HBO Max's superhero-themed series Peacemaker debuts during a busy week of cable and streaming show premieres.

The DC Comics-based series debuts on HBO Max on January 13 and stars John Cena reprising his role from the 2021 The Suicide Squad film.

Premiering January 14 is Showtime's Ray Donovan: The Movie, based on the premium channel's Ray Donovan series that ran seven seasons. Series regulars Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight reprise their roles for the film. 

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting the week of January 10 to January 16 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

January 11– The Kings of Napa (drama) – OWN

January 12 – Cheer (returning series) – Netflix

January 13 – Brazen (drama) – Netflix

January 13 – Madagascar: A Little Wild (returning series) -- Hulu/Peacock

January 13 – My mom, Your Dad (documentary series) – HBO Max

January 13 – Wolf Like Me (dramedy) – Peacock

January 14 – After Life (returning series) – Netflix

January 14 – Archive 81 (drama) – Netflix

January 14 – Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (animation movie) – Prime Video

January 14 – The House (animation/anthology) – Netflix

January 14 – Secrets of Sulphur Springs (returning series) – Disney Channel

January 14 – The Tragedy of Macbeth (drama) – Apple TV Plus

January 16 – Britannia (returning series) – Epix

January 16 – Somebody Somewhere (comedy) – HBO

Showtime will offer the first three episodes of drama Ray Donovan for free sampling throughout the month of January. The episodes will be on YouTube, Sho.com, Showtime.com and on partner platforms, such as a cable provider’s on-demand offerings. 

Ray Donovan: The Movie premieres on Showtime January 14.

Liev Schrieber, who played Donovan across seven seasons on Showtime, stars in the movie. Schreiber also co-wrote the script with series showrunner David Hollander, who directed the film. 

The Movie picks up where season seven left off, with Mickey on the run and Ray determined to find and stop him before he can cause any more carnage. It also weaves the present-day fallout from the Donovan/Sullivan feud with Ray and Mickey's origin story from 30 years ago.

Ray Donovan amassed 82 episodes from 2013 to 2020. 

Series cast members reprising their roles in the film include Eddie Marsan as Ray’s brother, Terry; Dash Mihok as Ray’s brother, Bunchy; Pooch Hall as the Donovans’ half-brother, Daryll; Kerris Dorsey as Ray’s daughter, Bridget; Katherine Moennig as Lena; Kerry Condon as Molly Sullivan; and Jon Voight as Mickey Donovan. ■

Ray Donovan: The Movie premieres Friday, Jan. 14 on Showtime. Liev Schreiber stars and co-wrote the script with David Hollander, Ray Donovan showrunner and director of the film. 

Showtime shared the movie trailer.

Ray Donovan ran for seven seasons on Showtime, amassing 82 episodes before it wrapped in 2020.

“The new film picks up where season seven left off, with Mickey in the wind and Ray determined to find and stop him before he can cause any more carnage,” said Showtime. “It will also weave together the present-day fallout from the Donovan/Sullivan feud with Ray and Mickey's origin story from 30 years ago.”

Eddie Marsan, Dash Mihok, Pooch Hall, Kerris Dorsey, Katherine Moennig, Kerry Condon and Jon Voight are in the cast. 

The film is executive produced by David Hollander, Liev Schreiber, Mark Gordon, Bryan Zuriff and Lou Fusaro.

After the premiere, Showtime will air the movie Jan. 15 and 16.

Showtime will breathe new life into the Ray Donovan franchise with a full-length feature film, the network announced Wednesday.

Liev Schreiber will return as the series’ lead characters in the movie, as well as co-write the script along with series showrunner David Hollander. The series, which follows the exploits of Donovan -- a fixer who makes celebrity problems disappear -- ended its seven-season run on Showtime in January 2020.  

The film will pick up and the end of the series’s seventh and final season with Donovan determined to find his father Mickey (played by Jon Voight) before he can cause any more carnage, according to Showtime. The film will also weave together the present-day fallout from the Donovan/Sullivan feud with Ray and Mickey’s origin story from 30 years ago, said the network. The only other cast news Showtime mentioned was Kerris Dorsey returning as Ray's daughter, Bridget.

“When Ray Donovan went off our air after seven great seasons, we heard from so many of its loyal fans that they were not ready to say goodbye to Ray and the wonderfully dysfunctional Donovan clan,” said Showtime co-president of Entertainment Gary Levine in a statement. “And so, for them, we are delighted that Liev and David are creating a thrilling new chapter of this iconic series.”

Read Also: Variety Show 'Ziwe' Starts on Showtime May 9

Hollander had said he was surprised by the cancelation and that he and Schreiber had planned on doing an eighth season. "This was in no way a series finale," Hollander told Vulture after the news broke following the season ender. Hollander conceded that the show, which moved to New York from Los Angeles for the sixth and seventh seasons, was expensive to produce and said the decision to cancel came amidst the backdrop of Showtime parent CBS and Viacom merging in December 2019. A year ago, Schreiber dropped a hint on Instagram that, because of fan support perceived by the powers that be, "there will be more Ray Donovan."

