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The terrific new series "Ray Donovan" debuted on Showtime Sunday night to record ratings for an original series premiere on the network. Nielsen estimates that “Ray Donovan” averaged 1.35 million viewers in its 9 p.m. timeslot, reports Variety, some 25% more than the premiere of “Homeland” in 2011. Looks like letting viewers sample the pilot online was a smart move. If the show fulfills the promise of its pilot episode it could turn out to be one of the great ones, an ideal anecdote for those of us who expect to be suffering from "Breaking Bad" withdrawal in a few months. Its credential could scarcely be more promising: Writer-creator Ann Biderman ("Southland") and founding director Allen Coulter ("House of Cards") are top drawer television drama veterans. Still, a couple of the early reviews have been truly clueless, knocking the show for getting the details wrong in its portrait of the title character, a ruthless and amoral Hollywood fixer, »
- David Chute
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