# Ray Donovan (2013)

> A Los Angeles fixer who makes the problems of the city's powerful disappear is pulled into a chaotic reckoning when his father is released from prison.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/1339

## Facts

- Seasons: 7
- Episodes: 82
- Episode runtime: 53 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: Ann Biderman
- Network: Showtime
- Cast: Liev Schreiber, Paula Malcomson, Eddie Marsan, Dash Mihok, Pooch Hall, Kerris Dorsey, Graham Rogers, Jon Voight
- TMDB rating: 8.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2249007/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: gritty, tense, darkly comic, bleak

## What critics say

Critics broadly regard Ray Donovan as a strong, character-driven Los Angeles crime drama carried by Liev Schreiber's lead performance and its volatile family dynamics, with quality rising in later seasons.

## Synopsis

Ray Donovan (2013-2020) is a Showtime crime drama series created by Ann Biderman, running seven seasons and eighty-two episodes. Liev Schreiber plays Ray Donovan, a Los Angeles fixer who does the dirty work for the city's top power players and makes their problems disappear. Eddie Marsan plays his brother Terry, a boxer, while Jon Voight plays their father Mickey, whose unexpected release from prison sets off a chain of events that shakes the family to its core. Paula Malcomson plays Abby, Ray's long-suffering wife, and Dash Mihok plays the volatile Bunchy. Each season builds around fresh cleanup jobs, shifting alliances, and the escalating cost of keeping secrets buried in a sprawling city of wealth and image. The show is a continuing serialized saga rather than a case-of-the-week format, with brutal violence, sharp language, and morally compromised characters. Its tone is gritty, tense, and bleakly darkly comic, with a loyalty-driven family core at its heart. Set in modern Los Angeles, it delivers the glossy, dangerous world of Hollywood's underbelly. Fans of Ozark, Better Call Saul, and The Sopranos will find resonance in its criminal family dynamics and fixer-driven plotting.

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