Streaming service Disney+ will make its long-awaited debut on Nov. 12 with a number of original series, specials and movies that highlight this week’s show premieres.

Among the new shows debuting on Disney+ is a retelling of the classic Disney movie Lady and the Tramp, as well as The Mandalorian — the first live-action series set in the Star Wars universe, and The World According to Jeff Goldblum, a reality series originally slated to debut on National Geographic channel.

On the returning series front, Prime Video will debut the fourth and final season if its sci-fi/drama series The Man In The High Castle on Nov. 15, while Netflix will premiere the third season of its Emmy-winning drama series The Crown on Nov. 17.

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting this week on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

Nov. 12 — Encore! (reality) — Disney+

Nov. 12 — High School Musical; The Musical: The Series (dramedy) — Disney+

Nov. 12 — Marvel’s Hero Project (reality) — Disney+

Nov. 12 — Noelle (movie) — Disney+

Nov. 13 — The Preppy Murder: Death in Central Park (miniseries) — Sundance/AMC

Nov. 15 — Dollface (comedy) — Hulu

Nov. 15 — Earthquake Bird (movie) — Netflix

Nov. 15 -- Pariah: The Lives and Deaths of Sonny Liston (movie) -- Showtime

Nov. 17 — Ray Donovan (returning series) — Showtime 

Showtime will bring back its drama series Ray Donovan for a seventh season, the network announced Thursday.

The series, which stars Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight, will begin production on its seventh season this coming spring in New York, where the show moved from Los Angeles in season six, according to the network. The current sixth season of Ray Donovan will air its finale Jan. 13.

Ray Donovan is executive produced by David Hollander, Mark Gordon, Bryan Zuriff and Lou Fusaro, and was created by Ann Biderman. 

Actor Hank Azaria once again steps onto the scripted series field, this time as a boozing, down-on-his-luck minor-league baseball announcer in IFC’s new comedy series Brockmire.

Azaria, who lends his voice to Fox’s long-running animated hit The Simpsons and more recently appeared in Showtime’s Ray Donovan, spoke with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about the new show and his love for sports-themed projects, as well as the opportunities for creating content in a competitive, multiplatform television industry. An edited transcript follows.

MCN:How did you come up with the concept for Brockmire?
Hank Azaria: It’s an idea that I’ve had in one way, shape or form since I was a teenager — the idea of a baseball announcer and whether they really sound in real life like they do during a broadcast. We did a short at Funny or Die about it a few years ago, and that went well, but once [Brockmire writer Joel Church-Cooper] started writing them and fleshing them out, it really came to life.

Related: IFC's 'Brockmire' Trailer

MCN:With scripted sports shows, is there a fine line you have to walk between providing authentic sports action to cater to sports fans while keeping it entertaining for nonsports fans?
HA: When it’s done well, it’s amazing, and those are some of my favorite movies like The Bad News Bears or Slapshot or Hoosiers. Joel and I share a huge love of the sport, of broadcasters, of movies and of TV shows like that. Baseball is a metaphor for the aging — and maybe dying — America, and Joel is able to capture that and make it funny in the embodiment of this man that gets caught up in nostalgia — forget about 1978 for him, but 1948. Some of the best sports stuff does that; it realizes how the sport is a metaphor for something bigger.

MCN:Was this the perfect time to pitch Brockmire, given the number of distribution platforms and outlets available to content providers?
HA: Yes. There’s more and more competition as more people realize that cable in particular is a great place to creatively do what you want to do. A show like this could not have existed maybe even five years ago — certainly not 10 years ago — and definitely not on a [broadcast] network, just for language alone. I’ve been wanting to make shows like this for years, so it’s very gratifying to be able to do it.

Related > MCN Review: 'Brockmire' Takes a Swing for the Fences

MCN:Having done both television and movies, do you find working on a scripted series easier or harder than on a theatrical film?
HA: Shooting is shooting, especially nowadays where everything is so good on cable. I’ve done movies that are a lot worse that what we see on cable now — it all feels very creative.

MCN:What other projects are you working on?
HA: Hopefully we’ll do season two of this, and I have a movie coming out on HBO with [Robert] De Niro called The Wizard of Lies about the Bernie Madoff scandal. I also have a movie coming out called Norman with Richard Gere, and, of course, The Simpsons always.

Actress Susan Sarandon will appear in the Showtime series Ray Donovan in a season-long guest arc, the network said.

Sarandon, an Oscar winner for the 1996 film Dead Man Walking, will play Samantha Winslow, the head of a motion picture studio, in the fifth season of Ray Donovan, which begins this summer. The series averaged 5.1 million viewers across platforms in season four.

Sarandon’s five Oscar nominations for lead actress are exceeded by only eight people in history (including Bette Davis, whom Sarandon plays in the limited series Feud, pictured). Her notable film work also includes Bull Durham, Thelma and Louise, Lorenzo’s Oil and Atlantic City.

Ray Donovan stars Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight. Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Get complete coverage of #TCA16.

