2011-2012 Fall/Winter Programming Overview

NEW ORIGINAL SERIES

HOUSE OF LIES

Premiere: Sunday, January 8th at 10:00 PM ET/PT

HOUSE OF LIES is SHOWTIME's new half-hour comedy series from the hit tell-all book House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Tell You the Time by Martin Kihn. It's a scathing look at a self-loathing management consultant from a top-tier firm. Oscar(R) and Emmy(R) nominee Don Cheadle (Iron Man 2) stars as Marty, a highly-successful, cutthroat consultant who is never above using any means (or anyone) necessary to get his way with and for his clients. Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) plays a razor-sharp, Ivy-League graduate who works on Marty's team, along with Emmy(R) winner Ben Schwartz (Parks & Recreation) and Josh Lawson (Romantically Challenged); Dawn Olivieri (Vampire Diaries, Heroes) is Marty's acerbic ex-wife; Emmy(R) winner Glynn Turman (In Treatment) is his psychoanalyst father; and Donis Leonard Jr. (The Fresh Beat Band) rounds out the cast as Marty's young son. Created by Matthew Carnahan, HOUSE OF LIES is executive produced by Jessika Borsiczky, Matthew Carnahan, Stephen Hopkins and Don Cheadle.

RETURNING ORIGINAL SERIES

SHAMELESS - SEASON 2

Premiere: Sunday, January 8th at 9:00 PM ET/PT

Season 2 of SHAMELESS finds our favorite dysfunctional family braving the summertime Chicago heat trying to keep cool... and Frank (William H. Macy) out of trouble. Bearing the de facto parent badge, Fiona (Emmy Rossum) spends her nights working at a happening nightclub and her days keeping an eye on Debbie (Emma Kenny) and Carl (Ethan Cutkosky) as they run a makeshift daycare center at the house. Meanwhile, brothers Lip (Jeremy Allen White) and Ian (Cameron Monaghan) are toying with the idea of college, while Sheila (Joan Cusack, in her Emmy(R) Award-nominated role) is still housing Frank and making progress with her agoraphobia. As usual, the motley brood somehow manages to hold down the fort and make sure the bills are paid, the lights are on and there is food on the table. Developed for American Television by John Wells and Created by Paul Abbott, SHAMELESS is based on the long-running hit UK series. SHAMELESS is executive produced by acclaimed Emmy(R) Award-winning television and film producer John Wells, Paul Abbott and Andrew Stearn.

CALIFORNICATION - SEASON 5

Premiere: Sunday, January 8th at 10:30 PM ET/PT

CALIFORNICATION stars David Duchovny in his Golden Globe(R)-winning role as hedonistic novelist Hank Moody who struggles to raise his teenage daughter Becca (Madeleine Martin), while still carrying a torch for his ex-girlfriend Karen (Natascha McElhone). The new season will answer questions from last season's cliff-hanging season finale, including whether Hank, Karen and Becca will finally be able to live together as a family, if Charlie (Evan Handler) and Marcy's (Pamela Adlon) new baby will help reunite the now-divorced couple and, especially, to where, exactly, Hank was driving off into the sunset. Music icon, producer, actor and director RZA (American Gangster, Derailed) will guest star in multiple episodes as Samurai Apocalypse, an extreme-living, mega-rich hip-hop mogul who hires Hank to write a screenplay for his hot new film property. Sultry film and television siren Meagan Good ("The Game," Jumping the Broom) guest stars as Kali, a smoking hot singer who is Samurai Apocalypse's protégé, but who also sparks a flame in Hank. Californication is created by Tom Kapinos with Kapinos and Duchovny serving as executive producers.

DOCUMENTARIES

FROM THE SKY DOWN

Premiere: Saturday, October 29th, at 8:00 PM ET/PT

After reaching dizzying heights from The Joshua Tree album, U2 could have lost themselves in their own success. Instead, they retreated to a studio in Germany and ardently went about reinventing themselves. The result was 1991's Achtung Baby, a chart-topping tour-de-force. The process of creating the acclaimed album is the subject of Academy Award(R) winner Davis Guggenheim's ("An Inconvenient Truth") latest documentary.

THE LAST PLAY AT SHEA

Premiere: November 11th at 9:30 PM ET/PT

The intersecting histories of a landmark stadium, the unpredictable New York Mets, and music legend Billy Joel are woven together in the documentary THE LAST PLAY AT SHEA. Through the prism of Billy Joel's extraordinary career and blue collar perspective, THE LAST PLAY AT SHEA chronicles the waning days of Shea Stadium through a tapestry of performance, historical documentary and personal journey while at the same time providing audiences with a pop-culture snapshot of a seminal era in New York history. Set against the backdrop of New York City from the early '60s to present day, the film features interviews with players, performers and exclusive concert footage - featuring special guests Tony Bennett, Roger Daltrey, Steven Tyler, Garth Brooks and John Mayer, among others.

