Today, premium cable channel Showtime announced that it will be ordering additional seasons of its half-hour comedies Shameless and House of Lies. Each show has received a standard 12-episode pick-up, and both are set to return in 2015, Shameless for its fifth season and House of Lies for its fourth.
Whereas basic cable networks like ABC and NBC are canceling comedies faster than they can order them, with this season’s casualties including Welcome to the Family, Back in the Game, Sean Saves the World and The Michael J. Fox Show, Showtime is demonstrating a great deal of confidence in its line-up. The renewed shows join the previously picked-up Episodes, meaning that the network’s entire winter comedy line-up will be returning in 2015.
Showtime is wise to keep both of the acclaimed comedies around. Shameless, which centers on the day-to-day misadventures of the dysfunctional Gallagher clan, is Showtime royalty at this point, so there would have had to have been a significant dive in the ratings to stand in the way of the network ordering a fifth season. Conversely, the show, which features an ensemble cast led by William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum, is pulling in its best-ever ratings, with an average 5.5 million viewers across platforms.
Meanwhile, House of Lies, a dark comedy starring Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell as ruthless consultants, is holding steady with an average 3 million viewers per week, entirely consistent with its second season. The show also hit a season high in the ratings last week.
Tell us, do you watch either Shameless or House of Lies and, if you do, are you glad that both comedies will be around for a while longer? Or do you think it’s time Showtime said goodbye to these two comedies? Let us know in the comments section!