A summer crop of new series

WEDNESDAY, JULY 13: Summer is here, and many popular series are back including cable’s top two series of all time, The Closer, and Rizzoli & Isles, both from TNT.

However, there’s even more in store than new season premieres, as a number of other series are just making their debuts. Here’s a selection to whet your appetite.

Switched at Birth – on ABC Family, Mondays at 10pm:                                        

This original new series is about two teenage girls who find out that, shortly after their birth, while still in the hospital, they were accidentally switched and ended up in the wrong, and very different, families.  Bay Kennish (played by Vanessa Morano of Gilmore Girls), was raised in a wealthy family with a brother and two full-time parents.

Daphne Vasquez (played by newcomer Katie Leclerc), who lost her hearing as a child following a bout with meningitis, was reared by a single mother in a working-class neighbourhood.

The two contrasting families meet and are compelled to find a way to get along for the sake of the girls. The show’s actors learned American sign language for authenticity. Lots of teen (and family) drama unfolds from week to week.

Teenagers are also loving another new ABC Family series, The Nine Lives of Chloe King, Tuesdays at 10pm, about a teenager who discovers she has special, cat-like powers. More about both shows on: www.abcfamily.go.com

Necessary Roughness, – on USA Network, Wednesdays at 11pm:

After discovering that her husband is cheating on her, psychotherapist Dr Danielle Santino (played by Callie Thorne), boots him out, files for divorce and starts a new life.

She soon meets a handsome stranger, Matthew (Marc Blucas), a trainer for the fictitious New York Hawks football team, who recruits her to work with one of his star players, Terrence King (played by Mehcad Brooks), who keeps fumbling the ball and making just as much of a mess of his high-profile private life. It turns out the feisty Dr Dani, a mother of two teenagers, is more than capable of holding her own against the troublesome “T.K.”.

The storyline is actually inspired by the real-life work of Donna Dannenfelser, a housewife from Long Island who became a psychotherapist and was hired to help the New York Jets improve their game. Dannenfelser is a supervising producer on the show.

Falling Skies – on TNT, Sundays, 11pm:

Executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, this new series opens after a deadly invasion by merciless aliens has left planet earth seething in chaos and devastation.

The remaining survivors band together to fight back and cope with the destruction, both human and material, left in the wake of the attack. The lead character, Tom Mason (Noah Wyle), is a Boston professor of history who has lost his wife in the invasion, while one of his three sons has been taken captive. In his determination to recover his son, he calls upon his extensive knowledge of military history, while his older son becomes a leader of the insurrection. This series focuses on the strength and resilience of the human spirit and the outstanding moral qualities that turn ordinary people into heroes.

One Man Army – on Discovery, Series Premiere, Wednesday July 13 at 11pm:

 Military powerhouse, Mykel Hawke, a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran and former Green Beret, hosts this new series that will take you into the world of covert operations, counter-terrorism and elite combat. 

The show pits four of America’s most highly-skilled, dangerous and fearless military professionals against each other in weekly challenges that demand the sharpest thinking, super-human speed, and sheer physical force.  In the end, only one man will remain, winner of a $10,000 prize and the title of One Man Army.

South Beach Tow – on TruTV, Series Premier, Wednesday, July 20, 11pm:         

As unlikely as it may seem, this new reality series is executive produced by Jennifer Lopez.

It follows the twenty-four hour life of the family-owned Tremont Towing company in South Beach, Florida. 

Expect flaring tempers and high drama as South Beach party-goers stumble out of trendy clubs late at night only to find their cars have been hauled off to the pound. This is no ordinary family business, as the acute shortage of parking spaces in South Beach, coupled with the civil war going on between its only two towing companies, is causing plenty of real-life dramatic tension.

Shavonne Jeffries is customer service manager for Bermuda CableVision