Beverly Hills, Calif. — Showtime has renewed Ray Donovan for a fifth season, the network announced Thursday during the TCA Summer Tour.

Production is slated to begin on the 12-episode season next year. Season four premiered June 26.

The cabler also revealed premiere dates for the sixth season of Homeland (Jan. 15) and the second season of Billions (Feb. 19).

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

A year ago almost to the day, Showtime Networks chairman Matthew Blank announced he would be passing the CEO reins to network president David Nevins. Blank had hired Nevins — then the president of Imagine Television, responsible for such hits as Fox’s 24 and NBC’s Parenthood — in 2010 to oversee development of original programming for the premium service and to succeed him this past January, when he stepped down from the CEO role after more than 20 years.

Related:Chairman Likes Showtime’s Standing Amid TV’s Chaos: A Q&A With Matt Blank

By then, Nevins had already built a stable of successful, long-running original series, including the Emmy-winning Homeland and The Affair, Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex. As CEO, Nevins would be steering into a new digital age full of opportunities and potential pitfalls as the industry at large sorts out a new landscape that includes new over-the-top competition from Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. On the cable homefront, Showtime must also to contend with Emmy darling HBO and rising player Starz for premium TV supremacy.

Nearly six months into Nevins’s term as CEO, Showtime is firing on all cylinders. The Jan. 17 debut of Billions drew its biggest audience ever for a freshman original series. The Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti-starrer, about an ego-driven billionaire and the ambitious U.S. attorney looking to take him down, finished its freshman run as the network’s most-watched series behind Homeland.

Nevins is high on the music-themed Roadies, debuting June 26, which chronicles the lives of stagehands who build and take down concert sets for rock ‘n’ roll bands. Showtime can also look forward to the much-anticipated 2017 return of director David Lynch’s drama series Twin Peaks.

Nevins is also spearheading Showtime’s continued push into digital, overseeing the rollout of the Showtime OTT service, available on Apple TV, Roku, Hulu, Amazon and other digital distribution platforms. Still, Showtime is building its success in a perilous TV marketplace where a lackluster performance from a high-profile series or a big breakout hit from a competitor could hit the network hard.

Nevins has his hands full guiding the fortunes of the premium programmer but took some time to discuss his strategy for Showtime’s future growth with Multichannel News, B&C and Next TV editorial director Mark Robichaux and MCN programming editor R. Thomas Umstead.

MCN:There’s been a lot of movement in the C-suite at Showtime lately. Is this a changing of the guard?

David Nevins: Matt hasn’t gone anywhere and is not going anywhere anytime soon, but sort of more and more of the daily decisions and budgeting and how we sort of organize ourselves is going through me. It’s been an orderly transition that’s been going on with Matt’s full support and kind of design, you know, going back probably three years.

I think it’s really working well and it’s a good moment for us. A lot of the trends in the business are favoring us right now.

MCN:How is your new OTT product doing?

DN: We’re about 10 months in. You can buy us on top of your Hulu subscription or through Apple or Roku and shortly thereafter Android, Google, and Amazon added us in a similar way as Hulu, and it’s been really working.

Our base business is, I think, as high as it’s ever been through our more traditional satellite/telco/cable distributors. So, there’s been no real cannibalization; we’re at an all time high in that business. And the more direct, sort of OTT business has really worked. It’s now becoming a pretty meaningful contributor to our revenue and it’s growing fast.

MCN:As the transition continues to more digital content, do you see that business rising and this linear side falling, or do you see incremental increases without losing linear?

DN: I don’t know what’s going to happen over time. I’m hoping for growth on both sides of the ledger. Thus far, we’ve seen growth on both sides of the ledger and we’re budgeting growth on both sides of the ledger for next year.

MCN:Do you think it’s a zero-sum game? Do you think there’s a limit, a ceiling, on the growth of over-the-top products and skinny bundles?

DN: There’s a de-bundling and then there’s going to be a re-bundling. And probably when there’s re-bundling, it will be good for us. We’ve taken a very agnostic position. Our attitude is we want to be sold in as many places as possible by as many sellers as possible.

MCN:How does that affect your relationship with the guys that brought you to the dance, the cable guys?

DN: I think they understand it. We’re not going to undercut them. We don’t want to undercut them. And there was cable and then satellite showed up and did good things for our business, and was a little competition to the cable guys. And then the telcos got into the business, and I think they understand that’s how the world works. So it’s kind of baked in.

MCN:Are you surprised by all the OTT competition?

DN: I come in as a programmer and as a producer, but with real interest in this sort of marketing and development of the business. It was clear to me five or six years ago, when I was a year into this job, that this is where it was going, because Netflix was already making the shift from DVDs to internet-delivered service.

And, you know, partly because I’m an outsider, it was just like a blinding glimpse of the obvious that delivering over the Internet was where it was eventually going to be, and we had to be ready for it and do it in a way that creates a good user experience. And we began building for it a while ago, so we’re doing all our programming, computer programming and service delivery, we’re doing it all in-house. And we’re going to have to start building all the core capabilities of customer service and customer attention that cable companies have spent a lot of time doing. That’s going to be competence that we’re going to have to develop.

