Showtime announces fall premiere dates for beloved returning series, and also Ray Donovan
Aux Features TV
As part of its day in the sun at this year’s summer TCA press tour, Showtime made a whole boatload of expected announcements this afternoon: New shows, trailers, and also the slightly less glamorous business of announcing when many of its existing and new series would be returning or debuting for another run. Among these series: Kidding, the revival of The L Word, Shameless, and Ray Donovan, even though that last one gives us just this blinding headache every time we’re suddenly forced to remember that it’s still on the air, and has, in fact, been so for the last six years
The majority of these series will debut in the fall—even the ones that force us to walk around clutching our heads, attempting to reconcile our memories with the fact that Jon Voight has spent the better part of a decade starring in a cable series about…Boston mobsters who are also Hollywood fixers, we think? Kidding (Voight-less) will be back on November 3, along with the 10th season premiere of Shameless. The L-World: Generation Q, meanwhile, will have to wait to make its debut on December 8, because hey hey hey, make way for Ray.
In fact, the Liev Schreiber-starring fever dream is getting a snazzy new timeslot this year, presumably to shore up slightly flagging ratings from its most recent season. (Although to be fair to the series, its fairly consistent 1 million viewer count is roughly on par with Shameless, and a lot better than the Jim Carrey-starring Kidding did in its first season.) The show’s seventh season will debut on Saturday, November 17 at 8 p.m., and will continue in that spot for the rest of the season, and also into infinite fucking perpetuity, as far as we can tell.
Anyway, here are some other Showtime premieres announced today: Homeland’s final season on February 9, the comedy series Work In Progress on December 8, docu-series Couples Therapy on September 6, and true-crime series Murder In The Bayou on September 13. We’re going to go lay down.
50 Comments
I still don’t really understand what Ray Donovan is, but (and?) I love this headline.
Its a show
I’m just here to yell at you for dissing my Ray Donovan. I thought I’d drop it after Abs’ departure, but somehow it keeps me hanging in there. That’s no small feat.
Ray Donovan I still watch. I gave up on Shameless 3 seasons ago and I am hate watching Homeland (I can’t even remember where that left off?)
We gave up on Homeland after season 6 (the one that ended with Elizabeth Marvel becoming President and going mad with power). It was just too stressful, and had for several years been a show that was a cross between insightful psychological drama and preposterous spy nonsense.
I should stop, but since it is the last season I am going to hope that they pull it back together like OITNB did in its final season. Homelands should have done the British model and just ended it after season 3.
It’s worth pointing out here that not all British TV shows are short by design, it’s more a by-product of the fact they tend not to have a writing team behind them, so you often have one or two writers doing everything. UK TV holds quite a few records for longest running TV shows, probably the peak of which is soap opera Coronation Street. That’s been on the air every week since 1960. Hospital drama Casualty has been on the air since 1986 and even has a spin-off, Holby City.And our soaps are not at all like US ones; they’re mostly on during primetime, command huge viewing figures and the big two (EastEnders and Coronation Street) air Christmas Day specials that will normally be the most watched thing on television that day.
Benny Hill will be on the £100 note.
Listen if you want to watch an acid trip of an insane show, go binge watch Scandal. It makes Homeland look like Masterpiece Theater. It falls into the so bad it’s good category. It doesn’t hurt that there isn’t a mediocre actor in the bunch, and boy did they really commit to the insanity. It was a helluva lot of fun to watch.
Acid trips are fun though.
That’s what I’m saying.
It’s still on because he’s sexy as hell. A big beautiful body, doesn’t say much and brings home the bacon. Pretty much my dream guy!
I just have never liked Liev Schreiber’s work. Manchurian Candidate remake Maybe. He was straight up awful in X-Men Origins. I don’t get why he has consistently been awarded roles.
Huh, to me he’s always been a highlight in films that didn’t deserve him. Even in Wolverine where the script and everything else is awful, he’s giving it his all and creating the implication of an interesting relationship with Hugh Jackman.
I wish I could see his performances as you do. Really! There is just this thing, this thing that creeps me out (not a sexual thing, just a thing).And agree: The X-Men W was just awful all-around.
I mean, for me, the sense of creepy menace he gave off made him the only good part of Origins. You really felt like he might rip off someone’s face, and did it without yelling or carrying on.
He was the best thing about Spotlight and that film is one of the best I’ve seen in the last 10 years.
Pablo is where it’s at.
