What to watch to pass time the rest of the summer

There’s still a month of summer left before school starts, which means many students still have a month’s worth of time to waste until school begins. And watching TV is one of the best ways to waste time.

Unfortunately, during the summer months, it can be hard to find any quality programming on television. Luckily for us, however, there is this wonderful service called Netflix that has hundreds of TV shows available at our fingertips.

In your lifetime, you most likely have missed a few great TV shows that have since gone off the air. But thanks to Netflix, other instant streaming websites and even old-fashioned movie rental stores, you could spend the rest of the summer catching up on all the great shows you missed.

If you’re into science fiction, Netflix has a plethora of great sci-fi TV shows available for instant streaming. The Joss Whedon-created “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” tells the story of teenage vampire slayer Buffy Summers. The show lasted seven seasons and last aired in 2002.

“Firefly,” another Whedon-created sci-fi show from the early 2000s, only lasted one season and a movie, but over the years, it has garnered a large and loyal fan base that agree it was canceled too soon. The show takes place 500 years in the future and follows the crew of the transport spaceship Serenity.

Any true sci-fi fan would be remiss if they have never watched the classic “Star Trek.” The original “Star Trek” only lasted three seasons but still captured the interest of so many people that it spawned multiple movies and several spin-off TV series. My personal favorite is “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” which also is available on Netflix instant streaming.

But if sci-fi doesn’t interest you, there are plenty of other great options you can turn to. We cannot have a conversation about shows that were canceled too early without mentioning “Arrested Development.” The show follows the story of the Bluths, a dysfunctional family that is shook up even more after patriarch George Bluth Sr. is arrested for fraud.

Since its cancellation after just three seasons, rumors swirled about a movie or more episodes. Turns out we get both. A fourth season will be available exclusively on Netflix in 2013, which will be followed up by a movie everyone involved keeps promising is happening. So now would be a great time to start at the beginning of the series and catch up.

Another great series available on instant streaming is the doctor comedy “Scrubs.” Unlike “Arrested Development” and “Firefly,” “Scrubs” had a lengthy run. It followed the life and antics of attending physician J.D. Dorian (Zach Braff) and his coworkers in the hospital Sacred Heart for nine seasons. It’s a quirky comedy that also isn’t afraid to deal with some hard issues.

Netflix isn’t just a great resource for watching canceled TV shows; it also has many international shows that may not have every aired here in the States, such as the incredibly popular British sci-fi series “Doctor Who.”

But even if you are unlucky enough to not have Netflix, you can still find some excellent British television on the Internet for free. The U.K. version of “The Office” and “Spaced,” a comedy starring Simon Pegg (“Shaun of the Dead), are both available for free on Hulu, as is the super hero sci-fi adventure series “Misfits.”

However, if you are incredibly blessed to have Netflix instant streaming plus the ability to check out DVDs, I highly recommend looking into two series in particular. “Dead Like Me” and “Six Feet Under” are both perfect for anyone who has a kind of dark and morbid sense of humor.

“Dead Like Me” tells the story of Georgia Lass, who — after dying in a freak accident — becomes a grim reaper. Along with a group of other reapers, she tries to cope with her own death while shepherding other souls into the afterlife.

“Six Feet Under” focuses on a family that has to run a funeral home after the death of their father. This show is worth it just to see Michael C. Hall in a role besides “Dexter.”

Both “Dead Like Me” and “Six Feet Under” mix comedy with the serious and dark subject of death.

This is just a small sampling of the hundreds of great series available to watch on Netflix. Hopefully, it’ll be enough to entertain you until school begins.

Sarah Wilson

Sarah is a former staff member of The Oklahoma Daily who worked as Life & Arts Reporter.