Summer TV Show Unveiled: Perfect Match for Your Smoke-Loving Heart
In the ever-evolving world of television, one might expect the summer lineup of 2025 to be a far cry from that of 2005, with the rise of streaming services offering a plethora of diverse content. However, a closer look reveals striking similarities between the two eras.
The AppleTV+ miniseries Smoke, helmed by crime novelist Dennis Lehane, is one of the new shows gracing our screens this summer. The series, which features two serial arsonists being chased by a detective (played by Jurnee Smollett) and an arson investigator (Taron Egerton), has already garnered attention for its unsettling performances, particularly Egerton's portrayal of a tortured arson investigator.
Smollett delivers a livewire co-lead performance in Smoke, while Egerton is building on the goodwill he accrued with last fall's Carry-On. Critics have praised Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine's performance as one of the fire-setting freaks in Smoke, promising a genuinely unsettling viewing experience.
Alan Sepinwall's review of Smoke promises a good twist that makes the show worth sticking with. As the series progresses, things are starting to get weird and out of control, with Smollett's character abusing her power recklessly in the second episode.
While Smoke may feel more like Gillian Flynn's style than Lehane's so far, it's not the only show bucking the trend. AppleTV+'s shows are often described as "prestige" but with a taste of high-grade mid. This summer, they're aiming to fill the gap left by HBO Sunday, once a supposedly-fallen institution, with shows like Smoke and others.
In contrast, the cultural zeitgeist is not currently centered around one specific TV show. The 2025 summer TV lineup, however, is feeling more like summer 2005, with fewer TV options. Peak Streaming has obliterated the old TV model where shows aired new episodes between September and May, but broadcast networks still heavily rely on familiar types of programming such as reality competition shows, reruns, and spin-offs.
For instance, Big Brother on CBS remains a top summer draw in 2025, much like popular summer shows from 2005. Networks also air reruns and classic programming to fill schedules. The evolution of traditional network lineups shows patterns of long-running franchises and attempts to revive or spin off known properties, resembling the strategies seen two decades ago when shows like Joey (Friends spin-off) and Survivor dominated prime time summer slots.
Even with streaming expanding the overall TV market and offering diverse new shows, major broadcast networks appear to stick to proven formulas during the summer, leading to a familiar "feel" akin to 2005. In 2005, summer TV was characterized by a mix of reality shows, reruns, and new but safe programming picks rather than riskier or entirely novel content, which seems consistent with 2025 summer TV schedules.
The persistence of these traditional network strategies, despite the rise of streaming platforms, results in the summer lineup's similarity across these two eras. Streaming serves more as a complement rather than a direct replacement of broadcast summer programming for many viewers. Hence, the summer network TV calendar still favours familiar, audience-tested formats, explaining why 2025 summer TV resembles 2005.
[1] Article about the summer TV schedule in 2025 [2] Review of Smoke by Alan Sepinwall [3] Article about the evolution of summer TV lineups [4] Article about the impact of streaming on summer TV lineups
- The fashion of summer TV in 2025, with its reliance on reality shows, reruns, and revivals, seems to have a timeless style that echoes the summer television of 2005.
- In the world of entertainment, the upcoming AppleTV+ series 'Smoke' stands out for its unnerving depiction of arson and police pursuit, showcasing a style that is akin to Gillian Flynn's narratives yet retains Dennis Lehane's signature elements.
- Despite the influx of diverse content through streaming services, the culture of traditional network television continues to embrace manual formats and proven formulas, thus creating a sense of familiarity that harks back to the movies-and-TV era of 2005.
