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Billions |OT| Starring Paul Giamatti & Damian Lewis - Sundays 10/9c

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T

TheOddOne

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billions-18kjk7.png

 
T

TheOddOne

Member
- THR: 'Billions': TV Review.
Pushing Siff and Wendy to the center would be the differentiating touch that Billions is currently struggling to find. Thus far, it's just a high stakes game of cat and mouse (though pilot director Neil Burger brought much more flash and fun to a similar milieu in the feature Limitless). Billions is handsome and well-produced, but its treatment of excess is almost matter-of-fact, lacking the zest one might want from a show about people spending tens of millions on houses in the Hamptons or jetting off to Quebec to hang with Metallica.

With corporate corruption and selective regulation still making headlines, Billions also has the chance to answer big questions, but when Axe muses, "When did it become a crime to succeed in this country?" you get the sense the show is more interested in glib one-liners than sincere exploration. The episodic rush of wheeling and dealing only occasionally allows viewers to understand what's happening; one episode might involve several explanations for the importance of a "short squeeze," but you're more frequently just expected to know that blackmail and threats and emasculation are the tools of the trade for all Showtime fixers, regardless of context. And squeezing Billions into that genre reduces the chances that anybody will take the show seriously as a substantive critique of a corrupt system.
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M

Mr. Hyde

Member
I thought that said Daniel Day Lewis and my eyes almost popped out of my head.

Oh well. This still sounds interesting and I like Paul Giamatti a lot.
 
D

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
Mr. Hyde said:
I thought that said Daniel Day Lewis and my eyes almost popped out of my head.

Oh well. This still sounds interesting and I like Paul Giamatti a lot.
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Haha I did the exact same thing.

Sounds interesting though and I like both actors, especially Giamatti.
 
W

WarrenMax007

Member
I felt it was a pretty meh pilot. Liked Lewis and Toby Leonard Moore, Giamatti feels a little over the top, Siff is ok, but i've never been a fan of her, and Akerman had too little screen time, but i wasn't impressed.
Most problems i have are with the script (those fucking one-liners) and characterization. I mean that opening scene, get the fuck out.
Feels like Ray Donovan on Wall Street. At least Billions is better.
 
F

finley83

Banned
Love Damian Lewis, he's always my favourite actor in everything he's been in. Will give this a watch if it turns up on UK TV or Netflix.
 
S

Siegcram

Member
That was a Showtime script alright.

But I could listen to Paul Giamatti read a grocery list, so I'll give it at least 2 more episodes.
 
T

Tim the Wiz

Banned
WarrenMax007 said:
I felt it was a pretty meh pilot. Liked Lewis and Toby Leonard Moore, Giamatti feels a little over the top, Siff is ok, but i've never been a fan of her, and Akerman had too little screen time, but i wasn't impressed.
Most problems i have are with the script (those fucking one-liners) and characterization. I mean that opening scene, get the fuck out.
Feels like Ray Donovan on Wall Street. At least Billions is better.
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I'm always half-tempted to watch Ray Donovan because of the brilliant cast but then I actually remember what watching Ray Donovan is like--crazy, but the kind of dull crazy which lacks the impossible magnetism of Newsroom or Empire--and I just can't do it.

I get the sense Billions is cut from the same cloth. I hope not, because Lewis and Giamatti don't deserve to get stuck on a mediocre show for several years.
 
T

TheOddOne

Member
- Variety: TV Review: ‘Billions’ (By Maureen Ryan)
So “Billions,” the premiere of which is already online, is in the “buy” column for now. If it strays too far into repetition, and if its palpable energy and verve can’t hide a tendency toward predictability — common enough occurrences on soaps about rich people, and on Showtime programs in particular — it’d be easy to dump the show as ruthlessly as Bobby Axelrod excises a poor performer from his portfolio. But in the first half of its season, the lively momentum and diverting character studies of “Billions” offer reasonable dividends for those willing to invest.
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T

TheOddOne

Member
- Sepinwall: Review: Is Showtime's 'Billions' worth the investment of your time?
But I put in the six hours, and it was just enough to make me curious to see where the story goes next, and to see if all the talent involved in front of and behind the camera can coalesce into something more than another glib Showtime series about a fixer with a great wardrobe. Someone who's smarter about money than me might warn me about the sunk cost fallacy, and suggest that continued spending of my time won't bring me any closer to a reward. For now, though, I'm just invested enough to keep going, even if I doubt I'd have been had Showtime only sent two or three episodes.
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L

lastflowers

Banned
RatskyWatsky said:
I don't! These days I'd much rather spend my extra time watching a movie or reading a book instead of watching mediocre/bad/unfulfilling TV.
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yeah. Basically my mediocre TV quota is filled by watching them while playing Counter-Strike or other PC games. Just not enough time in the day
 
