[Televisionary]

Remember when summer television was an oxymoron? Now, instead of warmed-over reruns and stale burn-offs, broadcast and cable networks are increasingly giving us fresh fare during the warmer months. Audiences have already proven themselves addicted to Showtime's Nurse Jackie and hungry for more of HBO's True Blood , while NBC is offering several series such as Merlin, The Philanthropist, The Listener , and something called I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! just to name a few. TNT seems hellbent on programming nearly every night of the week while USA returns its scripted hit dramedies and launches a new one with Hamptons-set medical series Royal Pains . So what will I be watching this summer? Turn up the A/C, grab an ice cold elderflower Collins, sit back, and relax... Let's take a look at what I'll be tuning in to during the hot season. JUNE Nurse Jackie (Showtime) I've already raved about this brilliant and darkly hysterical drama series starring Edie Fal

I'll admit that I thought it odd that NBC would acquire period drama Merlin , which aired last year on BBC One in the UK, and slate it to air in primetime this summer. After all, NBC isn't exactly known as a home for period drama, especially period fantasy drama, though given that Merlin is an acquired series, rather than a home-grown one, one can make a case that it's cost-effective programming in a notoriously difficult time of the year. Still, I had the opportunity a few weeks back to watch Merlin 's first two episodes ("The Dragon's Call" and "Valiant"), which are being aired back-to-back on Sunday evening, and I went into the series with an open mind. Merlin stars Colin Morgan ( Doctor Who ) as a young and untrained Merlin who sent by his mother from their small village to the gleaming city of Camelot, where he is apprenticed to the court physician Gaius ( One Foot in the Grave 's Richard Wilson). However, Merlin has a secret: he is un

What would you take with you into space? There's just a week to go before FOX airs the two-hour pilot for Ron Moore and Michael Taylor's sci-fi opus Virtuality . FOX has released official trailers for Virtuality , interviews with the cast, and webisodes based around Virtuality 's reality show-within-a-show, entitled "Edge of Never." Of course, this being a project with two writers involved with Sci Fi's trippy Battlestar Galactica , expect things to be not quite what they seem. With that said, dive into the virtual and not-so-virtual worlds of Virtuality . (And you can read my exclusive interview with co-creator Michael Taylor here .) Virtuality Preview - Everything's About to Change! Virtuality Preview - Fantasy vs. Reality! Virtuality Cast Interview: What would you bring to Space? Virtuality Preview - Host Intro! Virtuality Preview - Leap of Faith! Virtuality Preview - Robot Hand! Virtuality Preview - Space Painting! Virtuality Preview - Surfing

“IMAGINATION, n. A warehouse of facts, with poet and liar in joint ownership.” - Ambrose Bierce Sci Fi--or Syfy as it will be known then--will next month launch its newest drama, Warehouse 13 , which stars Joanne Kelly ( Vanished ), Eddie McClintock ( Bones ), and Saul Rubinek ( Leverage ). As executive producer Jack Kenny describes it, Warehouse 13 is an "action adventure proceduromedy." Kelly plays Myka Bering, an analytical secret service agent whose cool head keeps her above the fray, while McClintock is Agent Pete Lattimer, who's more used to using brawn over brains to get out of scrapes. Both are transferred rather unexpectedly to their new assignment: Warehouse 13, a top-secret government warehouse in the middle of South Dakota that houses arcane and dangerous artifacts. Brainy logic meets brawny cocksure attitude. (Or as McClintock succinctly put it, "That’s why Joanne and I are so like suited for our characters because it’s true. She is the mathematician an

With just over a month to go until the Season Three launch of Torchwood , a five-night event entitled Torchwood: Children of Earth , now's a good time to get the inside scoop. In the new video, just released today, the cast and crew of the Doctor Who spin-off, including John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Kai Owen, Gareth David-Lloyd, and executive producers Julie Gardner and Russell T. Davies. "I'm as proud of this as anything in my career," said Davies about Torchwood: Children of Earth , while the cast teases cliffhangers with every installment and the sort of high-stakes save-the-world drama we've come to expect from Torchwood . You can watch the entire video and the trailer for Torchwood: Children of Earth below. Five-episode event Torchwood: Children of Earth launches Monday, July 20th and will air five nights that week at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

Fans of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, the funny little Belgian detective famed as much for his fastidiousness as the fact that he's the self-proclaimed most famous detective in the world, have long waited for actor David Suchet to slip back into the role. That wait is over as PBS' Masterpiece Mystery will this month offer the US premiere of two new Poirot mysteries starring Suchet as part of its "Six by Agatha" season, which features not only two feature-length Poirot mysteries but also four Miss Marple whodunits, starring Julia McKenzie ( Cranford ) as Miss Marple herself. The two mysteries, entitled "Cat Among the Pigeons" and "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," will seriously put Hercule Poirot's famed "little grey cells" to the test as he must contend with two very different murder scenarios. In the first, "Cat Among the Pigeons," the Belgian detective goes undercover at the Meadowbank School for Girls, where he encoun

Holy TARDIS! BBC America just shocked the hell out of me by announcing that they will be bringing Doctor Who 's David Tennant--yes, the Doctor himself--and writer/executive producer Russell T. Davies, director Euros Lyn, and executive producer Julie Gardner to Comic-Con San Diego next month. The quartet will be participating in a panel for Doctor Who , shortly after Tennant has completed his legendary run on the British sci-fi series, that is scheduled for Sunday morning at 10 am PT. And if that weren't enough to get you salivating, BBC America also had me jumping for joy by announcing that Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding, Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher, and Dave Brown--the stars of the surreal and hysterical comedy series The Mighty Boosh--will also be dropping by Comic-Con this year with a panel slated to run on Friday afternoon at 3:30 pm PT. The digital cabler also announced panels for such series as Torchwood and Being Human on Sunday. I don't know about you but I am j