The idea of a television season is rapidly becoming a part of the past, as TV shows are now debuting throughout the year. Spring and summer in particular are increasingly serving as launching pads for new series, and what follows is a guide to 10 shows that just could be worth your time over the next couple of months. No guarantees of course, because that gets into a whole legal hassle.
Game of Silence
The past comes back to haunt five best friends when a shared secret has arises some 25 years later. Jackson Brooks (David Lyons), Gil Harris (Michael Raymond-James), Shawn Polk (Larenz Tate) and Boots (Derek Phillips) were as tight as could be as teenagers. Everything turned upside down, however, when, at the age of 13, they helped save their friend Jessie (Bre Blair) from her alcoholic mother, the results of which saw them spend nine months at Quitman Youth Detention Facility, where things went from bad to worse. Now, all these years later, those nine months have come back to roost, unfolding in something even more mysterious. Based on the Turkish series Suskunlar.
US: April 12 (NBC)
UK: TBA
Containment
Based on the Belgian series Cordon, Containment chronicles the aftermath of an epidemic that breaks out in Atlanta, Georgia that leaves that American city quarantined and those who trapped within its borders fighting for their lives. As officially described, "the cordon reveals both the devolution of humanity and the birth of unlikely heroes." The cast includes David Gyasi, Christina Moses, Chris Wood, Claudia Black and Kristen Gustoskie. Executive producers are Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries) and director David Nutter (Game Of Thrones).
US: April 19 (The CW)
UK: TBA (E4)
Houdini & Doyle
Making its debut in America in May, this British-Canadian series takes an X-Files type of look at the friendship between escape artist extraordinaire Harry Houdini and Sherlock Holmes creator Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle. The former is a skeptic when it comes to anything he hasn't seen with his own eyes, the latter has a need to prove the truth behind supernatural happenings. The two come into conflict as they investigate a series of murders in 1900 England. Michael Weston plays Houdini, Stephen Mangan is Doyle.
US: May 2 (FOX)
UK: Now Airing (ITV)
Preacher
Morally conflicted preacher Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) arrives in a small Texas town, endowed with a "highly unconventional" power from an entity that is inhabiting his body. Along with an Irish vampire named Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) and his ex-girlfriend Tulip (Ruth Negga), he sets out on a mission to find God...in the literal sense. Based on the Garth Ennis comic, the show is executive produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
US: May 22 (AMC)
UK: May 23 (AMC Global)
Roots
A four-episode miniseries adaptation of Alex Haley's novel - and remake of the classic '70s miniseries - explores the history of an African slave sold to America, and follows the lives of his descendents. The cast includes Forest Whitaker, Anna Paquin, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anika Noni Rose, Malachi Kirby and Laurence Fishburne. Levar Burton, who played the original Kunta Kinte, serves as an executive producer.
US: May 30 (History, Lifetime, A&E)
UK: TBA
Feed The Beast
This crime drama, based on the Danish TV series Bankerot, stars David Schwimmer as Tommy Shannon and Jim Sturgess as Dion Pappas, two best friends who attempt to bring their dream of opening an upscale restaurant in the Bronx, New York to life. However, both of them coming from troubled pasts, they find their personal demons difficult to overcome.
US: May 31 (AMC)
UK: TBA
Outcast
From Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead, comes this series which chronicles the efforts of Kyle Barnes (Patrick Fugit), a man who has been plagued with demonic possession his entire life. Along with Reverend Anderson (Philip Glenister), a preacher who has his own personal demons, he hits the road in search of answers. What he finds could affect the fate of not only himself, but all of humanity.
US: June 3 (Cinemax)
UK: June (FOX UK)
Animal Kingdom
Based on the 2010 Australian film of the same name, Animal Kingdom follows a 17-year-old boy who, following the OD death of his mother, moves in with his grandmother and uncles - The Codys - in their Southern California town, where they operate as a criminal family clan. The cast includes Finn Cole, Ellen Barkin, Scott Speedman and Shawn Hatosy. The film's director, David Michod, serves as executive producer.
US: June 7 (TNT)
UK: TBA
BrainDead
Mary Elizabeth Winstead portrays Laurel, a woman who's gotten her first job as a Hill staffer in Washington DC, who discovers, first of all, that the government has secretly stopped working. Even worse, alien spawn have arrived on Earth and are slowly eating the brains of congressmen and other Hill staffers (so THAT explains it!). Other cast members include Aaron Tveit, Nikki M. James, Danny Pino and Tony Shalhoub.
US: June 13 (CBS)
UK: TBA
American Gothic
Much of this one is still under wraps, though we do know it comes from Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and follows the impact on a Boston family of links between their recently-deceased patriarch and a series of murders. Added into the mix is mounting evidence that one of them may have something to do with the killings as well. Among the castmembers, Justin Chatwin, Megan Ketch, Antony Starr and Juliet Rylance.
US: June 22 (CBS)
UK: TBA