Showtime Takes ‘Homeland’ and ‘House of Lies’ To Series

In addition to HBO, Showtime has also usually been a home for good original drama and comedy programming. From Weeds to The Tudors, Californication, Dexter and the recent The Borgias, the network has been pulling out all the proverbial stops to up the ante for pay cable entertainment.

Following that line, Showtime has given series commitments to two new show: the drama Homeland and the comedy House of Lies. Both have received 12-episode orders.

Homeland, which comes from 24 showrunner Howard Gordon, stars Claire Danes, Damien Lewis and Emmy-winner Mandy Patinkin. House of Lies stars Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell.

Here’s more info on each show:

Homeland, produced by Fox 21, is based on Gideon Raff’s Israeli series Prisoners of War. written by Gordon, Raff and Alex Gansa, it tells the story of Carrie Anderson (Claire Danes), a CIA officer battling her own demons, who becomes convinced that the intelligence that led to the rescue of Scott Brody (Damian Lewis), a U.S. soldier who had been missing and presumed deal for nine years, was a setup and may be connected to an Al Qaeda plot to be carried out on American soil. Mandy Patinkin plays Saul, a veteran CIA Division Chief who is Carrie’s (Danes) boss and mentor.

House of Lies, written and executive produced by Matthew Carnahan, was based on the tell-all book House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Tell You the Time by Martin Kihn. Cheadle stars as Marty, a highly-successful and cutthroat consultant who is never above using any means (or anyone) necessary to get his way with and for his clients. Kristen Bell plasy Jeannie Van Der Hooven, a razor-sharp, Ivy-League graduate who works at Marty’s firm. Co-stars include comedian Ben Schwartz, Josh Lawson, Dawn Oliveri, Glynn Turman and Donis Leonard Jr. Also executive producing are Jessika Borsiczky and Stephen Hopkins who directed the pilot.

They both sound pretty good and both have good casts. I guess I will have to add two more shows to my Tivo soon. Damn.