Let’s play a new game called Guess the Next Showtime Series. All you really need is breadth of transgressive vocabulary. The next Showtime series could be about a baby-shaking nanny, a gay priest, a transgendered republican politician, a romance between a bouncer and a crack whore, a bulimic chef, an S & M buffet, a topless donut shop; what it won’t be about is a bunch of urban thirty-somethings with weaves and Laboutins combing the cocktail lounges for husbands.

The LA Times reports:

It's quite a turnaround from five years ago, when the channel was best known for the gay drama "Queer as Folk." Showtime seemed destined to stay hidden in the shadow of HBO, which has long dominated the pay-TV landscape.

But a slate of programming that plays on aberrant social behavior is helping the cable channel stand out from the crowd: A widow in "Weeds" becomes a pot dealer to maintain her upscale lifestyle, a serial killer in "Dexter" is a police blood-splatter expert, a novelist in "Californication" is a cynical womanizer, and Henry VIII in "The Tudors" is a lust-driven young king with marital problems.

 

The pathology programming, introduced by entertainment chief Robert Greenblatt, has led Showtime to add 1.1 million subscribers this year, an increase of 7% over 2007, for a total of 16.5 million homes…

Showtime is now attracting other top talent. In January, the network will launch "United States of Tara," starring Toni Collette ("Little Miss Sunshine") as a wife and mother who has multiple personalities. Steven Spielberg is an executive producer. Next summer, the network plans to wheel out "Nurse Jackie," featuring Edie Falco, who played the wife of Tony Soprano. This time, Falco portrays a strong-willed, pill-popping New York City nurse.

Okay, so what’s it gonna be next? Psychopathic shrink? Lawyer with an underground gambling crew? Stripper with a heart of gold that becomes a surrogate mother for her skeezy client’s infertile wife? Whatever it is, it will be televised guilty pleasure.