MCN:Netflix is spending a pile of money — do you need to spend as much to compete?

DN: No. Still, we’re in expansion mode. So we probably have 11 sort of A-level scripted shows this year. It will be 12 next year, maybe even 13 next year, depending on how the year goes. So we’re definitely building up.

MCN:As opposed to what? What would be a typical year?

DN: Six years ago, it was maybe four. So we have definitely built up over the course of time. We have strength throughout the year, so that we’re able to roll from Homeland and The Affair into Shameless and Billions, into Penny Dreadful, into Ray Donovan and Roadies. They’re going to come this summer.

You know, probably in the old business, it was more important to have one giant show that forces the cable operators — like you can’t possibly drop [HBO], because how can you not have Game of Thrones? In the new business, where it’s easy to sign up and easy to cancel, it’s probably more important to have consistency across the schedule.

So we’re putting on two to three new shows a year. This year it’s Billions and Roadies. And next year it’ll be I’m Dying Up Here and Twin Peaks and some things that we haven’t announced yet in the back half of the year.

MCN:Is that sustainable? Do you want to keep that number roughly the same in coming years?

DN: I think it’s sustainable and I think it’s expandable. But we are expected to deliver earnings for our shareholders, so I’m not going to suddenly start spending 100% of our revenue. But the trick is to make your shots count when they come. And Billions counted.

And Billions was noticed. I always knew that certain power circles would love the show, but the question was, would it expand beyond that? And it really did. I mean Billions was our biggest freshman show ever. It was bigger than Ray Donovan and bigger than Homeland. And Roadies is going to count.

MCN:How do you know today thatRoadiesis going to be big?

DN: You don’t know what’s going to be a hit. I’ve never been great at predicting hits. But I know [if something has] enough cultural resonance and enough entertainment value that it’s going to get traction. It’s going to get noticed. Whether it’s going to hit or be medium, you never know. But if you’re doing something that feels original that is differentiated enough in the marketplace, that’s got enough sticky elements, whether it’s concept or actors or filmmakers behind the scenes who people want to watch, you know that you’re going to get noticed.

MCN:At what moment did you say, “Wow, this is going to connect?” Was it a song? Was it a line that was read by an actor?

DN: For me, the real moment is the script. So when I read a script and I have a certain feeling about it — I mean there’s always a leap of faith that you take. But the moment when I either emotionally connect or emotionally disconnect is reading the script. And then it becomes about trying to fulfill that vision or that’s great about the script.

MCN:Are you more like a third base coach, given your background with the showrunners?

DN: Yes. I love it. You know, you get to work with the smartest, most creative people, and ultimately, it’s their vision and I’m the third base coach; I’m not playing. But I invest in the people who I believe in and you get to make that decision. So it’s third base coach, it’s general manager, to use your baseball analogy, you get to choose who goes on the field and then try to get them to perform at their highest.

MCN:Showtime was once a network of flawed characters:Dexter,Nurse Jackie. What is it today?

DN: I think we really pride ourselves now on a diversity of shows and we try really hard not to copy ourselves. We want each show to carve out its own territory among the shows on our air and among the competition. So [if] there’s a Mafia show, it better be really differentiated from The Sopranos. Let me just say I try hard to stay away from things that are on our air and other people’s air.

But to answer your question, I think our shows have pretty deep characters, rich characters that have depths and layers to them, have kind of a deeper psychology. We’re definitely programming for adults. Now, I think we’re going to get gradually younger. You’ll see us do some things and the next couple years that are maybe slightly younger than the stuff you see on the walls now, but not dramatically so. [We] want to be forward leaning and not sort of going backwards. A lot of television is trying to do what has already had success somewhere else, and we’re trying really hard to lead the pack.

MCN:When Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lionsgate left Showtime in 2009 to form EPIX, there was a question as to whether Showtime would be able to make up for the loss of their films. Does the movie business still play a major part in your overall strategy?

DN: Well, I’d say it’s not top of the list. We know that the most important thing in terms of every buying decision that the customer makes, whether it’s to buy or to keep you, or their general perception of our brand, is based on original series. As you know, movies are seen in so many different places in so many different ways, they become more and more commoditized. That said, we’re building up, you know, we’ve added [studios] Open Road, we’ve added STX, which it looks like they’re going to be a big factor and they’ve been a big factor in the last year and a half. And they’re starting to make more adult dramas, adult comedies, thrillers.

MCN:Are you leaning to make more comedies or more dramas?

DN: More comedies, more dramas, documentaries, sports. We made a pretty big push into both sports and documentaries in the last couple years and it’s starting to pay off.

I mean, we’re very well situated right now in the boxing world with [Deontay Wilder] and Anthony Joshua. So there’s a lot of hope for renewed interest in the heavyweight division and we seem to be well-positioned there … and the documentary area is increasingly important. It’s interesting how it drives audiences more and more. And The Circus has really had impact for us.

MCN:The timing was great forThe Circus.

