'Dallas' to London Olympics: Hot summer TV

Summer is never long enough, is it?

Never enough time to soak up the sun, sit on the beach, catch up to cool books, head to hot destinations.

And never enough time to watch TV.

Nope, that's not a misprint. We really mean it.

Spend summertime 2012 watching TV.

You're forgiven for thinking last week's unseasonably searing temperatures fried our brains. But the tube is simply insanely overflowing this summer. We hereby challenge the fall season to match its wealth of wondrous stuff.

There's new blood in "Dallas." The old (sometimes very old) in "True Blood." The latest from Aaron Sorkin and Charlie Sheen. The last from Kyra Sedgwick and Glenn Close. Plus, Snooki and JWoww and Bristol Palin. Even Russell Brand, ranting weekly on whatever topics tease his warped comedic mind.

And our highlights of select summer series barely account for one other enormous event:

The London Olympic Games air July 27-Aug. 12 on NBC-owned broadcast, cable and online channels. That accounts for another -- and we got this directly from NBC -- 5,535 hours of programs. If you could take it all in, which you can't, because it would add up to 231 days of viewing.

So, let's say you watch only NBC, as in broadcast channel WNBC/4, and ignore all cable/online Olympics options -- NBC Sports Network, Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, Spanish-language Telemundo, specialty networks for basketball and soccer, a new 3-D channel, and nbcolympics .com, which will stream all 302 medal competitions in all 32 sports (with mobile and tablet coverage, too).

You'd still see 272 and a half hours of Olympics on NBC.

See what we mean? TV's 2012 summer slate is serious indeed. Here are 11 shows to especially watch out for:

NEW SERIES

RETURNING SHOWS