Dwayne Johnson Gets Back in the Game With Season 2 of Ballers

Ball so hard. Those three words—uttered by former NFL superstar turned financial planner Spencer Strasmore (Dwayne Johnson) in the Season 2 premiere of Ballers—not only serve as the business motto for Spencer and his all-star clientele, but they also represent the attitude Johnson himself has adopted for the sophomore year of his hit HBO comedy. “Now that we’ve established the character, we want to push harder and dig deeper in terms of what challenges Spencer faces,” says Johnson (aka The Rock), who also serves as an executive producer. “Spencer will continue to scratch and claw his way up the ladder, he’s even hungrier and more driven.”

Ballers’ first season was a breakout success for HBO, finishing its initial run as the most-watched half-hour program for the premium cable network in six years. The series was also the first major scripted television project for Johnson, who leaned on his own background as a former professional athlete to bring authenticity to his portrayal of the behind-the-scenes, big-money negotiations associated with NFL players and their representatives. “I think there were a lot of people out there who really didn’t know what the show was,” Johnson says. “We’re about showcasing how these guys get up every day—even if they f— up—and just keep trying to be better in the face of challenge.”

Also in this issue:

• Mr. Robot: Everything you need to know about Season 2 of USA’s critically adored tech drama.

• The Real Housewives of New Jersey: After a year in prison, Teresa Giudice returns to rule the roost.

• Difficult People: Creator/star Julie Klausner reveals some pop-culture hallmarks that inspired Season 2 of the Hulu comedy.

• Suits: The cast of USA’s hit legal drama previews secrets to be revealed in Season 6.

• American Ninja Warrior: An inside look at the challenges facing this year’s competitors.

• Republican National Convention: Guest columnist Chris Wallace of Fox News Channel previews the political pow-wow.

• Plus: Bones, Animal Kingdom, Power, 12 Monkeys, Looking: The Movie, Disney’s newest princess, Elena of Avalor, The Young and the Restless and the best of movies, streaming, sports and more.

ABC Catches Game Show Fever

Let the games begin! ABC has gone all in with Sunday Fun & Games, a three-hour block of game shows that includes survey-driven Celebrity Family Feud, word-association challenge The $100,000 Pyramid and star-studded fill-in-the-blank competition Match Game. “Game shows are having this big primetime comeback because you can sit with your kids and laugh with each other,” says Michael Strahan, who hosts the Pyramid reboot. “It’s safe, it’s fun and it’s enjoyable.” Strahan, Celebrity Family Feud host Steve Harvey and Match Game emcee Alec Baldwin break down ABC’s winning lineup in this week’s issue of TV Guide Magazine.

Also in this issue:

• Outlander: Previewing the climactic finish to Season 2

• Olympic Trials: Meet the top contenders to represent the Red, White and Blue at the Rio Games

• The Night Of: The HBO limited series murder mystery finally makes its debut

• Zoo: Prep for more thrills (and kills) when CBS’s animals-on-the-loose drama comes roaring back

• Lisa Lampanelli: The outspoken insult comic offers five things she learned from Donald Trump on The Celebrity Apprentice

• Plus: UnReal’s B.J. Britt, Killjoys, Tyrant, Preacher, Royal Pains, LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures, and the best of movies, streaming, sports and more.

Why Late Night’s Seth Meyers is the Man of the Late Hour

If late-night TV were like high school, Seth Meyers would totally be voted Most Likely to Succeed. The brainy 42-year-old has spent the last two years injecting sharply observed political and social commentary into the comedy DNA of NBC’s Late Night With Seth Meyers, earning critical raves and ratings along the way. (No Carpool Karaoke needed here: The talk show is the No. 1 program in its timeslot, in both total viewers and adults 18–49.) “I wanted to combine smart and silly—to create a place for both,” says Meyers, who took over Late Night from Jimmy Fallon in February 2014. “Even at SNL, we tried to be the smart take on dumb. I want to do things that are fully inspired by whimsy and lunacy as opposed to just trenchant social observation.”

Also in this issue:

• Emmy Awards: Senior critic Matt Roush on the breakout shows and stars who deserve a spot on the ballot.

• Greenleaf: OWN launches a sudsy new drama set behind the scenes of an African-American megachurch. The plot is so juicy, Oprah Winfrey joined the cast.

• Game of Thrones: Exclusive behind-the-scenes photos from Season 6 of the HBO mega-hit.

• Brooke Shields: The pop-culture icon opens up about her Flower Shop Mystery movies and the challenges of taking on an executive producer role.

• The Last Ship: Our report from the set as the TNT thriller sets sail on Season 3.

• Adventures in Babysitting: Disney Channel’s 100th original movie updates the 1980s classic.

• Jerry O’Connell: With a new gig on Mistresses, the boyish actor looks back on some of his greatest hits—and a couple of amusing misses.

• Plus: Roadies, American Gothic, Pretty Little Liars, Person of Interest, Queen of the South, General Hospital and the best of movies, streaming, sports and more.

Summer Preview: Ellen Barkin is One Fierce Mother in TNT’s Animal Kingdom

Welcome to the jungle! Meet the Cody family, stars of TNT’s gritty new drama Animal Kingdom. Based on the 2010 Australian film of the same name, the series was developed for TNT by executive producers John Wells (Shameless) and Jonathan Lisco (Southland). The producers’ first goal was to shift the focus of the source material from a caper to an in-depth character study of an extremely unconventional family. “I like a good heist movie as much as the next guy,” Lisco says. “But the true DNA of this show is about a provocative, powerful and perverse matriarch who has this emotionally incestuous hold over her boys and uses her ability to manipulate them to her advantage.”

That would be Janine “Smurf” Cody (Ellen Barkin), the head of the family and mastermind behind its illegal activities (jewelry store holdups are just the tip of the iceberg). Together with adopted son Baz (Scott Speedman), Smurf manipulates her sons Craig (Ben Robson) and Deran (Jake Weary) into doing her bidding while letting them indulge in booze, drugs and women. “I think she’s a good mother—she’s just in a very bad situation,” says Barkin, who studied Jacki Weaver’s Oscar-nominated performance in the original film to prepare for the series. “She is a character who maybe is capable of monstrous things, but I certainly would never call her a monster.”

Also in this issue:

• Summer Preview: All the scoop on new and returning shows, including Mr. Robot, The Bachelorette, Ray Donovan, Aquarius, UnReal, Feed the Beast, Dead of Summer and more.

• Mother May I Sleep With Danger?: Guest columnist James Franco writes about why he made a lesbian vampire movie for Lifetime!

• Fall TV: Senior critic Matt Roush offers his picks for the most promising new shows coming next season.

• Tony Awards: The Late Late Show‘s James Corden talks about hosting Broadway’s biggest night.

• Plus: Rizzoli & Isles, Eva Longoria on Devious Maids, Ride With Norman Reedus, Alison Sweeney and more.