DN: The ongoing election — yeah, that was kind of a big risk. You have no idea what you’re going to get. You have no idea whether the campaigns are going to give you any access. And you know, you’ve got to plunk down $10 million before and just hope something good comes out of it. And it really worked.

MCN:And what gave you the cajones to put down the $10 million?

DN: I feel like it’s a kind of documentary that we’ve been working on. I’ve wanted to use this sort of All Access model of very rapid filmmaking that we did for All Access or Inside the NFL or the college football show [A Season With] … for something other than sports.

Just the ability to edit things so rapidly to be able to shoot things on a Friday, have them immediately ingested into an editing machine and be able to spit it back out and put it on the air on Sunday — that would not have been so easy five years ago. When Bernie Sanders hosted Saturday Night Live, that’s Saturday night at midnight, Sunday morning. We were on the air … 14 hours later.

MCN:What other shows do you have high hopes for?

DN:I’m Dying Up Here is based on a book of the same name about the early days of standup in L.A., and it’s a comedy and it’s a drama. It’s Jim Carrey producing. It really gets inside the minds of standup comedy, and it’s Melissa Leo and an interesting ensemble. And of course, next year, Twin Peaks. I’m incredibly excited to see what David Lynch has done. I think he’s one of the living geniuses of our business, and I think he’s going to do something magnificent.

MCN:Post-linear, on-demand viewing is growing. What percentage of viewing is done when a show’s not in season?

DN: Over half. Yeah, they’re all over 70%.

MCN:What does that tell you?

DN: It tells you people have complicated lives. [Laughs.] Television’s gotten more convenient.

But more and more, it’s on-demand. And you know, more topical shows or water cooler shows get more [live] viewers, a slightly higher percentage. But the difference is Homeland maybe it’s slightly over 30%, 35%, watching the live show versus who’s going to watch the rest of the week.

MCN:Why hasn’t Showtime dropped more entire seasons to allow binge-watching?

DN: I fundamentally don’t believe in it. … Our shows are built for hooks, and I think there’s benefit in the water cooler. And if we had to do it all in one week, I don’t think it does justice to the creativity of the shows. Our shows are very hand-crafted. Ray Donovan is going to make noise when it comes on.

MCN:What about selling to OTT providers?

DN: Our shows tend to have a lot of value when they come off of our network because they’re high-quality and they’re only seen in a limited universe, so there’s great demand from Netflix and Hulu and Amazon. We tend to do that only very late in the run, because we want people to know, “You want Ray Donovan; you want The Affair? You’ve got to go to Showtime.” So we try very hard not to muddy that by making The Affair available; just wait a season and then we’ll come on Netflix. No, you’re going to have to wait years if you want to wait for Netflix.

MCN:You’ve said in the past that Matt has been very supportive of you. And I’m just curious, what’s your vision of what you want your tenure to be like at Showtime?

DN: My goal is for Showtime to be one of the cutting-edge creative companies making the best content in a very hungry ecosystem looking for great content.

We have the business model already that everybody in the entertainment and media ecosystem wants, which is subscription-based. People see the value of writing a check for our brand on a monthly basis.

And I think also we can be a creative haven. I want, within the Hollywood community, people to feel like, “Go to Showtime, they will take care of you. They will make you the best version of yourself. They will take care of your shows so that you feel when you’re walking in, you’re going to a place where creativity is fostered.”

MCN:Do you think we’re in a content bubble right now?

DN: I think there could be some froth. I don’t think there’s a ton, because it’s a profitable business and there’s a lot of people trying to get their share. There’s already been some failure.

But I don’t see massive contraction because I think there’s enormous demand, and you have a lot of hungry viewers around the world who are getting connected, getting wired and consuming content, enjoying it.

CBS Corp. signed a long-term licensing agreement with Sky making Sky Atlantic the exclusive home of Showtime programming across a big chunk of Europe.

Sky had previously licensed Showtime programming on a show-by-show basis.

The deal includes new and future Showtime series including Billions and the upcoming return of Twin Peaks. Also included are current shows such as Ray Donovan and The Affair, as well as on-demand access to the Showtime catalog including Californication, Dexter and Nurse Jackie.

CBS said this is the largest and most expansive international deal to date for Showtime and its first deal that spans multiple European territories.

Get complete coverage of the TCA16 Winter Press Tour.

Pasadena, Calif. — Showtime will move from its traditional “Noah’s Ark” release schedule, as David Nevins, president and CEO, described pairing up premieres of popular series, in favor of a monthly premiere agenda. That includes House of Lies in April, Penny Dreadful in May and Ray Donovan in June.

The Andrew Dice Clay comedy Dice also debuts in the spring.

“In today’s streaming world, you have to earn your viewers every month,” Nevins said.

Lead-ins in a time shifted world don’t matter a whole lot, he added.

“Some people love Homeland, some are obsessed with The Affair, some love both,” Nevins said. “People tend to set their own schedules.”

