What To Watch in June: A Nice Girls Guide

The year-round television season has arrived! The broadcast and cable networks are introducing a slew of new shows in June, in addition to returning shows. Here’s a Nice Girls cheat sheet on what’s coming up this month.

Royal Pains

The cast of Royal Pains / USA Network

Royal Pains returns for a second season in the Hamptons with Henry Winkler joining the cast as Hank and Evan’s ne’er-do-well father, Eddie R. Lawson. Mark Feuerstein, Paulo Costanzo, Reshma Shetty and Jill Flint are all back as Hank (Feuerstein) continues his “doctor for hire” practice in the exclusive enclave while also attending to those less fortunate. Evan (Constanzo) has to clean up the financial mess the senior Lawson left at the end of season one. Meanwhile, Divya (Shetty) has to deal with the conflict she feels over her engagement and Jill (Flint) has her own romantic tangles to unravel.

Royal Pains returns to USA on June 3 at 8/7c.

Burn Notice

Michael, Fiona, Sam and Madeline are back when Burn Notice returns for a fourth season this summer. Season four picks up right where season three’s cliffhanger left off as Michael takes in his surroundings and tries to figure out what happened to him. Fortunately he gets back to the team just in time to take on new clients. A spy’s work is never done.

Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell and Sharon Gless star.

Burn Notice season 4 premieres Thursday, June 3 at 9/8c on USA Network.

Drop Dead Diva

Note: be sure to enter our Drop Dead Diva season 1 DVD giveaway!

Returning for a second season after a breakout first year on Lifetime, Drop Dead Diva continues the story of Jane, the intelligent, thoughtful, plus-sized, recently deceased attorney who is brought back to life with the soul of a shallow, vapid model (Deb). At the close of last season, Deb was ready to let go of her past and embrace her new life as Jane. But the unexpected arrival of Jane’s “secret” husband, Ethan, at her doorstep left her with more questions than ever. To make matters worse, Jane may be disbarred after breaching client-attorney confidentiality when, against the firm’s advisement, she reported her client for fraud. Faced with a new love triangle and the uncertainty of her career, Jane must, once again, chart out a new future for herself.

Starring Brooke Elliott, Margaret Cho, Jackson Hurst, Kate Levering, April Bowlby, Josh Stamberg and Ben Feldman, the show welcomes guest stars Paula Abdul, Devon Gummersall, and David Denman back for season 2.

Drop Dead Diva returns to Lifetime at 9/8c on Sunday, June 6.

Persons Unknown

The cast of Persons Unknown / NBC

Persons Unknown follows a group of people who awaken in a deserted town with no memory of how they got there. They cannot leave.  They are watched by security cameras, and are occasionally fed information via remote-controlled televisions.  No matter what they try, their attempts to escape the town are thwarted by mysterious forces.

The series stars newcomer Daisy Betts, Jason Wiles (Third Watch), Sean O’Bryan (Six Feet Under), Alan Ruck (Spin City) and Chadwick Boseman (Lincoln Heights).  James Read (Charmed) and Kandyse McClure (Battlestar Galactica) are set to guest star.

Persons Unknown debuts June 7 at 10/9c on NBC.

Lie To Me

The FOX series resumes its second season this month with more cases for Dr. Cal Lightman and his team to decipher. By analyzing facial expressions and involuntary body language, Lightman can read feelings ranging from hidden resentment to sexual attraction to jealousy. His work gives him the knowledge and skill set to expertly deceive others as well as detect lies. Working on high-profile cases keeps the team busy, even as we learn more about their personal lives.

Tim Roth, Kelli Williams, Monica Raymund, Brendan Hines, and Mekhi Phifer star.

Lie to Me returns to FOX at 8/7c on Monday, June 7.

True Blood

True Blood returns June 13 on HBO

After a breakout second season, True Blood returns for its third season promising to be even bigger and better. Last season’s cliffhanger was Bill’s disappearance. Viewers have been promised that we’ll find out who took Bill in the season premiere, but that’s the least of the gang’s problems. Werewolves, vampire hierarchy, new love interests, and long-lost family members are just a few issues the folks from Bon Temps will be dealing with as season three gets underway.

