ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½

Too Much

It’s not “Girls” but Girl in this comedy from Lena Dunham. The most anticipated Dunham creation since her aforementioned, influential comedy about single 20-something friends in New York, “Too Much” stars up-and-comer Megan Stalter (“Hacks”) as a 30-something New Yorker who decamps to London, England, after a bad breakup and quickly falls for Felix (Will Sharpe of “The White Lotus”). There are also some killer guest stars, with luminaries like Andrew Scott (“Ripley”), Naomi Watts (“Mulholland Drive”), Rhea Perlman (“Cheers”) and Kit Harington (“Game of Thrones”) dropping in. It won’t be for everyone (a spitting scene in the trailer is already stirring dissent), but I find Stalter mostly charming. July 10, Netflix

Untamed

Eric Bana takes on his most substantial TV role since 2018’s “Dirty John” in this crime drama set in the vast wilderness of Yellowstone Park. He’s special agent Kyle Turner, who’s tasked with investigating a violent death within the park (the way the body is discovered in the show’s opening minutes is particularly gripping). He’s joined on the case by a rookie ranger played by Lily Santiago (“La Brea”). The cast of the British Columbia-shot series also includes veterans Sam Neill (“Jurassic Park”) and Rosemarie DeWitt (“The Boys”), and ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½’s own Nicola Correia-Damude (“Law & Order ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½”). July 17, Netflix

The spinoffs and adaptations

Outrageous

I’m cheating here slightly since this drama debuted two days before the official start of summer, but it will continue into July. It’s based on the excellent book “The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family” by Mary S. Lovell. Whether it’s author Nancy (Bessie Carter, who also narrates); beauty Diana (Joanna Vanderham), who scandalously dumped her blue-blood husband for fascist Oswald Mosley; or Unity (Shannon Watson), who developed and pursued a crush on Hitler, the lives of the Mitford girls are almost too, well, outrageous to be believed. And don’t forget communist Decca (Zoe Brough); Debo (Orla Hill), who became a duchess; and animal lover Pamela (Isobel Jesper Jones), the quietest of the six. They’re all represented in this lively drama featuring James Purefoy and Anna Chancellor as their parents. First two episodes now on BritBox

Smoke

Inspired by a true-crime podcast, this dark, brooding series from writer Dennis Lehane (“Mystic River”) stars Taron Egerton (“Black Bird,” “Rocketman”) as a firefighter turned arson investigator trying to find two firebugs who are burning up homes and businesses in the Pacific Northwest (B.C. masquerading as the U.S.). Jurnee Smollett (“Lovecraft Country”) is the police detective with her own complicated past who’s seconded to help him; Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear is his boss and Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine (“The Chi”) plays a key role I don’t want to spoil here. Albertan Erin Karpluk (“Being Erica”) is also in the cast. June 27, Apple TV Plus

Ballard

This crime drama is part of the “Bosch” TV universe adapted from the Michael Connelly novels. Detective Renée Ballard (Maggie Q of “Nikita”), who was introduced in “Bosch: Legacy,” has the thankless task of heading the LAPD’s cold case unit, working in a basement with a crew of mostly volunteers and the department brass breathing down her neck. John Carroll Lynch (“American Horror Story”) and Courtney Taylor (“Abbott Elementary”) play fellow cold case detectives, while Ricardo Chavira (“Desperate Housewives”) plays her nemesis in robbery-homicide. And yes, Harry Bosch himself (Titus Welliver) will show up. July 9, Prime Video

Washington Black 

The fact that this series is based on the Giller Prize-winning, Booker Prize-shortlisted novel by Canadian author Esi Edugyan is reason enough to tune in; add the fact that Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown (“Paradise”) is an executive producer and supporting actor. Eddie Karanja and Ernest Kingsley Junior (“War of the Worlds”) share the role of George Washington Black, an enslaved boy who travels from Barbados to Halifax, N.S., as an adult, where he falls in love with a mixed race woman (Iola Evans) passing as white and is threatened by a bounty hunter (Billy Boyd). Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine of “Smoke” also has a role in this series, partly filmed in Nova Scotia. July 23, Disney Plus

Outlander: Blood of My Blood 

While time travel romance “Outlander” can strain credulity (how many near-death experiences can one couple have? they’ve been married how long and they’re still having that much steamy sex?), if you’re a Jamie and Claire stan you’re pretty much ride or die. It remains to be seen if that devotion transfers to this spinoff, which tells the story of the true love between highlander Jamie’s parents Brian and Ellen (Sam Heughan look-alike Jamie Roy and Harriet Slater), and between British nurse Claire’s parents Henry and Julia (Jeremy Irvine and Hermione Corfield). Aug. 8, Starz via Crave

