Summer TV Picks: Monday Night

Once upon a time, summer TV sucked. It was made up of re-runs of fall and winter TVs. One could argue that it was a good thing because you could actually go out during the long days of summer and actually do things without worrying about missing something good on TV. Of course, once upon a time, you didn't have DVRs and if you really want to go back, you didn't even have a VHS. Go back even further and you'll run into a time when kids were the remote control and TV went off at 1:00 in the morning.

I digress. Summer TV has really picked up. Now, you have an actual Summer Season with first run shows and some of them are actually good and not just cast-off shows that couldn't make it in the regular season. So this week, I'm going to share what I'll be watching over the summer. It's a mix of network but mostly cable shows. I watch a lot more cable in the summer.

Well, Hell’s Bells! It’s almost too good to be true. Starting tonight, Hell’s Kitchen comes on at 8:00 p.m. followed by MasterChef at 9:00 p.m. Two hours of Gordon Ramsey, back-to-back! I am definitely a Ramsey fan. In fact, his are the only cooking shows I watch.

First up, I can watch him go ballistic on a bunch of ‘professional’ chefs who can’t get their shit together. Then, I can watch a slightly-kinder, gentler Ramsey work with a bunch of talented amateurs on MasterChef. I can actually say that watching what these non-professionals can do, inspired me to reignite my passion for the culinary arts.

At 10:00, I might actually –gasp! – read a book. Or, what is most likely, I’ll probably watch Fatal Encounters on ID. Although I suspect the season for that show is wrapping up which will leave me with early news or reading (what a radical idea).