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CBS Brings Out The Creepy With ‘American Gothic,’ ‘BrainDead’ and ‘Zoo’

By Jeffrey Totey
Published on: 06:35 PST, Jun 19, 2016

Not too long ago, summertime TV viewing meant watching weeks and weeks of reruns while waiting for new episodes to appear in the fall. Today, we can look forward to all new material that seems to fit the summer. While ABC is putting a lot of eggs in the game show genre basket, and NBC is focusing a lot on talent and sports competition shows, CBS is bringing out the creepy with some new scripted stories that maybe considered “too silly” to appear during the fall season, but seem to feel just right for summer.

From the creators of The Good Wife, of all things, comes BrainDead which debuted on CBS on June 13. The comic-thriller centers on young, politics-hating Washington D.C. staffer, Laurel Healy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who appears to be the only one noticing that things are not all right in D.C. First, there is a government shutdown, but that isn’t the worst of it. Bugs from outer space have infested the area and are quite literally eating the brains of Congress members. The show stars Danny Pino, Aaron Tveit, and Tony Shalhoub.

A rebroadcast of the premiere episode of BrainDead will be shown tonight at 8 p.m. on CBS. The show’s regular timeslot is Mondays at 10 p.m. (Warning, the show is not for kids.)

Next up is the murder mystery limited series, American Gothic. This story is about a prominent Boston family that finds out it is possible someone in their own family is responsible for a string of murders. According to a press release from CBS, the show’s premiere is described as follows.

“After 14 years, the case of ‘The Silver Bells Killer’ is reopened and the Hawthorne family find themselves wondering if one of their own could be behind the grisly killings that rocked the city of Boston. As shocking secrets from the past and present are revealed, their mounting suspicion and paranoia that one of them is a killer threatens to tear the family apart.”

American Gothic stars Juliet Rylance, Antony Starr, Virginia Madsen, Justin Chatwin, Megan Ketch, Elliot Knight, Stephanie Leonidas, and Gabriel Bateman. The show premieres this week on Wednesday at 10 p.m.

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Then, get ready for the return of Zoo’s sophomore summer season. Based on James Patterson’s novel of the same name, Zoo is a global thriller that questions why animals all over the world suddenly have no fear of man and begin attacking randomly. Or, is it? CBS states, “[i]n season two, the danger escalates as the animal mutation moves to phase two, and they begin attacking infrastructure and creating deadly environmental phenomena in an effort to make the planet uninhabitable. Along the way the team encounters Logan, a mysterious stranger who may be holding a dangerous secret, and Dariela, a part of a military unit which encounters a strange and troubling new development in the animal mutation. Also, the team discovers a shocking mutation that threatens the life of one of their own.”

A hit with viewers last summer, Zoo stars James Wolk, Kristin Connolly, Billy Burke, Nonso Anozie, and Alyssa Diaz. The season premiere of Zoo airs Tuesday, July 5 at 9 p.m. on CBS.

[Photo courtesy of CBS]

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