2019 Showtime Pilots & Series Orders

Comedy

BIG DEAL
STUDIO: Showtime/Annapurna TV
TEAM: Vanessa Bayer (w, ep), Jeremy Beiler (w, ep), Jessi Klein (ep, sr), Michael Showalter (d, ep), Jordana Mollick (ep), Megan Ellison (ep), Sue Naegle (ep), Ali King (co-ep)
LOGLINE: A woman overcomes childhood leukemia to achieve her lifelong dream of landing a job as a QVC host.
CAST: Vanessa Bayer

HOW TO MAKE LOVE TO A BLACK WOMAN (WHO MAY BE WORKING THROUGH SOME SH*T)
STUDIO:
TEAM: Casallina “Cathy” Kisakye (w, ep), Lena Waithe (ep), Rishi Rajani (ep), Naima Ramos-Chapman (d)
LOGLINE: A collection of multipart episodes that will include a new collection of characters in an authentic world, telling stories about connection and rejection that explore our most harrowing – and harrowingly comic – sexual secrets.
CAST: Kendrick Sampson, Carra Patterson

Drama

CITY ON A HILL
Picked up to series; 10 episodes
STUDIO: Showtime/Pearl Street
TEAM: Tom Fontana (w, ep, sr), Chuck MacLean (w), Ben Affleck (ep), Matt Damon (ep), Jennifer Todd (ep), James Mangold (ep), Michael Cuesta (d, ep), Kevin Bacon (co-ep)
LOGLINE: Set in Boston in the early 1990s when the city was rife with violent criminals emboldened by local law enforcement agencies, in which corruption and racism was the norm, until it all suddenly was changed by what was called the “Boston Miracle.” An African-American district dttorney comes in from Brooklyn advocating change and forms an unlikely alliance with a corrupt yet venerated FBI veteran who is invested in maintaining the status quo.
CAST: Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, Jonathan Tucker, Mark O’Brien, Jill Hennessy, Lauren E. Banks, Amanda Clayton, Kevin Chapman, Jere Shea, James Remar (recurring), Gloria Reuben (recurring), Kevin Dunn (recurring) Georgina Reilly (recurring)

THE GOOD LORD BIRD
Ordered straight to limited series; eight episodes
STUDIO: Blumhouse
TEAM: Mark Richard (w, ep), Ethan Hawke (w, ep), Albert Hughes (d, ep), Anthony Hemingway (d, ep), James McBride (ep), Jason Blum (ep), Brian Taylor (ep), Ryan Hawke (ep), David Schiff (ep), Jeremy Gold (ep), Marci Wiseman (ep). Marshall Persinger (ep)
LOGLINE: Henry Shackleford aka “Little Onion” joins up with abolitionist John Brown during the tense Bleeding Kansas era before the Civil War and has encounters with history and historical figures such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.
CAST: Ethan Hawke, Joshua Jackson, Daveed Diggs, Wyatt Russell

HOMBRE
STUDIO: Showtime/Makeready
TEAM: Jonas Cuarón (w, ep), Gael García Bernal (ep), Brad Weston (ep), Sam Baum (ep), Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (ep), Pam Abdy (ep), Scott Nemes (ep)
LOGLINE: Marcos Osuna is a Mexican-American family man who is living undocumented in the United States. When his wife Leticia is detained by ICE, Marcos — both desperate and resourceful — goes to unprecedented lengths to get her back. He is enmeshed in a dangerous double life, contending with powerful forces set on thwarting his unwavering desire to unite his family.
CAST: Gael García Bernal, Marisé Alvarez, Greg Grunberg, Pepi Sonuga, Adriana Santos, Noah Reyes

INTELLIGENCE
Not going forward after initial series commitment
STUDIO: Showtime/Media Res
TEAM: Mark Boal (w, ep, sr), Megan Ellison (ep), Michael Ellenberg (ep), Alan Poul (ep), Jason Worwitch (ep)
LOGLINE: based on real stories from around the world, it will explore the secret inner workings of power – how espionage intersects with politics, finance, media and Silicon Valley. The first season will dramatize the behind-the-scenes history leading up to the 2016 U.S. election, with each subsequent season looking at a major world event through the lens of covert operations.
CAST: TBA

