Showtime news stories on Newser

Hulu Joins Bidding War for Arrested Development

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:00:36 CDT

Arrested Development is one hot property: Showtime, Netflix, and Hulu are now in a bidding war over distribution rights to the upcoming new episodes . Showtime and Netflix were originally reported to be interested in the newly-announced "limited-run series," and Hulu has most recently jumped into the mix, New York 's...

Who Killed The Kennedys ? Caroline, Maria Shriver

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 08:39:38 CST

The Kennedys themselves were behind the History Channel’s eleventh-hour yanking of The Kennedys , sources tell the Hollywood Reporter. No advertisers or sponsors complained about the controversial miniseries, which was called "vindictive" and "malicious" by a former JFK aide, but both Caroline Kennedy and Maria Shriver have close ties to A&E...

The Big C Will Make You Cringe

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:20:00 CDT

Critics are split on The Big C , Showtime's Laura Linney-starring comedy about a woman with cancer living out the last year of her life, which debuts tonight: The cast is perhaps a bit large for a half-hour show, writes Mary McNamara in the Los Angeles Times , and the whole thing...

Soft-Core Porn Rules Premium Cable

M. Morris — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:25:36 CDT

Some things are certain: death, taxes, and Cinemax showing women with their shoes on having sex late at night. Soft-core porn is "in our DNA," an exec with the parent company of "Skinemax" tells the LA Times . "We're not running away from it." Neither are its premium-cable competitors, which are...

Shame on Showtime for Ditching Gay Shows

Harry Kimball — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:38:06 CST

Showtime, which has an openly gay president and used to be the home of “the two most sexually explicit gay dramas ever,” has failed its queer audience completely, Aymar Jean Christian writes. Sure, networks in general have backed off gay-centric programming after realizing “they could get a gay audience by...

Oliver Stone: 'Hitler Was a Scapegoat'

Mary Papenfuss — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 06:30:00 CST

Bad boy lefty film director Oliver Stone is stirring up the pot again, this time with his controversial comments that Adlof Hitler was a "scapegoat." Hitler "is an easy scapegoat throughout history and it's been used cheaply," he said at a press conference with critics where he discussed his new...

Matt LeBlanc of Friends Returns to TV

M. Morris — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:00:00 CST

Five-plus years after Friends left the air and nearly 4 after Joey went to the big cable box in the sky, Matt LeBlanc is headed back to TV—playing himself. Joey Tribbiani's alter ego has landed a part on the Showtime spoof Episodes, Reuters reports. " I am so glad I...

Stone Takes on 'Secret History of America'

Kevin Spak — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:30:02 CDT

Oliver Stone is nothing if not ambitious. According to the Hollywood Reporter , the director is prepping a 10-part documentary series entitled Secret History of America, which promises to examine important but under-reported events from the past 60 years. Stone, who will provide the narration himself, calls the Showtime project “the...

Falco Makes a Naughty, Irresistible Nurse Jackie

Matt Cantor — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:21:39 CDT

She's addicted to painkillers, cheats on her husband with a pharmacist, and punishes a diplomat who stabbed a hooker by flushing his ear down the toilet. In Showtime's Nurse Jackie , debuting tonight, Edie Falco is no Carmela Soprano, but a sarcastic, no-nonsense nurse who's better, critics say, than the show...