Further out, Twin Peaks, the ballyhooed series reboot from David Lynch, is halfway done with shooting and is set to premiere in the first half of 2017. The network also announced it has renewed Shameless for a seventh season.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Gary Levine has been named president of programming at Showtime Networks, where he will now add responsibility for casting and program operations to his previous duties, the development and creative oversight of the network's original series, documentaries and specials across all platforms.

Levine joned Showtime as executive VP of original programming in 2001, in his new position, he will continue continue reporting to David Nevins, president of Showtime Networks.

"Gary has been an integral part of building Showtime Networks' stellar original programming brand," Nevins said. "He also happens to be one of the most respected creative executives in the business because he knows how to bring out the best in everyone who works with him. Gary has proven to be an invaluable creative partner to me since the day I arrived at Showtime. I am confident that in his expanded role he will lead our programming team to outstanding new heights."

Showtime's originals include series Homeland, The Affair, Ray Donovan, Shameless and Masters of Sex, as well as a batch of movies and documentaries.

Prior to joining Showtime, Levine was president of Internet entertainment company Icebox. Previously, he headed development at Warner Brothers Television, Witt-Thomas Productions and ABC (drama).

Read mroe at broadcastingcable.com.

Showtime has renewed drama series Ray Donovan and Masters Oof Sex for fourth seasons, the network announced during its Television Critics Association Tour session Tuesday.

Both Donovan and Sex, which are currently in the middle of their third season runs, will return next year with 12 additional episodes, the network said.

“Both Ray Donovan and Masters Of Sex are signature series for Showtime,” said David Nevins, president of Showtime in a statement. “They are emblematic of what Showtime stands for – quality, premium programming that you cannot find anywhere else on television.  We’re so proud to continue offering both series across all our platforms.”

In other Showtime TCA news:

-- The network has ordered a one hour comedy pilot from executive producer Jim Carrey focusing on the 1970’s L.A. comedy scene dubbed I’m Dying Up Here, as well as an untitled, coming of age drama executively produced by Lena Waithe (Dear White People) and Common (Selma).

--Showtime will air in November The Spymasters, which will feature interviews with all 12 living directors of the Central Intelligence Agency

--Showtime will air in November The Spymasters, which will feature interviews with all 12 living directors of the Central Intelligence Agency. It also set a Sept. 26 date for the premiere of its documentary American Dream/American Knighrtmare chronicling the live of rap mogul Suge Knight.

--The pay TV service will develop performer Patti Smith’s memoir Just Kids to develop into a limited series and will chronicle the comback from injury of NFL star Victor Cruz in a fall Showtime Sports documentary I Am Giant: Victor Cruz.

--The network will debut on Jan. 17 freshman series Billions as well as the sixth season of Shameless. The network also released a trailer for Billions, which appears below. 

Showtime today has posted free samples of the third-season premieres of series Ray Donovan and Masters Of Sex on multiple platforms ahead of their debut on Showtime on Sunday, July 12, starting at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Viewers can sample the TV-14 rated premieres of Ray Donovan and Masters Of Sex for free now on YouTube and SHO.com. The new season premieres can also be accessed via select television providers’ free on-demand channels and websites, on Showtime On Demand and various partner sites and applications. The episodes also will be available via Showtime Anytime on desktop, iPhone, iPad,  Android phones and tablets, Kindle Fire, Roku players, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Apple TV streaming players anywhere in the U.S., as well as for download as a free video podcast on iTunes, Showtime said in a release. They will also be available on the Showtime Preview app on Smart TVs from Samsung, LG and Panasonic.

Ray Donovan stars Liev Schreiber as L.A.’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), 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 and Katie Holmes, with Elliott Gould returning. 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 is executive produced by David Hollander, Mark Gordon and Bryan Zuriff, and created by Ann Biderman. 

Starring Michael Sheen and 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, Showtime said in the release. 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. Season three of the series is set in 1966 when Masters and Johnson are dealing with the glare of the national spotlight as their sex study is finally unveiled. Their work will have a profound impact on contemporary relationships, especially their own evolving three-way “marriage” with Masters’ wife Libby (Caitlin FitzGerald). The series also stars Annaleigh Ashford. Guest stars this season include Josh Charles, Allison Janney, Beau Bridges, Tate Donovan and Sarah Silverman. 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. The series is executive produced by Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Amy Lippman and Judith Verno. Dave Flebotte serves as co-executive producer. Michael Sheen, Tammy Rosen and Thomas Maier serve as producers. Masters Of Sex is produced by Sony Pictures Television. 

Showtime will bow the third-season debuts of top series Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex on June 12.

The shows will make their linear debuts that night at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) and 10 p.m., respectively, launching the first of a dozen, one-hour installments apiece.

Hollywood fixer skein Ray Donovan ranks as Showtime's highest-rated freshman series ever, and averaged 5.3 million weekly viewers across varied platforms and airings during its sophomore year. The Liev Schrieber- and Jon Voight-starrer earned two Golden Globe wisn and multiple Emmy nominations.  

Season three finds Ray (Schrieber) 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 (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.  Ian McShane and Katie Holmes join  the show as guest stars.

