Showtime has set the summer premieres for two of its critically-acclaimed and award-winning dramas – “Ray Donovan” and “Masters of Sex.” Both series will premiere on Sunday, July 12th at 9 p.m. ET/PT and 10 p.m. ET/PT, respectively, and each will have 12 one-hour episode seasons. “Ray Donovan” stands as the network’s highest-rated freshman series ever and averaged 5.3 million weekly viewers in its sophomore year, and earned two Golden Globe win and multiple Emmy nominations. “Masters of Sex,” which averaged 3.4 million weekly viewers in its second season, was honored with five Emmy Award nominations and was named one of AFI’s Top Ten Television Programs of the Year.
“Ray Donovan” stars two-time Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Liev Schreiber as LA’s best professional fixer, the man called in to make the city’s celebrities, superstar athletes, and business moguls’ most complicated and combustible situations go away. Season three finds Ray adrift from his family and those closest to him, while he focuses on his business and desires to be his own boss. Meanwhile, his father Mickey (Jon Voight, in his Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-winning role), who had narrowly escaped last season’s heist debacle, finds himself charting a similar course to build his own empire. Joining the show this season are guest stars Ian McShane, Katie Holmes and Elliott Gould. The cast also includes Paula Malcomson, Eddie Marsan, Dash Mihok, Steven Bauer, Katherine Moennig, Pooch Hall, Kerris Dorsey and Devon Bagby. A Showtime production, the series was created by Ann Biderman and is executive produced by David Hollander, Mark Gordon and Bryan Zuriff.
The year is 1966, and “Masters of Sex” season three finds the famed duo of Masters (Michael Sheen) and Johnson (Lizzy Caplan) dealing with the glare of the national spotlight as their sex study is finally unveiled. It’s the start of the Sexual Revolution — and Masters and Johnson’s work will have a profound impact on contemporary relationships, especially their own evolving three-way “marriage” with Masters’ wife Libby (Caitlin FitzGerald). Starring Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Michael Sheen and Emmy nominee Lizzy Caplan as real-life pioneers of human sexuality, William Masters and Virginia Johnson, “Masters of Sex” chronicles their unusual lives, romance and pop-culture trajectory. Masters and Johnson’s research touched off the sexual revolution and took them from a mid-western teaching hospital in St. Louis to the cover of Time magazine. 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. “Masters of Sex” was developed for television by Michelle Ashford (The Pacific) who also serves as an executive producer. In addition, the series is executive produced by Sarah Timberman, Amy Lippman, Dave Flebotte, Carl Beverly and Judith Verno. Michael Sheen, Tammy Rosen and Thomas Maier serve as producers. “Masters of Sex” is produced by Sony Pictures Television.
