November 18th, 2008 | 0 Comments
Seth Rogen is getting back into pornos, looking to make a porno-based comedy for Showtime says Variety. After starring in Zack and Miri Make A Porno, Rogen and production partner Evan Goldberg are developing a comedy series about three twenty-somethings who learn about life and love while running a pornography shop. Rogen and Goldberg will executive produce the as-yet untitled project. Matthew Bass, who is credited as an assistant to both comedy filmmakers on Pineapple Express and Superbad, will write the script and co-executive produce. Rogen is also working with Goldberg on Mandate Pictures comedy Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse.
November 12th, 2008 | 0 Comments
Dominic Fumusa has landed a co-starring role on Showtime’s upcoming comedy series Nurse Jackie. The show stars Edie Falco as a strong-willed, iconoclastic New York nurse juggling the frenzied grind of an urban hospital and an equally challenging personal life. Famusa will play her husband.
November 10th, 2008 | 0 Comments
Showtime and the BBC are developing a contemporary series retelling of Camelot says Variety. The Tudors masterminds Michael Hirst and Morgan O’Sullivan will serve as show creators. Hirst will write the scripts and executive produce Camelot, along with O’Sullivan and Douglas Rae. Showtime and the BBC are co-financing development of scripts for the hourlong project. If greenlit, series would be produced by Ecosse Films and Octagon Filmes. Showtime has wrapped on the third season of The Tudors, set to premiere in April. Creator Hirst writes that series and serves as exec producer along with O’Sullivan. Season two averaged 1.7 million viewers, up 6% from season one.
October 22nd, 2008 | 0 Comments
ProElite, which produces the EliteXC mixed martial arts competitions, will be going out of business. That means that a planned November 8 Showtime event as well as an unscheduled primetime Saturday program on CBS won’t happen. Showtime, which owns 20% of EliteXC, and CBS, which aired three cards in primetime were told that there would be no more bouts. “In view of Showtime’s leadership role in sports programming, including boxing and mixed martial arts, we intend to explore other opportunities,” the cable network said.
The October 4 card on CBS averaged 4.6 million viewers and a 2.0 rating/6 share in adults 18-49. It was the top show in broadcast and cable in adults 18-34, men 18-34 and men 18-49 amid college football games and the baseball playoffs. EliteXC looked to compete with the UFC, the leader in mixed martial arts. It received a boost from the commitment from Showtime and CBS, the first time mixed-martial arts had ever been on primetime broadcast network TV.
October 21st, 2008 | 0 Comments
Showtime has renewed Dexter for two more seasons. The cable network has ordered 12 episodes each for Seasons 4 and 5, with the fourth season set to go into production in the spring in Los Angeles. Dexter stars Michael C. Hall as a complicated and conflicted blood-spatter expert for the Miami police department who moonlights as a serial killer. The show was nominated for five Emmys this year, including best drama series and best lead actor in a drama. It also received a 2008 Peabody Award.
“Dexter’s enormous success is a tribute to the great achievements of its cast, the producing team, the author of the original book [Jeff Lindsay], and the gifted Michael C. Hall,” says Showtime president of entertainment Robert Greenblatt. “I thought at best we would attract adevoted cult audience but soon realized that, ironically, this show is so thematically rich and layered with humanity that audiences of all kinds have flocked to it.”
October 14th, 2008 | 0 Comments
Showtime has picked up the pilot The End of Steve, which stars Matthew Perry as an unhappy TV talk show host whose egomaniacal streak is tested when he’s stuck working on a daytime show out of Rochester, N.Y. Despite his bitterness, he does try to find professional and personal happiness, perhaps by seeking out the romantic company of the station’s morning show host. Perry, whose most recent TV credits include Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and the TNT TV movie The Ron Clark Story, wrote and produced the dark comedy with Rescue Me creator and Larry Sanders Show producer Peter Tolan.
