August is shaping up to be a surprisingly strong month for television. What usually feels like a transitional stretch before the fall season is instead packed with major returning series, ambitious literary adaptations, a new DC mystery, and several premieres that could dominate the conversation well beyond the end of summer. August 5 alone brings the return of “Ted Lasso,” Ryan Murphy’s adaptation of “The Shards,” Megan Park’s coming-of-age drama “Sterling Point,” and the second half of Netflix’s sweeping “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”
Elsewhere, “Lioness” opens the month with another round of Taylor Sheridan-produced espionage, “Lanterns” launches one of DC Studios’ most important television projects, and “Dark Matter” moves beyond Blake Crouch’s original novel for an entirely new story.
Add returning seasons of “Reacher,” “Outer Banks,” “Adults,” and “Women in Blue,” and August looks considerably less like summer filler than one of the year’s more crowded television months. Here are 11 shows worth watching.
“Lioness”
Taylor Sheridan remains one of television’s busiest creators, but “Lioness” has gradually distinguished itself from his growing stable of Paramount dramas with its muscular espionage plotting and unusually formidable ensemble. Season 3 finds Zoe Saldaña’s Joe facing the team’s most personal assignment yet as hidden networks, foreign operatives, and betrayals bring the war closer to home. Nicole Kidman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Kelly, Laysla De Oliveira, and Genesis Rodriguez are among the returning cast members. Sheridan again writes the series, which promises to widen its geopolitical scope while making the consequences increasingly intimate for Joe and her family.
Premiere Date: August 2 on Paramount+.
“Ted Lasso”
The third season appeared to provide a natural conclusion for AFC Richmond and its relentlessly optimistic American coach, but “Ted Lasso” is heading back onto the pitch after a three-year absence. This time, Jason Sudeikis’ Ted returns to Richmond to coach a second-division women’s football team, providing the series with a new roster and another opportunity to place its hero far outside his comfort zone. Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, and Jeremy Swift return, while Tanya Reynolds, Faye Marsay, and several younger performers join the ensemble. Whether the show can recapture its initial warmth without merely repeating itself remains the central question.
Premiere Date: August 5 on Apple TV, with new episodes weekly.
“The Shards”
Ryan Murphy turns to the privileged and perilous world of Bret Easton Ellis for “The Shards,” an adaptation of the author’s sprawling semi-autobiographical novel. Set in Los Angeles in 1981, the series follows a fictionalized 17-year-old Ellis, played by Igby Rigney, whose senior year at an elite prep school is disrupted by the arrival of mysterious new student Robert Mallory, played by Homer Gere. Robert’s appearance coincides with a serial killer targeting teenagers across the city, blurring Bret’s mounting suspicions with obsession, jealousy, and paranoia. Kaia Gerber, Graham Campbell, Hayes Warner, Wes Bentley, and Evan Rachel Wood round out the cast of what could be one of Murphy’s darker and more psychologically charged dramas.
Premiere Date: August 5 on FX and Hulu.
