Sunny With a Chance of Darkness

Graceland

June 6, USA

Elvis is not in the building, but the beach house of the show’s title is plenty crowded. Undercover agents from three U.S. government agencies–DEA, FBI and Customs–are thrown together in a swanky confiscated pad and soon discover that relations with their roomies are as complex and full of deceptions as their assignments.

Under the Dome

June 24, CBS

Lately the big networks have left summer scripted events to cable. But CBS is coming with the King–Stephen King, who co-produces this 13-episode drama and wrote the source novel, about a town (in Maine, of course) that finds itself trapped beneath a force field. We’re guessing the results will at least be spookier than when the same thing happened in The Simpsons Movie.

Dexter

June 30, Showtime

Dexter Morgan’s “dark passenger” is finally reaching his last stop. For seven seasons, Dexter (Michael C. Hall) has tried to control his impulse to kill or channel it toward “deserving” victims. With Dexter’s secret becoming increasingly vulnerable and Showtime announcing that this season will be the last, no one is safe in the final run of this serial-killer serial.

Ray Donovan

June 30, Showtime

Donovan (Liev Schreiber) is the man the powerful and famous in L.A. call when they land in the scandal columns or wake up next to a dead body. But in the midst of making Hollywood’s problems go away, Ray finds that his own keep returning, in the form of old cases that won’t stay closed and, especially, his newly released jailbird dad (Jon Voight). The question: Who will fix the fixer?

Breaking Bad

Aug. 11, AMC

One way or another, America’s favorite chemistry teacher turned methmaker retires, or gets retired, this summer. Over five seasons, Walter White (Bryan Cranston, near left) went from cancer patient to ruthless criminal and partnered with former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul, far left). As of last season, he left the business just as his DEA-agent brother-in-law got wind of his crimes. Now creator Vince Gilligan wraps up his sweeping moral investigation into how the meekest of men can turn out to be a mix of volatile chemicals.

The Bridge

July 10, FX

When AMC remade a Danish murder mystery, The Killing (which also returns this summer), it angered fans with a letdown resolution to its first season. Naturally, FX is … remaking a Danish murder mystery! This one relocates its serial-killing story to the U.S.-Mexico border; here’s hoping it translates better.

Low Winter Sun

Aug. 11, AMC

This adaptation of a 2006 British miniseries continues the great American remake-a-European-crime-show tradition (see The Bridge, above). Starring British actors Mark Strong and Lennie James, this serial begins with a cop-on-cop murder in Detroit but promises to turn into an investigation of corruption that links cops and the criminal underworld. Hey, after last August’s heat wave, winter in Motown just might sound appealing.