Wahlburgers Season 2 Will Premiere in August 2014

This past weekend was a Wahlberg-filled one.

In addition to the premiere of Transformers: Age of Extinction, and the conclusion of the NKOTB Party Plane sweepstakes, and the airing of a special summer episode of Wahlburgers on Sunday night, we also now have more Wahlberg fun to look forward to in the near future, as A&E has finally revealed when season 2 of Wahlburgers will premiere: this August—huzzah!

The first promos for season 2 of Wahlburgers were released on Friday (above, via The Hollywood Reporter), and shows the four main cast members—Mark, Donnie, Paul, and Alma—playing their respective roles as bully, nice guy, comedian, and lovable mom.

The “July 4th” special on Sunday gave fans a much-needed one-hour dose of the Wahlbergs.

First, the clan attended the Boston Marathon to cheer on brother Jim Wahlberg and New Kids on the Block members Joey McIntyre and Danny Wood.

Now, we could have done without the contrived story arc of Johnny Drama and Nacho participating in a Revolutionary War reenactment, only to be pulled away on a last-minute errand for Donnie involving a race through Marathon traffic (somebody’s fishing for a spinoff!) This, not to mention a chronology gaffe in a scene with Mark, Johnny, and Nacho. Supposedly set before the Marathon in April, the scene shows a copy of the June issue of Boston on the coffee table.

Editing snafu aside (what? you thought reality shows are 100 percent real?), the Marathon portion of the episode was sincere and heartfelt without being melodramatic, surely strengthening the family’s fan base in Boston and beyond.

In the episode, Jim Wahlberg says, “My mom was trying to raise good people—not rich people or successful people—good people.” And seeing as the family has gone so far as to change people’s minds about Dorchester, it would seem Alma’s done a pretty decent job.

Also in the summer special, we meet even more Wahlbergs including brothers Bob and Arthur, and current family patriarch Uncle Archie. The group gathered together for their annual Wahlberg family reunion—during which chef Paul almost successfully re-creating Uncle Archie’s famous meatballs. And while Paul may never find out whether his rendition had “too much rosemary or not enough rosemary,” fans at home can replicate Alma’s red sauce featured in an earlier episode, the recipe for which is available on aetv.com along with other family favorites.

And Marky Mark’s weekend? Well, $100 million at the domestic box office ain’t half bad. According to EW, Transformers 4 has earned $201.3 million from 37 territories. That dough, along with the $20 Uncle Archie has been slipping him every year since he was baby, means Mark probably doesn’t care that A. O. Scott of the Times called T4 “too vulgar, violent and nasty…for the youngest viewers” and “a little too dumb for the adolescent or adult genre geeks.”