Awaking to find that the Earth is still revolving and the atmosphere still has the appropriate balance of nitrogen and oxygen, Showtime president David Nevins issued a fifth-season renewal to Nurse Jackie, thus doing what a David Nevins does. "I am David Nevins, and I sound my barbaric yawp of endorsing a Showtime series as 'better than ever' over the roofs of the world!" Nevins said, probably. Anyway, though the Edie Falco-starring comedy is a Showtime original series—and therefore is guaranteed a long and happy life, unless it suddenly forgets how to point cameras at things—its continuation was genuinely in question after the departure of co-creators Linda Wallem and Liz Brixius last month.
But the network has narrowly avoided the catastrophe of actually having to part with a show by bringing in former Dexter showrunner Clyde Phillips, thus ensuring that Nurse Jackie will similarly go on and on, with lots of secrets. Everyone gets a secret! Anyway, the move marks a return to dark comedy for Phillips, whose previous forays include creating Parker Lewis Can't Lose and Suddenly Susan—two shows whose morbid humor (where Parker Lewis is trapped in a world of perpetual winning, and Susan is perpetually, suddenly Susan) should serve him well here.