Showtime will have two new drama series on the way; they’ve picked up both of the pilots they ordered this season, Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex. The first stars Liev Schreiber as a guy who “fixes” the scandalous problems of the rich and famous. The second is not nearly as titillating as the name implies – it’s actually about two pioneers in the field of human sexuality who were at the roots of America’s sexual revolution.
Ray Donovan is a modern-day drama with a novelistic format that follows the title character’s life as he deals with the problems created by the powerful people of Los Angeles that they don’t want made public. In the meantime, he deals with is own complex personal life. Paula Malcolmson stars as Donovan’s wife, and Jon Voight, Elliot Gould, Eddie Marsan, and Dash Mihok are also starring in the series as Donovan’s family and friends. The nature of this series should lend itself to a lot of big-name guest stars and plenty of the kind of intrigue that only a city with LA’s reputation can offer. I can’t say that from the description I see anything really new or exciting here; still, it’s an impressive cast so I have hope.
Masters of Sex on the other hand, is more of a period piece that looks at the lives, times, and work of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, who founded a research institute to study human sexuality in 1964 after seven years of research together at Washington University in St. Louis. Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan take on the starring roles as the two researchers who became a world-famous phenomenon. Sheen came in to replace originally cast Paul Bettany in the role. This one looks interesting for sure, but also has the potential to be a little too clinical. Showtime does a pretty good job of their drama series for the most part though, and because it’s a pay channel they’ve got more freedom to approach subjects like this from the most interesting angles. In other words, they won’t just talk about the sex.
Both series are set to start production this summer for debuts in 2013, according to Deadline. Both will have 12-episode first seasons. Meanwhile, the docu-comedy Gurland on Gurland, Showtimes’s other recent pilot, doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere.
