Summer TV Winners & Losers: The Idol, Suits, Marvel TV, Your Wallet, Below Deck Heroes, And Just Like That and More
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In a summer plagued by dual industry strikes, reversed TV show renewals and long delays for your returning favorite series, the past three months might appear bleak at first glance — but we’d argue there’s plenty to celebrate about this summer, too.
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As is our tradition, it’s time to take stock of the summer’s winners, losers and those that were a little of both. And despite the TV industry’s recent upheaval, there were some winners, including the buzzy sophomore seasons of And Just Like That and The Bear, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher (and her unforgettable pre-strike monologue), and the unexpected show of the summer: Suits!
But there were plenty of misses this summer, too, from HBO’s forever-troubled The Idol to a certain Bachelorette contestant and his, uh, memorable choice of jewelry.
Keep scrolling for our full list of Summer TV Winners & Losers (and a handful of Draws), then drop a comment below with your own picks!
WINNER: The Bear Returns More Savory Than Ever
Season 1 of Hulu’s culinary dramedy, it turns out, was just an appetizer. The sophomore season was even better, digging deep into the anxieties of chef Carmy and his pals as they scrambled to open their dream restaurant. There were almost too many standout episodes and performances to single out (“Forks”! Jamie Lee Curtis!), but like a great meal, they all came together perfectly to form one delicious dish. And yet it’s still not renewed for Season 3? Don’t make us sic Jamie Lee Curtis on you.
WINNER: Fans of Meryl Streep’s singing
We may not get a Mamma Mia three-quel, but at least we got Meryl Streep singing “Look for the Light” in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, which has made spectacular use of the three-time Oscar winner throughout its Broadway-themed third season.
LOSER: The Idol and/or Rattails
This was one weird-ass show. Now, mind you, weird can be good! But this… was not that. Putting the “Oh! Oh! Ohhh!!” in over-sexualized, what could have been — and possibly once was! — a keen, and maybe a bit frothy, look at the underbelly of pop music success instead was just ugly. And dark. And at times unabashed torture porn.
DRAW: Great Minx Can’t Seem to Arouse Interest
The Max-turned-Starz comedy is firing on all cylinders, creatively, in its second season, with clever and funny storytelling and stellar performances. Unfortunately, that hasn’t translated into the kind of viewership and buzz the underrated series deserves.
WINNER: Apple TV+
After Dear Edward, High Desert and Hello Tomorrow! all kinda came and went earlier in the year, the one-two punch of the dystopia mystery Silo and real-time thriller Hijack proved that the deep-pocketed streamer can launch successful, buzzy, “popcorn” shows — all as we patiently wait for those second seasons of Severance and Pachinko.
LOSER: The Bachelorette’s Brayden (and His Earrings)
Brayden was Season 20’s villain, making him an obvious summer loser. While fans and other contestants called him toxic and rooted for him to fail, Brayden’s earrings took their own online beating. After all, is there anything more disingenuous than a dangly earring? We think not!
DRAW: Crowley/ Aziraphale ’shippers
Good Omens fans who had long desired for Michael Sheen and David Tennant’s characters to get together were rewarded in the Prime Video comedy’s Season 2 finale… moments before an argument tore them apart just in time for the cliffhanger ending.
WINNER: Aesha and Captain Jason
It doesn’t matter what Below Deck Down Under‘s Aesha and Captain Jason are doing; we’re always happy to have them on our screens. But in this summer’s second season of the Below Deck spinoff, the pair’s swift action to protect a crew member after she was assaulted by a fellow staffer deserves high praise. Having responded to the situation with seriousness and sensitivity, there’s no better definition of winner in our book.
WINNER: Suits the Streaming Sensation
If you had “Blue Sky Drama That’s Been Off the Air for Four Years Dominates Streaming Headlines” on your Summer 2023 bingo card, then race out and buy yourself some lottery tickets, man! But seriously, Suits‘ streaming renaissance has spoken volumes about 1) the value of traditional TV storytelling, 2) the opportunity for a “forgotten” show to be “remembered,” and, if you were on strike this summer, 3) how 26 billion minutes viewed (…and counting) somehow doesn’t seem to show up in residual checks.
LOSER: Marvel TV
As much as we hoped that Secret Invasion — the first MCU TV series in eight months — would be “Marvel TV’s Andor,” our gut told us that there was no way that any TV series could offer up even a faint facsimile of the titular comic book saga. Secret Invasion was a paranoid thriller that should have unfolded on the big screen, spanning years and movies and top-shelf characters, with real ramifications. Instead, it impaired the larger MCU more than it embellished it. Now, the pressure is really on Loki‘s return to restore faith in small-screen MCU fare.
DRAW: Dead City Delivers Good Numbers, Bad Developments
The fourth Walking Dead spinoff debuted to great fanfare. It marked AMC+’s top-rated premiere ever and was renewed before its Season 1 finale had even aired. But the series, which reunited franchise MVPs Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan as frenemies Negan and Maggie, undid all of the progress that the characters had made on the mothership and left the Saviors’ former leader at the mercy of a wholly unbelievable new Big Bad.
WINNER: And Just Like That…, We’re Interested Again!
After a rocky freshman run, Max’s Sex and the City continuation found its footing in Season 2, nixing storylines that didn’t work and recapturing a bit of that saucy SATC magic along the way. It helped that it leaned heavily on nostalgia, with the return of John Corbett as Carrie’s ex Aidan and a divine cameo from Kim Cattrall as the gone-but-never-forgotten Samantha Jones. And it worked, too: Max has already renewed it for Season 3.
