The summer season generally isn’t something we associate with TV. It’s a time for beaches, low-wage occupations, movie blockbusters and other non-school-oriented activities.

Unless of course you’re in summer school … can’t help you there.

Now, the summer season, while lacking the sheer quantity of the usual fall to spring session, is an excellent place to pick up one, maybe two unique series. Summer is a time where networks try out different types of programming that they don’t always feel would last against heavy hitters like football, American Idol, CSI and House M.D.

For example, sci-fi series, even with the efforts of Heroes on NBC, are very much in a downturn in this post-’90s world, which is why it’s refreshing to see a series like The 4400, returning June 17.

The 4400 follows the lives of people from the last century who were uprooted from their lives by mysterious beings, only to be returned in the present day having not aged a day and possessing various powers and abilities. It’s a fascinating drama from veteran Star Trek writer Rene Echevarria.

Another Summer series close to my heart is Rescue Me, returning June 12, which stars Denis Leary and focuses on House No. 62 firefighters in New York City. Easily one of the darkest shows on TV, next to Nip/Tuck, it’s dripping with a dark sense of humor and no end to surprises. At times you want to throttle the characters, and other times they’re so human you can’t help but respect them.

These aren’t the only shows making a return this season, USA’s comedy-detective series Monk and Psych are coming back on July 13, which complement each other fairly well in their creative mysteries, episodic storytelling and consistently witty comedy.

Shows having been on hiatus for several months are also finding a home in summer slots. One Tree Hill returns to close out its fourth season on May 2, and probably remains one of the last bastions of teen drama in recent years. FOX’s Standoff, after being off the air since December of 2006, will reappear June 8, and its ratings this time around will probably determine whether this show gets the can. If you need dramatic FBI crisis negotiation in your life, you’d better tell your friends, because if you don’t make the effort to save your favorite shows, no one else will.

New shows can also be found on the horizon. ABC’s Traveler, for example, shows some promise, centering in two boys whose friend, Will Traveler, frames them for blowing up New York City’s Drexler Museum. Traveler disappears, along with anything that would indicate he ever existed, leaving the two boys to go on the run and try to find him. It starts May 30.

No mention of summer TV would be complete without mentioning Kyra Sedgwick’s wildly popular TNT series, The Closer, which is one of the most popular summer programs of the last two years. It opens its doors to police interrogation once more on June 18.

Also, though TNT’s ambulance drama Saved won’t be making a return this summer, TNT is trying its hand at a new medical series called Heartland, in which the lead, played by Treat Williams of Everwood fame, is a heart transplant surgeon and his ex-wife, Kari Matchett from Invasion, is the organ recovery coordinator.

You can’t think television without thinking medical shows. Almost every network has one to its name, and the ones that don’t wish they did. But Treat Williams, if only for his work on Everwood, has my attention as one of the strongest actors in the industry, so I’d suggest keeping your eyes open when it starts June 11.

Reality TV makes up a sizable portion of this year’s summer programming. Popular series such as America’s Got Talent, May 29, Hell’s Kitchen, June 4, and Last Comic Standing, June 13, all return, showing a good variety for those who need wacky antics, stressful cooking environments and up-and-coming humor, respectively.

There are also some sizable hit-or-miss Reality shows making their debuts this summer, such as Who Is The Greatest Celebrity Impersonator? and The Ex-Wives Club. It all depends on how much of a niche this content can fill for people. If it’s funny, they’re set.

Finally, though I don’t usually show a high grade of interest in reality television, On The Lot, produced by Steven Spielberg, is a weekly filmmaking competition where the grand prize is a deal with DreamWorks. It begins May 22 on Fox.

A big haul this year for people looking for a little fresh drama in their summer time off, and though I’m not saying you should plan a summer schedule around even one of the shows I’ve just mentioned, I do suggest, as always, giving them a chance. It’s a summer of possibilities.