Showtime orders two, reveals schedule

US cablenet Showtime has ordered a new drama series exploring relationships and a comedy show that will star Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kathryn Hahn and Rhys Ifans.

Happyish (10×60’) is being produced by Hoffman’s Cooperstown Productions and US prodco In Cahoots and examines the effects of pursuing happiness.

The show has been created, written and is being executive produced by author Shalom Auslander, with Ken Kwapis and Alexandra Beattie also attached.

David Nevins, president of entertainment at Showtime Networks, said Happyish would be “an incisive and current comedy,” adding that Hoffman and Auslander were “a formidable and unusual comedy team.”

Showtime has also added the 10×60’ drama The Affair to its slate, which explores how two marriages are disrupted by an affair. The show stars Dominic West (The Wire) and Ruth Wilson (Luther), and has been written by Sarah Treem, who will executive produce alongside Hagai Levi (In Treatment) and Jeffrey Reiner (Friday Night Lights).

Meanwhile the CBS-owned net has also revealed its spring schedule, with psychological thriller Penny Dreadful slated to broadcast in May. The show, which features some of literature’s most terrifying characters including Dr Frankenstein and Dorian Gray, stars Josh Hartnett (Black Hawk Down), Timothy Dalton (License to Kill) and Eva Green (Casino Royale).

Elsewhere, James Cameron’s climate documentary series Years of Living Dangerously is set to air in April alongside Edie Falco’s Nurse Jackie and the seventh and final season of David Duchovny’s Californication.