Sunblock? Check. Flip-flops? Check. Reruns on TV? Not this summer.

The television lineup for the next few months boasts more fresh fare than usual. With cable proffering bright alternatives, the networks are forced to follow through on their promise of year-round programming rather than going dark during the warm months.

For summer 2008, a number of new shows are bubbling up, some very good, some cheesy enough to appeal to less refined hot-weather tastes.

Cable once again has the bulk of the more enlightening dramatic entries, while broadcast TV has a few meaningful efforts — plus an array of bottom-feeding, fall-in-the-mud "reality" games.

For those whose favorite summer activities don't involve insect repellent, here's what's coming.

The best and brightest: AMC's "Mad Men," the most riveting series to debut in the last year, returns July 27 to the world of advertising circa 1960, and the messy life of Don Draper (Jon Hamm), an ad executive with a hidden past. Come for the prefeminist atmosphere, incessant smoking, booze, skirt-chasing and skinny ties; stay for the intricate character studies. The second season skips ahead slightly in time.

The swingin'est: CBS is pushing the limit, spicing its stodgy reputation with a steamy look at wife-swapping suburbia in the '70s. "Swingtown," already on the air on Thursdays, is a fun return to the bad clothes, eight-track tapes, rampant recreational drug use and other confusion of the period.

The cattiest: Bravo's "Project Runway" returns for a fifth season in July 16, with its future destination (Lifetime?) still in question and subject to litigation.

The doggiest: CBS has 12 teams of dogs and owners competing for the title of "Greatest American Dog," premiering July 10. Both pageant winners and regular dog lovers compete.

Professionally wacky: "I Survived a Japanese Game Show," on ABC beginning Tuesday, sends 10 Americans to Tokyo to compete in beyond-goofy physical stunts. Seven episodes are planned and that may be enough.

Most fervently fit: For the middle-age body-conscious, Holly Hunter is always posing and flexing on TNT's "Saving Grace," a series that questions the character's lack of faith. Returning July 14.

Give us strength: Meanwhile, on ABC Family's "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," debuting July 1, a young Christian couple prays for help with abstinence. Classmates dismiss them as "Jesus freaks."

Doing unto others: "Spies don't get fired, they get burned." On "Burn Notice," returning for a second season July 10 on USA Network, Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) has been disavowed by the government, but uses his special-ops training to help others.

One degree of separation: Kyra Sedgwick returns tonight for a third season in TNT's "The Closer." Brenda's faux accent and weakness for junk food are back.

USA's "In Plain Sight" features another in cable's line of strong female protagonists, a quirky workaholic whose dedication to solving crime gets in the way of her personal life, as she curses from case to case. In this case, it's a lukewarm show starring Mary McCormack as Mary Shannon, tough chick of the federal witness protection program. Thursdays.

Pedal to metal: "Click & Clack's As the Wrench Turns," transferring "Car Talk" brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi of NPR fame to PBS, premieres July 9. Fans of the radio show should be able to tell immediately if their slightly crazy but informative humor translates to a half-hour animated sitcom.

Playing house: "The Baby Borrowers," on NBC starting Wednesday, translates the British reality show to the U.S. Five couples, ages 18-20, must care for a succession of babies, toddlers, tweens, teens and the elderly over six episodes.

Call it a docu-miniseries: "Hopkins,"Thursday on ABC, returns to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for six installments to update the network's summer 2000 series, "Hopkins 24/7," an excellent up-close-and-personal work. This time, we get a closer look at he personal lives of the doctors (ABC hopes it performs like a "Grey's Anatomy" for the news division.)

Say what? "Green Porno" — the title is as eye-catching as the subject matter. Sundance Channel offers eight short and clever films, art pieces really, about the sex lives of insects, snails, spiders and such, written by and starring Isabella Rossellini. "If I were an earthworm ... " she begins seductively from inside a worm costume. Coming July 22.

J.J. to the rescue: Fox will launch a new serial from J.J. Abrams ("Lost") on Aug. 26. "Fringe" is a dark paranormal hour on the order of "X-Files," launching with a two-hour pilot.

An Iraq Miniseries? What has David Simon, writer-creator of HBO's brilliant "The Wire," done for us lately? He's given HBO perhaps the most serious offering of the summer: a gritty seven-part miniseries called "Generation Kill," about Marines in the first 40 days of the Iraq war. From the book of the same title by Evan Wright, it premieres July 13.

Preality TV: In the land of unscripted television, but not to be confused with so-called "reality TV" gimmickry, the Olympics trials are coming up for swimming, track and field, and gymnastics. The competition is building toward the Beijing Summer Games in August, with two weeks' worth of coverage by NBC and USA, Aug. 6-24. Opening ceremonies for the Olympics are Aug. 8.

And, of course, there's this: Next, the political parties' nominating conventions should make for intriguing viewing (at length on the cable news networks), Aug. 25-28 in Denver for the Democrats, Sept. 1-4 in Minneapolis-St. Paul for the Republicans.

Last and least: For the 100-degree days of fevered-brain viewing, three low-brow reality shows are part of the broadcast networks' much-hyped, "revolutionary," 52-week programming scheme. "America's Got Talent" (your countrymen yodeling, juggling and otherwise showing off for the chance to win $1 million) on Tuesdays and "Celebrity Circus," (unknowns compete, using the idea of celebrity loosely, in a padded, 90-minute supersized bunch of stunts) on Wednesdays, are both on NBC; "Wipeout," Tuesday on ABC, similarly plays to the image that 6-year-olds find funniest: falling down. Summer reality TV producers can always rely on the power of gravity.