'Homeland' and 'Masters of Sex' Picked Up for Next Season on Showtime

Homeland is still Showtime's top series, so it's no surprise Deadline.com reported it has just been picked up for a forth season. The CIA thriller has an all-star cast of Emmy Winners Damian Lewis and Mandy Patinkin. And of course, Golden Globe winner Claire Danes (twice now, for Homeland). Though twitter has been fairly snarky about a snoozey opening to the third season, it's back in full stride and has numbers to prove it. The show is already up 26 percent in viewers compared to last season.

The new Masters of Sex premiered on September 29th, drawing in well over 5 million viewers each week. This is tracking higher than Homeland's first season. Michael Sheen is a lead and producer on the series, across from Lizzy Caplan. The series is adapted from "Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, The Couple Who Taught America How To Love." The book by Thomas Maier is based on the real lives of these controversial figures in science. The book was released in 2009, but has of course been re-released since the new show. Masters and Johnsons studied human sexuality in the 1960s, and the exploration of their personal lives in the Showtime series is still controversial today.

The President of Entertainment at Showtime Networks, David Nevins, made the announcement today that both series will be back with 12 episodes, one-hour long each. Masters of Sex runs at 10 p.m. after Homeland at 9 p.m.

Do you follow any of these shows? Any predictions for the seasons to come?