Watch The Ten.
I’ll look for it.
Same opinion here. Liev just doesn’t intimidate or impress as a physically dangerous person. He could just be another forgettable character in a rom-com. He always reminds me of “Ross” from friends. Definitely not bad ass.
Ah ah ah come on Showtime, the only date that matters is that of Desus & Mero’s return.
I feel like someone in charge of Showtime might be from Boston.
I hear ya lol with the newer series I really don’t like (name escapes me)But peek at it to pass time.Agree…Boston seems quite popular with Showtime but I have to go back several times when I miss my show and glad soI can pause then go back to try to understand their strong Boston accent! Ugh. But my only gripe!I am an avid Ray fan along with hubby. Seems one so long for it to return.What seems forever is the ‘Affair’ ..love the show. Geese that one really takes freaking ever.Needless to say I can’t wait. Even if people diss it. It’s my go to series along with a very few others and just like Donovan
Looking forward to On Becoming A God at the end of this month. Then nothing till final season Homeland and THEN I can finally cancel Showtime.
Looking forward to seeing how Homeland ends up.
—in outer space.
The best show on Showtime right now is Desus and Mero. Number one show on late night!
Yeerrrrrrrr
Coming in hot with the Ray Donovan dissses! That’s why I still come here! (I think? Why do I still visit the A.V. Club? I’m very sad I can’t actually remember.)
Because, the shambling kinja cadaver bears within it the faint echo of better days, of a better world, a reality once taken for granted, now lost within the abyss of time.
I felt that deeply. Cue Roy Clark singing Yesterday When I Was Young, while I think of what AV CLUB used to be.
Like tears in disqus
Like the survivors of an apocalypse, sifting through the detritus of a once-great civilization.Was this item a medical device, a communication tool, a child’s favourite toy? Was it part of a sewage system or a vehicle? What dreams did these long-vanished people hold? Would they recognise these shattered elements?Would they even understand what brought their paradise to an end? Probably something to do with Firsties and Canceraids, but we’ll never know for sure…
BONG
Gotta hand it to Liev Schreiber
-He saw the easy paycheck of a cable series
and said ‘Fuck The Movies’.
Rat Donovan is one of the greatest shows on TV, which means I will not be taking anything else you say about any other show seriously.
The Affair – not mentioned here for some reason – will pull me back in for one final year even though I keep swearing each season will be my last. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a time-jump!
I’ll never understand why AV Club hates Ray Donovan so much. I stopped watching after 3 or 4 seasons, but that’s just because there’s so much great stuff to watch, not because there’s anything wrong with Ray Donovan. It’s perfectly fine TV.
It’s certainly the violent entourage of showtime.
Yep, to me it feels like above-average “shark TV” like 24. If you worry about whether the plot makes sense you will miss the fun stuff.like Ray glowering his way through a beating or business meeting, how badly Bunchy is going to screw up this time (they’ve managed to top it every season) or why no one has killed his dad yet.Ray Donovan is absolutely fine for what it is.
Some sites punch up. Some sites punch down. The AV Club punches sideways and randomly, like an angry blind kid riding a merry-go-round.
So what do you have against ray donovan?
Are you guys upset because Ray Donovan has 7 seasons and Tuca And Bertie only got one?
The idea of Shameless being “beloved” is more entertaining than 90% of anything on that show in many years. Anyway, I just hope Liev hosts SNL again.
I thought Homeland ended like 5 years ago, and not just because S3 was already past its logical end point.I’ve never seen Ray Donovan, but I assume it’s being a whipping boy for the shit quality of the last few seasons of Shameless (and Homeland) here?
jon voight….the actor?
Speak for your self, Billy. Ray Donovan is one of the best of all time , well scripted, well directed ,well acted, not to mention Susan Sarandon… maybe it’s just a little too brilliant for your tastes. No show lasts 7 years without reason. No one cares if you don’t watch. Ray Donovan will carry on without you , and thank you, glad to hear the show is coming back. YAY !!
I’m curious to see what y’all think of Shameless minus Rossum. She made that show what it was and it feels way less interesting without her.
I’ve been watching Ray since the first season. Sometimes I hate Mick, most times I love him. And Bunch. Poor little Brendan. One of my favorites. Terry coming in third and every now and then he climbs into first. Daryl? He’s ok. On a serious note, season six had a few of the most beautiful shots of present day NYC I’ve ever seen.