For its part, Masters of Sex (pictured), averaged 3.4 million weekly viewers in its second season. It collected five Emmy nods and was named one of AFI’s Top Ten Television Programs of the Year.

The show's third campaign is set in 1966 and William Masters (Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominee Michael Sheen) and  Virginia Johnson (Emmy-nominated Lizzy Caplan) must deal with the glare of the national spotlight following the unveiling of their sex study. It’s the start of the Sexual Revolution — and their work will have a profound impact on contemporary relationships, especially their own evolving three-way “marriage” with Masters’ wife Libby (Caitlin FitzGerald).

Premium network Showtime is headed to the Great White North.

Under a new a long-term content licensing and trademark agreement between network parent CBS Corp. and Canada's Bell Media, the pay TV service's brand will appear over blocks of content available outside the United States.

The agreement is an expansion for Showtime programming in Canada, building on a previous CBS/Bell Media agreement that licensed current Showtime series on pay TV in the country. Over the course of the new agreement, Bell Media platforms CraveTV, a streaming service, and The Movie Network will become the exclusive sources of Showtime-owned first-run programming as well as most its catalog of scripted and unscripted series, documentaries and specials.

For Showtime, the deal underscores the success it has had building a premium brand in the United States, including a sequence of hit shows under Showtime Networks Inc. president David Nevins. That has made Showtime more of a year-round destination than a place viewers would turn to when Dexter or Weeds were making their runs.

Showtime also owns outright nine of its series and has an ownership interest in two more. That gives the premium cabler a clear path to licensing rights and sales internationally, as well as to streaming partners domestically. In the current crop of shows are such names as two-time Golden Globe Best Drama winner Homeland and this year's winner in that category, The Affair.

Bell Media president Kevin Crull said in a release: “Showtime has clearly become one of TV’s preeminent brands, and its slate of world-class and award-winning scripted and unscripted series, documentaries and specials guarantee our subscribers more of the premium TV they want on the platform of their choice.”

Under the Bell Media agreement, streaming service CraveTV will launch a "Showtime Collection" featuring the network's series, specials and documentaries, including at launch the immediate past seasons of current hits The Affair, Ray Donovan and Penny Dreadful, as well as originals Masters of Sex, Nurse Jackie, Weeds and more. All total, CraveTV will have rights to about 600 assets, the network said.

Additionally, a Showtime-branded programming block will launch later this year on Bell's TMN, a pay TV network. The programming will be available in English and French.

“This is a great moment in the history of Showtime, when for the first time our award-winning programming will be distributed and aggressively marketed as one brand beyond the United States,” Nevins said in the release. “This ground-breaking new deal was driven by the depth and breadth of our critically acclaimed original series. Bell Media, with their incredible range of platforms, is uniquely positioned to present Showtime to Canadian audiences in whatever form they choose to watch us.”

Katie Holmes will join the third season of Showtime's hit series Ray Donovan in a significant guest-starring role.

Holmes, the TV, film and Broadway star, will portray shrewd, chic businesswoman Paige, the daughter of billionaire producer Andrew Finney (Ian McShane), who enlists Ray’s services.

The network’s second highest-rated drama series behind Homeland, Ray Donovan is currently in production in Los Angeles.

Set in the sprawling mecca of the rich and famous, the series stars two-time Golden Globe nominee Liev Schreiber as L.A.’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.  During the second campaign, Ray’s life was disrupted when the FBI, his father Mickey (Jon Voight, in his Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-winning role), and his own family slip out of his control, testing his roles as protector, provider and patriarch like never before. 

The cast also includes Paula Malcomson, Eddie Marsan, Dash Mihok, Steven Bauer, Katherine Moennig, Pooch Hall, Kerris Dorsey and Devon Bagby. The third season comprises 12 episodes. 

The ratings roll reached an eighth straight week for Homeland.

The terrorist drama, starring Clair Danes, ran its skein of audience growth in its premiere window to two full months as Sundays night’s installment, entitled "Kreig Nicht Lieb," captured 2.11 million viewers in the 9 p.m. hour, according to Nielsen data.

Not only was the Dec. 14 debut the highest-rated episode and highest-rated night of season four, but it stands as Showtime’s biggest of the year, besting the 1.97 million viewers who tuned in the second-season finale of the sophomore run of Ray Donovan.

Sunday night’s delivery was up 8% from the Dec. 7 episode and marked a 31% jump from the 1.61 million for the season four debut.

All told, the penultimate episode of Homeland’s fourth campaign, tallied 2.7 million for the night, up 5% from the previous week and 34% from the 2 million on this season’s opening night.

The Affair, Homeland’s lead-out, averaged 837,000 watchers, 10% more than the prior week and 65% more than the 507,000 who saw the pilot. 

With encores, penultimate installment of The Affair’s first season drew 1.1 million watchers. That matched its total of the past three weeks, according to officials at the premium network, and registered 31% amelioration from its premiere night.

Showtime’s The Affair has some legs – not to mention other body parts.

The premium network’s new original show registered the best-ever live + 3-day bump for a series debut.  

