This Monday Madness, it’s time to bask in the delights of summer TV! As many broadcast shows go on hiatus for the summer, cable shows get a chance to shine! Also, we here in the US get the chance to experience some Canadian and British shows over the summer as well.
The selection of shows is based on US scheduling, and features shows within the past decade. I included some newer shows that had aired at least 3 episodes (giving Bunheads a little leeway since its third episode airs tonight). Not all of these shows air all their episodes in the summer – many have a split schedule, with the second half of seasons airing the following winter. Also, not all of these are still summer shows – for example, Psych has transitioned into a fall show, but since 5 of the past 6 seasons have started in July or August, I felt it qualified for the poll.
This poll will be open for one week, and you can choose up to 10 of your favorite summer shows. Be sure to spread the word so your favorites will make it into the top 10! Fans have used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, forums, Reddit, blogs, and chatboxes to get the word out about past polls. Get creative!
Even though there are 30-some options on this list, I know there are TV shows I left out! You can nominate ones I missed in the comments until Thursday night, and I may add them to the poll (live-action scripted shows only, please).
Want more of a say in who makes it onto the poll each week? Be sure to follow me on Twitter or like TV Breakroom on Facebook, since I usually ask for nominations for the next Monday Madness the weekend before the new poll. Please help out with nominations! There are only so many shows I can watch personally, so I’m counting on you to fill me in!
Without further ado, here’s the poll for this week’s Monday Madness! Voting ends around 1AM July 2nd.
What's your favorite summer show? (Choose up to 10!)
- Alphas (16%, 854 Votes)
- Leverage (13%, 679 Votes)
- Dallas (9%, 446 Votes)
- White Collar (8%, 418 Votes)
- Burn Notice (4%, 231 Votes)
- Rizzoli & Isles (4%, 204 Votes)
- Psych (4%, 184 Votes)
- Covert Affairs (3%, 182 Votes)
- Suits (3%, 155 Votes)
- True Blood (3%, 150 Votes)
- Warehouse 13 (3%, 148 Votes)
- Eureka (3%, 147 Votes)
- Royal Pains (2%, 120 Votes)
- Falling Skies (2%, 111 Votes)
- Common Law (2%, 104 Votes)
- The Glades (2%, 103 Votes)
- The Closer (2%, 101 Votes)
- Franklin & Bash (2%, 85 Votes)
- Necessary Roughness (2%, 83 Votes)
- Pretty Little Liars (1%, 67 Votes)
- Lost Girl (1%, 63 Votes)
- Monk (1%, 57 Votes)
- Rookie Blue (1%, 55 Votes)
- Longmire (1%, 51 Votes)
- Melissa & Joey (1%, 51 Votes)
- Army Wives (1%, 51 Votes)
- Teen Wolf (1%, 51 Votes)
- Breaking Bad (1%, 45 Votes)
- Bunheads (1%, 37 Votes)
- Weeds (1%, 36 Votes)
- Awkward (1%, 29 Votes)
- Saving Hope (1%, 28 Votes)
- Damages (0%, 25 Votes)
- Wilfred (0%, 23 Votes)
- Episodes (0%, 21 Votes)
- Men at Work (0%, 18 Votes)
- Haven (0%, 17 Votes)
- Louie (0%, 14 Votes)
Total Voters: 2,171
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I love Leverage! Smart and sassy writing, great (I mean GREAT) looking people who can act, by the way, and some wicked humor thrown in. People from 19 to 70 watch it in my house. More seasons, more episodes, please.
Can’t wait for White Collar…Best show on TV! Cast and
characters are the greatest….also best writers!
LEVERAGE is my #1 show on tv.. period… all year long.. watch it every chance i get..whether it is re-runs or new shows which start July 15th or a marathon like the one July 1st on ION Channel or dvd’s which Season 4 of LEVERAGE are due out July 17th .. can’t wait for all of the above LOVE MY LEVERAGE! a great show my whole family enjoys!
One of the best shows on Tv great cast, great scripts. Good action with a touch of comedy. Looking forward to it coming back just wish there would be more episodes.
My whole family absolutely loves Leverage! We look forward to it every summer. It has action, comedy, and drama – something for everyone. The cast has amazing chemistry. If you have never seen it, you should definitely watch TNT each Sunday starting July 15.
Love Leverage and can’t wait for the new season with hopes of seeing more to come..My whole family watches the show as we luv the drama, comedy and great action that happens. They have some great writers, producers and super actors for this show
Leverage is awesome can’t wait for season 5 to be out
Leverage is my all-time favorite! Can’t wait for July 15th! It is so well written and casted!
Leverage – every time! Hopefully TNT gets the message too and starts promoting this show more. I think it has potential to always pick up new viewers since its mostly stand alone episodes. And once someone watches one episode, they’ll go back and watch the 4 previous seasons!
