Showtime

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 7:40am on Monday, December 28th, 2009

Showtime, Others Boosting Online Sales Of Digital Programming, The Wall Street Journal reported on December 28, 2009:

"The Showtime cable-television network has begun selling episodes of its hit series "Weeds" online, weeks ahead of the DVD release.

The tactic, by "Weeds" producer Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., is the part of a more aggressive effort Hollywood is taking to boost online sales of digital movies.

Studios have become bolder in how they push their shows and movies over digital channels. Earlier this month, Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures started making online rentals of its hit movie "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" available for owners of some Sony TVs and other devices, well before the film's Jan. 5 release."

The full story:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703521904574614671253849410.html

Mondo Times editors    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 2:43pm on Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Showtime has signed Emmy Rossum to star in its pilot “Shameless,” about a Chicago family trying to survive the recession.

Mondo Times editors    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 4:19pm on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Showtime and acclaimed television and film producer John Wells (ER, The West Wing, Southland) are bringing "Shameless," the long running British TV series to American television starring William H. Macy (Door to Door, Fargo, Pleasantville, The Cooler).

Showtime has ordered a pilot for this one-hour drama tracing the lives of a very unconventional family which will be executive produced by Wells and the series' original creator Paul Abbott, one of Britain's most critically and commercially successful television producers. The pilot will be shot in December.

Mondo Times editors    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 10:04pm on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

September 30, 2009: "Friends" star Matt LeBlanc and creators David Crane ("Friends," "The Class") and Jeffrey Klarik ("The Class," "Mad About You") have teamed up on a fresh new send-up of the television business entitled "Episodes," a single-camera comedy series about a British couple whose hit UK show is turned into a dumbed-down American sitcom starring LeBlanc (as himself), it was announced today by Showtime President of Entertainment Robert Greenblatt.

Crane and Klarik created the series and Jimmy Mulville will also serve as executive producer through his successful Hat Trick production company ("Whose Line Is It Anyway?," "The Kumars at No. 42", "Worst Week"). Episodes, a co-production of Showtime and the BBC, will begin shooting the six episodes in London and Hollywood this winter for a 2010 debut on Showtime and BBC Two.

"What a thrill to have two giants of the comedy world like Klarik and Crane to satirize what they know best: the making (or un-making) of art," says Greenblatt. "We jumped at the chance to get involved with this cock-eyed look at network television told through the eyes of unsuspecting British producers who don't know what hit them when they enter the lion's den of Hollywood. And Matt LeBlanc -- wryly sending up his own image -- is icing on the cake. This show complements our eclectic and critically-acclaimed line-up of half-hour comedies beautifully."

"Jeffrey and David have a great idea -- I love it," said Matt LeBlanc. "I am really excited to be working with Showtime and the BBC. And I am so glad I got the part, seeing someone else play Matt LeBlanc would have been devastating."

When a successful British husband-and-wife comedy team are lured by Hollywood to produce a new version of their hit series for a stateside audience, they're initially thrilled at the prospects. But they soon realize what the American execs have in store for their precious show -- including replacing the erudite British lead with the quintessential comedy star, Matt LeBlanc -- and begin to sink deeper into the quicksand that is the TV business. Before long it's clear that not just the couple's show is at stake, but perhaps even their marriage.