New on Showtime: All the Movies and TV Coming in September

Showtime’s most exciting September additions have one thing in common, and that thing is a person, and that person is Jim Carrey. Carrey stars in the pay-cable channel’s top film and TV titles on the way next month, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Kidding, respectively, and though those titles are over a decade apart, they each find Carrey teaming up with Michel Gondry to make us laugh and cry at the same damn time.

The Oscar-winning Eternal Sunshine leads what is an all-around strong incoming feature film slate for Showtime. The 2004 romantic dramedy, penned by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Gondry, stars Carrey and Kate Winslet as a mismatched couple who, upon beginning a relationship, discover they’d actually already had one, having expunged it from their memories via Lacuna Inc.’s cutting-edge, memory-erasing technology. That inventive and bittersweet film debuts on Sept. 1, as do George Lucas’ nostalgic coming-of-age tale American Graffiti, both original Bill & Ted films (including 1989’s Excellent Adventure and 1991’s Bogus Journey), early-2000s Douglas Adams adaptation The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Kathryn Bigelow’s Best Picture-winning Iraq war thriller The Hurt Locker, Cameron Crowe career highlight Jerry Maguire, beloved Reese Witherspoon comedy Legally Blonde, Werner Herzog’s 2006 Vietnam war epic Rescue Dawn, iconic ‘80s gangster tragedy Scarface and Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar-winning drug war drama Traffic. Following those films are three September stragglers, including acclaimed 2017 thriller Sweet Virginia (Sept. 7) and Cillian Murphy-starring historical thriller Anthropoid (Sept. 15). And Showtime saved one of next month’s biggest film additions for last: Wes Anderson’s delightfully quirky New England-set dramedy Moonrise Kingdom (Sept. 16), which we at Paste recently ranked near the top of the acclaimed writer-director’s singular filmography. The film just left Netflix, so we’re pleased to see it resurfacing elsewhere.

That about does it for the big screen, but there’s plenty to be excited about on the small, particularly the aforementioned Kidding. The rookie show, premiering Sunday, Sept. 9, at 10 p.m. ET, stars Carrey in his first series regular role in more than 20 years, and reunites him with his Eternal Sunshine director Gondry, who executive produces and directed several episodes. Kidding centers on Carrey’s Jeff, aka Mr. Pickles, a Mr. Rogers analog whose family begins to implode, resulting in a crisis that advances faster than he can cope with it. “The result: A kind man in a cruel world faces a slow leak of sanity as hilarious as it is heartbreaking,” Showtime teases. But first comes the season nine premiere of Shameless, Showtime’s old warhorse of a no-holds-barred family dramedy, starring an oft-Emmy-nominated William H. Macy as the patriarch of the rowdy Gallagher clan (and the head of an acclaimed ensemble cast). In the award-winning show’s ninth season, bowing on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 9 p.m. ET (just before Kidding’s debut), “political fervor hits the South Side, and the Gallaghers take justice into their own hands,” meaning things are going to get messy. Audiences have long been onboard with the Gallagher family’s antics: The 100th episode of Shameless airs on Sept. 30, quite a milestone for any series. And speaking of big moments, we’re on the cusp of what Showtime aptly describes as “the most consequential midterm elections in recent history,” a tipping point key to the third season of half-hour political docuseries The Circus, hosted by John Heilemann, Mark McKinnon and Alex Wagner. In its nine new episodes, available to stream starting Sunday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. ET, the show hits the midterm campaign trail, offering in-depth coverage of the Trump administration’s many legal and political controversies from behind the scenes.

See everything that’s in store on Showtime’s September slate below.

ORIGINAL SERIES:

SHAMELESS (Season Premiere: Sunday, September 9 at 9 p.m. ET/PT)
KIDDING (Series Premiere: Sunday, September 9 at 10 p.m. ET/PT)
THE CIRCUS (New episodes: Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT starting September 16)

NEW MOVIES STREAMING ON SHOWTIME IN SEPTEMBER:

Available 9/1:
AMERICAN GRAFFITI
BASIC INSTINCT 2
BILL & TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY
BILL & TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE
THE BONE COLLECTOR
BREAKDOWN
CARLITO’S WAY: RISE TO POWER
THE CIDER HOUSE RULES
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
FIRST SUNDAY
THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
THE HURT LOCKER
JERRY MAGUIRE
LEGALLY BLONDE
PATCH ADAMS
PEARL HARBOR
THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT
PITCH BLACK
THE QUEEN
RESCUE DAWN
A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT
SCARFACE
SERVING SARA
SPY GAME
TEXAS RANGERS
TRAFFIC

Available 9/7:
SWEET VIRGINIA

Available 9/15:
ANTHROPOID

Available 9/16:
MOONRISE KINGDOM

DOCUMENTARIES & COMEDY SPECIALS:

Available 9/21:
CRADLE OF CHAMPIONS

STREAMING COLLECTIONS

Slay or Be Slayed Collection: Anthropoid, The Debt, Inglourious Basterds and more (Available 9/1 – 9/28)
Fractured Families Collection: Home Again, Sweet Virginia, Walking Out and more (Available 9/7 – 10/4)
Oscar Nods Collection: Baby Driver, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Queen and more (Available 9/14 – 10/11)
The Reel Life Collection: The People vs. Larry Flynt, Alone in Berlin, Charlie Wilson’s War and more (Available 9/15 – 10/12)
Before They Were Stars Collection: Halloween II, 10 Things I Hate About You, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and more (Available 9/28 – 10/25)
Traveling Troubles Collection: The Girl on the Train, Are We There Yet?, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and more (Available 9/28 – 10/25)