Showtime Orders HOUSE OF LIES, HOMELAND…Brings Kristen Bell and Claire Danes Back to TV

Showtime is welcoming two new series to their original programming lineup.

David Nevins, Showtime Networks President of Entertainment, has ordered HOMELAND, a one-hour drama, and HOUSE OF LIES, a half-hour comedy.

HOMELAND will star Emmy Award winner Claire Danes — who will always be Angela Chase to us!! — Golden Globe nominee Damian Lewis — whom hardcore TV fans may remember from NBC’s LIFE — and Emmy and Tony Award winner Mandy Patinkin — whom, you may recall, peaced out on CBS’ CRIMINAL MINDS several seasons back.

HOUSE OF LIES will star Oscar-nominee Don Cheadle and one of GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s favorite girls, Kristen Bell. That’s right, friends, Veronica Mars is coming back to TV! Well, not VERONICA MARS, but you know, the chick who played her.

The network describes HOMELAND as a psychological thriller that tells the story of Carrie Anderson (Danes), a CIA officer battling her own demons, who becomes convinced that the intelligence that led to the rescue of Scott Brody (Lewis), a U.S. soldier who had been missing and presumed dead for nine years, was a setup and may be connected to an Al Qaeda plot to be carried out on American soil. Patinkin will portray Saul, a veteran CIA Division Chief who is Carrie’s boss and mentor. HOMELAND is written by Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa and Gideon Raff, and is based on Raff’s Israeli television series PRISONERS OF WAR.

HOUSE OF LIES is written and executive produced by Matthew Carnahan and is based on the hit tell-all book, “House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Tell You the Time,” by Martin Kihn. Showtime says the new comedy is a scathing look at Marty (Cheadle), a self-loathing management consultant from a top-tier firm who is never above using any means necessary to get his way with and for his clients. Bell will play Jeannie Van Der Hooven, a razor-sharp, Ivy-League graduate who works at Marty’s firm.

The network is of course hoping that HOUSE OF LIES and HOMELAND will follow in the successful footsteps of their last four original series launches, THE BIG C, SHAMELESS, EPISODES  and THE BORGIAS.

Both HOUSE OF LIES and HOMELAND will start production of their 13-episode debut seasons during the summer of 2011.

Sound like shows you’ll be interested in checking out?

 

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