Billions: Season 1 - TV Reviews (2024)

Darkly comedic and full of delicious twists and turns, the series is a juicy melodrama that delights in poking fun at the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

Full Review | Nov 10, 2021

"Billions" excels most at painting a compelling portrait of how powerful men - and the women behind them - move the world. And the idea that many of their decisions center on such small human details is both a compelling and a frightening notion.

Full Review | Nov 26, 2019

Extraordinary cast, extraordinary writing lead to a successful series. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jul 10, 2018

Though it's more soap opera than insightful Wall Street commentary, Billions can be a promising roller-coaster of cutthroat egos if you approach it with the right attitude.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 8, 2018

But while the series, like its protagonists, has all the trappings of greatness, it never goes deep enough to justify how impressed it is with itself.

Full Review | Aug 28, 2017

It's a compelling, high-octane power-and-privilege romp -- essentially Gordon Gecko updated. Watch episode one and you'll want to watch them all.

Full Review | Aug 15, 2017

I am utterly hooked. At its heart this is an age-old tale of power and greed but with a thoroughly modern twist, some great writing and captivating main characters.

Full Review | Apr 19, 2017

In many ways, the series is contrived and vulgarly self-indulgent... But the two fine actors elevate the material both in set-piece amusem*nts... and as drivers of plot.

Full Review | Dec 9, 2016

Billions luxuriates in its excess.

Full Review | Sep 25, 2016

Time spent in the company of Giamatti or Lewis is seldom wasted. No piece of scenery will be safe over the next 11 episodes.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 13, 2016

Hell it's fun though, even if I feel ever so slightly naughty -- guilty even -- for enjoying it so much.

Full Review | May 13, 2016

If becoming Axe requires a little insider trading, maybe you're a prig to object. Billions doesn't care about your politics, or abstractions about justice. It knows what you want.

Full Review | Feb 15, 2016

"Billions" has two brilliant lead actors and a plot that keeps you waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jan 28, 2016

Billions is a hit. It's a hit that Showtime needs. But nobody watching it should con themselves into thinking it's an important, incisive drama.

Full Review | Jan 25, 2016

Billions is a drama with big aims and characters so complex that it almost dares you to figure them out.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 20, 2016

[It's] kind of dramatic over-compensation and reluctance to presume audience intelligence stops Billions' opener from being great.

Full Review | Original Score: 6.5/10 | Jan 20, 2016

[It's] a timely and well-cast battle between Wall Street titans - one a bold trader with some questionable methods played by Damian Lewis at his most charming, the other Paul Giamatti in a seething, credible role as federal prosecutor.

Full Review | Jan 19, 2016

While [it's] somewhat entertaining, it isn't exactly what I would call Showtime.

Full Review | Jan 19, 2016

It's an interesting world worth investing in (pun entirely intended), full of colorful characters and the sorts of giant mansions and incredible yachts few of us are ever invited on in real life.

Full Review | Jan 19, 2016

It's not really interested in the right or wrong of either man; that is irrelevant, really. Instead, the ambitions of the series are a little lower, sometimes a little seedier, but mostly it's about poking fun at the fragility of the male ego.

Full Review | Jan 19, 2016