LOSER: Your Wallet
As is, streaming subscriptions had been creeping up over the years. (Who remembers when Netflix streaming was $8?) But as corporate owners began to feel the crunch, content began disappearing (as tax write-downs) — and rates rose further, as evidenced by the sampling of summer TVLine headlines above.
And the cold, hard truth is that whenever the AMPTP strikes a deal with both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, they’re going to try to pass that increased overhead onto consumers, with an extra dollar here and another two bucks there added to monthly subscription plans.
DRAW: Justified: City Primeval
We were thrilled to see Raylan Givens and his one-of-a-kind swagger again, and the consensus on FX’s City Primeval was that it was well-cast and rather engaging. But what does it say about the limited series that TVLine’s most-read stories about it included 1) Walton Goggins claiming he wouldn’t appear, 2) Natalie Zea walking a picket line with TV daughter Vivian Olyphant, and 3) the big cameo at the end of the finale — and how that has viewers clamoring for more? More in-season buzz would have been just–, er, warranted.
WINNER: High School Musical’s Ryan (and Those of Us Who Knew His Truth All Along)
The sky is blue, grass is green, and Ryan Evans is gay. Any fan of Disney Channel’s original High School Musical trilogy (2006–2008) would say the same. But we never actually thought we’d get confirmation from the House of Mouse — that is, until Lucas Grabeel’s character showed up this summer on Disney+’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, where he proudly kissed his partner (played by Pentatonix’s Scott Hoying) at his 15-year reunion. Do we feel vindicated? Bet on it.
WINNER: Strange New Worlds’ Stellar Second Season
The Paramount+ show took big swings during its sophomore run and delivered one of the most memorable seasons of Star Trek to date. From Spock’s human transformation in “Charades” to that bonkers crossover with the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks to the musical episode that hit all the right notes, Season 2 was an ambitious adventure that remained true to the franchise, and we loved every second of it.
LOSER: Big Brother Season 25
Big Brother had barely been back for a week when racism took center stage once again, prompting Luke Valentine to be ejected from the game after using the N-word. On a similarly disappointing front, Jared Fields recently admitted to using the R-word to describe a fellow houseguest, though he went frustratingly unpunished by the show. Meanwhile, as fun as it was to add Survivor legend Cirie Fields (aka Jared’s mother) to the cast this year, it’s getting snoozy to watch her and her allies run the game while everyone else falls in line behind them. Is a little dissent too much to ask for?
WINNER: Foreign Shows Ripe for Picking!
If you years ago premiered a TV show in Canada or the UK and The CW or NBC hasn’t snatched it up yet to plug a hole in their strikes-stricken primetime grid… well, we don’t wanna know ya.
LOSER: Freeform
With just a couple of shows left on its slate – Good Trouble, the final season of grown-ish, in-limbo comedy Praise Petey – it feels like the cable channel is quietly getting out of the scripted game. And the lackluster (and long-delayed) second season of Cruel Summer, which didn’t match the buzz or creative quality of the freshman run, didn’t leave us feeling optimistic about the future of the anthology series or the network.
WINNER: Reservation Dogs’ Fine Farewell
Truth be told, we would’ve never been ready to say goodbye to the Rez Dogs, and that’s because each and every installment is so carefully thought out and beautifully executed. Its last season (which wraps Wednesday, Sept. 27) is no exception. From Deer Lady’s heartbreaking backstory to all of the kids arriving at confusing crossroads, Sterlin Harjo’s dramedy continues to be a triumph.
LOSER: Real Housewives’ Restaurant That Shall Not Be Named
They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but we all know that’s not true. Why else would Bravo have censored the name of NYC restaurant Catch during a fight amongst The Real Housewives of New York City this season? Cast member Brynn Whitfield said she “wouldn’t be caught dead” at the seafood eatery, citing that it’s “not 2005” and she’s “not a D-list model.” Then came one last twist of the knife: “Olive Garden is chicer.”
WINNER: Vanna Is the Wheel Deal
As contract negotiations between Sony and Wheel of Fortune‘s iconic letter turner continue to play out in the public, one thing is clear: Vanna White is crushing her studio bosses in the court of public opinion. Word that retirement-bound Pat Sajak’s longtime co-host has been earning five times less than him all these years sparked shock, awe, and disbelief. And the backlash will no doubt result in the studio showing White the money many feel she deserves.
WINNER: Fran Drescher
The SAG-AFTRA president (and TV’s erstwhile Nanny) quickly put to bed any perception that she had been carelessly partying in Italy with Kim Kardashian as an actors’ strike loomed, with a fiery and instantly iconic speech announcing “the largest strike authorization vote in our union’s history.”
“What are we doing? Moving around furniture on the Titanic? It’s crazy,” she said of the industry’s outdated business model. “So the jig is up, AMPTP! We stand tall. You have to wake up and smell the coffee.” Which… the studios admittedly have yet to do.
LOSER: The AMPTP
If the months-long WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes were merely PR battles (instead of fights for proper wages), the consortium of studios that comprise the AMPTP has put up a big “L” on both fronts. Whether through ham-handed press leaks (including the “losing their apartments” one that epically backfired) or statements like Iger’s made on the record, the AMPTP has scored nothing but own goals. Coming on the heels of a wave of “disappeared” content and concurrent with streaming price hikes, no one is rooting for The Man — except maybe the guy who services the $27 million-a-year CEOs’ yachts.
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