NEW YORK (AP) – Doctors warn against getting too much sun. Fortunately, there’s lots of cool TV ahead to keep us out of harm’s way. Here are a dozen scripted series that will keep us safe inside this summer, basking in the glow of our favorite screen.
– “Tyrant” (June 24, FX): The youngest son of a Middle Eastern nation’s dictator returns from America after 20 years for his nephew’s wedding, only to be thrown back into the turbulent familial and national politics of his youth. Adam Rayner stars as Bassam “Barry” Al-Fayeed, a California pediatrician swept up in a distant world he thought he’d escaped.
– “Reckless” (June 29, CBS): Soap is sudsing in the courtroom, with a sexy female litigator from Chicago (Anna Wood) and a good ol’ boy attorney (Cam Gigandet) butting heads and locking lips as a police scandal unfolds in steamy Charleston, South Carolina.
– “Leftovers” (June 29, HBO): It’s three years after the instant, bewildering disappearance of 2 percent of the world’s population. In one particular Northeast town, the remaining residents try to find rhyme or reason to the tragedy while they struggle with their grief and rage. The latest project of “Lost” auteur Damon Lindelof, this stark drama is sure to spark questions, arguments and a following.
– “Under the Dome” (June 30, CBS): Last summer this goofy thriller proved viewers would flock to a broadcast-network drama in the summer. Now life-under-glass resumes for a second season in Chester’s Mill, Maine, where there’s no place like dome.