SAINT MISBEHAVIN' THE WAVY GRAVY MOVIE

Premiere: Thursday, November 17th at 7:55 PM ET/PT

Beginning with Woodstock '99, director Michelle Esrick spent ten years documenting the life of Wavy Gravy, a hippie clown who lived on a hog farm. Gravy is also an activist who currently funds international health care for the poor, a former beatnik poet, and a happy man intent on making the world a better place, not just being the honoree of one of the flavors of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

THESPIANS

Premiere: Thursday, November 10th at 7:30 PM ET/PT

Thespians tells the heart-warming story of four troupes and their journey to the largest high school theatre competition in the world.

WORLD AIDS DAY PROGRAMMING

KEEP A CHILD ALIVE WITH ALICIA KEYS

Premiere: Thursday, December 1st, 2011 at 9:00 PM ET/PT

Multi-platinum-selling music artist Alicia Keys brings five contest winners on an awareness-raising, inspirational journey to South Africa (against the backdrop of the World Cup) to visit "Keep a Child Alive" funded-sites in Johannesburg and Durban that provide first-class AIDS care, ARV treatment, support, nutrition and love to children and families affected by HIV/AIDS .

TAPESTRIES OF HOPE

Premiere: Thursday, December 1st, 2011 at 7:30 PM ET/PT

When director Michealene Cristini Risley travelled to Zimbabwe to explore the rape and AIDS crisis in the country, she interviewed young girls raped by local men who were taught that having sex with a virgin would cure them of AIDS. Filmmaker Risley focuses on Betty Makoni's organization, The Girl Child Network, which aims to re-empower abused kids and provides a network of protection for these girls.

SEX IN AN EPIDEMIC

Premiere: Thursday, December 1st, 2011 at 10:05 PM ET/PT

Focusing on the challenges that have hampered the efforts of HIV educators to curb HIV infection rates in the United States, this engaging documentary offers a look at the earliest days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and 30 years of awareness activism.

COMEDY SPECIALS

WENDY LIEBMAN: TALLER ON TV

Premiere: Saturday, November 5th at 8:00 PM ET/PT

Stand-up comedian Wendy Liebman, a popular headliner for 27 years, presents her first hour special, "Play-Mate of the Year* -- *as voted in kindergarten." A favorite of the nation's foremost comedy clubs and network talk shows and the recipient of the American Comedy Award for Best Female Stand-up in 1996, Liebman magically weaves together her trademark stand-up style, her unique philosophies and a number of fun surprises to create a joyous, one-of-a-kind, multi-media one-woman show that also provides an intimate, poignant window into her life and career.

DEBRA DIGIOVANNI: SINGLE, AWKWARD, FEMALE

Premiere: Wednesday, December 14th at 10:00 PM ET/PT

Debra DiGiovanni shares her unique views on dating, dieting, and love. Perhaps best known in the U.S. as a finalist on NBC's "Last Comic Standing," DiGiovanni is the top touring female comedian in all of Canada and is second only to Russell Peters as the most popular comedian overall. DiGiovanni was voted Canada's Best Female Comedian at the Canadian Comedy Awards, and her last stand-up special won the prestigious Gemini Award for best individual performance.

LATE NIGHT SERIES

DAVE'S OLD PORN

Premiere: October 20th, 2011 at 11:30 PM ET/PT

Top comedian Dave Attell (Insomniac with Dave Attell) will take us back to the "Golden Age" of adult movie-making -- the '70s and early '80s - with Dave's Old Porn. Armed with a pile of retro porn VHS tapes, Attell and some of today's best comics (Whitney Cummings, Chelsea Handler, Adam Carolla) will provide play-by-play commentary (in the vein of Mystery Science Theater) while watching classic adult films -- from the groundbreaking sensation, The Devil and Miss Jones to cult classics like Ultra Flesh and Deep Rub. They'll also be joined by porn living legends and current stars like Ron Jeremy, Georgina Spelvin, Belladonna and Seka, and several of the film's stars will reveal behind-the-scenes scoop on these erotic gems. It's an uncensored, unscripted celebration of the best cheesy dialogue and crazy plot points that made retro porn so great.

GIGOLOS - SEASON 2

Premiere: October 20th, 2011 at 11 PM ET/PT

Sin City's hottest escorts will return with an all-new clientele on season two of GIGOLOS. The eight-episode unscripted series will continue to offer an uncensored look at the unique lives of high-end, male escorts Nick, Vin, Steven, Jimmy and Brace as they balance relationships, friendships and family with the insatiable demands of their all-female clientele.