The Weekly Highlight: “Billions,” Season 4. Showtime debuted this new season on March 17.
Premise: Former rivals in the capitalist world of contemporary New York City start to work together. One man (Damian Lewis) runs a massive hedge fund while the other (Paul Giamatti) figures out how to be a power broker after losing his position as a U.S. attorney. The wife of the power broker (Maggie Siff) also works for the hedge fund owner, and so all their lives become more and more intertwined.
Sum up: A celebration of financial splendor that lets the viewer live vicariously through the excess of riches, but also has a strong writing team that critiques the characters’ morals. A particularly fun and breezy drama that still works hard to elevate itself beyond a fairly standard premise that would be right at home with the typically less ambitious USA Network fare like “Suits” or “White Collar.” The show has always earned decent critical reviews, but this season seems to be the first it has gotten widespread positive consensus.
Heads up: You may have no stomach for evil, rich people abusing capitalism to accumulate more and more wealth. If that narrative engine makes you sick, then even the self-aware critiques of the show’s protagonists will not be enough for you. At its heart, this is a show about already rich people kicking each other to get richer.
Will everyone be talking about this? “Billions” is already a hit for Showtime and its audience doesn’t appear to be shrinking.
You can watch the trailer for “Billions” below.
Read on for more recommendations and news from the week. And in the navigation bar above, you can choose specific recommendations for series streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Here’s the trailer:
A Couple Of Streaming News Stories From This Week
1. In wonderful news for fans of easy-watching comedies, HBO renewed “High Maintenance” for a fourth season and CBC/Pop TV will bring back “Schitt’s Creek” for a sixth and final season.
2. The Criterion Channel streaming service will launch on April 8. Subscriptions will be $10.99 month for access to the service’s large library of classic movies.