SHOWTIME will be available to 74 million households during a Free Preview Weekend this Friday, May 9 through Sunday, May 11. I highly recommend you watch PENNY DREADFUL. It’s even better than I imagined it would be. Viewers nationwide will be able to sample the network’s award-winning programming on SHOWTIME, SHOWTIME On Demand®, SHOWTIME ANYTIME® and on a number of participating distributors’ TV Everywhere portals. The Free Preview weekend will include the series premiere of the new drama series PENNY DREADFUL, as well as new episodes of the critically-acclaimed hit series NURSE JACKIE and CALIFORNICATION, the premium television premiere of Scary Movie 5, and the premiere of Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana, the thrilling 12-round welterweight world championship unification bout from Saturday, May 3. During the Preview, SHOWTIME will also debut the second episode of PENNY DREADFUL on SHOWTIME ANYTIME immediately following the series premiere on Sunday, May 11th at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
Free Preview Weekend viewers will have access to current and past episodes of critically-acclaimed SHOWTIME original series including HOMELAND, RAY DONOVAN, MASTERS OF SEX, CALIFORNICATION, NURSE JACKIE, HOUSE OF LIES, EPISODES, WEEDS and DEXTER®, all available on SHOWTIME On Demand and SHOWTIME ANYTIME. The network will also air a variety of feature films including Silver Linings Playbook, Django Unchained, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and Part 2, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Sinister, Alex Cross, Step Up Revolution and Lincoln. Documentary programming will include the first four episodes of Years of Living Dangerously, Richard Pryor: Omit The Logic, MAD DOG: Inside the Secret World of Muammar Gaddafi, Broadway Idiot: Green Day on Broadway, Springsteen & I, Made in America, LT: The Life & Times, Billy Joel: A Matter of Trust – The Bridge To Russia and History of the Eagles, among many others.
Saturday’s line-up on SHOWTIME will be anchored by the television premiere of Scary Movie 5, and the premiere of Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT, the main event from last Saturday’s SHOWTIME PPV® presentation of “THE MOMENT: Mayweather vs. Maidana.” This telecast includes the co-featured welterweight showdown between Amir Khan and Luis Collazo from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. In addition, ALL ACCESS: Mayweather vs. Maidana will premiere “Epilogue” at 11:45 p.m. ET/PT following the special SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® telecast of the two pay-per-view bouts.
Then, on Sunday, May 11 from 9 to 11 p.m. ET/PT, viewers nationwide will sample new episodes of the network’s hit comedy series NURSE JACKIE (9 p.m. ET/PT) and CALIFORNICATION (9:30 p.m. ET/PT), followed by the highly-anticipated season premiere of the new drama series PENNY DREADFUL (10 p.m. ET/PT).
NURSE JACKIE stars Edie Falco in her Emmy® Award-winning and Golden Globe® and SAG-nominated role as Jackie Peyton, a strong-willed and brilliant – but very flawed – emergency room nurse. In the sixth season, Jackie has returned to the demons of her addiction. She’s trying to cope with a real relationship (Adam Ferrara), an ex-husband (Dominic Fumusa), a daughter who is growing up way too fast (Ruby Jerins) and a sponsor who she can’t seem to shake (guest star Julie White). NURSE JACKIE also stars Emmy Award winner Merritt Wever, Paul Schulze, Anna Deavere Smith, Stephen Wallem, Betty Gilpin, Mackenzie Aladjem and Peter Facinelli. Special guest star Morris Chestnut returns, and Laura Benanti and Michael Esper guest star. Emmy Award nominee Clyde Phillips serves as showrunner and executive producer. Tom Straw, Richie Jackson, Liz Flahive and Caryn Mandabach also executive produce.
CALIFORNICATION stars and is executive produced by David Duchovny in his Golden Globe-winning role as the hedonistic writer who fights to balance the demands of his libido and his unpredictable career. The seventh and final season finds him joining the writer’s room as his never-released film “Santa Monica Cop” now becomes a television series of the same name. The series also stars Natasha McElhone, Pamela Adlon and Evan Handler. Michael Imperioli, Alonzo Bodden, Oliver Cooper, Brandon T. Jackson, Rob Lowe, Mercedes Masohn, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Heather Graham guest star. Tom Kapinos is the creator and executive producer.
In PENNY DREADFUL, some of literature’s most famous characters – including Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray and iconic figures from the novel Dracula, all brilliantly reimagined in a whole new light – have become embroiled in Victorian London. The series stars Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton and Eva Green. Reeve Carney, Rory Kinnear, Billie Piper, Danny Sapani and Harry Treadaway also star. PENNY DREADFUL is created, written and executive produced by three-time Oscar® nominee John Logan (Hugo, The Aviator, Gladiator) and executive produced by Logan’s Desert Wolf Productions, along with Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Skyfall) and Pippa Harris (Revolutionary Road, Call The Midwife), both of Neal Street. Of the eight episodes, the first two were directed by famed genre master Juan Antonio Bayona.
The Free Preview Weekend is available to digital subscribers of participating providers only, on both SD and HD feeds. Select providers will offer the Free Preview via SHOWTIME ON DEMAND and SHOWTIME ANYTIME. The preview will be available across a number of distributors including AT&T U-verse, Cable ONE, CenturyLink Prism, Comcast, Cox Communications, DIRECTV, DISH, Mediacom, RCN and Verizon FiOS. Available platforms will vary by participating distributor. Previews may contain PG, PG-13, TV-14, TVMA and R-rated programming. You must be a digital subscriber to receive video on demand and HD. For additional details and a full schedule of programming, go to SHO.com/freepreview.
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD™, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, FLIX ON DEMAND® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND, and the network’s authentication service SHOWTIME ANYTIME®. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks™, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution, which offers Smithsonian Channel™. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.