Showtime is Carmela Soprano's new boss

TCA: Showtime Picks Up Edie Falco Series
Pay network also developing spinoff of The L Word.
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/18/2008 8:26:00 PM

Beverly Hills -- Showtime announced that it ordered to series a pilot starring Edie Falco at the 2008 Television Critics Association press tour here.


The show, tentatively titled Nurse Jackie, will follow Falco's day-to-day life as a nurse with a drug problem. The series will begin production in the fall for a spring/early summer 2009 debut.

"Conceptually, it isn't the most high-concept idea, but I don't think you have ever quite seen a nurse like this," Showtime entertainment president Robert Greenblatt said. "It is not going to be case-driven. It's a half-hour as opposed to an hour."

The network also said it is developing a spinoff of The L Word, which is entering its final season. The spinoff, being developed by L Word creator Ilene Chaikin, will star a character from the current series, though it has not yet been determined who it will be.

In an unusual move, the series finale will feature a cliffhanger plotline that will continue to an online spinoff of the series "to keep the L Word experience going," Greenblatt said. If the pilot goes to series, the plot would continue on the new program.

The network also ordered an additional two seasons of Weeds, totaling 26 episodes.
“Much more illicit drugs to come on that show,” Greenblatt said.

As reported by B&C, the network also ordered six episodes of documentary series Lock 'N Load and a seventh season of Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, the longest-running series on the channel.

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