Showtime announced today they have picked up 12 one-hour episodes of dramas “Ray Donovan,” starring Liev Schreiber, and “Masters of Sex,” starring Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan.
Below is the full press release:
Continuing to build upon the network’s existing line-up of acclaimed and award-winning drama series, including HOMELAND, DEXTER®, SHAMELESS and THE BORGIAS, SHOWTIME will be adding two more original series to the premium channel’s line-up, it was announced today by David Nevins, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc. RAY DONOVAN, a one-hour drama starring Emmy® and Golden Globe® Award nominee Liev Schreiber, and MASTERS OF SEX, a one-hour drama starring Emmy and BAFTA Award nominee Michael Sheen and acclaimed actress Lizzy Caplan, have both received 12 episode orders and will both film in Los Angeles for air in 2013.
“RAY DONOVAN and MASTERS OF SEX, each in their own distinctive ways, represent the caliber of programming we want to bring to our subscribers,” said Nevins. “Both series are ambitious and expansive, and feature great writing and great acting. I’m so excited for viewers to experience these two new dramas, which I believe will prove to be fantastic complements to our current slate of programming.”
Starring Liev Schreiber in his first series regular role, RAY DONOVAN takes a novelistic look at contemporary Los Angeles. A richly textured family drama, the series centers on Ray (Schreiber) as L.A.’s best professional “trouble shooter.” He’s the one called in to solve the complicated, confidential and controversial problems of the city’s elite. He can make anyone’s problems disappear…except the ones he can’t escape created by his own damaged Boston “Southie” family. The series’ all-star cast includes legendary actors Jon Voight as the ex-con Donovan clan patriarch and Elliot Gould as Ray’s long-time client and mentor, along with Eddie Marsan (War Horse, Sherlock Holmes) and Dash Mihok (I Am Legend), who will play Ray’s brothers, and Paula Malcomson (The Hunger Games) in the role of Ray’s wife, “Abby.” Additional cast includes Kate Moennig (The L Word), Steven Bauer (Breaking Bad), Pooch Hall (The Game), Johnathon Schaech (That Thing You Do!), Kerris Dorsey (Moneyball), Devon Bagby and Peter Jacobson (House). RAY DONOVAN was created and executive produced by Ann Biderman (Southland). The series will also be executive produced by The Mark Gordon Company’s Mark Gordon and Bryan Zuriff. RAY DONOVAN is a SHOWTIME production and the pilot was directed by Allen Coulter (Nurse Jackie and Sons of Anarchy pilots), who also serves as producer.
MASTERS OF SEX stars Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan, who will portray the real-life pioneers of the science of human sexuality, William Masters and Virginia Johnson. The series chronicles the unusual lives, romance and pop culture trajectory of Masters and Johnson. Their research touched off the sexual revolution and took them from a mid-western teaching hospital in St. Louis to the cover of Time magazine and nearly a dozen appearances on Johnny Carson’s couch. MASTERS OF SEX marks Sheen’s first regular series role for television. The series is an adaptation of Thomas Maier’s book Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, The Couple Who Taught America How To Love. The pilot episode was directed by Academy Award® nominee John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, and the current hit indie film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), who also serves as executive producer, and also stars Caitlin Fitzgerald (It’s Complicated), in the role of Masters’ wife, Nicholas D’Agosto (Heroes) and Teddy Sears (American Horror Story). Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actor Beau Bridges and Margo Martindale also appear in the pilot. MASTERS OF SEX was created and executive produced by Michelle Ashford (The Pacific). The series will also be executive produced by Timberman Beverly Productions’ Carl Beverly and Sarah Timberman, and Judith Verno. Michael Sheen and Tammy Rosen will serve as producers. MASTERS OF SEX is produced by Sony Pictures Television.
