While most people know that they can go to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu and find a wide variety of television shows to watch, sometimes you just can’t find something good there. With such a big focus on these streaming services and other newer ones like Peacock and Discovery+, many forget that premium television networks like Showtime and Starz are fantastic places to find good series worthy of binge-watching.
In particular, Showtime is an underrated channel with a true variety of original programming to fit anyone’s taste, no matter what they are looking for. With everything from classic sci-fi series to new hit dramas featuring the biggest stars, there’s plenty to check out. Don’t want to dig through their whole catalog looking for the best they have on offer? Here are the greatest TV shows on Showtime right now.
Table of Contents
Billions
Created by: Brian Koppelman, David Levien, and Andrew Ross Sorkin
Cast: Damian Lewis, Paul Giamatti, Maggie Siff, David Costabile, Condola Rashād, Asia Kate Dillon
The Showtime series Billions pits two heavyweight actors, Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti, against each other in a battle of wits and wile. The show premiered in 2016 and currently has five seasons, with a sixth to premiere in January 2022. Lewis plays the character Robert “Bobby” Axelrod, a hedge fund manager with riches and influence who becomes the target of Giamatti’s U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Chuck Roades. Unfortunately for Chuck, he’s got his work cut out for him, as Bobby maintains a pristine façade as a generous, straitlaced man who fell into some good luck and now makes billions. Billions also stars Maggie Siff as Wendy Rhoades, Chuck’s wife and one of Bobby’s best employees. Wendy is strong and self-serving, and she doesn’t intend to back down from her career even as her husband is gunning for her boss. The series has been a critical success and is recognized as the first American television show to include a non-binary character, played by non-binary actor Asia Kate Dillion.
Shameless
Developed by: John Wells, based on the British series Shameless created by Paul Abbott
Cast: William H. Macy, Emmy Rossum, Shanola Hampton, Steve Howey, Jeremy Allen White, Cameron Monaghan, Emma Kenney, Joan Cusack
Showtime’s Shameless is a comedy-drama based on the British series of the same name. The popular show stars William H. Macy as Frank Gallagher, a deadbeat alcoholic and drug addict who is a horrible father to his six kids. This leaves Emmy Rossum‘s character of Fiona Gallagher, Frank’s eldest daughter, to parent her five younger siblings, which include Lip (Jeremy Allen White), Ian (Cameron Monaghan), Debbie (Emma Kenney), Carl (Ethan Cutkosky), and Liam (Christian Isaiah). Living in near-poverty in Chicago, the close siblings do whatever they can to help each other, with family friends Veronica Fisher (Shanola Hampton) and Kevin “Kev” Ball (Steve Howey) their main support system. The Gallagher family always gets into a boatload of trouble, with some of their misadventures being Carl’s plan to poison their cousin to avoid eviction and Debbie knocking out a bully at the pool, while every single moment with Joan Cusack‘s Sheila Jackson brings a specific sort of chaos to the show. But also be prepared for some crying, because Shameless doen’t shy away from the tough topics, with some of the biggest issues covered on the show being mental illness and economic inequality.
House of Lies
Created by: Matthew Carnahan
Cast: Don Cheadle, Kristen Bell, Ben Schwartz, Josh Lawson, Dawn Olivieri, Glynn Turman
Don Cheadle leads the cast of House of Lies in one of his two starring roles on this list, proving that Showtime is definitely the place for the actor to shine. In this series, which premiered on the channel in 2012, Cheadle plays Marty Kaan, an immoral, confident, and enigmatic management consultant who plays every trick in the book to lure in CEOs with cash to spend and make a deal. He has a team of fellow selfish charmers who know how to take advantage of the rampant corruption in corporate America, with Kristen Bell playing Jeannie van der Hooven, Ben Schwartz as Clyde Oberholt, and Josh Lawson as Doug Guggenheim, who all work with Marty at the consulting firm. A brilliant satire, House of Lies is also unique in its choice to constantly have Marty break the fourth wall and talk directly to the audience, which is rarely done in television.