Joining Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgard, Sam Trammell, Rutina Wesley, et al. this season are Joe Manganiello (Alcide Herveaux), Denis O’Hare (Russell Edgington), Theo Alexander (Talbot), Lindsay Pulsipher (Crystal Norris), Brit Morgan (Debbie Pelt), and James Frain (Franklin Mott).

True Blood returns on HBO at 9/8c on June 13. Find full coverage plus exclusive interviews on our sister site, True-Blood.net.

The Gates

Inside the gates of this private mountain community can be found more than just perpetual suburban bliss and perfectly manicured homes.  There is a dark and delicious secret buried just beneath the surface.

Frank Grillo (Prison Break) stars as Nick Monohan, a former Chicago homicide detective who decides to “retire” and takes his family to The Gates where he will work as the chief of police or rather simply what he believes is a security guard job in an upscale community.  Except the community members are much more than what they seem:  are they
vampires, werewolves, monsters or more?  Those are the possibilities of the supernatural beings inside The Gates who want to maintain their anonymity and they want to be human.

This series also stars Marisol Nichols (24), Rhona Mitra (Boston Legal), Luke Mably (The Prince & Me) and Chandra West (John from Cincinnati).

The Gates premieres June 20 at 10/9c on ABC.

Leverage

The cast of Leverage / TNT

It’s time for more grand cons in the name of all that is good and right when Leverage returns for its third season. We open with Nate in prison after making a tough choice in the season 2 finale. Quickly realizing that the prison is corrupt, Nate undertakes a jailbreak to bring down the prison’s officials. Meanwhile, he encounters The Italian, a mysterious woman played by Elisabetta Canalis, who blackmails him into doing her bidding. With The Italian managing him, and Nate trying to manage the team, it looks like this will be a tricky summer for our heroes.

Timothy Hutton, Gina Bellman, Christian Kane, Beth Riesgraf and Aldis Hodge star.

Leverage returns to TNT on June 20 at 9/8c.

Rookie Blue

Rookie Blue follows the lives of five young, ambitious cops right out of the Academy, starting with their first day on the job.  At the heart of the group is perfectionist Andy McNally (Missy Peregrym, Reaper) who has only ever wanted to be a good cop.  The show will explore the ups and downs of this “family” as they learn that “no amount of training can prepare them for life”.

The other rookies include Gregory Smith (Everwood), Charlotte Sullivan (the Canadian series M.V.P.), Enuka Okuma (Sue Thomas F.B.Eye) and Travis Milne (Holiday in Handcuffs).  Ben Bass (The Eleventh Hour), Eric Johnson (Smallville and Flash Gordon) and Melanie Nicholls-King (The Wire) also star.

The Canadian series Rookie Blue will debut on ABC (simultaneously with its debut on Global Television in Canada) on June 24 at 9/8c. The series was shot on location in Toronto and will run for 13 episodes.

Huge

Huge follows the lives of seven teens and the staff at a weight-loss camp as they look beyond just the surface to find out who they really are and learn the truth about each other. The series is based on the young-adult novel by Sasha Paley.

Nikki Blonsky (Hairspray) stars as Willamina (aka Will) an opinionated, funny girl who is angry that her rich family sent her to camp.  Will clashes with Amber (Hayley Hasselhoff), one of the thinnest and prettiest girls at the camp who is obsessed with her appearance.  The other teens at the camp will be portrayed by Ari Stidham, Harvey Guillen, Ashley Holliday, Andrew Caldwell and Zander Eckhouse.

The adults in the show will be played by Gina Torres (Firefly), Rebecca Field (October Road) and Chris William Martin (The Vampire Diaries).

The series is being described as a cross between Ugly Betty and Glee and will include a musical component.  The show will also have the chance to tackle body image issues for young girls similar to the Lifetime series Drop Dead Diva.

Huge debuts on ABC Family Channel on June 28 at 9/8c.