Brace yourselves. It's grown-ups' night on Showtime.
Ray Donovan returns at 8 p.m. today for Season 3, followed by the third season premiere of Masters of Sex at 9.
For those fearless viewers not offended by adult fare, both series are rated TV-MA, and for a good reason. Masters of Sex (as the title implies) has adult content, graphic language and nudity. Ray Donovan has all that and tosses in violence for good measure. Much of it brutal and graphic.
Fortunately, both series are compelling, well-written and acted dramas that reward Showtime subscribers with two hours well-spent.
• Ray Donovan follows the life of a former South Boston thug who went to work as a "fixer" in Los Angeles for the law firm of Goldman & Drexler, which represents the rich and famous.
If you have a moral or legal problem and you're a Hollywood celebrity, superstar athlete or business mogul, Ray can make that problem disappear. If he can persuade it to disappear, he will. If not, well, it's been known to get ugly.
Ray (Liev Schreiber) is also a devoted family man, but with a weakness for the ladies. He's a consummate professional with a hair-trigger temper.
Ray may assume the trappings of his wealthy clients, but no amount of designer suits and sports cars can completely hide his blue-collar roots -- especially with his brothers and father around.
At the end of last season, Ray cut all ties to his boss and mentor Ezra Goldman (Elliott Gould) after Goldman went over Ray's head and ordered the death of Boston Globe reporter Kate McPherson (Vinessa Shaw) in order to protect the family secrets.
The new season picks up a few months later with the taciturn and perpetually brooding Donovan still at loose ends and living apart from his wife following her affair. Yes, there is a definite double standard in the dysfunctional Donovan household.
The series will kill off a familiar character early this season and add a spate of new faces when Ray is hired by billionaire movie producer Andrew Finney (Deadwood's brilliant Ian McShane) to fetch back his kidnapped son.
Finney also has a cool, calculating (and seductive) daughter, Paige, played by Katie Holmes. (See "but with a weakness for the ladies" above.)
Aside: Watching Holmes in the first two episodes was just another reminder of how fast time flies. I met the fresh-faced recent high school grad in the summer of 1998 on a TV critics' press tour in Pasadena, Calif. She was 19 (looking 16) and all girly bubbly with excitement at getting to star in the forthcoming Dawson's Creek.
Holmes is 36 now and has an edge to her in the post-Tom Cruise/Scientology years. Her Paige Finney is just about as far from Joey Potter as you can get.
As delightful as Schreiber is to watch in the title role, of equal value is the outstanding supporting cast, headed by Oscar winner Jon Voight (Coming Home) as Ray's neglectful and abusive, yet charismatic and charming, ex-con father Mickey.
Mickey's continued involvement in scams still threatens to destroy everything Ray has built for himself.
Here's a look at the other family members.
Abby Donovan (Paula Malcomson). Ray's wife enjoys the trappings of his success but she desperately wants to get out of the Valley and into the social circles of the true Hollywood elite. Desperation and loneliness forced Abby into an affair and in Season 3 Ray wants nothing to do with her.
Bunchy Donovan (Dash Mihok). The most vulnerable of the Donovan brothers, Bunchy was molested by a priest as a child and he has struggled with psychological problems and addiction ever since.
Terry Donovan (Eddie Marsan). The former boxer has developed Parkinson's disease from his days in the ring and his condition has left him despondent and shy. The season opens with Terry behind bars with Ray trying to keep an eye on him from outside.
In tonight's episode, a retired Mickey stumbles upon a tawdry new business opportunity at his apartment complex. Unforgiven by Ray and rejected by her daughter Bridget (Kerris Dorsey), Abby brings home a new friend off the streets of Los Angeles.
Running Terry's fight club has given Bunchy confidence in certain arenas, but when it comes to collecting membership dues from some Mexican deadbeats, he loses his nerve.
• Masters of Sex stars Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan as real-life human sexuality researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson.
In the new season, it's 1966 and, thrust into the spotlight by the publication of their controversial study, Human Sexual Response, Masters and Johnson find themselves the unlikely gurus of the sexual revolution.
Josh Charles (The Good Wife) joins the cast this season as a perfume salesman. Other guest stars include Allison Janney and Beau Bridges.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 07/12/2015