JoJo Fletcher will hand out the roses this season on The Bachelorette; Simon Cowell joins the America’s Got Talent judges table; and Maddie Ziegler weighs in on the So You Think You Can Dance contestants.
Summer is coming and so are your favorite TV shows that keep you from turning off the tube until fall. The Big Four networks and The CW have lined up their schedules with fresh new dramas and comedies as well as popular reality shows like CBS’s Big Brother and NBC’s America’s Got Talent.
NBC will take command of the summer schedule in August when it airs two weeks of Olympics coverage in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 2016 Rio Games will open on Aug. 5 and run through Aug. 21.
Here’s when each network will launch its summer schedules.
ABC
JoJo Fletcher couldn’t win over Ben Higgins, but she’ll have another shot at love on The Bachelorette.
ABC leans heavily on its alternative programming this summer. The network will premiere two revivals of classic game shows including To Tell the Truth and $100,000 Pyramid as well as a second season of Celebrity Family Feud. JoJo Fletcher also tries to find her true love on The Bachelorette before past contestants have fun on Bachelor in Paradise
The Battlebots are back to fight it out for a second season. On the scripted side, Mistresses returns for a fourth season and Secrets and Lies premieres its second season.
Monday, May 23
– Bachelorette at 9 p.m. (Two-Hour Season 12 Premiere)
Thursday, May 26
– 500 Questions at 8 p.m. (Season 2 Premiere)
Monday, May 30
– Bachelorette at 8 p.m (Regular Time Slot Premiere)
– Mistresses at 10 p.m. (Season 4 Premiere)
Saturday, June 11
– O.J.: Made in America – Part 1 at 9 p.m. (Documentary Special Premiere)
Tuesday, June 14
– To Tell the Truth at 8 p.m. (Sneak Peek Premiere)
– Uncle Buck at 9 p.m. (Back-to-Back Series Premiere)
– To Tell the Truth at 10 p.m. (Series Premiere)
Thursday, June 23
– Battlebots at 8 p.m. (Season 2 Premiere)
Sunday, June 26
– Celebrity Family Feud at 8 p.m. (Season 2 Premiere)
– The $100,000 Pyramid at 9 p.m. (Series Premiere)
Thursday, June 30</h3
– Greatest Hits at 8 p.m. (Series Premiere)
Wednesday, July 13
– 2016 ESPY Awards at 8 p.m.
Tuesday, August 2
– Bachelor in Paradise at 8 p.m. (Season 3 Premiere)
Wednesday, August 3
– CMA Music Festival at 8 p.m.
Monday, August 8
– Bchelor in Paradise at 8 p.m. (Time Slot Premiere)
Tuesday, August 9
– Bachelor in Paradise at 8 p.m.
– Bachelor in Paradise: After Paradise at 9 p.m.
CBS
Tame the animals again in season two with the cast of Zoo. (Timothy Kuratek/CBS)
Once again, Big Brother will air three nights a week this summer. The 18th season kicks off with a two-hour premiere on Wednesday, June 22 at 8 p.m. (where it will air regularly). Its followed by a new episode on Thursday, June 23 at 9 p.m. and back on Sunday, June 26 at 8 p.m.
CBS also launches two new drama series to join the returning Zoo, based on James Patterson’s novel. The Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King launch their new show BrainDead on Monday, June 13. The second series, American Gothic, comes from executive producer Stephen Spielberg and premieres on Wednesday, June 22. The second season of Zoo also has a two-hour premiere on Tuesday, June 28.
Monday, June 13
– BrainDead at 10 p.m. (Series Premiere)
Wednesday, June 22
– Big Brother at 8 p.m. (Two-Hour Season Premiere)
– American Gothic at 10 p.m. (Series Premiere)
Thursday, June 23
– Big Brother at 9 p.m. (Thursday Premiere)
Sunday, June 26
– Big Brother at 8 p.m. (Sunday Premiere)
Tuesday, June 28
– Zoo at 9 p.m. (Two-Hour Season 2 Premiere; will air regularly at 9 p.m.)
