Penny Dreadful, Showtime’s new series, has all the ingredients to become a cult sensation – a very weird cult sensation. I can just imagine the fan fiction this intriguing, but strange, horror show will produce. Set in Victorian England the series features Vanessa Ives (Eva Green), who is a spiritualist/medium of great power. Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett) is the American Wild West sharp shooter hired to help her and Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton) who is combing the underworld of London to find his missing daughter, Mina. This world is filled with supernatural creatures, swathed in violence and psycho erotic moments, where psychic powers are real and everyone has a secret, or two.

John Logan (Skyfall, Hugo), who created Penny Dreadful and wrote all eight of the first season episodes, surrounds his characters with other literary legends: Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway) and his monster/companion, along with dilatant Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney) all wander this macabre world. And in the second episode (Séance) we meet the wild, Irish prostitute Brona Croft (Billie Piper) who is entangled in both worlds.

The possible connections to other literary, historical characters and events are endless. This has made some critics suggest it’s too close to the premise of The League of Extraordinary Gentleman (the wonderful comic book series/graphic novels by Alan Moore/Kevin O’Neil, not the dreadful movie version.) This literary device has been used many times, but to me Penny Dreadful has more of a flavor of Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula.

When we first heard about Showtime’s drama Homeland we have to admit we were a tiny bit skeptical. The truth is we had a bit of a hard time imagining Claire Danes as a CIA analyst gone rogue.

Fortunately, after watching the first few minutes of the first episode, we realized how wrong we were. She kills it, as do the rest of the cast, writers and everyone involved in this excellent show. Soon, the award-winning Homeland will be back for a second season and Showtime has released a new teaser for that season to help get you excited for it.

In it we see the return of our favorite cast members: Claire Danes is back in action, this time both as a blonde and a brunette, joined by Damian Lewis and Mandy Patinkin. Looks awesome and we cant’t wait.

Homeland season 2 premieres September 30th on Showtime. Click through for the video.

Fans of Chuck, the series that would not die (until it did) have probably been missing one of the best reasons to watch that show: Yvonne Strahovsky. Fortunately, the TV gods have smiled on us and will be giving us more of our favorite female super spy soon.

That’s right, the lovely Strahovsky will be joining Showtime’s Dexter in season seven for a multi-episode arc. She’ll play a “strong, independent woman” who helps Dexter and his colleagues with a few old cases — but Dexter thinks there’s something she’s not telling them. I’ll bet he’s right.

Of course, as we all know, Showtime is a premium cable network which often features a great deal of blood, violence and nudity/sex. Does this mean we’ll finally get to see more of Strahovsky than we’ve seen on those websites where they put celebrity heads on other nude bodies for fun? Not that we’ve ever gone there of course. . .

Whatever happens, this development is more than enough reason for us to take an interest in Dexter again. Kudos Showtime. Kudos.

If you’ve never read Brian K. Vaughn’s comic series Y: The Last Man, you’re really missing out. It’s very well written and has enjoyed tremendous popularity.

So much so, in fact, that it’s one of the reasons Vaughn ended up as a writer for ABC’s LOST for several seasons. Now, it looks like Vaughn’s TV writing career is going to continue.

According to Deadline, he has been signed to write Showtime’s drama series adaptation of Stephen King’s 2009 novel Under the Dome, from DreamWorks Television. According to the report, Vaughn was chosen after a long search by the show’s producers and will begin writing the adaptation immediately.

In case you’re not familier with the story, the supernatural thriller concerns locals at a Maine vacation spot who battle one another when a force field suddenly surrounds their town and cuts them off from the rest of the world. Yes, it takes place in Maine. Try to contain your surprise.

To be honest, this is not my favorite Stephen King novels. However, Vaughn is one of my favorite writers so hopefully he will bring his trademark wit and style to the project. The series expects to begin filming early next year for a debut sometime next Fall.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to reveal I’ve had Stephen King’s Under the Dome on my Kindle for about a year and still haven’t gotten around to reading it. Not that I think it won’t be good, it’s just that other things have come up.

Fortunately, it seems I may not ever have to bother reading the book. Why? Well, today it was announced Showtime is partnering with Steven Spielberg and Stephen King for an Under the Dome drama TV series, which will be produced by DreamWorks Television.

In case you haven’t had the time either and don’t know the story of Under the Dome, it’s a supernatural thriller which revolves around locals at a Maine vacation spot who battle one another when a force field suddenly surrounds their town and cuts them off from the rest of the world. Wasn’t that the premise of an old Twilight Zone episode? Huh.

Anyway, now that the deal appears to be done with Showtime, the search is now underway for a writer (or writers) to adapt the novel into series form. No word yet on who that may be.

However, if I may make a suggestion, I hear Frank Darabont is available. I think he would be a great choice.

Showtime, you listening?