Showtime announces ‘Nurse Jackie,’ ‘Penny Dreadful,’ ‘Californication’ premiere dates

Are you a fan of Showtime, or at least a fan of their much-anticipated new series “Penny Dreadful”? Then we have some potentially-good new for you today: A premiere date!

Before we come to that, though, let’s start things off with some news from the world of comedy. The sixth season of “Nurse Jackie” is going to launch on the network starting on Sunday, April 13 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time, and will be followed by the final-season premiere of “Californication.” These two shows are not necessarily ratings machines, but have had a pretty enormous following among diehard fans. They’re also smart spring counter-programming to “Game of Thrones,” which will suck up a ton of ratings like a vacuum in the spring.

As for “Penny Dreadful,” this show is going to make its grand debut on Sunday, May 11, and is smartly going to take the 10:00 p.m. spot to not square off against “Game of Thrones” or some of the other titans across TV. In case you haven’t heard much about the show yet, the logline claims that it will feature “some of literature’s most famously terrifying characters – including Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray and iconic figures from the novel Dracula, all brilliantly re-imagined in a whole new light – have become embroiled in Victorian London.”

All in all, some good news, and a sign that following the end of “Dexter,” Showtime is continuing to build on the go with their series. “Penny Dreadful” will serve as a nice bridge between their comedies and the start of “Ray Donovan,” which will likely premiere at some point in June given when it aired this past summer.