume it goes totally bonkers.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Hey, we're suckers for space mysteries, and of Syfy's good-looking summer schedule, this looks like it will be the most intriguing. What's going on with this ship? Who are these people? Are they space prisoners cast off into the depths of the galaxy? Are they super-secret proto soldiers who turned against their creators? Are they just really annoying people that the rest of the country voted to shoot into space? WE WANT TO KNOW NOW!!!





6. Zoo (CBS)





WHEN IT'S ON: Tuesdays starting June 30 at 9pm on CBS

WHO'S IN IT: James Wolk (Mad Men), James' Wolk's new facial hair, Nora Arnezeder (Mozart in the Jungle), Nonso Anosie (Game of Thrones), Kristen Connolly (House of Cards), and Billy Burke (Revolution).

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Based on the James Patterson novel, Zoo shows off what happens when animals stop being cute... and start getting real. Wolk plays a biologist who tries to figure out why all these critters are suddenly changing their behavior.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: This is When Animals Attack: The Series, and given CBS's track record with summer shows, it could be the latest series that's both fun to watch and fun to make fun of. Or, god forbid, it could actually be good? And yep, we'll be rooting for the animals.





5. Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (Netflix)





WHEN IT'S ON: Netflix will release all of the first season on July 31.

WHO'S IN IT: Ready? Here we go. Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Ken Marino.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A prequel to the 2001 cult comedy, First Day of Camp pokes fun of summer-camp movies from the 1980s as kids and counselors learn life lessons while wearing some pretty cool clothes.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Cast, continued: Janeane Garafolo, Christopher Meloni, Marguerite Moreau, Zak Orth, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Judah Friedlander, Chris Pine, Jon Hamm, Jason Schwartzman, Kristen Wiig, Michaela Watkins, John Slattery, Josh Charles, Randall Park, Jayma Mays, Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer, Richard Shiff, and Lake Bell. And probably even more people.





4. Humans (AMC)





WHEN IT'S ON: Sundays starting June 28 at 9pm on AMC. It'll only be eight episodes, so it will be done by late August.

WHO'S IN IT: William Hurt, Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd), Colin Morgan, and Gemma Chan.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Synthetic humans are finally on the market to do all the chores around the house that no one else wants to do, like do the dishes, sweep the floors, and pay attention to the kids. But something tells us that things will go wrong.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Robots are pretty cool, and we're still waiting for a good show that examines artificial intelligence in androids since Almost Human didn't cut it. It's also a co-production with the U.K.'s Channel 4, and we all know that the Brits know how to make good TV.





3. Mr. Robot (USA)





WHEN IT'S ON: Wednesdays at 10pm beginning June 24

WHO'S IN IT: Rami Malek (Night at the Museum), Christian Slater, Portia Doubleday, and Carly Chaikin (Suburgatory).

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: A young hacker is pulled into a hacker collective to take down the powerful CEOs that run the world in this techno-thriller.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: With apologies to Monk and Psych, this could be USA Network's first series to join the big boys of the drama heavy hitters. And how about that gorgeous look courtesy of director Niels Arden Oplev (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)? Plus, we'll watch anything that shows a bunch of rich dicks get what's coming to them.





2. Deutschland 83 (SundanceTV)





WHEN IT'S ON: Wednesdays starting June 17 at 11pm on SundanceTV

WHO'S IN IT: Jonas Nay, Maria Schrader, Alexander Beyer, Sonja Gerhardt, and more Germans you probably don't recognize.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: It's 1983 and an East German spy is sent to West Germany to get military secrets. And also maybe party.

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: Damn, that trailer is HOT. This drama is the first German-language series to be broadcast in the United States, so since you weren't there when the Berlin Wall came down, be a part of history as television's equivalent to that is broken. But seriously, this looks great and it's already getting a lot of acclaim internationally.





1. Sense8 (Netflix)





WHEN IT'S ON: Netflix will dump all 12 episodes of the first season out on Friday, June 5. Make sure your favorite pizza-delivery place is on speed dial.

WHO'S IN IT: It's a cast that would make the United Nations proud! Canadian actor Brian J. Smith (Stargate Universe), British actress Tuppence Middleton (Black Mirror), Korean actress Bae Doona (Jupiter Ascending), Spanish actor Miguel Ángel Silvestre, British actor Aml Ameen, Indian actress Tina Desai (Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), German actor Max Riemelt, and American transgender actress Jamie Clayton. The Wachowskis (The Matrix) created and wrote the series.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT: Eight strangers from around the globe find themselves inexplicably linked as they begin to share selves. Let me explain; they can feel what the others feel, and share skill sets. Why? We don't know, man, we don't know!

WHY WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT IT: One of the most impressive trailers of any of the summer shows has us refreshing our Netflix pages like our lives depend on it. The Wachowskis are notoriously hit and miss (mostly misses recently), but they do have a great eye for science-fiction and gorgeous action. If the story is merely decent, this should be a series we're finished with in a few days.









THE RUNNERS-UP

– UnReal (Lifetime, June 1): This parody of a reality dating show (think Bachelorette) goes behind the scenes to show just how crazy things are off camera.



– Killjoys (Syfy, June 19): Bounty hunters in space fly around the galaxy hunting bounties!

– Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (BBC America, June 13): In the 19th century in parallel universe London, magic is kinda real but antiquated, and a pair of guys practice it and usher in a new age of hocus-pocus.

– Another Period (Comedy Central, June 23): Riki Lindhome and Natasha Leggero play socialites in the year 1902 in this faux reality show.



– Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll (FX, July 16): Denis Leary stars in this comedy about a rock and roll band and (probably) banging groupies.







Which new summer shows are you most excited about?



