Showtime, coming off its best year ever in terms of original programming, is banking on a hot Monday night lineup this summer.
The premium cable network announced Wednesday that it has picked up the British hit “Secret Life of a Call Girl,” starring British actor Billie Piper, and will air the first eight half-hours this summer, beginning June 16. That’s a particularly proud deal for the network, since it was arranged through Chris Albrecht, formerly of rival HBO. (Albrecht was tossed from HBO after a particularly public disagreement with his girlfriend.)
“It’s nice to be on the same side of the table with him,” said Robert Greenblatt, Showtime President of Entertainment, by phone Wednesday.
Not least of all because HBO has a similar-sounding series in the works, “Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl.” Showtime expects to get on-air first.
In other announcements, Showtime said Mary Louise Parker will return for season four of “Weeds” June 16. “The Tudors” returns for a second season Sunday, March 30. Peter O’Toole joins the cast as Pope Paul III. Also March 30, the network launches the five-part sketch comedy series, “Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union.”
With “Weeds,” “Dexter,” “The L Word,” “The Tudors” and “Californication” each drawing close to 2 million viewers each week, the network is “firing on all cylinders,” according to Greenblatt.
