Showtime exec calls pay-cable network the place for top dramas - New York Daily News

Josh Lawson (second from l.), Kristen Bell and Don Cheadle (rear) in Showtime’s new series ‘House of Lies’

PASADENA â€" With shows like the acclaimed “Homeland” and the just-launched “House of Lies,” Showtime Entertainment president David Nevins says he would be delighted for his network to become a go-to spot for dramas on contemporary issues and events.

“I think ‘House of Lies’ is incredibly timely,” said Nevins of a show that satirizes the manipulations of corporate America. “It’s about everything that’s messed up with American capitalism.”

Noting that “Homeland” deals with the complexity of combating terrorism, Nevins said, “I feel we have huge opportunities to challenge the world we live in.”

Showtime’s broader palette, said Nevins, also will include more sports programming, documentaries and the kind of quirky dramas and comedies that have become its signature.

He said the network is talking with Jim Rome about a sports show, plans a major push for “Episodes” this summer and is creating documentaries on Dick Cheney, Suge Knight and Richard Pryor.

He said Knight is cooperating with the filmmakers and that Showtime is talking with the late Pryor's family.

No airdates have been set for any of the documentaries, but Nevins did say April 8 will be the starting night for three returning series: “Nurse Jackie,” “The Big C” and “The Borgias.”

He said the network now knows the “endpoint” for the dark comedy “Dexter,” and that it likely will come at the end of the show’s recently announced two-year renewal.

But, he added, ‘Notice I said ‘likely endpoint.’ We’re keeping our options open.”

He said that in the seventh season of “Dexter,” scheduled for next fall, Michael C. Hall’s Dexter Morgan character will have some significant changes that will likely involve his adoptive sister, Debra (Jennifer Carpenter).

“It’s time to shake up what Dexter goes through so he’s not such a lone wolf,” said Nevins, who promised “a huge reveal” at the end of season seven.

Nevins also offered a tease about the second season of “Homeland,” another fall starter.

Claire Danes’ Carrie Mathison and Damian Lewis’ Nicholas Brody “have only just begun,” he said.

Elsewhere at Showtime:

n John Wells, creator of “Shameless,” said he doesn’t think some of his earlier shows, including the TV classics “China Beach,” “The West Wing” and “ER,” could make it onto broadcast TV today.

While he said he thinks broadcast takes more chances than it did five years ago, he said he likes the freedom of cable.

Wells, who on Thursday got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, said he’s “rooting” for both broadcast and cable to thrive.

n Oliver Stone’s long-delayed “Secret History of America” project may air this summer, said Nevins.

n Jeremy Irons, who stars as Pope Alexander in “The Borgias,” says he could see the series going two more seasons beyond the second one that starts April 8.

He even joked about the possibility of a continuing series with Alexander’s successor.

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