I have a long and complicated history with SHOWTIME. I actually was able to watch it even before I saw a second of HBO, thanks to the fact that the 12-channel cable system in my college town was the notoriously cheap then-monolith TeleprompTer and they were unwilling to pay what they thought were the exorbitant demands to carry what even then was the standardbearer of pay cable. SHOWTIME had far fewer theatrical movies in their portfolio and far weaker stand-up comedy specials, but they did seem to always feature profanity and nudity, and in my house that meant a lot.
It’s never come close to either the level of popularity or industry acknowledgment as HBO. though every now and then some original series would sneak into the cultural zeitgeist, and when I worked for a basic cable network determined to bring pay cable-level quality to advertisers we were obligated to include it in our branding research projects. When we’d ask the anthropomorphic question “if (insert network name here) threw a party, what kind of music would they be playing?”, in contrast to HBO’s Top 40 soundtrack SHOWTIME would be imagined as having a funk-synth playlist. Blame all of those ubiquitous episodes of RED SHOE DIARIES, I guess. But when we’d ask if that was a party our respondents would like to attend (our backhanded way of asking “would you watch:), SHOWTIME inevitably came up with higher scores than my network did.
So it probably hit me harder than most when in recent years as Viacom/CBS morphed into Paramount and consolidation after consolidation was enacted SHOWTIME became increasingly irrelevant to their corporate leadership, and while it still exists it is perhaps even more of an afterthought than ever, illogically rebranded to emphasize that it’s literally an add-on to Paramount+, with the awkward monicker Paramount+SHOWTIME shoehorned into linear network GUIs. Just about two years ago, we lamented how that all went down and no, I wasn’t happy. And with rare exceptions there was little reason to even check out how the spun “vision” of new chief Chris McCarthy was evolving. At least until recently.
Late last year a project from the prolific team of George Clooney and Grant Heslov debuted. Yes, it was technically available first on Paramount+, dropping originals on Fridays. But as a de facto SHOWTIME project promotion was pivoted to its Sunday night linear slot, just like it was before streaming became studios’ priorities. And while it hardly attracted a sizable audience even by the more modest standards of theoretical “success”, it began to evoke more and more favorable reviews from critics and influencers and quickly earned a second season renewal even before 2024 ended–which in a company as volatile as Paramount Global is no small achievement.
And when I finally got around to catching up with it, I quickly discovered why. It has a strong pedigree, based on the critically acclaimed French series THE BUREAU. Its cast is dotted with top-tier talent in front of the camera as well, including the Oscar-nominated Michael Fassbender as the lead and a stellar supporting cast anchored by cable favorite Jeffrey Wright and the still-buff Richard Gere. (How ironic that Gere is now technically part of the same corporate universe as his nemesis Sylvester Stallone, who literally made him the butt of his jokes for decades. )
It’s Fassbender that steals the show as the complicated and love-torn lead which Wikipedia essentially describes as a triangle involving two humans and a country:
Covert CIA agent Martian (Fassbender) is ordered to abandon his undercover life and return to London Station. A past love unexpectedly reappears, pitting his mission and his real identity against his heart, hurling them both into a deadly game of international intrigue and espionage.
And as THE WRAP’s Kayla Cobb gushed yesterday, its premiere season produced a climax that justified its renewal (SPOILER ALERT!!!):
One of the best cast and most anticipated series of 2025 just ended with a bang. The Season 1 finale of “The Agency” had everything fans of espionage thrillers could ask for — explosions, a high-stakes mission, heated interrogations and double crossings galore.
The Season 1 finale of “The Agency” belonged to three agents: Danny (Saura Lightfoot-Leon), Coyote (Alex Reznik) and Martian …Most of Season 1 was a push and pull between Danny’s ego and the wisdom of Danny’s case officer, Naomi (Katherine Waterston). While Danny insisted she was ready to go out into the field, Naomi consistently held her back, testing her ability to keep calm during high pressure situations and quizzing her on the most minute details of her cover.
All of that hard work was put to the test when Danny actually attempted to enter Tehran, presumably as a geophysics graduate sent as part of an exchange program. She barely touched the ground before an officer drug her to a room and screamed at her, accusing her of being an agent. But all of Naomi’s testing paid off. Danny was ultimately released and allowed to enter Tehran.
On to Agent Coyote, who had the biggest action set piece of the season. Originally, the plan was to establish a kill zone at the clinic in Russian-occupied Ukraine where two Ukrainian ops were working undercover. As General Volchok (Juris Zagars) handed over Coyote to the Russian Deputy Defense Minister Chekhov, the CIA was supposed to swoop in and rescue him. But at the last minute, Martian learned that Volchok would be bringing more troops than anticipated. A motorcycle-bound Martian told Coyote’s case officer Owen (John Magaro) to move the kill zone up 300 meters seconds before he was hit by a car.
That accident left Martian in a tight spot, but his advice served Coyote well. Sasha (Dmitry Sharakois), a Ukrainian operative, shot Chekhov, a move that ended in his own death and the clinic descending into chaos. In the ensuing drama, Dr. Charlie Remy (Edward Holcroft) and the other Ukrainian operative set off a grenade in Chekhov’s helicopter, which ensured that if Chekhov survived, he definitely wouldn’t be able to escape.
The day was saved all thanks to Martian, who was sent to the hospital after his motorcycle accident. Once he regained consciousness, Martian learned it was M16 agent James Richardson (Hugh Bonneville) who hit him. James made Martian a deal: he and the British government promised Samia’s (Jodie Turner-Smith) safety if Martian agreed to work for them as a secret agent. Basically, Martian was forced to hand over the country he loves to regain the woman he loves more. He agreed.
Cobb’s recap was an exciting read, but it’s still more compelling to watch. And while it will undoubtedly be readily available on Paramount+, one will still need access to the +SHOWTIME option to have access to it. So I’ll put in a word that if you have such availability you should find a way to watch tonight’s finale on the linear channel for old time’s sake. HBO is still weeks away from its big winter push with season 2 of THE LAST OF US, and the 10 PM ET start should be after the Bills and Chiefs conclude (in case of overtime, there are several encores scheduled late into the night). It’s the way we used to watch high-quality originals on a network with enough hubris to insist its name was referenced in ALL CAPS in press releases, if for no other reason that it looked less inferior to HBO and FX which had no such compromise to make.
Given the direction of the incoming management (assuming, of course, that little $10B lawsuit kerfuffle indeed gets resolved), it’s more than likely that by the time Season 2 drops whatever is left of SHOWTIME, with or without a mathematical sign attached to it, might be further reduced or even gone. But at least for now, there’s a reason to seek it out. And feel free to find your funk-synth playlist in the process.
Until next time…