Summer TV usually means the doldrums for scripted content, but more and more networks are offering escapist dramadies and, increasingly, quality content (AMC) to fill the nights of those dog days. An example of the former, TNT’s Leverage has been taking from the playbook of USA’s popcorn fun formula for three seasons now, and I’ve only just been introduced to it. Sure, I’d seen the marketing, but when a screener of the third season premiere happened across my desk, I decided to give it a whirl. Thirteen Netflix episodes and four live viewings later, I think I have a new favorite summer show.

The show is about former insurance adjuster Nate Ford (played by the venerable Timothy Hutton), who rounds up a gang of thieves, hackers, and grifters to right the wrongs of the rich and powerful. At first hired to steal back something to enact revenge on his former employer, the crew he assembles soon becomes like a second family, and weekly scams and hijinks ensue. My favorite member has to be hacker Alec Hardison, played by the hilarious Aldus Hodge, who manages to mix witty pop culture references, snarky comebacks, and the sense to run the technical parts of the operation with ease. Parker, played by Beth Riesgraf, started out way too one-note with the whole “bat-crazy thief who does all the wild dorky stunts” deal, but has evolved into tolerable. The other team members, a gruff beat-down specialist and an actress extraordinaire, aren’t as unique, but still fit into the group.

The semi-standard characters are made more memorable by superb chemistry between all the principle actors. It really does seem like they’re having as much fun as their theiving alter egos. Casting can make all the difference in a project, and three years of working together has helped elevate the writing to something that’s a lot of fun to watch.

Described by many as a “poor man’s Burn Notice”, Leverage is just one more example of the whole spy/caper/miscreant craze that’s been going on in TV lately. Sure, it may be cut from the same cloth, but I lost track of Burn Notice almost two seasons ago and this show seems to be a worthy replacement. The show may be able to be boiled down to simply “a modern day Robin Hood”, and from its procedural format may not have as much of an ongoing story arc as I’d like, but the way the cast has eased into their roles and provided pure entertainment is enough of a plus. The dialogue is well-written and the schemes, while highly-unlikely to be able to be pulled off in real life, are enjoyable to watch unfold. This is a light summer show– there’s a reason it’s not on anyone’s fall schedule. It passes the reduced bar and manages to be enough for what someone less analytical would lap up in a heartbeat (see: the average CBS viewer).

Meanwhile, I’m going to just sit back and enjoy the fun. It may not have the polish or narrative arcs of Burn Notice, but that show hasn’t exactly been innovating in some time. As a fan of the Oceans Eleven movies, this is lot like those, but weekly and with actors most people haven’t heard of. There is enough variety in the procedural plot structure that every week is not just another dead body or Miami drug dealer. It makes it more interesting to see what kinds of wild ideas they come up with each week. All the same, I need something to tide me over until my favorite shows return in September, and Leverage has the skills to hack into my jaded TV heart.