Nurse Jackie
Created by: Liz Brixius, Evan Dunsky, and Linda Wallem
Cast: Edie Falco, Eve Best, Merritt Wever, Paul Schulze, Peter Facinelli, Dominic Fumusa, Anna Deavere Smith
Never thought you’d sympathize with a drug addict nurse? Well, think again. Edie Falco stars in the hit series Nurse Jackie, which focuses on her character Jackie Peyton, a talented and strong-willed nurse at a busy New York City hospital who will do anything, and I mean anything, to do what is right. Although she is well-aware of the rules and regulations, Jackie isn’t afraid to skirt them in order to save a patient’s life. Sure, she has her own problems to deal with, a couple of which include the aforementioned drug addiction and infidelity in her marriage, but Jackie’s definitely the nurse you want taking care of you in an emergency. Nurse Jackie also stars Eve Best as Jackie’s best friend and confidante Dr. Eleanor O’Hara, Merritt Wever as the inexperienced nurse Zoey Barkow who idolizes Jackie, and Paul Schulze as Eddie Walzer, a pharmacist at the hospital who serves as Jackie’s main love interest aside from her husband, Kevin Peyton, played by Dominic Fumusa.
Web Therapy
Created by: Lisa Kudrow, Don Roos, and Dan Bucatinsky
Cast: Lisa Kudrow, Dan Bucatinsky, Victor Garber, Lily Tomlin, Jennifer Elise Cox
Premiering on the premium channel in 2011, Web Therapy actually began in 2008 as a web series created by its star, Lisa Kudrow, featuring largely improvised comedy. It then transferred over to Showtime and became a full-fledged series with four seasons total. Kudrow is at the center of Web Therapy as Fiona Wallace, a therapist who decides to forgo the traditional 50-minute therapy sessions for a new structure she is pushing that consists of very short conversations via online video calls. Over the course of the show, it is revealed that Fiona’s life is just as complicated as those of her patients, many of whom are eclectic characters played by an extensive cast of major guest actors. Web Therapy showcases Kudrow’s stellar comedic ability to great results, while a few of the A-list guest actors are Meryl Streep, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Steve Carell, and David Schwimmer, to name a few.
The Affair
Created by: Sarah Treem and Hagai Levi
Cast: Ruth Wilson, Dominic West, Maura Tierney, Joshua Jackson, Julia Goldani Telles
Do you want something on the dramatic and angsty side? The Affair might be the right choice for you. The Showtime series stars Ruth Wilson as Alison Bailey and Dominic West as Noah Solloway, and it follows the two characters’ affair with one another and the fallout of their decisions. The Affair presents the story in a very unique way, with each episode being told in two parts, one from Alison’s point of view and one from Noah’s. As each character remembers the affair from their perspective, there is a bias that challenges what really happens. For Alison, she connects with Noah at a time when her marriage with Cole (Joshua Jackson) is at its worst, having just lost their four-year-old child, while Noah has what seems like a picture-perfect family with his wife Helen (Maura Tierney) and four kids. Throughout the show’s five seasons, The Affair further explores the aftermath of Alison and Noah’s extramarital activities in innovative ways, and it’s a great pick for fans of tense relationship dramas.
Ray Donovan
Created by: Ann Biderman
Cast: Liev Schreiber, Paula Malcomson, Jon Voight, Eddie Marsan, Dash Mihok, Pooch Hall, Katherine Moennig
A darker story, Ray Donovan stars Liev Schreiber as the title character, a “fixer” who does all the dark, dirty, and usually illegal jobs that others don’t want to do, including cleaning up crime scenes, paying off people and threatening others, and basically whatever is needed to protect his clients. Living in Los Angeles, California with many celebrity clients, Ray seems to actually enjoy his job, but it strains his home life with his wife Abby (Paula Malcomson) and two kids. To make matters worse, his whole life is thrown for a loop when his father Michael “Mickey” Donovan, played by Jon Voight, is released from prison early. Mickey heads right for Ray to return to the family that he believes was taken from him, digging up old family trauma and dragging his son into his new scams. Ray Donovan is one of Showtime’s most successful series, and the crime thriller is perfect for someone looking for a gritty, tense drama to binge.
The Chi
Created by: Lena Waithe
Cast: Jason Mitchell, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Jacob Latimore, Alex Hibbert, Yolonda Ross, Shamon Brown Jr., Michael Epps
Another Chicago-set drama like Shameless, The Chi is about life for a community of people living in the South Side of the city. The first episode of the series sets up what is a story of joy, innocence, loss, and violence, all centering around a core group of young Black boys who call the neighborhood home. This includes Jason Mitchell as Brandon Johnson, whose younger brother is killed in the pilot, kickstarting the show’s exploration of the presence of violence in the lives of Chicago’s youth, along with Jacob Latimore as Emmett Washington and Alex Hibbert as Kevin Williams. Throughout Season 1 and beyond, The Chi addresses the presence of gun violence and inequality in the South Side of Chicago, as these characters attempt to keep their life in order and maybe get out the other side unscathed.
