• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, May 27, 2014

Summertime for TV networks is here -- and apparently there is even a bigger logjam than in previous years. But there’s also an advertising drama going on.

Starting this month, the five broadcasters are scheduled to premiere 13 scripted series over the course of the season, up from 10 last year, according to the Wall Street Journal.

CBS started “Under the Dome” last summer and was surprised with its big viewership results -- averaging 11.3 million viewers and a 2.7 rating among 18-49 viewers. Now the network is doubling down this summer with   “Extent,” a mystery-drama starring Halle Berry as an astronaut.

These shows will need to find room among new seasons of Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black”, and Showtime’s “Masters of Sex,”nmas well as final seasons of HBO’s “True Blood”, FX’s “Wilfred,” and HBO’s “The Newsroom.”

Want more drama? How about off-air? The upfront advertising market is poised to be another slow-moving affair. Why? No surprise here -- current scatter markets are tepid at best, barely matching prices set in last year’s upfront marketplace.

Media executives have been telling TV Watch there is no rush to make upfront deals. Here’s some perspective: Last year, NBC completed its upfront advertising negotiations very late -- around the last week in July. ABC was down somewhat before that. Could we see the same results?

TV programming, marketing and advertising? If you didn’t figure it out already, it is a 24/7 business -- even while the sun is shining and  a lot of people might be lounging at the beach.

All of which means TV programming and advertising executives will need to cut short some of their relaxing time and get back to the business of those colored pixels.