R

rtcn63

Member
RatskyWatsky said:
I guess no one watched, lawl
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I watched the first 15 minutes or so. Horrible. And I like both actors. The writing and pacing is catered towards the attention-lacking inclined. The opening reminded me of the opening of that govt. show with Katherine Heigl, to give you an idea.
 
T

tarzanpuyol

Member
alright I watched the first episode last night.... and I LOVED IT.

first things first, I feel the show resonates a lot better if you have a natural interest for wall street and stock trading. Remove those elements and for someone without a stock market clue, it can get a bit dry.
 
T

TheOddOne

Member
- Deadline: ‘Billions’ Scores Record Opening For Showtime.
Showtime says its new drama Billions snagged the best series debut performance ever for one of its original series: 2.99 million views to date. Billions was sampled early across platforms, delivering 1.6 million views prior to its Sunday night debut on the network – the most ever for a Showtime series. Then, on Sunday night, the Paul Giamatti and Damien Lewis starrer delivered 1.4 million viewers on the network. Prior record holder, Ray Donovan clocked 2.91 million views including linear premiere night and advance sampling on subscriber platforms in 2013.
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L

lastflowers

Banned
RatskyWatsky said:
I guess no one watched, lawl
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They've been streaming the first episode for a while. I ended up watching it Friday or something.

Alright, but could easily be shit. Gonna give it another couple of episodes in a month or so and see whether I should stick with it till the finale.
 
C

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
Damien Lewis, #fakeAmericanforever

seems interesting and I'm always up for more of him, will carefully read impressions
 
B

Blader

Member
Watched the first two eps on Hulu, not sure how to feel about it. On the one hand, I'm kind of interested, largely for Giamatti and Lewis. On the other, the dialogue is pretty awful and feels forced.

That said, I loved Lewis' delivery the end of ep. 2
when he revealed to the family that he really wanted their building just to spite them for cheating him out of $16 when he was a kid.
 
B

bodyboarder

Member
Blader said:
Watched the first two eps on Hulu, not sure how to feel about it. On the one hand, I'm kind of interested, largely for Giamatti and Lewis. On the other, the dialogue is pretty awful and feels forced.

That said, I loved Lewis' delivery the end of ep. 2
when he revealed to the family that he really wanted their building just to spite them for cheating him out of $16 when he was a kid.
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Equals nine. I was wondering where he was going with it.
 
TyphoonStruggle

TyphoonStruggle

Member
Watched the first two episodes. I'm worried that this series will go downhill as the seasons go on, but now I think I'm going to like season 1 a lot. Will continue to watch.
 
D

dead souls

Member
Damn, this thread is dead.

I thought the second episode was a lot more entertaining than the pilot. It's still not a great show, but it's heading in the right direction.
 
T

TripOpt55

Member
I watched the first two episodes. Seems okay so far. The ending of Episode 2 where Lewis tells the family why he wants the naming rights and all that was pretty entertaining.
 
J

James93

Member
dead souls said:
Damn, this thread is dead.

I thought the second episode was a lot more entertaining than the pilot. It's still not a great show, but it's heading in the right direction.
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Its an average show and with all the great things out right now. It just doesn't make the cut as a must watch for me.
 
T

TheOddOne

Member
dead souls said:
Renewed for season two.
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PR:
Showtime has picked up its new series “Billions” for a second season, just two episodes into its first run.

The Wall Street drama starring Damian Lewis, Paul Giamatti, Maggie Siff and Malin Akerman has performed pretty well — particularly in delayed and multiplatform viewing. The on-air premiere drew about 900,000 viewers and a 0.2 in adults 18-49, which grew to 950,000 and 0.3 in episode 2.

Including pre-premiere streaming and multiple airings on premiere night, the series opener grew to 3 million. After-the-fact viewing has more than doubled that number — Showtime says 6.5 million people have watched the first episode, a record for a series premiere on the channel. (“Ray Donovan” held the old mark with 6.1 million.)
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