Summer Picks Pbs, Cable Offer Viewers Fresh Programming In The Wake Of Broadcast Networks’ Neglect Of Season’s Schedule

Seeeeee you in September, the broadcast networks chorused. And they meant it.

They abandoned us to a summer filled with reruns and even failed series in disguise like “CPW” (woeful “Central Park West” - CBS should have tried a big nose and funny eyeglasses).

“Nah, nah, see if we stick around for leftovers,” TV viewers responded, sending the combined network audience share sliding to 12 percent below the season-to-date figure.

Together, ABC, CBS and NBC accounted for a slender 43 percent of viewers in the latest ratings calculations from Nielsen, with only (can’t miss!) NBC bucking the trend and attracting more viewers than last summer.

There is some big first-run network programming to anticipate: the July 19-Aug. 4 Olympics in Atlanta broadcast by (can’t miss!) NBC, and the (can miss!) political conventions in August.

For lazy-days entertainment, however, it’s the cable channels and PBS rushing in to fill the void created by the summer-wilted networks, who apparently find the economics of yearround programming unappealing.

(Too bad, though, their fancy-schmancy promotional spots for fall shows can’t reach all the people the networks hope will return to the fold come September.)

If you want new, you can have new. Just scout around a bit and maybe venture into unfamiliar TV neighborhoods like the Travel Channel or Home and Garden Television.

Here’s a guide to highlights:

“Just for the Ride,” 10 p.m. Tuesday, July 23, on KSPS (PBS). Filmmaker Amanda Micheli’s salute to the women of the rodeo, including legendary cowgirls like Fern Sawyer, still bedecked in gold leather suits at 76, and Jan Youren, who unknowingly rode for a year with a broken back.

“Eilish: Life Without Katie,” 10 p.m. Sunday, July 28, Discovery Channel. A profile of Eilish Holton three years after separation from her conjoined twin, Katie, who did not survive the operation. Eilish is shown as a happy child but one left marked by her experience.

“Shore Things,” 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 31, on KSPS (PBS). Life’s a beach, and this show knows it, wrapping up all the good things of summer into a sunny, so-called “scrapbook documentary.” Lifeguards, boardwalks, horseshoe crabs and rental umbrellas at beaches on the East and West Coasts and in Hawaii - they’re all here. Let’s go surfin’ now.

“Consumer Reports Best Travel Deals,” Monday, Aug. 5, Travel Channel. Tips including how to uncover the best airfares, get the lowest hotel rates and save money on car rentals. Drawn from Consumer Reports magazine and the monthly Consumer Reports Travel Letter.

“Taxicab Confessions III,” Saturday, Aug. 10, HBO. Filmmakers Joe and Harry Gantz capture more intimate conversations between New York City cab drivers and passengers. Meet a young women who says she shot her cheating boyfriend and a drug addict who explains how cocaine destroyed his life.

“The Chelsea Flower Show,” Sunday, Aug. 11, Home & Garden TV. Showcases an event that sets the gardening world atwitter: the Royal Horticultural Society’s Spring Show. Nicknamed the Chelsea Flower Show, the green scene draws 170,000 people to London in late May to view new, rare and unusual plants. Be there.

“Melrose Place This Week,” premiering on Sunday, Aug. 11, E! Entertainment Television. A viewer’s guide to the complexities of the Fox soap. It’s dedicated to revealing the misdeeds and misalliances exposed during the previous week’s episode. Fans also can catch up with the early years: The drama itself will be rerun at 7 p.m. weeknights starting Monday, Aug. 5, right from Episode 1.

“The Ultimate Guide: Sharks,” 9 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 11, Discovery Channel. Probes the depth of our knowledge about the fearsome shark and kicks off the channel’s Shark Week. Other programs include “Jaws in the Mediterranean,” a look at why Great Whites and other sharks appear to be more aggressive there than anywhere else (9 p.m. Monday, Aug. 12), and “Danger Beach,” focusing on shark attacks at beaches and resorts (9 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 13).

“Ballyhoo: The Hollywood Sideshow,” Tuesday, Aug. 13, American Movie Classics. Frankie Avalon hosts this look at the wild and crazy tradition of movie promotion that includes stunts like 3-D and Smell-O-Vision. Roger Ebert, Tab Hunter and John Waters are among those who reflect on the 1950s and ‘60s heyday of ballyhoo.

“Caesar’s Writers,” Tuesday, Aug. 20, PBS (check local listings). That’s Sid Caesar, the “Your Show of Shows” and “Caesar’s Hour” star who had some real masters putting words in his talented mouth, including Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart and Neil Simon. They get together to reminisce and perform sketches from the series in this special taped at a Beverly Hills theater last January.

“For the Future: The Irvine Fertility Scandal,” Wednesday, Aug. 21, Lifetime. Marilu Henner and Linda Lavin star in this dramatization of the alleged theft of patients’ embryos for implantation in other women at a renowned University of California fertility clinic. “Final Take: The Fertility Scandal,” featuring interviews with individuals involved in the incident, follows at 11 p.m.

“National Geographic Explorer: Ten Incredible Years,” Sunday, Aug. 25, TBS. Highlights of a decade’s worth of “Explorer” programs that featured, just for starters, the first peek at the Titanic since its 1912 sinking, the world’s biggest Sumo wrestler and the flesh-eating vulture bee of Panama.