Shooter

*ing: Ryan Phillippe, Shantel VanSanten, Omar Epps, and Eddie McClintock

Based on the best-selling novel Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter and the 2007 film starring Mark Wahlberg, Shooter is a series Ryan Phillippe (as Bob Lee Swagger) was born to play barring of course his performance in Cruel Intentions (the original film).

Shooter follows the story of Bob Lee Swagger, a highly trained ex-Marine sniper who is pulled back into action after he learns of a conspiracy to kill the president and is set up as the fall guy.

Forced to go on the run, leaving behind his wife (Shantel VanSanten) as well as a daughter to uncover the conspiracy and to clear his name, it begins as a conspiracy story that we first saw in the film, Shooter with Mark Wahlberg essaying the role; the series has now developed into much more.

With an impressive cast, well timed action sequence(s), the writers have managed to do a fairly good job of keeping the audience interest intact. Add to it the fact that summer lacks good action shows and you have a conspiracy/thriller series that is both surprising and going in a new direction in its latest season.

Suits

*ing:  Gabriel Macht, Rick Hoffman, Sarah Rafferty, Wendell Pierce, Dule Hill, Amanda Schull and Katherine Heigl

When it was first announced that Meghan Markel was dating Prince Harry, the creators of Suits knew that it was only a matter of time until they would have to say goodbye to the character of Rachel Zane. With that, her on-screen husband, played by Patrick J, Adams, also took his leave from the show after several seasons.

Most of us thought that the show would end. However, the creators had other ideas. With Harvey Spector (Gabriel Macht), Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman) and Donna Paulsen (Sarah Rafferty) staying back, Suits added several new cast members and the result has been pleasantly surprising.

With Suits, almost every season the law firm either gets sued or is merged with somebody else’s law firm. But this time we see Robert Zane (Wendell Pierce) with whom Spector-Litt merges and new players come onto the scene.

The casting coup has to be Katherine Heigl, who may have had her ups and downs since leaving Grey’s Anatomy but shines as the right-hand woman to Robert Zane. As Samantha Wheeler, she brings charisma, intrigue and mystery to her character. With additional support from Dule Hill (The West Wing) and Amanda Schull, the cast is looking good once again. And Suits has therefore once again become a must-watch show. Maybe the departure of the Duchess of Sussex wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Elementary

*ing: Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu

Based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s world famous detective character, Sherlock Holmes, Elementary is an American procedural with a contemporary update. With Holmes and Watson as consultant detectives to the NYPD, the show is a mix of personal and professional relationship the two share.

Highly successful and in its sixth season, the show has a massive international fan following. In this new season, in between cases, there is the storyline of Sherlock Holmes, the most observant and intelligent man in the room dealing with PCS (post-concussion syndrome).

Sherlock now has side effects like memory loss, an inability to focus on his work – which kept him from returning to addiction – and the need for medication. The effects this has on both Holmes and Watson, and the way they rely on each other is a beautiful arc.

Another storyline added this season is Watson’s desire to adopt a child, and what that means for their partnership. With new cases each week, and a very decent supporting cast, this is a must-watch summer show.

The Bold Type

*ing: Katie Stevens, Aisha Dee and Meghann Fahy

The Bold Type centers around 3 twenty-something best friends and how they navigate life in New York while working at a fashion magazine.

Jane Sloan (Katie Stevens) is a newly promoted writer from an assistant in Scarlet Magazine. How she tries to steer her way at her new job, what she wants to write as opposed to what gets more numbers and social media hype are themes explored rather nicely.

Kat Edision (Aisha Dee) plays the youngest woman of color as head of social media department within the same magazine. Her being bi-racial is never an issue until she becomes the head of department and how that comes into play goes to show the racism within. The show also focuses on her struggling with her sexuality and finding herself attracted to a young, Muslim photographer she meets on the job.

Sutton Brady (played by Meghann Fahy) is the last of the trio. While, both her friends are promoted, she is still an assistant to the features editor and dating one of the board members of the magazine while, keeping it a secret from anyone.

The Bold Type, while seemingly frivolous, captures the struggles of young women in a working environment while issues like dating, relationships, mentors, health and sexuality all comes into play. The Bold Type has just finished its second season finale.

Younger

*ing: Sutton Foster, Hilary Duff, Miriam Shor, Debi Mazar, Nico Tortorella and Peter Hermann.

Younger, on the surface is a television series that amalgamates the way both millennials and those older than them look at the world. Beyond that, it traces the story of Liza Miller (Sutton Foster), a 40-something woman, looking for employment in the publishing business after a twenty-year gap. She soon realizes that no jobs exists for a woman of her age. With an impending divorce, no credit and a young daughter in college, Liza moves in with her single friend Maggie (Debi Mazar) in Brooklyn, and with her help, gets a job at Empirical (a leading publishing house in New York) by passing herself off as a 26-year-old millennial. There, she befriends the young and upcoming junior editor Kelsey Peters (Hilary Duff) and thus begins the story of Younger.

Firstly, it’s a hilarious show, as Liza struggles to keep her true age hidden and learn the ways of millennials and to keep up with trends. Liza’s immediate boss, Diana Trout (Miriam Shor), is the head of marketing and another witty character to follow. Add to it the fact that Liza is dating 26-year-old Josh (Nico Tortorella), a tattoo artist and it looks like the fun is just beginning. The show is a larger commentary on how technology has changed generations and how they view the world around them. It is nuanced in the sense that it shows the struggle of women, who take a break from work to raise kids and realize how challenging it is to jump back to the working world. This is not Good Wife though, which had a similar theme.

As companies show their ageism bias and qualified women have a hard time keeping up, the series though hilarious, does not use women as mere props. Younger is currently on air and is on its fifth season.