Showtime to Air Claire Danes, Kristen Bell-Led Series

It's Showtime for Kristen Bell and Claire Danes.

The network has picked up House of Lies, a comedy starring the former Veronica Mars star and Gossip Girl narrator, and Homeland, starring the award-winning Danes.

Bell and Oscar nominee Don Cheadle will headline Lies, based on Martin Kihn’s hit tell-all book How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Tell You the Time.

The show revolves around dueling corporate consulting firms. Bell plays Jeannie, a Brown grad who reluctantly finds herself attracted to co-worker Marty (Cheadle).

Homeland, meanwhile, is a thriller about a CIA officer (Danes) convinced that intel leading to the rescue of a presumed-dead U.S. soldier (Damian Lewis) was a setup.

She feels it may be connected to an Al Qaeda plot to be carried out on American soil. Mandy Patinkin also stars as a veteran CIA Division Chief who mentors her.

Steve Marsi is the Managing Editor of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Google+ or email him here.