This summer, PBS will fill voids left by other broadcast networks.
It will have dramas – strong, smart ones, led by “Grantchester” (shown here) – on Sundays. It will also have music – a couple concerts, an opera and a three-part look at the disco era.
Alongside that will be extended looks at ecology and comedy … plus two weeks devoted to the Republican and Democratic conventions.
The big-four commercial networks have lots of summer games and reality shows, but no scripted dramas. That’s where PBS starts to fit in; it will have:
DRAMAS
The main burst is on six Sundays, starting June 16, including some sharp plot twists:
— “Professor T” (8 p.m.) spends its first three weeks with the prof in prison (still solving crimes). Even when he gets out, there are big moments, including a season-ending jolt.
— “Grtantchester” (9) starts big. There are two emotional hours as Will (Tom Brittney) decides whether to leave … and a surprisingly funny one, as the new vicar (Rishi Nair) arrives. After that, it’s crime-solving as usual.
— “DI Ray” (10) has its second season with Parminder Nagra (“ER”) solving crimes.
Afterward, “Hotel Portofino” returns on July 28. Two weeks later, the much-praised, six-hour “Magpie Murders” will rerun on three Sundays, Aug. 11-25.
MUSIC
Fresh from its annual Memorial Day eve concert, PBS has:
— “Carmen” at the Metropolitan Opera, 9 p.m., June 14. Aigul Akhmetshina – originally from Bashkortostan, but moved to England, stars.
— “A Capitol Fourth,” 8 p.m. July 4, rerunning at 9:30. It’s the annual burst of music – pop, country, Broadway, more – plus fireworks.
— The annual outdoor concert by the Vienna Philharmonic, 9 p.m., Aug. 23. Andris Nelsons conducts and Lise Davidson is the soloist.
— Also, a documentary series will view the liufestyle impact of music. “Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution” will be 9 p.m. on three Tuesdays, starting June 18,
ECOLOGY
— “Dynamic Planet“ is 8 p.m. on four Wednesdays, starting June 18. It spent three years going to all seven continents to view ecological approaches.
— “Hope in the Water” follows at 9 p.m. on three Wednesdays, starting June 19. It views a wide range of efforts, from fish farms to an urban program aimed at all the types of fish that are ignored. Shailene Woodley (“Divergent,” “Big Little Lies”), who grew up as a coastal buff in California, is narrator and a participant.
— “Sea Change: The Gulf of Maine” is at 10 p.m. on three Wednesdays, starting July 24. It looks at a body of water heating much vaster than others globally.
ALSO
— “The Great American Recipe,” an amiable food competition, returns, this time at 9 p.m. Mondays, starting June 17.
— “Roots of Comedy” has six half-hours, with Jesus Trejos meeting far-ranging comedians. It’s 10 and 10:30 p.m. on three Fridays, starting June 21.
— Two “Voces” documentaries view immigration issues, at 10 p.m. July 9 and Aug. 26.
— Both conventions will get live coverage, starting at 8 p.m. ET. (In recent times, the commercial networks have started coverage at 10 p.m.; the cable news networsk go all-out.) It will be Republicans on July 15-18 and Democrats on Aug. 19-22.
— “Antique Roadshow Recut” has its fourth season of reruns trimmed to a half-hour each. This one (trimming shows from 2022) is 10 p.m. Fridays, starting July 26.
— “Odysseus Returns” (10 p.m. Aug. 28) views the controversy surrounding an amateur historian who insists he found the bones of Odysseus, the subject of Homer’s epic poem.