'Billions': Showtime drama will come back for a second season
Showtime's new program will have a second season. How is the cable network doing against such competition as HBO and Starz?
'Billions' stars Paul Giamatti.
Jeff Neumann/Showtime/AP
Showtime鈥檚 new drama 鈥淏illions鈥� will be coming back for a second season.聽
鈥淏illions,鈥� which premiered earlier this month, stars Damian Lewis as Bobby Axelrod, who is in charge of a hedge fund, and Paul Giamatti as Chuck Rhoades, who is the U.S. Attorney for the southern district of New York. The two are connected by Chuck鈥檚 wife, Wendy (Maggie Siff), who works at Bobby鈥檚 company.
The program has gotten mixed reviews from critics so far. The first episode of 鈥淏illions鈥� debuted online early.聽
Showtime鈥檚 original programming has become a source of awards season favorites, with shows like 鈥淗omeland,鈥� 鈥淭he Affair,鈥� 鈥淢asters of Sex,鈥� and 鈥淪hameless鈥� all being nominated for prizes such as the Emmy Awards or the Golden Globe Awards.
How many viewers have been drawn to the cable channel?聽
Showtime鈥檚 numbers are usually below, for example, those of HBO鈥檚 fantasy program 鈥淕ame of Thrones鈥� and AMC鈥檚 show 鈥淭he Walking Dead,鈥� but then again, there鈥檚 not much like 鈥淭hrones鈥� or 鈥淲alking鈥� on television 鈥� the smash hit show 鈥淭hrones鈥� has become HBO鈥檚 most-watched program of all time. 鈥淲alking" also regularly draws massive numbers. (Also, unlike Showtime, AMC doesn鈥檛 require a subscription. But the two channels often end up going head-to-head at awards shows.)
So Showtime doesn鈥檛 have a big hit that draws stratospheric numbers like HBO or AMC.
鈥淏illions,鈥� however, is doing quite well. According to the network, counting viewers who checked out the pilot early digitally and watched it on TV on its debut date, 鈥淏illions鈥� had the for the network.聽
However, for subscribers 鈥� an important number for HBO and Showtime as well as other subscription cable networks 鈥� Showtime fell behind Starz last year. While HBO, Showtime, and Starz all experienced growth, Starz came in at number two ahead of Showtime, with HBO still at number one.
鈥淭he margin between Starz and Showtime聽is small, and it is unclear how long the repositioning of the two networks will last,鈥� noted at the time. 鈥淣evertheless, the quarterly No. 2 finish for Starz is giving a boost of confidence to the pay cable channel which 鈥� like HBO, Showtime and now Cinemax 鈥� has been beefing up its original series slate.鈥澛�
Others feel Showtime needs some course correction. wrote near the end of last year that 鈥渢he cable channel lost its way.鈥澛�
Moylan pointed to programs like 鈥淒exter,鈥� 鈥淗omeland,鈥� 鈥淲eeds, and 鈥淣urse Jackie鈥� as hits that made the name of Showtime.
鈥淭hen something happened,鈥� Moylan wrote. 鈥溾�橶eeds,鈥� 鈥楧exter,鈥� and 鈥楿nited States of Tara鈥� came to a close. Homeland hit the creative skids, faltering with critics, and lost all its must-see-TV heat鈥� Shows such as 鈥楻ay Donovan,鈥� 鈥楽hameless,鈥� 鈥楳asters of Sex,鈥� and 鈥楬ouse of Lies,鈥� modestly enjoyed by critics and the Emmy voters, weren鈥檛 part of the cultural conversation in the way their predecessors were, though they pulled in a decent number of viewers.鈥�
The network鈥檚 upcoming 鈥淭win Peaks鈥� continuation could help, says Moylan. But overall, it goes back to having a big hit like "Thrones" 鈥� no easy task, or everyone would make one.
鈥淪howtime鈥檚 strength is going to be in numbers, creating a beast so big that even lone wolf HBO can鈥檛 hunt it as prey,鈥� Moylan wrote.