Weeds (Showtime, Sunday) — The 8th and final season premiere will apparently tell us who got shot. SPOILER: It’s not Nancy Botwin. The season will take the Botwins back to their roots: The suburbs. I don’t have high expectations for the final season, but I’m hoping for two things: That Nancy wears short skirts all season long, and that they bring back the “Little Boxes” theme song.
Episodes (Showtime, Sunday) — “Episodes” kicks off its second season, and I’m going to watch, but I have to say, for a show that features the comedic potential of Matt LeBlanc playing himself, I thought the first season was a real drag. I hope they find a way to make the second season a lot funnier.
Newsroom (HBO, Sunday) — Aaron Sorkin took a lot of crap from the critics this week, which a lot of us who haven’t seen more than a fairly satisfying pilot don’t understand. Critics say that the show begins to tank in the second episode. We’ll see if the critics have blown this way out of proportion or if the second episode actually does run completely off the rails.
Falling Skies (TNT, Sunday) — I made it halfway through the first season of this show before I bailed due to apathy. Did it ever become more than an average post-apocalyptic series?
Common Law (USA, Friday) — I haven’t seen this show yet, but man, Michael Ealy has the sleepiest most soulful eyes on television. No offense to the USA Network, but I don’t know why that guy isn’t a huge movie star yet.
Longmire (A&E, Sunday) — I wouldn’t watch this during the regular season, but it’s pretty decent summer fare, a comfortable, slow-moving procedural set in Wyoming. It’s also good to see Katee Sackhoff in something that won’t be canceled after three episodes. Give it a shot if you have an hour to slow burn.