Starring Dominic West, Maura Tierney and Ruth Wilson, The Affair’s Oct. 12 premiere at 10 p.m. garnered 507,000 live+same-day viewers, according to Nielsen. Gauged on a live+3 basis, the bow tacked on another 285,000 watchers to reach 792,000, a 56% jump. Showtime officials said that was the live+3 lift for any of its series’ debuts.

Similarly, The Affair improved significantly on its premiere night: the 809,000 for live+same-day rose 51% on live+3 measure, tacking on 412,000 watchers, bringing Sunday-night total to 1.22 million. The live+3 edge was tops for a Showtime series debut, according to network officials.

The amelioration by The Affair underscores the nation's predilection toward more delayed viewing: the fifth season live + same-day premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead scored the largest audience for a cable drama in history with some 17.3 million watchers, before another 5 million were counted via the live+ 3 measurement.  

Counting the live+3 adds, The Affair accumulated 1.68 million linear viewers for the show’s Sunday-night opening.  However, when on-demand and Showtime Anywhere views from authenticated platforms are accounted for, the tally reaches 2.5 million – and counting.  

Through Thursday, Oct. 16, The Affair’s on-demand action had already surpassed that of Penny Dreadful by 6%, Masters of Sex by 9% and Ray Donovan by 24% to become Showtime’s rookie series performer in that regard.

Gauged on authenticated platforms only, Showtime said The Affair’s pilot was 90%, 130% and 140% greater than the bows of Penny Dreadful, Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex, respectively.

CBS Studios International said it has reached a multi-territory licensing deal with online video giant Netflix for CBS and Showtime series like Ray Donovan and Dexter in six European markets and the Netherlands.

The agreement also gives Netflix exclusive first-window rights to the Showtime series Penny Dreadful in these markets.

In addition to Ray Donovan and Dexter, as part of the deal, CBS Studios International has also licensed to Netflix early seasons of current series Elementary, Under The Dome, Deadwood and Jericho.

“We're excited to have CBS’s world-class programming and Showtime’s acclaimed original series be part of Netflix’s launch in these territories," said CBS Global Distribution Group president and CEO Armando Nuñez in a statement.

In addition to the Netherlands, territories included in the agreement are for Netflix in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Showtime drama series Ray Donovan garnered its highest ratings in series history during its Sunday night season two finale, Showtime reported Monday.

The series' season two final episode drew 2 million viewers during its 9 p.m. premiere airing, outperforming the 1.2 million viewers generated for the season two premiere episode and the 1.4 million viewers for the 2013 season one finale, said network officials.

Overall with replays, the Ray Donovan season two finale drew 2.52 million viewers, topping the season two premiere night by 43% and the season one finale by 21%, according to Showtime. Ray Donovan now ranks third among all Showtime original series behind Homeland and Shameless, averaging 5 million weekly viewers per week across platforms.

Following Ray Donovan, the season two finale of Masters Of Sex drew 889,000 viewers, outperforming the season two premiere telecast by 8%, but it fell short of the 1.2 million viewers the season one finale averaged last December.  Overall, Masters Of Sex averaged 2.7 million subscribers (77% of its weekly audience) after its original weekly Sunday airings, said Showtime.

Ray Donovan continues to build during its second campaign, with Sunday’s episode, entitled “Snowflake,” drawing the drama’s largest audience to date.

The second season’s ninth installment averaged 1.63 million watchers in the 9 p.m. hour on Sept. 7, according to Nielsen data, marking a 10% jump from 1.5 million viewers the prior week.

 "Snowflake" outperformed the season two premiere’s 1.2 million by 33% and the 1.4 million for season one's finale by 16%.

All told, Ray Donovan, starring Liev Schreiber and renewed for a third season, drew 2.2 million viewers on the night, its most of the second season, and up 16% from the week before.

Season to date, the series is averaging 5 million viewers per week across platforms.

Showtime is letting viewers celebrate the Fourth of July weekend with marathon airings of two of its top original series -- ahead of their sophomore-season debuts later this month.

The premium network is looking to build awareness and score a ratings bang for Masters of Sex, which stars Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominee Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan as real-life pioneers of human sexuality, William Masters and Virginia Johnson. Its rookie run will repeat on Friday, July 4 and Saturday July 5.

On Sunday, July 6, Showtime returns to the first campaign of Ray Donovan, led by Emmy and Golden Globe 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.  Ray's life is complicated greatly when his father Mickey, Golden Globe-winner Jon Voight, gets out of jail and looks to set up shop in the City of the Angels.

For a complete list of replay dates and times, visit: www.sho.com/marathon

Ray Donovan and Masters of Sex, which will make their second-season linear debuts on July 13 at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., respectively, are also available on Showtime on Demand and the network's authenticated TV Everywhere platform, Showtime Anytime.

For a preview of Ray Donovan season two, which averaged 5.7 million watchers in its first go-round across myriad platforms click:  http://s.sho.com/1pmOsWW.

You can check out a preview of season two of Masters of Sex, which tallied 4.8 miillion weekly watchers, at: http://s.sho.com/masterstrailer.