THE LOUDEST VOICE (fka Untitled Roger Ailes Project)
Ordered straight to limited series; eight episodes
STUDIO: Blumhouse Television/Showtime
TEAM: Tom McCarthy (w, ep), Gabriel Sherman (w), Jason Blum (ep), Russell Crowe (ep), Alex Metcalf (ep), Marci Wiseman (ep), Jeremy Gold (ep), Liza Chasin (ep), Kari Skogland (d, ep)
LOGLINE: Follows the sordid allegations of sexual harassment that prompted the Fox News to fire its founder and chairman Roger Ailes ouster from the conservative news organization. Based on Gabriel Sherman’s bestseller The Loudest Voice in the Room and his extensive reporting for New York magazine.
CAST: Russell Crowe, Naomi Watts, Seth MacFarlane, Sienna Miller, Simon McBurney, Annabelle Wallis, Aleksa Palladino, Barry Watson, Josh Charles (recurring)

THE L WORD: GENERATION Q
Ordered straight to series; eight episodes
STUDIO: 20th Century Fox Television
TEAM: Marja-Lewis Ryan (w, ep, sr) Ilene Chaiken (ep), Jennifer Beals (ep), Katherine Moennig (ep), Leisha Hailey (ep)
LOGLINE: Follow-up to the 2004-09 Showtime series that revolved aaround revolved around a group of lesbians in West Hollywood and their friends, family and lovers. The sequel reflects how members of that community’s relationships, their lives and experiences have evolved and what has changed — and what hasn’t.
CAST: Jennifer Beals, Katherine Moennig, Leisha Hailey

PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS
Ordered straight to series
STUDIO: Desert Wolf Productions
TEAM: John Logan (w, ep), Michael Aguilar (ep), Sam Mendes and Pippa Harris (ep), James Bagley (co-ep)
LOGLINE: Described as a spiritual descendant of the story set in Victorian-era London, the next chapter opens in 1938 Los Angeles, a time and place deeply infused with Mexican-American folklore and social tension. The series is rooted in the conflict between characters connected to the deity Santa Muerte and others allied with the devil.
CAST: Daniel Zovatto, Natalie Dormer, Jessica Garza, Johnathan Nieves, Adriana Barraza

THE PRESIDENT IS MISSING
STUDIO: Showtime/Invisible Ink Productions
TEAM: Christopher McQuarrie (w, ep), Anthony Peckham (w, ep), Heather McQuarrie (ep), David Oyelowo (ep), Bill Clinton (ep), James Patterson (ep), Bill Robinson (ep), Leopoldo Gout (ep), Jillian Share (co-ep)
LOGLINE: A powerless and politically aimless U.S. vice president unexpectedly becomes president halfway into his administration’s first term, despite his every wish to the contrary. He walks right into a secret, world-threatening crisis, both inside and outside the White House. Attacked by friends and enemies, with scandal and conspiracy swirling around him, he is confronted with a terrible choice: keep his head down, toe the party line and survive or act on his stubborn, late-developing conscience and take a stand. Based on the novel by President Bill Clinton and James Patterson.
CAST: David Oyelowo, Paul Adelstein, Medina Senghore, Gina Gallego

RIPLEY 
Ordered straight to series; eight episodes
STUDIO: Showtime/Endemol Shine North America/Entertainment 360/FilmRights
TEAM: Steven Zaillian (w, d, ep), Garrett Basch (ep), Guymon Casady (ep), Ben Forkner (ep), Sharon Levy (ep), Philipp Keel (ep), Andrew Scott (p)
LOGLINE: Tom Ripley, a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, is hired by a wealthy man to travel to Italy to try to convince his vagabond son to return home. Tom’s acceptance of the job is the first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud and murder.
CAST: Andrew Scott

RITA
STUDIO: Showtime/Platform One Media
TEAM: Christian Torpe (w, ep, sr), Lena Headey (ep), Elisa Ellis (ep), Lisa Cholodenko (d, ep)
LOGLINE: Rita is a headstrong, unconventional teacher and single mother who takes on every kind of authority – as well as her family – in a messy and unfiltered way. Based on the Danish series. Based on the Danish series.
CAST: Lena Headey, Josh Hutcherson, Bryce Gangel, Curtiss Cook, Darren Pettie