The CW
Penn & Teller work to discover the magic behind the trick on Fool Us while Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie act like fools on Whose Line. (Facebook/Whose Line Is It Anyway?)
The trick to The CW’s summer schedule? A lot of magic and comedy. Alyson Hannigan joins Penn & Teller: Fool Us in its third season as the host of the magician competition show. Illusionists and escape artists show off their talents on the third cycle of Masters of Illusion and Aisha Tyler and the guys Wayne Brady, Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie return season four of Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Friday, May 20
– Masters of Illusion at TBA (Season 3 Premiere)
Monday, May 23
– Whose Line Is It Anyway at TBA (Season 4 Premiere)
Monday, July 11
– Penn & Teller: Fool Us at TBA (Season 3 Premiere)
Fox
Gordon Ramsey will return for his seventh season of Masterchef and third season of Hotel Hellthis summer on Fox. (Greg Gayne/FOX)
Fox will launch a new dating series this summer called Coupled from Emmy-winning producer Mark Burnett. Also, Gordon Ramsey will pull double duty hosting Hotel Hell and Masterchef. Hotel Hell premieres first on Tuesday, May 17 and Masterchef returns on Wednesday, June 1.
Wayward Pines will debut its second season on Wednesday, May 25 at 9 p.m. and 13-year-old Maddie Ziegler will join the judges table on So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation on Monday, May 30.
Tuesday, May 17
– Hotel Hell at 8 p.m. (Season 3)
– Coupled at 9 p.m. (Series Premiere)
Wednesday, May 25
– Wayward Pines at 9 p.m. (Season 2 Premiere)
Monday, May 30
– So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation at 8 p.m. (Season 13 Premiere)
Wednesday, June 1
– Masterchef at 8 p.m. (Season 7 Premiere)
NBC
Simon Cowell will fill the lead judge’s seat left vacant by Howard Stern. (Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal)
NBC will keep viewers on their toes as it shuffles around time slots for shows like American Ninja Warrior and the new competition series, Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge. The former will air its first two weeks on Wednesdays (June 1 and 8) before moving back to Mondays on June 13. Spartan will get the Ninja Warrior lead-in for its first two weeks on Monday, June 13 and 20 before moving to Thursdays on June 23.
After losing Howard Stern last year, America’s Got Talent nabbed the ultimate talent judge, Simon Cowell, who will join Heidi Klum, Mel B and Howie Mandel for season 11. The NBC favorite will move back to Los Angeles and premiere on Tuesday, May 31.
In an unprecedented move for broadcast televison, NBC will air the two-hour season two premiere of Aquarius without commercials. The 120-minute episode will air uninterrupted except for a 55-second break in the second hour for a local news update.
NBC tried the second season of Night Shift as a midseason replacement in 2015, but it will shift the medical drama back to the summer months where it premiered in 2014. The show will premiere on June 1. The network has not announced a premiere date for the returning celebrity game show, I Can Do That.
Although the Olympics opening ceremony won’t air until Friday, Aug. 5, NBC will start its coverage on Wednesday, Aug. 3 at 9:30 a.m. Click here for the complete schedule.
Tuesday, May 31
– America’s Got Talent at 8 p.m. (Season 11 Premiere)
Wednesday, June 1
– American Ninja Warrior at 8 p.m. (Season 8 Premiere)
– Night Shift at 10 p.m. (Season 3 Premiere)
Monday, June 13
– American Ninja Warrior at 8 p.m. (Monday Time Slot Premiere)
– Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge at 10 p.m. (Series Premiere)
Thursday, June 16
– Aquarius at 9 p.m. (Two-Hour Commercial-Free Season 2 Premiere)
Thursday, June 23
– Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge at 9 p.m. (Thursday Time Slot Premiere)
– Aquarius at 10 p.m. (Regular Time Slot Premiere)
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TV Summer Schedule 2016: Network Premiere Dates