Showtime Preps New Comedy Block

NEW YORK, February 14:
Showtime Networks will roll out an hour-long Monday-night comedy block
beginning at 10 p.m. on June 16, which will feature the fourth season of Weeds
and the British production Secret
Diary of a Call Girl.

Produced by Lionsgate in
association with Tilted Productions, Weeds stars Mary-Louise Parker as a suburban mom who
turns to dealing marijuana to make ends met after her husband dies
unexpectedly. Showtime has ordered 13 new episodes, and production is set to
begin in April. The network was able to get a head start on the new season,
with Lionsgate scoring an early deal with the Writers Guild of America.

Secret Diary of a Call
Girl introduces viewers to a woman
struggling to balance her personal and professional life, where she is a legal
secretary by day and a high-class call girl by night. The series, which is
already a hit in the U.K., is an IMG/Tiger Aspect/Silverapples Media/ARG
production.

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski