AMC’s Rubicon

The third season of Breaking Bad wraps up tomorrow night, June 13th. The fourth cycle of AMC’s Mad Men premieres July 25th. One week later, on August 1st, the network expands its stellar slate of drama series to three with the pilot episode of Rubicon. Appropriately enough, the promo is more of a puzzle than an explanation, and I love that tagline: “Not every conspiracy is a theory.” The Daily Beast has a few details to help clarify (but offers no clues about that four-leaf clover):

AMC gets into the conspiracy game with Rubicon, a dramatic thriller set in a New York City-based government intelligence agency think tank. James Badge Dale (The Pacific) stars as analyst Will Travers, who uncovers a series of clues that point towards a dangerous conspiracy and a cabal of power brokers who can exert their influence against anyone.

I like how this preview evokes Twin Peaks with the hint of Angelo Badalamenti-inspired ambient chords, and have confidence the plot strands will come together with more coherence than the David Lync cult classic. AMC exec Joel Stillerman says the series fits with the network’s new slogan: Story matters here.

“We thought this was a great story to tell, which is relevant for the time we live in, with unique voice and characters in a very unique world that hadn’t been explored — think tanks,” Stillerman said.

This is one of three TV thrillers I’m looking forward to following over the next few weeks. The others being Doug Liman’s espionage drama Covert Affairs for the USA network, and ABC’s Scoundrels, revolving around a family of con artists with Virginia Madsen as its matriarch. More about those in upcoming posts. Any other hot summer series we should be keeping under surveillance?