TNT set for a dramatic summer

'Hawthorne,' 'Dark Blue' join 'Grace,' 'Closer'

By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

'Hawthorne,' starring Jada Pinkett Smith, debuts June 16.

TNT's summer begins June 8 with the fifth-season return of 'The Closer' in its regular Monday 9 p.m. slot.

TNT has rounded out its summer schedule, pairing new skeins "Hawthorne" and "Dark Blue" with established skeins "Saving Grace" and "Leverage."

Lineup will give TNT a two-hour block of dramas on Monday through Wednesday nights -- a three-night strategy that has long been a goal of the Turner cabler.

TNT's summer kicks off June 8 with the fifth-season return of hit "The Closer" in its regular Monday 9 p.m. slot, followed by sophomore entry "Raising the Bar" at 10. It's a plum slot for "Bar," which opened big in season one but quickly settled to so-so numbers.

"Saving Grace," which TNT originally launched off the back of "The Closer," will now be utilized to launch "Hawthorne" on Tuesdays starting June 16. "Grace" now enters its third season.

Both "Grace" and "Hawthorne" center on strong women set in Southern environs. The Oklahoma City-set "Grace," starring Holly Hunter, will run at 10 p.m., leading out of "Hawthorne," which stars Jada Pinkett Smith as a single mom and the director of nursing at a North Carolina hospital. John Masius is behind "Hawthorne," which comes from Sony Pictures TV.

Then on Wednesdays starting July 15, the second season of heist drama "Leverage" will run at 9 p.m., into the new Jerry Bruckheimer cop entry "Dark Blue." Project, also from Warner Horizon TV and scribe Doug Jung, centers on undercover LAPD cops.