Billions (TV series)

Billions
Genre	Drama
Created by	Brian Koppelman David Levien David Cornejo
Starring	Damian Lewis Paul Giamatti Maggie Siff Malin Åkerman Toby Leonard Moore David Costabile Condola Rashād
Composer(s)	Eskmo
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	12 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Brian Koppelman David Levien Andrew Ross Sorkin Neil Burger
Production location(s)	New York
Camera setup	Single-camera
Production company(s)	Best Available! TBTF Productions Inc.
Release
Original network	Showtime
Original release	January 17, 2016 (2016-01-17) – present
External links
Website

Billions is an American television drama series created by Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin, starring Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis. The series is loosely based on the activities of crusading federal prosecutor of financial crimes Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Cast

Main cast

• Damian Lewis as Bobby "Axe" Axelrod, an ambitious hedge fund manager who came from humble beginnings. He was the sole survivor of the hedge fund during the September 11 attacks, and thus pays the college tuitions of his former colleagues' children. He is extremely charitable and generous in public, but uses insider trading and bribery to grow his firm’s enormous wealth.
• Paul Giamatti as Charles "Chuck" Rhoades Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Rhoades is ruthless, and has a particular distaste for wealthy criminals who try to buy their way out of justice. Despite his significant power as U.S. Attorney, Rhoades struggles not to be overshadowed both by his wealthier wife, Wendy, and by his well-connected and very rich father. In private he and his wife engage in BDSM role play, with Chuck as Wendy's "slave".
• Maggie Siff as Wendy Rhoades, M.D, psychiatrist, in-house performance coach at Axe Capital and wife of Chuck Rhoades. She is self-possessed, motivated and extremely successful. She has a strong relationship with Axelrod, her boss, for whom she has been working for more than 15 years.
• Malin Åkerman as Lara Axelrod, wife of Bobby Axelrod and a former nurse. She is from a lower-class upbringing, but has now moved up in the world and left her former self behind. She is devoted to her husband and their children. Her brother Dean was a firefighter who died during the 9/11 attacks.
• Toby Leonard Moore as Bryan Connerty, Rhoades's point man.
• David Costabile as Mike "Wags" Wagner, the right-hand man for Axelrod.
• Condola Rashād as Kate Sacher, one of Rhoades' employees.

Recurring cast

• Jeffrey DeMunn as Charles Rhoades Sr., Chuck's father, a very wealthy and well connected city power player who often uses his position to meddle in his son's affairs.
• Terry Kinney as Hall, a fixer on Axelrod's payroll.
• Jerry O'Connell as Steven Birch
• Dennis Boutsikaris as Kenneth Malverne
• Rob Morrow as Adam DeGiulio
• Dan Soder as Maffee
• Stephen Kunken as Ari Spyros
• Kelly AuCoin as 'Dollar' Bill Stearns
• Nathan Darrow as Mick Danzig

Episodes

Showtime released the pilot episode online on January 1, 2016, and the second episode on January 17, 2016.

