Summer isn’t cruel to scripted-drama fans

This summer, the Freeform network will deliver a relatively rare commodity – new, scripted episodes.
It will bring back two series – the final season of “Grown-ish” and the overdue second season of “Cruel Summer” (shown here). It will also debut an animated show, “Praise Petey.”
Summers have fallen into a habit — plenty of scripted shows on premium cable (HBO, Showtime, etc.) and streamers, with the others sticking mostly to reruns and reality shows.
Now Freeform, a basic-cable channel, will make a small dent in that. It has:
— The sixth and final season of “Grown-ish,” which has followed the “Black-ish” kids to college and beyond. That starts June 28.
— “Praise Petey,” on July 21. Annie Murphy (“Schitt’s Creek”) voices a former big-city “it girl” who decides to rebuild her life by modernizing her father’s small-town cult.
— And before those two, the June 5 return (sort of) of “Cruel Summer.”
The first season drew praise, especially for Chiara Aurelia’s work in almost a triple role. She played a nerdy teen who stepped into the life of a popular girl who disappeared … then became a pariah aftr being accused of being partly responsible for the disappearance.
It was a catchy concept, but not one that works for a second season. Now, two years after the first season ended, the title returns with new characters.
In a waterfront town in the Pacific Northwest, a youthful friendship and love triangle intensifies and implodes. In the style of the first season (and of Showtime’s “Yellowjackets”), there are different times and perspectives. Sadie Stanley, Lexi Underwood and Griffin Gluck star; the grown-ups include Paul Adelstein and KaDee Strickland, both of “Private Practice.”