Seems Showtime is luring more and more unique talents who made their names at HBO. This may be the biggest.
Edie Falco has signed with Showtime to star in a new “single-camera dark comedy” about an “iconoclastic New York City nurse juggling the frenzied grind of an urban hospital and an equally challenging personal life.”
The personal-life drama she has down, of course, from six seasons of HBO’s “The Sopranos.” But the nurse gig adds a workplace dimension. “My time on ‘The Sopranos’ was so rich and so full, the challenge has been finding something else that would excite me,” Falco said in Showtime’s announcement today. “This character and the writing are truly thrilling.”
Preproduction starts immediately, Showtime says, for shooting to take place in New York. Creators are Liz Brixius and Linda Wallem. And wouldn’t you know it, in addition to writing credits on “That ’70s Show” and “Cybill,” Wallem’s resume also includes producing on Lisa Kudrow’s uncomfortable but underrated HBO comedy “The Comeback.”
Showtime already has a host of HBO refugees. Michael C. Hall of “Six Feet Under” stars now on Showtime’s hit “Dexter.” Sketch comic Tracey Ullman has brought over her chameleon self for a new series premiering March 30 (right after the second season return of “The Tudors”). And the British series sensation “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” starring “Doctor Who” blonde Billie Piper, was imported for a June 16 Showtime premiere by former HBO programmer turned production packager Chris Albrecht.
Falco's new series should fit right in with the likes of "Weeds" and "Californication" as Showtime continues exploring the far reaches of TV comedy. And let's not forget Showtime was there in the past, too, creating such '80s comedy groundbreakers as "Brothers" and "It's Garry Shandling's Show."
[Above: NBC photo of Edie Falco with Alec Baldwin on "30 Rock" last fall.]