Black Monday
Created by: Jordan Cahan and David Caspe
Cast: Don Cheadle, Regina Hall, Paul Scheer, Andrew Rannells, Casey Wilson, Yassir Lester
The second Don Cheadle-starring series on this list, and the first show set in the past, Black Monday is a hilarious series about the members of a fictional Wall Street trading firm and their misadventures leading up to and after the infamous “Black Monday” stock market crash of 1987. Cheadle plays Maurice “Mo” Monroe, a stockbroker who attempts to work out a shady deal to buyout a rising company. He is joined by Regina Hall as Dawn Darcy, one of the only women working in what’s generally a tough “old boys club,” Andrew Rannells as Blair Pfaff, the new, unexperienced employee at the firm, and Paul Scheer as Keith Shankar, a mess of a person who also happens to be a skilled, hardworking stockbroker. Fellow cast member Casey Wilson particularly shines in Black Monday as Blair’s fiancée, Tiffany Georgina. If you are looking for laughs and classic ’80s and ’90s style, check out Black Monday now.
Episodes
Created by: David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik
Cast: Matt LeBlanc, Stephen Mangan, Tamsin Greig, John Pankow, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Mircea Monroe
A British-American production, Episodes is a meta-comedy starring Matt LeBlanc as himself as he works hard to score his comeback role. Matt finds this opportunity when he is encouraged to take the lead part in a new series produced by English couple Sean (Stephen Mangan) and Beverly (Tamsin Greig). After winning a BAFTA for their British show Lyman’s Boys, the two are flown out to LA and asked to remake the series for an American audience, with the studio requesting huge changes — the first of which is Matt’s casting in the show. Despite a rocky start to their relationship, Matt soon charms Sean and Beverly, but the trio quickly faces quite a few challenges both personally and professionally that leave their future in question.
Weeds
Created by: Jenji Kohan
Cast: Mary-Louise Parker, Hunter Parrish, Alexander Gould, Kevin Nealon, Justin Kirk, Elizabeth Perkins
Weeds is about Mary-Louise Parker‘s character Nancy Botwin’s journey selling marijuana to support her family, which includes her two sons, 15-year-old Silas (Hunter Parrish) and 10-year-old Shane (Alexander Gould), after her husband’s sudden death. While this initially seems like a good idea and works out well, with Nancy using a real bakery as a front for her new business, Nancy quickly gets in way over her head, and does her best to navigate this strange and illegal new world. With a desire to maintain the comfortable life that she lived before her husband’s death, Nancy is willing to risk getting mixed up with the law in order to make money. That is, until it threatens her children’s lives as well. A dark comedy-drama, Weeds also focuses on Nancy’s brother-in-law Andy Botwin (Justin Kirk), who moves in with the family after his brother’s death to help raise Silas and Shane, Nancy’s friend and accountant Doug Wilson (Kevin Nealon), and many more interesting supporting characters.
Penny Dreadful/Penny Dreadful: City of Angels
Created by: John Logan
Cast: Eva Green, Josh Hartnett, Rory Kinnear, Timothy Dalton, Billie Piper, Danny Sapani/Natalie Dormer, Daniel Zovatto, Nathan Lane, Kerry Bishé
I grouped both of these into one because there is a lot of crossover between Penny Dreadful and its spinoff series, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, and they should arguably be watched together. If you personally have not seen Penny Dreadful and love horror, classic monsters, or simply Victorian-era England, this series is for you. The series stars Eva Green as a mysterious yet powerful woman who is helping Malcolm Murray, played by Timothy Dalton, venture into the dangerous world of the supernatural to find his daughter. Soon enough, they enlist the help of werewolf Ethan Chandler, played by Josh Hartnett, and discover that the world is a lot more sinister and monstrous than they thought. While the original series, which aired from 2014 to 2016, explores classic figures in literature like Dr. Frankenstein and Dorian Gray, the 2020 spinoff series Penny Dreadful: City of Angels brings the darkness to 1930s Los Angeles and Mexican-American folklore. Daniel Zovatto plays the first Mexican-American LAPD detective, Tiago Vega, who is quickly dropped right in the middle of increasing racial tension between the police and the Mexican-American community, while Natalie Dormer plays the mischievous demon Magda, who takes many different forms. Both series are extremely stylistic and detailed, and a definite must-watch for fans of genre television.
