Nellie Andreeva

David Nevins made his TCA debut today as Showtime’s new entertainment president. He laid out his plan for the network: at least 2 and often 3 series in originals at any point during the year. To accomplish that, he has been ramping development with 2 pilot orders since he took the reins of the network in July: drama Homeland and comedy House of Lies. He said that there will be more pilots greenlighted by the end of the year but nothing imminent. He is looking to expand the genres of the network’s original series like venturing in the political thriller arena with Homeland. He also is making Showtime’s adult-oriented late-night original programming a priority.

During his Q&A session, Nevins was asked about the network’s decision to pass on The Kennedys, the eight-part miniseries recently axed by History. It didn’t really feel Showtime to me, didn’t feel premium cable.” But “I thought it was well done,” he added.

Asked if Dexter might be approaching an end, Nevins said: “I think there is a lot of life left in Dexter.” Why did Showtime renew The Real L Word despite middling ratings for the first season? “I think there is an interesting version of the show that we didn’t quite get last year,” Nevins said.

As for the future of Big Brother After Dark, “It’s been successful for us; I assume if Big Brother keeps going on CBS, we will probably keep going.”

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