Summer TV Preview: 10 Binge-Worthy Shows You Shouldn’t Miss

By  Manuel Betancourt

Art by Stephany Torres for Remezcla.

Art by Stephany Torres for Remezcla.

Even as shelter-in-place restrictions are slowly lifted across the United States, there’s no denying many of us will still be spending plenty of time at home. Thankfully, there is (for now) plenty of television coming our way to keep us company. While the Fall schedules for networks and streaming services alike look like they’ll be barren of our favorite shows given that production has yet to resume in Hollywood, the summer promises plenty of binge-worthy shows to catch.

Whether you’re looking for some off-kilter superheroes, want slay-worthy reveals or merely want to revisit contemporary reboots of beloved properties, you’ll find what you’re looking for in the following 10 shows. Check them out below and pencil in their premiere dates on your calendar lest you forget.

<em>Legendary</em> (HBO Max)

With a tagline like “If you slay, you stay,” you know that Legendary is going to live up to its name. The new competition series pulls from the underground ballroom community, and pits voguing teams (better known as ‘houses’) to compete in unbelievable balls and showcase sickening fashion in order to achieve “legendary” status. The cast includes MC Dashaun Wesley and DJ MikeQ as well as celebrity judges Law Roach, Jameela Jamil, Megan Thee Stallion and Wonder Woman of Vogue herself (and Pose choreographer) Leiomy Maldonado.

https://youtu.be/UYepGZuRLhA

Legendary premieres on HBO Max May 27, 2020

<em>RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars</em> (VH1)

Speaking of slaying, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars is back for a fifth season. Bringing back some of the show’s best queens from seasons’ past, this latest iteration of the “All Stars” competition will see drag queens from all over compete in challenges to become America’s next drag super star. We’re very much excited about the return of one Ms Alexis “Bam!” Mateo, who even sashayed into the Werq Room representing her Puerto Rican heritage with flair. Oh, and did we mention Ricky Martin is the very special guest judge in the premiere episode?

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars premieres June 5, 2020 on VH1.

<em>El Presidente</em> (Amazon Prime Video)

The FIFAgate rocked the soccer world back in 2015 when unprecedented corruption cases were revealed to run through all the way to the top of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. It all began, as it turns out, with Sergio Jadue, a Chilean soccer club owner who found himself becoming a key piece in blowing the lid of the globe-trotting operation. In El Presidente, Armando Bó fictionalizes FIFAgate, giving us Jadue’s story through his unlikely partnership with Karla Souza’s FBI Agent Martin, who’s intent on following the money wherever it may lead her.

El Presidente premieres June 5, 2020 on Amazon Prime Video.

<em>L.A.’s Finest</em> (Spectrum)

This Bad Boys II TV spin-off follows Syd Burnett (Gabrielle Union), an ex-DEA agent transferred to LAPD where she partners with Nancy McKenna (Jessica Alba). In its second season, the duo will be investigating a boxing-related crime that will test the city’s bubbling social unrest. If Alba going back to her kick-ass Dark Angel roots isn’t enough to sell you on this, know that Danny Trejo will be guest starring in the coming episodes.

L.A.’s Finest returns June 8, 2020 on Spectrum.

<em>One Day at a Time Animated Special</em> (Pop TV)

The latest season of One Day at a Time may have been cut short due to COVID-19 but we haven’t seen the last of the Alvarez family just yet. The show’s creators announced that they were hard at work on an animated episode featuring very special guest stars. That’s right, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Melissa Fumero and Gloria Estefan are all gonna be part of the animated special which will focus on the tricky political conversations that happen when family visits.

One Day at a Time’s animated special will air June 16, 2020 on Pop TV.

<em>Mr. Iglesias</em> (Netflix)

School is back in session. On television, at least. The second season of Mr. Iglesias, which follows Gabriel Iglesias as the titular character, a good-natured public high school teacher in Long Beach, CA who works at his alma mater. He takes on teaching gifted but misfit kids to not only save them from being “counseled out” by a bully bureaucrat Assistant Principal (Oscar Nuñez), but also to help them unlock their full potential.

Mr. Iglesias returns June 17, 2020 to Netflix.

<em>Love, Victor</em> (Hulu)

How do you follow up the success of a gay YA romcom like Love, Simon? You head to TV and make the lead of your spin-off a young Latino. Love, Victor follows the titular character (Michael Cimino) moving with his family to Simon’s old high school where he hopes to start anew. Only, that’s complicated by the fact that he doesn’t quite know who or what he wants. Originally developed for Disney+, the teen drama will premiere instead on Hulu.

Love, Victor premieres June 19, 2020 on Hulu.

 

<em>Doom Patrol</em> (DC Universe, HBO Max)

Let’s face it. There are too many superhero shows out there. That may explain why we’re starting to see them deviate from cookie cutter household names and introducing audiences to some of the more obscure (though no less fascinating) characters from the DC Universe in Doom Patrol. Adapted from the same-titled superhero team, the show follows a ragtag of unlikely heroes which include a cyborg NASCAR driver, an omnipresent supervillain and a young woman who has developed 64 distinct personalities to cope with her childhood trauma, played by Orange is the New Black‘s Diane Guerrero.

Doom Patrol returns for a second season on June 25, 2020 on DC Universe and HBO Max.

<em>The Twilight Zone</em> (CBS All Access)

The second season of the Jordan Peele produced reboot of The Twilight Zone returns this summer. In addition to featuring an episode written by Peele that stars Morena Baccarin and Colman Domingo, the upcoming anthology series will also include an episode directed by Mexican filmmaker Alonso Alvarez-Barreda titled “A Small Town.”

The Twilight Zone returns June 25, 2020 to CBS All Access.

<em>The Baby-Sitters Club</em> (Netflix)

The beloved property gets a 21st century makeover for a new generation. The new show follows the friendships and adventures of Kristy Thomas (Sophie Grace), Mary-Anne Spier (Malia Baker), Claudia Kishi (Momona Tamada), Stacey McGill (Shay Rudolph), and Dawn Schafer (Xochitl Gomez) as they start their babysitting business and all while navigating middle school and growing up.

The Baby-Sitters Club premieres July 3, 2020 on Netflix.

Doom Patrol HBO Max L.A.'s Finest Legendary Mr Iglesias netflix RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars television The Baby-Sitters Club The Twilight Zone vh1