The Summer TV season is commonly known as a place where the in season weaklings are sent to die.
There were several new shows on the roster and some of them surprised us a lot. There were also shows that were hot last year but just couldn’t match the same levels of success again.
It happens.
We have a gallery below of the winners and losers of Summer 2016. Was your favorite a winner or a loser?
Winner – Suits – Prison Sentence
It’s not often a show can reinvigorate itself six years into its run, but Suits pulled that trick off this summer by having Mike in the slammer for his lies. It showed us a much darker side to the show as the leads tried to keep Mike alive, along with the firm.
Loser – Mistresses – Terrible Finale
Questionable character decisions and the random death of Karen Kim paved the way for a terrible finale that found someone turning up out of the blue claiming to be “Karen Kim.” As you can probably guess, the show was swiftly canceled.
Winner – Mr. Robot – New Characters
Guilty of being the best show on TV! Season 2 introduced a string of new characters and managed to keep the storyline as twisted as ever with both the Dark Army and the FBI closing in on Fsociety. Grace Gummer’s Dom wins the title of the smartest FBI agent on TV.
Winner – Zoo – Embracing the Crazy
Not only is it one of the only shows renewed already, it also had a fantastic finale that set up Season 3 really well, after embracing the crazy all season long. It also featured an 11 year time jump in the finale that led to a future WITHOUT CHILDREN. Hey, that doesn’t sound all that bad… We’ll be waiting anxiously for next summer!
Loser – Big Brother – No Shocks, No Awe
The season of the showmance made Big Brother Season 18 a tedious affair, with very little shocks. It’s no wonder CBS is airing a fall edition to make up for it.
Loser – Scream – The Obvious Choice
Scream turned predictable in Season 2 and made the killer a little too obvious. Add in the fact that there really wasn’t much story to begin with, there’s no telling how slowly a potential third season would play out.
Winner – Game of Thrones – Things Go BOOM
Game of Thrones continued to prove to fans why they had invested so much time in the series. As is usually the case, there was a lot of blood shed, but the explosion caused by Cersei in the season finale was spectacular. Practically the whole Tyrell family were wiped out in one fell swoop. Is is next summer yet?
Loser – Wayward Pines – Convoluted Plot
Wayward Pines was unique in Season 1, but the new lead just didn’t gel in Season 2 and the convoluted plot only confused viewers even more. It had like one decent episode the whole season. Stick a fork in it.
Winner – Dead of Summer – Refreshing Dip in the Lake
Dead of Summer was one of the most shocking shows on TV this summer. The stellar writing and acting made this a great summer series. The reveal that Amy was the villain was riveting. More shows like this, please!
Loser – UnREAL – Sophomore Slump
UnREAL had so much promise last year, but all of that fizzled out this year with half baked plots that meandered for no apparent reason. There’s only so many quips Quinn can make before being able to predict what she’s going to say.
Winner – Animal Kingdom – Smurftastic
This one came out of nowhere and picked up the pace early on. It was a crazy summer romp and we can’t wait to see more of Smurf next summer. She was a delight. Her sons weren’t exactly hard on the eyes, either.
Loser – Pretty Little Liars – No, Mama, No
Pretty Little Liars had a lot of good episodes this summer, but the god awful finale completely ruined all of it. Mary is Spencer’s mother? Fans called that weeks ago. Dragging Ezria apart? Horrible.
Winner – BrainDead – Musical Recaps
With the myriad shows on the air (What do they call this era? Peak TV?) it’s utterly suprising that a little show like BrainDead would introduce something so wonderful. Instead of a plain old “previously on” blurb to begin each hour, songwriter Jonathan Coulton wrote a minute where he was us, singing a quirky tune that actually made sense to help us remember past eps. He even watched Gunsmoke during one hour, so sang a tune about that instead, and made it into the finale as a character in his own right. Brilliant.
Loser – So You Think You Can Dance – No Kids Allowed
Switching the action away from adults was the final nail in the coffin for this Fox competition series. It just was not the same show and the chances of it getting another chance are very slim.
Winner – Fear the Walking Dead – Tighter Focus
Who knew splitting most of the core cast up and throwing in a creepy hotel would be the cure for this show that struggled to emerge from The Walking Dead’s shadow? The summer run has been great. The characters have finally been fleshed out.
Loser – American Gothic – Should’ve Kept the Pitchfork
If you were in the market for clunky storytelling, terrible characters and just a pretty mediocre experience all round, American Gothic was probably your summer favorite.
Winner – Bachelor in Paradise – Bachelor/Bachelorette Rejects FTW
Bachelor in Paradise had all the Bachelor/Bachelorette rejects in one place and it set the stage for a thrilling season of love, drama and betrayal. Chad Johnson was also a part of it and continued to make for great TV!
Loser – Ray Donovan – Dragging Stories
This once promising Showtime drama slipped to the depths of despair in Season 4, with the Hector/Marisol storyline dragging out the whole season. It was horrible and made me question why I even liked the show in the first place.
Winner – Orange Is the New Black – Lolly, Lolly, Lolly!
After a dire third season, the inmates of Litchfield put together the best season yet for the Netflix hit. Lolly emerged as the best character with her heartbreaking back story and we can’t wait to see what becomes of her in Season 5.
Loser – Keeping Up with the Kardashians – Desperation Doesn’t Wear Well
All of the developments this summer were so forced that it made it more obvious than ever that the show was scripted. The desperate attempt to reverse ratings by trashing Taylor Swift was a complete dud. We all know it was as fake as the storylines.
Winner – Stranger Things – Like a Scary, Warm Blanket
Netflix’s newest hit had an amazing cast that kept us glued to all eight episodes of the series. The storyline was unique, and yet familiar, and it made us all worry a little too much about Barb. #JusticeForBarb
