A Special Request Regarding Liev Schreiber’s New Pilot About a Celebrity ‘Fixer’

Movie star Liev Schreiber has signed on to play "Ray Donovan," the titular character in a Showtime pilot about a professional "fixer" in Hollywood, who solves the problems of the rich and famous but has big issues with his own messed-up family. The important thing is: DO YOU GET IT? I think you get it: he can "fix" anything...except his own family!

I imagine a "fixer" is like a cross between Harvey Keitel's The Wolf in "Pulp Fiction," Barney Stinson's unseen "Guy Guy" (the guy who finds you a guy for what you need) on "How I Met Your Mother," and a regular publicist. Actually, it just sounds like a certain type of extremely expensive regular publicist, but it could be fun, especially if it's procedural-ish with a Problem of the Week, and doesn't hammer in the family twist too much.

One request (because Showtime takes requests from writers on TV blogs, right? That's how "Homeland" was created, I assume): that this show do a "Ripped From the Urban Celebrity Legend Non-Headlines" thing from time to time. I know, I know, it's lowbrow, but The One About the Gerbil, at the very least, deserves its place in art. Actually, they all do. Do them all, especially the real, covered-up stories that were never confirmed or leaked! How subversive would that be? Nobody could even sue! I hope if they're not doing that, it's not too late to change the script, because that show would be the best show. [Hollywood Reporter]