With the traditional summer doldrums of TV programming looming, the major networks are introducing programs they think will keep audiences tuning in. Audiences—faced with a glut of second-rate reality shows and competition series—may beg to differ.

The summer viewing season typically starts the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend and ends in mid- to late-September. Fox kicks things off tomorrow with a two-hour season premiere of So You Think You Can Dance, the network's dance-choreography competition and, by our count, one of three dance shows on network TV this year—not including Bravo's Step It Up And Dance. NBC's summer standby Last Comic Standing debuts the same night. In early June, CBS will roll out a Regis Philbin game show, Million Dollar Password, and ABC will dig up The Mole to keep reality fans well fed.

More on the networks' summer schedules below. But if the mishmash of competitions, celebrities, and "American"-themed reality shows fills your heart with dread, remember that it wasn't until recently that networks even bothered to air original programming over the summer, says Brad Adgate, senior vice president at media-planning and buying agency Horizon Media.

"If you go back 10 years ago, it was all repeats or returning specials," he says.

Of course, nowadays, the summer is fertile ground for testing shows that networks may later bring into the regular fall rotation. American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, and Survivor—three reality shows that soon became ratings blockbusters—all aired for the first time over the summer months. And the networks are no doubt hoping that one of the many reality series they have lined up this summer will take off in similarly dramatic fashion.

But cable networks, whose most successful recent summer offerings have included The Closer (TNT), Damages (FX), Mad Men (AMC), Burn Notice, and Psych (both USA)—all of which are scheduled to return with new episodes this summer—are offering stronger competition to network TV over the summer months than ever. Last summer's two most talked-about shows—The Sopranos finale on HBO, and Disney's High School Musical 2—were both cable shows, says Adgate.

With network programming heavily affected by the writers' strike, and a surfeit of reality shows as a result, reality fatigue could have more viewers than ever channel-surfing to cable. According to Nielsen, last summer, basic cable attracted more than double the viewers of the six major broadcast channels.

ABC already started its summer programming, premiering The Bachelorette on Monday night this week, and tomorrow, it airs new episodes of hits Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy, hoping to steal viewers from the other net's reality show premieres.

Among the networks, CBS is alone in debuting two new dramas, Swingtown (June 5) and Flashpoint (July 11), this summer. The network's first summer offering, Million Dollar Password, premieres June 1. And along with the return of summer series Big Brother (July 13), CBS is debuting a much-hyped reality canine competition, Greatest American Dog (July 10). Jingles (July 27), a Mark Burnett reality show revolving around commercial tunes, is new this summer as well.
 
This summer, however, the must-see TV event will almost certainly be the Beijing Olympics, which start on Friday, August 8. That's the hope of NBC, anyway, and the network is packaging the Games up with a bevy of other America-themed shows for what it is calling NBC's All-American Summer. The network started the season earlier this month with the premier of American Gladiators. Fear Itself, a horror-anthology series, will begin May 29, and Nashville Star, a country-singing competition, kicks off June 9. Celebrity Circus, a celebrity talent competition (June 11), America's Got Talent, a talent show for regular folks (June 24), and The Baby Borrowers, a reality show that places kids with young couples (June 25), round out the schedule.

Over at Fox, Tuesday night will feature new episodes of reality game show The Moment of Truth (May 27), followed by Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen. New episodes of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader will air starting June 12.

In addition to The Bachelorette, ABC is bringing back competition series The Mole this summer (June 2). Starting June 24, the network will air two competition shows, both inspired by Japanese shows: Wipeout, which sends contestants through a degrading obstacle course, and I Survived a Japanese Game Show. Next comes Dance Machine (June 27), another dance-off series. And the network is taking advantage of Disney's hit High School Musical by rolling out a reality show based on it, High School Musical: Get in the Picture (July 20). Wanna Bet, a new celebrity game show, airs the next day.
 
It's almost enough to make Americans want to—gasp—leave their houses and enjoy the sunny weather.