The Big C
Created by: Darlene Hunt
Cast: Laura Linney, Oliver Platt, John Benjamin Hickey, Gabriel Basso, Phyllis Somerville, Gabourey Sidibe
The Big C is a comedy-drama starring Laura Linney as a calm, suburban high school teacher in Minneapolis named Cathy Jamison, whose perspective on life and her personal future is greatly challenged when she is diagnosed with melanoma, a very dangerous type of skin cancer. At first, Cathy hides her diagnosis from her husband Paul (Oliver Platt) and son Adam (Gabriel Basso), freaking them out with her strange and impulsive behavior. But soon enough she tells them the truth, and together they find happiness, humor, and enlightenment in Cathy’s experience post-cancer diagnosis. While there is a great supporting cast as well, Gabourey Sidibe gives a standout performance as Andrea Jackson, a high school student whose relationship with Cathy starts off bad, but then develops into a deep and caring friendship. The Big C ran for four seasons on Showtime from 2010 to 2013, but it’s still an intensely underrated show.
Kidding
Created by: Dave Holstein
Cast: Jim Carrey, Frank Langella, Judy Greer, Cole Allen, Juliet Morris, Catherine Keener
The Showtime dramedy series Kidding, which earned star Jim Carrey a Golden Globe nomination, is all about a man whose career and personal life are so intertwined that he doesn’t know if he’s ever really himself, or is only playing a character. Carrey leads the show as Jeff Piccirillo, otherwise known as Jeff Pickles or Mr. Pickles, a character clearly modeled after Fred Rogers, a.k.a. Mister Rogers, who hosted the show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for over 30 years and is a national icon. As for Jeff in Kidding, he has the same caring, introspective ideals as Rogers, but at the beginning of the series, he is grieving the loss of his son and having an internal crisis of identity. The series wowed critics due to the acting of Carrey and other main cast members like Judy Greer and Catherine Keener, along with the way the show’s puppets jump out of Kidding‘s main narrative to portray Jeff’s journey from a new and unique perspective.
Back to Life
Created by: Laura Solon and Daisy Haggard
Cast: Daisy Haggard, Geraldine James, Richard Durden, Adeel Akhtar, Christine Bottomley
If you are looking for a show that perfectly blends comedy and depression, well, Back to Life is it. One of the newest shows on the list, this British series premiered its first season in 2019. The show stars Daisy Haggard, who also co-created and co-wrote the series with Laura Solon, as Miri Matteson, a woman who returns home to her small town of Hythe, Kent after serving an 18-year prison sentence for murder. Back to Life keeps you in the dark as to what exactly happened so long ago until the end of the first season, but there’s plenty to keep you entertained until that reveal. A kind, genuine woman, Miri simply wants to live a normal, calm life after getting out of prison, but for obvious reasons, people in town don’t trust her. Even her mother, Caroline (Geraldine James), is having a hard time dealing with her daughter’s return. While the show digs deep into Miri and her family’s emotions as she transitions to this new period in life, Back to Life deftly intertwines spot-on humor into every episode, so that despite the sad story, it never gets too dark to handle.
Dexter
Developed by: James Manos Jr., based on the book Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
Cast: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, Julie Benz, David Zayas, James Remar, C.S. Lee, Luna Lauren Velez
Based on the book Darkly Dreaming Dexter by author Jeff Lindsay, Dexter is a dark thriller starring Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan, a man who works as a forensics analyst during the day and is a serial killer at night. Not the sort of person you’d think could be a show’s protagonist, right? Well, you’d be wrong, as you really can’t help but like the antihero Dexter, whose childhood trauma leads to murderous tendencies that his father shapes into a weird form of justice. You see, Dexter only kills other serial killers. While that doesn’t make him any less of a murderer, it sure makes for an interesting show. While anyone who knows a bit about Dexter is probably aware that the show sort of goes downhill in its later seasons with an overwhelmingly disliked ending, now is actually the perfect time to binge the original series, as a sequel series, Dexter: New Blood, will premiere on November 7, 2021.