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"	Neil Burger	Brian Koppelman & David Levien & Andrew Ross Sorkin	January 17, 2016 (2016-01-17)	0.904
Bobby "Axe" Axelrod is a charming, charismatic 9/11 survivor who heads up Axe Capital, a hedge fund based in Connecticut. His generosity makes him a beloved member of the community - he pays the first year of tuition and board for all of the college-going children of all of his former colleagues who perished in 9/11 (the fund was formerly located in the World Trade Center) - but the Securities & Exchange Commission thinks that Axelrod is dirty. The SEC goes to Chuck Rhoades, a ruthless masochist U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, but Rhoades refuses to pursue Axelrod until he makes an error, not willing to sacrifice his perfect 81-0 record for prosecution of financial crimes. However, when Rhoades hears that Axelrod wants to buy a heritage waterside property for $83 million, he considers moving forward against Axelrod, as the purchase would widely sour him to the public. Rhoades returns home to his two children and wife, Wendy, who works as a motivational coach/psychiatrist at Axe Capital. He offers Wendy a job as human resources head at GE, as he does not want her working at Axe if he decides to pursue her boss, and despite feeling as though she is being manipulated, Wendy entertains the possibility of leaving Axe (after a loud, profane argument in front of their two small children). Angered by Rhoades' refusal to take on Axelrod, a SEC agent, Spyros, plants a reporter at a presser for Rhoades. The reporter challenges Rhoades' 'small win, no loss' mantra, and Rhoades decides to bait Axelrod into buying the house to turn public favour against him. Axelrod is visited by an old friend, Dan Margolis, whose nervous nature makes Axelrod realize that Margolis is cooperating with the FBI. Axelrod dismisses Margolis from his office without incriminating himself, and goes to his fixer, Hall, who plans for Axelrod to frame a fellow trader, Steven Birch, should the need arise. Next, Axelrod invites the SEC's planted reporter to lunch, and in a befriending move, alerts him to a shady deal that Birch completed recently. Axelrod and Rhoades finally come face-to-face at an investment conference, and their discourse is immediately adversarial, with Rhoades criticising Axelrod for milking his 9/11 survival for public worth. Axelrod decides to buy the house, but is later told by Hall that the FBI have now opened a case file on him.
2	"Naming Rights"	Neil Burger	Brian Koppelman & David Levien	January 24, 2016 (2016-01-24)	0.950
3	"YumTime"	Scott Hornbacher	Willie Reale	January 31, 2016 (2016-01-31)	1.282
4	"Short Squeeze"	James Foley	Young Il Kim	February 7, 2016 (2016-02-07)	0.851
After getting one of his Portfolio Managers out of trouble with the police, Axe takes a spontaneous trip to see Metallica in concert with his childhood friends. While there, he meets a free spirited young woman who makes him face the limits of his own freedom. He also must fend off a short squeeze-an attack on one of his important holdings-led by Chuck's father. Back in New York, Chuck has an epic day-long proffer session with Pete Decker, learning important facts about the inner workings of Axe Capital. But Chuck must also take action against his own father for his stock manipulation. Axe reckons with a cold betrayal by one of his old friends, and upon his return, Axe makes a momentous decision about the direction of his firm.
5	"The Good Life"	Neil LaBute	Heidi Schreck	February 14, 2016 (2016-02-14)	1.010
6	"The Deal"	James Foley	Wes Jones	February 21, 2016 (2016-02-21)	1.172
7	"The Punch"	Stephen Gyllenhaal	Brian Koppelman & David Levien	March 6, 2016 (2016-03-06)	1.051
8	"Boasts and Rails"	John Dahl	Wes Jones	March 13, 2016 (2016-03-13)	1.093
9	"Where the Fuck is Donnie?"	Susanna White	Peter K. Blake	March 20, 2016 (2016-03-20)	1.127
10	"Quality of Life"	Karyn Kusama	Willie Reale	March 27, 2016 (2016-03-27)	1.103
11	"Magical Thinking"	Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck	Story by: Wes Jones & Heidi Schreck Teleplay by: Wes Jones	April 3, 2016 (2016-04-03)	1.080
12	"The Conversation"	Michael Cuesta	Brian Koppelman & David Levien	April 10, 2016 (2016-04-10)	1.013

Reception

Billions has received generally positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the series has a rating of 73%, based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Despite a lack of likable characters, Billions' soapy melodrama and larger-than-life canvas offer plenty of repeat viewing potential." On Metacritic, the series has a Metascore of 69 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Development

The series was ordered by Showtime in March 2015 with a 12-episode pick up and premiered on January 17, 2016. On January 26, 2016, the series was renewed for a second season.

Broadcast

The first episode was made available on January 1, 2016, via video on demand services in the U.S. and via CraveTV in Canada. It premiered in Canada on The Movie Network on January 17, 2016, simultaneous with the American broadcast.

External links

• Official website
• Billions at IMDb