Alien: Earth

Auteur Noah Hawley, renowned for the “Fargo” anthology series, again turns his talents to sci-fi with this TV prequel to the “Alien” movies. In 2120, two years before the events of the original film, a spaceship crash-lands on Earth bearing the deadly xenomorph, although it sounds like it’s not the only creepy thing on the ship. Sydney Chandler (“Pistol”) stars as a human-robot hybrid tasked with exploring the vessel. Alex Lawther (“Andor”), Timothy Olyphant (“Justified”), Babou Ceesay (“Into the Badlands”) and Essie Davis (“Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries”) co-star. Aug. 12, Disney Plus

Butterfly

Daniel Dae Kim (“Lost,” “Hawaii Five-0”) is both star and executive producer of this spy thriller, in which he plays a former U.S. intelligence agent living in South Korea who’s being pursued by an assassin (Reina Hardesty of “The Flash”) with a complex past. The series, based on a graphic novel of the same name, appears to be a passion project for Kim and, although I don’t know much about it yet, I figure Kim has earned some cred as a TV producer as well as an actor, and a champion of Asian representation on stage and screen. Aug. 13, Prime Video

The Thursday Murder Club

Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan turned out to be such a potent pairing in Guy Ritchie’s violent gangland show “MobLand” that the thought of them matched again in this comedic series is too big a lure to ignore. Throw in Celia Imrie (“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”) and Ben Kingsley (“Gandhi”) and quadruple the potential for gratification in this murder mystery, based on the 2020 novel by Richard Osman, about a group of retirees whose cold case hobby finds them investigating an actual homicide. Chris Columbus of “Harry Potter” and “ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Alone” fame directs. Aug. 28, Netflix

The comeback kids

The Gilded Age 

I’m not going to pretend this period drama is of the same calibre as Julian Fellowes’ seminal hit “Downton Abbey,” but I’m still coming back for a third season of skilled actors in lavish costumes pretending to be rich people in 1880s New York. The women continue to be the most interesting characters here, especially new-money socialite Bertha Russell, played by the great Carrie Coon (“The White Lotus”). Now that she’s won the opera war, Bertha’s quest is to get daughter Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) married off to an English duke, a goal that brings her into conflict with her railway tycoon husband George (Morgan Spector). Across the street, meanwhile, a polite war rages between newly poor old-money doyenne Agnes (Christine Baranski, always ready with a quip) and her newly rich sister Ada (Cynthia Nixon), catching the servants in the crossfire. June 22, HBO

The Bear 

The big question going into this hit show’s fourth season is whether chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) will pull his head out of his ass and stop sabotaging his own potential success.  We know from the trailer that Carmy’s restaurant continues to be at risk. It also looks like chef de cuisine Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) decides not to jump ship; that Canada’s own Matty Matheson will continue to provide comic relief; that the wonderful Jamie Lee Curtis will be back in her Emmy-winning role of Berzatto family matriarch Donna; and that the long-suffering Bear team will actually find something to smile about. June 25, Disney Plus

Squid Game

While it’s true that Season 2 was nowhere near as absorbing as the first season of this South Korean breakout hit, I’m still going to tune in to see how it all ends. With his rebellion failed and his best friend dead, will a demoralized Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), a.k.a. Player 456, still find a way to stop the deadly games? And what dastardly new challenges will he and his fellow survivors be forced to surmount to stay alive? June 27 on Netflix

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

The best of the new generation of “Star Trek” spinoff series returns for its third season, picking up with the Enterprise facing off against the terrifyingly relentless Gorn, who are holding its crew members captive. From what I’ve seen so far, the new instalment of the Mississauga-shot show features the same combo of action, humour and comradeship that made the first two seasons so enjoyable. All the core crew members are back, led by Anson Mount as Captain Pike. Canadian Melanie Scrofano of “Wynonna Earp” returns as Captain Batel; Scotty (Martin Quinn) has now joined the Enterprise; New Zealand actor Rhys Darby will guest star as a legacy “Trek” character; and James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) will also be back. July 17 on Paramount Plus

Wednesday

This “Addams Family” adaptation turned out to be a delightful surprise when it debuted in 2022, as the surly goth teen of the title (Jenna Ortega), scowled and danced her way into viewers’ hearts. It remains to be seen if the long-delayed second season lives up to the hype, but , which Netflix posted online, certainly show promise. Luis Guzmán and Catherine Zeta-Jones  return as parents Gomez and Morticia Addams; Victor Gorobantu continues to animate Thing; Emma Myers (“A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder”) is back as werewolf roomie Enid; and Steve Buscemi and Billie Piper join the cast. Aug. 6, Part 1, and Sept. 3, Part 2, on Netflix