Showtime Renews Comedies Shameless, House of Lies and Californication

Move comes in the wake of record ratings for the Sunday-night programs

By Shawna Malcom Jan 29, 2013 8:23 PMTags
Emmy Rossum, ShamelessChuck Hodes/SHOWTIME

Showtime will keep the laughs coming: The pay-cable network has renewed its Sunday night comedies Shameless, House of Lies and Californication

Thanks to record-setting season premieres for each earlier this month, the decision was hardly a difficult one, according to Showtime entertainment president David Nevins. "Californication, House of Lies and Shameless possess highly distinctive comedic voices, and given that all three continue to grow their audience season after season, the pick-up decision was easy," Nevins said in a statement  announcing the news. "I am incredibly excited to see what each of these series has in store for their next seasons."

In its third season, the Emmy Rossum-starring Shameless is up 22 percent and averaging 5.4 million weekly viewers. Meanwhile, the second season of House of Lies, which stars recent Golden Globe winner Don Cheadle, is averaging 3.2 million weekly viewers and season six of David Duchovny's Californication is right behind with 3.1 million. With the renewals, the trio will return with fresh episodes in 2014.

The success of Showtime's Sunday-night line-up is just the latest bit of good news for the pay-cable net, which is on a drama roll as well, thanks to the Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG-winning thriller Homeland