WILLIAM HURT JOINS THE CAST OF DAMAMGES

LOS ANGELES, June 16, 2008 Academy Award(R) winning actor William Hurt will join the cast of FX's Golden Globe(R) award winning series Damages for its second season, which is scheduled to return to the network in early 2009, announced Nick Grad, Executive Vice President of Original Programming, FX Networks.

Production of season two starts on June 24th in New York. Damages is produced by Sony Pictures Television (SPT) and FX Productions.

Hurt joins Damages for a season-long arc as a new client of Patty Hewes (Glenn Close). Details of Hurt's character are being kept under wraps, but insiders have intimated that Hurt's character will not only share a professional past with Hewes, but a personal one as well.

"We believe Damages has one of the finest ensemble casts anywhere on television and the fact that an actor the caliber of William Hurt has joined the cast speaks to the quality of series," said Grad. "It will be great watching him and Glenn Close work together again."

Creators/Executive Producers Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman stated, "We are thrilled and honored to have William join Glenn Close on our Damages dream team. The fuse is lit, and with these two actors going head to head, the fireworks are sure to fly."

The role on Damages marks the first time in his illustrious career that Hurt has signed on for regular series television. He reunites with Glenn Close for the first time since they shared the screen 25 years ago in the acclaimed film The Big Chill.

"To be able to welcome the brilliant William Hurt to our remarkable cast is as good as it gets," said Jeanie Bradley, Executive Vice President, Current Programming, SPT. "Watching him and Glenn tangle onscreen will surely deliver the goods that our audience has grown to expect."

Hurt is a four-time Academy Award nominee, and he won the Oscar(R) for Best Actor in a Leading role for Kiss of The Spiderwoman. He received Oscar nominations for his performances in A History of Violence, Broadcast News and Children of a Lesser God. He is a five-time Golden Globe nominee.

Hurt is currently starring in the box-office hit The Incredible Hulk, which was released this past weekend.

Damages, which is generating strong Emmy buzz, received the most Golden Globe nominations of any series on television and Glenn Close earned the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress TV Series Drama. The series recently received three nominations from the Television Critics Association.

Damages received an order for two additional seasons. The series concluded its first season in magnificent fashion in settling the Frobisher case as well as the mystery of who murdered Ellen Parson's fianc, David Connor, while brilliantly setting the table for season two.

In addition to universally acclaimed turns by Close, Rose Byrne and Ted Danson, supporting stars Tate Donovan, Zeljko Ivanek, Michael Nouri, Philip Bosco, Anastasia Griffith, Noah Bean, Peter Riegert and Peter Facinelli also drew high praise for their performances.

Close, Byrne and Donovan all return for season two.

For its entire first season, Damages averaged 5.1 million total viewers and 2.5 million Adults 18-49 in a weekly multi-telecast cume. On a first-run basis, Damages averaged 2.5 million total viewers and 1.1 million Adults 18-49.

Damages is executive produced by KZK Productions, Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler and Daniel Zelman, and it is produced by Mark A. Baker.

Sony Pictures Television is one of the television industry's leading content providers. It produces and distributes programming in every genre, including series, telefilms, theatrical releases and family entertainment for network and cable television, as well as first-run and off-network series for syndication. With more than 25 programs on the air, SPT boasts a program slate that includes the top-rated daytime dramas and game shows, landmark off-network series, original animated series and critically acclaimed primetime dramas, comedies and telefilms. SPT also owns one-half of cable channel GSN and is a partner in FEARnet, the premier horror/thriller website and VOD service. Sony Pictures Television oversees all of Sony Pictures Entertainment's (SPE) domestic digital distribution efforts across all electronically delivered platforms, including the internet and mobile. Sony Pictures Television, advertiser sales, is one of the premiere national advertising sales companies, handling the commercial inventory in SPT syndicated series as well as in all of SPE's digital businesses in the United States, for Sony BMG and for iN DEMAND's high-definition channel Mojo, and is part owner of national media sales company ITN Networks, Inc. SPT (www.sonypicturestelevision.com) is a Sony Pictures Entertainment company.

FX is the flagship general entertainment basic cable network from Fox. Launched in June of 1994, FX is carried in more than 94 million homes. The diverse schedule includes a growing roster of distinctive original series and films, an established film library with box-office hit movies from 20th Century Fox and other major studios that run in prime time and an impressive lineup of acquired hit series.