The L Word/The L Word: Generation Q
Created by: Ilene Chaiken, Michele Abbot, and Kathy Greenberg
Cast: Jennifer Beals, Katherine Moennig, Leisha Hailey, Arienne Mandi, Laurel Holloman, Mia Kirshner, Pam Grier
Another two-for-one, this entry features the original, culturally impactful series The L Word, which originally aired from 2004 to 2009, and the new sequel series, The L Word: Generation Q, which premiered in late 2019 and currently has two seasons out. A story all about queer women written and directed by mostly queer women, The L Word was a pioneering show about a group of gay and bisexual women and their personal and romantic lives in Los Angeles, California. The show brings representation to a group of people almost never seen on television at that point, and it’s also just a highly entertaining and emotional series. While The L Word is very progressive and compelling, the original series does have some issues in regards to the portrayal, or lack thereof, of bisexuality, transgender men and women, and other queer identities, and the new sequel series The L Word: Generation Q, successfully adapts to the times and gives a voice to a wider spectrum of the queer community.
Stargate SG-1
Created by: Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner
Cast: Jack O’Neill, Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter, Teal’c, George Hammond
Stargate SG-1 is the only science fiction series on this list (unless you count the Twin Peaks sequel series), and it’s quite an old show, airing for 10 seasons from 1997 to 2007, although only the first five seasons aired on Showtime before it moved to what is now Syfy. But considering the show’s long-lasting impact on the genre and television in general, Showtime should maybe dive back into sci-fi stories soon. Stargate SG-1 is a continuation of the 1994 film Stargate, set a year later, as a special military team (SG-1) from Earth travel through a portal to other worlds known as the “Stargate” to meet and find allies. Along with that, Earth is looking for superior alien technology to help fight off the invasion of the hostile alien race known as the Goa’uld. After Stargate SG-1, the franchise grew even more to include the live-action shows Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe, while a fourth is in development. So if you are interested in a new sci-fi franchise with plenty of content and interesting mythos to dip your toes into, check out Stargate SG-1.
The United States of Tara
Created by: Diablo Cody
Cast: Toni Collette, John Corbett, Brie Larson, Keir Gilchrist, Rosemarie DeWitt
Created by Diablo Cody, the writer of Juno and Jennifer’s Body, The United States of Tara follows Toni Collette as the title character, Tara Gregson, a normal woman with a loving husband and two kids who has dissociative identity disorder (DID). At the start of the series, Tara is taking her prescribed medicine to help her DID, but she’s experiencing troubling side effects and wants to get off of them. Following her therapist’s approval, Tara stops taking her medicine and lets her three known alter egos (although more are discovered later) run wild. This includes T, a flirtatious teenage girl; Alice, a housewife of sorts out of the 1950s; and Buck, a beer-loving, obnoxious Vietnam veteran. The United States of Tara also stars John Corbett as Tara’s wonderful and supportive husband Max, Keir Gilchrist as their son Marshall, and a young Brie Larson as their daughter Kate. The show aired on Showtime for three seasons from 2009 to 2011.
Queer as Folk
Developed by: Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, based on the British series Queer as Folk created by Russell T Davies
Cast: Gale Harold, Randy Harrison, Hal Sparks, Peter Paige, Scott Lowell, Thea Gill
Another classic queer drama like The L Word, Queer as Folk is based on the British series of the same name, transferring the story from Manchester, England, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The story follows five gay men living in the city, with plenty of interesting surrounding characters that their stories intertwine with, both LGBTQ+ and not. Starring are Gale Harold as Brian Kinney, Randy Harrison as Justin Taylor, Hal Sparks as Michael Novotny, Peter Paige as Emmett Honeycutt, and Scott Lowell as Ted Schmidt, rounding out the main five. Airing between 2000 and 2005, you can imagine how controversial Queer as Folk was at the time. The series was arguably ahead of its time, and it is still praised for its depiction of topics such as coming out, same-sex marriage and adoption, gay Catholic priests, the pornography industry, discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation, and a lot more. In particular, Queer as Folk is very open and realistic about sex, and it includes the first sex scene between two men on American television in the pilot. Overall, it’s an emotional, no-holds-barred, queer drama, and an important part of television history.
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