Showtime has set their 2016 fall schedule and announced the return dates of Shameless, Masters of Sex, and The Affair. Masters of Sex is the first to return to the Showtime lineup, with season four kicking off on September 11th at 10pm ET/PT. Shameless will rejoin the schedule for its seventh season beginning on October 2nd at 9pm ET/PT. And The Affair‘s third season will premiere on November 20th at 10pm ET/PT.
Masters of Sex is based on Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, The Couple Who Taught America How To Love by Thomas Maier and stars Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan as William Masters and Virginia Johnson. The upcoming season will begin in 1968 and “will take viewers into the ‘swinging ’70s’ during which time our characters will take on new partners both professionally, personally and sexually.” Michelle Ashford developed and executive produces the critically acclaimed series, with Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Amy Lippman and Judith Verno also executive producing.
Shameless season seven will pick up with the Gallagher clan after they tossed Frank (William H. Macy) into the Chicago River after destroying Fiona’s wedding. Returning cast members include Macy, Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Allen White, Ethan Cutkosky, Shanola Hampton, Steve Howey, Emma Kenney, Cameron Monaghan and Isidora Goreshter. John Wells executive produces along with Christopher Chulack, Nancy M. Pimental, Krista Vernoff, Etan Frankel and Sheila Callaghan.
Showtime also released details on what viewers can expect in season three of The Affair. “Over its first two seasons, told from distinctly different perspectives, The Affair has explored the emotional and psychological effects of an affair that destroyed two marriages, and the crime that bound these individuals together. The Affair features Ruth Wilson in her Golden Globe-winning role as Alison, a young woman attempting to move on from tragedy and build a lasting relationship while contending with the judgment of others and her own self-doubt. Her lover Noah (Golden Globe nominee Dominic West) is a burgeoning writer trying to balance the temptations of success, the family he left behind, and the woman he loves. Noah’s former wife Helen (Emmy Award nominee Maura Tierney) is attempting to piece her life together while navigating divorce proceedings, care for her children, and her parents’ noxious influence. Screen Actors Guild(R) nominee Joshua Jackson plays Cole, Alison’s former husband struggling to overcome past heartbreak and start a promising new life. At the conclusion of season two, the mystery of who killed Scotty Lockhart was finally solved when it was revealed that Helen (Maura Tierney) was at the wheel of the hit-and-run that killed him on the night of Cole’s (Joshua Jackson) wedding. To save Helen, his ex-wife and the mother of his children, Noah (Dominic West) confesses to the crime. Meanwhile, his new wife Alison (Ruth Wilson) is left to raise her daughter, whose father turns out to be Cole, Alison’s ex-husband.”
