Summer's bringing out the best of TV

Do you remember the days when summer meant only re-runs on TV? These days, we’re fortunate enough for May season finales to lead right into a whole other season of television. Of course, that summer season is usually reserved for craptastic realty shows and HBO viewers – but not anymore.

This summer, even mere mortals with basic cable can get a summer of superb television. In fact, I’d daresay the summer cable lineup looks to be a lot more credible than the pap we get the rest of the year on network TV.

TBS is bringing us Steven Spielberg’s series “Into the West”, which brings big stars and great production quality to the small screen. And at FX, quickly becoming a TV powerhouse on basic cable, debuts a new season of the smart series “Rescue Me” and two new shows that are – get this – unique programming.

Steven Bochco, creator of every good TV show ever made, debuts the ambitious “Over There” in mid-July. Following the lives of American soldiers in Iraq and their families back home, Bochco will likely walk a controversial line. Never before has a primetime television show been made about a current military conflict – and for good reason. No one wants to be labeled unpatriotic. But “Over There” looks to be the real deal, bringing the death, struggle and loss of a sometimes-overlooked war into homes like the news never has. I know I have that set and ready to go on my Tivo.

Another new FX series, “30 Days”, created by Super Size Me’s Morgan Spurlock, has already become a summer addiction for this girl. Going along with the model of his award-winning documentary, Spurlock dares ordinary people to live 30 days in someone else’s shoes –showing them exactly how the other half lives. In last week’s episode, for instance, an evangelical Christian from West Virginia lived as a Muslim in Michigan. His own fears and misconceptions about the religion were plainly presented, showing all viewers the sort of biases we all hold.

The debut episode of “30 Days” may be the finest hour of television I’ve seen in years. Spurlock and his girlfriend lived for a month on minimum wage in Columbus, Ohio – near where I grew up. Seeing the two of them fight over food spending, forgo medical treatment (they had no insurance), weep over unpaid bills and begrudgingly accept charity…it made the most real ‘reality’ TV I’d ever seen. By the end, I was in tears.

If only summer could last forever. It’ll be tough to go back to network TV come fall if the summers keep staying this good. Maybe, eventually, network TV will wake up and see that not everyone wants six re-runs of “Everyone Loves Raymond” every week. There really is an audience out there for new, risky programming – but only TBS and FX seem to know it yet.