After the Covid 19 pandemic forced the airing of season 5 of Billions to stop after just seven of the twelve episodes, Showtime has brought the show back with a bang scheduling the airing of the remaining five episodes as well as a whole new sixth season which was exciting news for the fans of the show. The show is full of drama as Chuck Rhoades played by Paul Giamatti brings the force of the law down on Bobby Axelrod of Axe Cap (Damian Lewis). The war between the billionaire and the overzealous prosecutor has taken many turns and everyone can’t wait to see where Wendy’s loyalties lie in the next season and whether Bobby finally gets Chuck off his back. If you are hoping for more fun like what you find in Billions, then these 10 TV shows will offer lots of it.
Mad Men
Mad Men won the Emmys from 2008 to 2011 consecutively sealing its place at the top as one of the greatest Drama Series ever created. It is one of the most popular Period Dramas centred around marketing agencies on Madison Avenue in the 1940s to 1960s Manhattan. The title Mad Men was derived as a short form for Madison but the drama in the series portrays lots of madness that surrounded the life of blue-collar workers in mid-20th century America.
The drama revolves around the life of the marketing genius Don Draper and the other employees of Sterling Cooper which is later renamed to Sterling Cooper and partners. Draper is himself a criminal because he stole the identity of his superior in the army but he is just too good at what he does and has achieved too much to give it all up because of his simple mistakes. He is more like a 60s version of Bobby Axelrod.
Goliath
Billions explores how the scales of justice are often tilted in the favour of the rich and why the worst criminals that steal billions on Wallstreet are never prosecuted. Billy McBride is a brilliant lawyer and one of the two founding members of Cooperman McBride, a reputable law firm that is also known as Goliath. McBride quit the firm and became an alcoholic after a murderer he helped acquit went on to massacre his family but he has now started his own firm and aims at finding redemption by getting justice for the poor folks that the law doesn’t really represent. It is a herculean task though since it pitches him against the giant law firm that he cofounded and also pitches him against his former colleagues and friends including his ex-wife.
Leverage: Redemption
Harry Wilson is a former corporate fixer that helped the rich escape justice and keeps their money by helping them exploit gaps in the system. However, after helping a criminal get away with murder after a substandard building he was constructing collapses and kills his workers, he decides to turn the tables and steal from the corrupt rich people and use the money to help the victims of their crimes.
His quest for reformation causes his path to collide with that of the Leverage gang, a group of reformed criminals who find justice by stealing from rich evil people to help victims. The team of a former fixer, a former hitman, a con artist, a hacker and a thief make a great team as they solve rime after another in each episode and help lots of vulnerable members of the society.
Ozark
Marty Byrde was a partner in a financial solutions company that laundered money for Mexican cartels until his partners stole money from the powerful Navarro cartel causing the drug lord to have all of them killed except Marty. To stay alive, Marty promises the drug lord that he would set up a bigger laundering operation for him on the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Working for drug dealers never ends well though, and despite Marty being a genius, he gets entangled with other criminal gangs on the Island. Marty Byrde is like the money laundering version of Billions’ Bobby Axelrod.
House Of Cards
Will Bobby Axelrod run for office just like Chuck to protect himself from the unfair arms of the law? Well, if he does, he may be another Frank Underwood on the screens. House of Cards is another show that made history after becoming the first Online-Only streaming series to win an Emmy nomination. The series follows the life of the power-hungry couple Frank and Claire Underwood who manipulate, kill and lie their way into the white house and how easy it is for powerful people to get away with crimes just like in Billions. The political plays in House of Cards are thrilling and way more advanced than those of Chuck Rhoades and Bobby Axelrod so you can expect a lot more fun than what Billions offers.
City On A Hill
1990s Boston was not any different from Wall Street where law enforcement was lenient on crime depending on who has the most money and corruption and racism were the order of the day. Things change for the better when a young black Assistant DA Decoury Ward is transferred from Brooklyn to Boston to work with a corrupt FBI officer Jackie Rohr. The legal drama that unfolds sees an agent of change fighting with the status quo as was the case of Chuck Rhoades when he started investigating financial crimes in Ney York’s Eastern Congressional District.
Godfather Of Harlem
Godfather of Harlem is actually based on a true story but it has so much thrill that many people assume it is fiction. The show which stars Forest Whitaker as the 1960s New York gangster Bumpy Johnson as he struggled to fight for the rights of black people in Harlem while also doing his illegal business. The show also examines his relationship with Malcolm X and his family although the main focus is on his battle for a place in the underworld with the Italian crime families which controlled the drug business at the time.
The Wizard Of Lies
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC is believed to have been the biggest Ponzi scheme ever in US history. Madoff duped investors off over $18 billion, most of which could have been prevented if the SEC investigation into his firm in 1991 had been a little more thorough than it was. The Wizard of lies follows the lives of Bernard Madoff now regarded as the most notorious conman in Wall Street history and his wife Ruth and son Mark, as their world was built around lies and later collapsed around them. It is a little different from the story of Bobby Axelrod who is more reliable than Madoff but not any more honest.
Devils
Massimo Ruggero was an upcoming star in the investment banking industry after rising to become the head of trading at the New York London Investment Bank on his way to becoming the CEO. Seemingly unrelated events and scandals however deny him his long-deserved promotion and the guy that beats him to the post of vice-CEO dies mysteriously shortly after landing the lucrative job. Ruggero then turns to his team of traders and hacktivist friends to uncover the mysteries which bring him face to face with a group of cold-hearted individuals that use the industry to run the world. He now has to choose between saving himself and saving the world and, of course, whether to fight or join the ‘Devils.’
Succession
Waystar RoyCo is a global media conglomerate run by Logan Roy, the patriarch of the family and the company until his health starts failing and his four children start fighting for control. Each of the four children has a credible claim to the control of the company but their wars risk the very life of the company even before their father dies. The series explores the politics of corporate management just line Billions does with Axelrod and his employees, family and competitors and every Billions fan will enjoy the drama-filled show.