Ha, the three shows I voted for are in the three top spots!
Leverage is my favourite!
Can’t wait until S5 leverage it’s the best show out there
Leverage has become my favorite of any season. The writing, directors, all the ‘behind the scenes’ work done by their crew is impeccable. The actors stand out on their own and as an ensemble. This show just keeps getting better each season. I can’t wait for Season 5 to start!
Love Leverage. Can’t wait for new episodes!!! The characters are so wonderful. My favorite show.
A remarkable series “Leverage” has excellent team of amazing actors! “Leverage” is well known even in Russia. I look forward to July 15th to finally see the beginning of season 5!
Leverage is by far the favorite in my house! Intelligently written & directed and wonderfully acted. I love the true ensemble nature of this show.
Without a doubt, Leverage is the best show on tv!
I LOVE LEVERAGE….. it’s my favorite…. hi from Galician, Spain
Without a doubt, LEVERAGE! I have not been this excited about the return of a TV show since well, never! I confess, the only reason I watched it in the first place was because of Timothy Hutton. (Yes, I’m old) But, by the end of the episode I was hooked. I LOVE the entire team. Even Sterling and Kaos. All I can say is MORE PLEASE!!!!
Forgot 1 of my FAVS #Haven, Strike Back Cinemax, is Justified still a summer show or is that Now a fall/winter now?
I can’t believe I missed Haven! It’s added now. Strike Back seems to be more of an early fall show, and Justified is a mid-season (winter/spring) show.
Leverage is my all time favorite show. LOVE it and cannot wait till season 5 airs on July 15th. I love the fact that my teenager and I enjoy watching it together and I don’t have to worry about the content. With the brilliant writers and actors they pull of the show without having to insert the unneeded foul language or sexual content. Did I mention how much I love the show? Check it out…you will love it too!
Leverage is a brilliantly written show with a equally talented group of actors.
DALLAS has been my favorite show for as long as I can remember. And, now that it’s returned to television, it’s STILL my favorite show. I can’t wait every week for each new episode. And it seems to be getting better. I hope this new DALLAS has as long a TV run as it did the first time around.
dallas is awesome. great to see linda gray back on tv.
Sue Ellen Rules!
Dallas is a wonderful new show and glad its back.
I love Leverage! It never has a boring moment!
DALLAS has been blast so far. I nominate JR’ s eyebrows as best supporting character!
“Dallas” of course!
I like Leverage but White Collar is number 1 for me!
Love, Love, Love Leverage, the cast and crew does and amazing job, on all of the shows. I enjoy keeping up with each one of the on and off the set.
Leverage, to me, is #1! Brilliant writing, acting, directing… the perfect blend of action-drama-&humor! They’re always championing the underdog and I love it!
All the shows I selected are brilliantly written, directed, and acted. It’s so sad that the main 3 have almost completely abandoned the craft that built them for the trash that is reality TV. Thank goodness for dish/cable!!
Peace.
Guess I better find out what Leverage is all about since everyone seems to watch it and loves it. I have never even heard of it and it’s been on 4 seasons! My number one past and present is DALLAS! Just love JR and always will.
Vote for Dallas. J.R. is still the best!
Summer show, fall show, winter show, spring show. Morning, noon, night. Doesn’t matter when or what episode – Leverage is awesome! Wonderful cast, great characterization, writing that can be hilarious or touching, neat shots filming-wise… what more could anyone want for a kick-back, relaxing, take-you-out-of-your-regular-life show?
Alphas is about the only show my girlfriend and i like and watch together.
Warehouse 13’s the best
The best show of the summer is DALLAS of course! It is very addicting!
W-O-W!! I can’t believe Alphas is at the #1 spot!! It’s one of my FAVS but I could only choose 10. So Alphas, Necessary Roughness, Covert Affairs & Psych didn’t make my cut. I’m surprised that Haven is in last place. I’m a tv/movie lover!! So I’d be screwed if we were only allowed 1 choice. LOL. You should see my DVR to do list in the fall. I really take advantage of that device.
Again, I like more than just 10 items on the list. But Number One is always going to be Leverage.
Leverage is, by far, my favorite show on TV. That is saying a lot, as there are several quality shows in this group!! You’ll find action, drama and humor – smart writing, great characters, award-winning acting – there is chemistry between this family of good, bad guys & gals you could not duplicate in a lab – this show has it all.
If you have never seen an episode of this show, you don’t know what you’re missing – but you can start anytime. The show will generally start a new plot weekly and the characters will easily draw you in.
Long live Dallas! I absolutely love the new perspective. Somehow the disconnect between the exterior design and interior layout of Southfork is even more this season than the original series. The interior/exterior never matched but overlooked by fans. Very rare!
White Collar hands down, nobody lights up my life like Neal Caffery LOL!
xoxo~ Renee