Ah, summer. You give us soft-serve cones. Dips in the lake. And, perhaps most important of all, weird and wonderful TV premieres, often for programs deemed too offbeat to fit in with the homogeneous offerings of the regular fall season. Occasionally, though, these series — be they comedies, dramas, or reality contests — transcend their outsider status to become the cool kids in class. Here we present 22 such all-stars, from The Prisoner to Mad Men (pictured), that premiered during the May-August minors, but will always rank as major league to us. —Michael Slezak