LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- Showtime kicked off its portion of the TCA Summer Press Tour with a slew of announcements, including a swan song for "The Big C" billed as "a special limited run series consisting of four one-hour installments." David Nevins, President of Entertainment, touted that the show "has always required a delicate touch and I can't think of three more talented and skillful people than Darlene Hunt, Jenny Bicks and the brilliant Laura Linney to handle this tricky subject matter."

Other notes from Nevins's executive session:

-- "Close Up," a new series of documentary films, will roll out next year. First up is "The World According to Dick Cheney" from R.J. Cutler, followed by efforts on Marion "Suge" Knight, Richard Pryor (by Marina Zenovich) and Tommy Mottola (by Brett Ratner).

-- Oliver Stone's long-in-the-works 10-part series "Untold History of the United States," narrated by Stone himself, will premiere November 12.

-- "Inside Comedy" will return for a second season of 10 episodes this fall. Among the new participants: Ben Stiller, Tina Fey, Judd Apatow, Carol Burnett, Will Ferrell, Jim Carrey, Albert Brooks and "a couple of more very big names that we're hoping to lock in in the next couple of weeks."

-- "Larry Wilmore's Race, Religion & Sex," a backdoor pilot comedy special, will premiere August 25. Said effort will be shot in Salt Lake City "in front of a live local audience with taped comedy bits."

-- New dramas "Masters of Sex" and "Ray Donovan" will debut in 2013.

More to come...