RUST
Ordered straight to series
STUDIO: Showtime/Platform One Media
TEAM: Dan Futterman (w, ep), Michael De Luca (ep), Jeff Daniels (ep), Elisa Ellis (ep)
LOGLINE: Explores the tattered American dream through the eyes of complicated and compromised Chief of Police Del Harris in a Rust Belt town in southwest Pennsylvania. When the woman he truly loves sees her son accused of murder, Harris is forced to decide what he’s willing to do to protect him. Based on Philipp Meyer’s novel American Rust.
CAST: Jeff Daniels, Maura Tierney

THREE WOMEN
Not going forward after getting series commitment
STUDIO: CBS TV Studios/King Size Productions
TEAM: Lisa Taddeo (w, ep)
LOGLINE: Tue story of three American women who suffered private and/or public backlash for their sexual desires. A mother in her 30s rekindles a flame with her high school sweetheart when her husband refuses physical affection, a 23-year-old woman reports her former teacher for pursuing a sexual relationship with her when she was a 17, and a restaurant owner whose husband and business partner picks out her experimental sexual partners. Based on the book by Lisa Taddeo.
CAST: TBA

THE WRONG MANS (single camera)
Not going forward after initially being ordered straight to series
STUDIOS: Bad Robot Productions/Warner Bros TV/BBC Studios
TEAM: James Corden (w, ep), Matthew Baynton (w, ep), Ian Maxtone-Graham (w, ep), Jim Field Smith (d, ep), J.J. Abrams (ep), Ben Stephenson (ep), Ben Schwartz (p)
LOGLINE: Two ordinary office workers have their menial existence turned upside-down by a chance phone call and a case of mistaken identity: “If you are not here by 5 o’clock, we will kill your wife.” As the only people who can help, these two unlikely characters must find their inner hero in their quest to save not just themselves but their loved ones and ultimately their whole town. Based on the British series.
CAST: Ben Schwartz, Jillian Bell, Annie Chang

WORK IN PROGRESS
Ordered straight to series; eight episodes
STUDIO: Circle of Confusion
TEAM: Abby McEnany (w, ep), Lilly Wachowski (w, ep), Tim Mason (w, d), Lawrence Mattis (ep), Ashley Berns (ep), Josh Adler (ep), Tony Hernandez (ep)
LOGLINE: Follows a 45-year-old self-identified, fat, queer dyke from Chicago whose misfortune and despair unexpectedly lead her to a vibrantly transformative relationship.
CAST: Abby McEnany, Theo Germaine, Karin Anglin, Celeste Pechous, Julia Sweeney

YELLOWJACKETS
STUDIO: Showtime/Entertainment One.
TEAM: Ashley Lyle (w, ep), Bart Nickerson (w, ep), Karyn Kusama (d, ep), Drew Comins (ep)
LOGLINE: Equal parts survival epic, horror story and coming-of-age drama, it follows a team of wildly talented high school girls soccer players who become the (un)lucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the Ontario wilderness. It chronicles their descent from a complicated but thriving team to warring, cannibalistic clans, while also tracking the lives they’ve attempted to piece back together nearly 25 years later, proving that the past is never really past and what began out in the wilderness is far from over.
CAST: Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, Ella Purnell, Sammi Hanratty, Sophie Thatcher, Sophie Nélisse, Steven Krueger, Amy Okuda

YOUR HONOR
Ordered straight to limited series; 10 episodes
STUDIO: CBS TV Studios/King Size Productions
TEAM: Peter Moffat (w, ep, sr), Robert King (ep), Michelle King (ep), Liz Glotzer (ep), Alon Aranya (ep), Rob Golenberg (ep), James Degus (ep), Edward Berger (d, ep)
LOGLINE:  Based on the Israeli drama format Kvodo.
CAST: Bryan Cranston, Michael Stuhlbarg, Hope Davis, Carmen Ejogo, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Sofia Black-D’Elia, Hunter Doohan, Lilli Kay (recurring)