“Ray Donovan” is a gritty crime drama that had a successful seven-season run on Showtime beginning in 2013. Liev Schreiber plays the titular Donovan, a Los Angeles “fixer” who serves a variety of high-profile clients around Hollywood. In addition to his job cleaning up after various criminal activities, Donovan is forced to deal with his estranged father (Jon Voight), who is released from prison in the series premiere. Nominated for 10 Emmy Awards, the series came to a close in 2022 with “Ray Donovan: The Movie.”
A year after the show’s debut, however, a Hollywood writer named Brian A. Larsen laid a lawsuit at the feet of Showtime, insisting that “Ray Donovan” was a rip-off of his own series concept, “The Swissman.” According to the paperwork he filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Larsen had shown his series pitch to Showtime twice in 2010 and 2011, though it wasn’t picked up. His series was also centered on a “middle-aged protagonist who is a ‘fixer,'” and who also has a difficult relationship with his father, as well as other key similarities to the premise.
“The unmistakable central theme is whether a fixer has a moral obligation to do the right thing or if he is simply supposed to ‘do his job,'” claimed Larsen’s suit. In addition to looking for financial compensation, Larsen also wanted production on the series halted. That obviously didn’t happen, but no resolution was ever publicly announced.
For more latest TV News Click Here