‘Under the Dome’ season 2, Halle Berry’s ‘Extant,’ and ‘Big Brother 16’ discussion

There are a few assorted details about CBS’ summer programming that came out from the network’s TCA event today; some of it is confirmed, and there is a little bit of speculation regarding “Big Brother 16” at the end. Stay tuned for some of that.

First of all, “Under the Dome” season 2 will premiere on Monday, June 30 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time, which is just about the same sort of time that the first season premiered. That is proof that the network once again wants to carry this straight to the start of the fall season, and we’re pretty sure that they only wish they had a show that actually performed this well in this timeslot during the year. (Fun fact, “Under the Dome’s” first episode on Monday night more than tripled what “Intelligence” got in the 18-49 demographic.)

Also worth noting here? The new series “Extant” starring Halle Berry is going to start on Wednesday, July 2 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time, and will run a similar course to what “Under the Dome” does throughout the summer.

So what does this have to do with “Big Brother”? While there was no premiere date for the show at TCA (though we did have network programming head Nina Tassler trash some of the racist contestants some more from last summer), we suspect that the “Extant” premiere date is a sign the show will be airing by that date … which means we could have another long summer again. CBS would be crazy to not use the “Big Brother” lead-in to launch the new show, and with the fans clamoring for an all-star season this time, there could be yet another incentive to start in late June.

One last fun fact: With “Big Brother Canada” starting this year in early March, you are barely going to get a deep breath in between the end of one show and the start of another. Let’s just hope that you are ready.