It’s an uncertain time for Billionaires. Billions, Showtime’s elevated soap about the cutthroat, dubiously legal world of New York City high finance, is now on a forced hiatus due to the coronavirus shutdown, with Sunday’s seventh episode of Season 5 serving as the finale for now. The rest of the season will be released at a date to be determined once production can be resumed.
In the meantime, Billions fans can fill the Giamatti-sized hole in their hearts with some of these other great, Billions-esque shows. Because while there’s nothing exactly like Billions, there are a number of shows that have something Billions about them, whether it’s a one percent of the one percent New York City setting, twisty legal and financial dealmaking and double-crossing, flavorful dialogue, or a willingness to be unabashedly fun in a way you don’t always see from prestige dramas.
Here are seven shows like Billions you should watch if you like Billions.
Looking for more recommendations of what to watch next? We have a ton of them! And if you’re looking for more hand-picked recommendations based on shows you love, we have those too.
Succession
Watch it on: HBO
Brian Cox, Succession
Succession is the show on this list that’s most like Billions, though it’s more of a comedy and much more critical of the ultra-wealthy than Billions, which sometimes leans too far into lifestyle porn. HBO’s masterful series follows the Roys, a family that controls a global media empire that’s loosely inspired by the Murdochs of Fox. Patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) is old but still as ruthless and cruel as ever, and he plays his children against each other as they fight for their father’s favor and a chance to be named his successor. It checks all the Billions boxes of opulence, backstabbing, and operatic swearing.
The Good Fight
Watch it on: CBS All Access
Christine Baranski, The Good Fight
The Good Wife was the most Billions show on broadcast when it was on, so much so that Julianna Margulies is on Billions now. The Good Wife‘s streaming spin-off The Good Fight is the only show that gives Billions a run for its money in terms of pure elevated entertainment value. It stars Christine Baranski as Diane Lockhart, an attorney who fights for liberal causes. But unlike Billions‘ Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti), who uses the prosecutorial powers of his office for score-settling and personal aggrandizement, Diane’s heart is in the right place. The Good Fight has crackling, intelligent dialogue that doesn’t take itself too seriously, just like Billions.
Damages
Watch it on: Hulu
Rose Byrne and Glenn Close, Damages
This FX legal thriller that ran from 2007 to 2012 feels like a direct influence on Billions. Both shows featured season-long cases, slick dialogue, precise plotting, thrilling twists, and a symbiotic rivalry between its two lead characters, Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), a ruthless high-powered lawyer, and Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), her protégée. That relationship sounds like Chuck and Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Damian Lewis), but it’s also like Axe and Taylor Mason (Asia Kate Dillon), his most brilliant and independent employee. Also like Billions, which has featured appearances from heavies like John Malkovich and Mary-Louise Parker, Damages had an extremely accomplished supporting cast, and welcomed folks like Timothy Olyphant, Ted Danson, Lily Tomlin, and Marcia Gay Harden over the course of its run.
Goliath
Watch it on: Amazon Prime Video
Billy Bob Thornton, Goliath
Amazon’s Goliath is the legal thriller equivalent to its popular cop show Bosch, and like Billions, it offers up entertaining legal chicanery in an elevated package. Billy Bob Thornton stars as Billy McBride, a brilliant but down-on-his-luck, alcoholic attorney who tries to get redemption for his past representing crooks and scoundrels by fighting for truth and justice. Billy Bob Thornton is the same kind of high-caliber actor as the stars of Billions, and the supporting cast is as stacked as any show currently on television, with William Hurt, Molly Parker, Mark Duplass, David Cross, and Dennis Quaid popping up throughout the show’s three seasons so far (with a fourth and final season in the works).
Suits
Watch it on: Hulu
Gabriel Macht and Patrick J. Adams, Suits
Like Billions, Suits is about two dudes (one rich) behaving badly but being very charismatic about it. It starred Gabriel Macht as the arrogant but oh-so charming lawyer Harvey Specter and Patrick J. Adams as his protégé Mike Ross, who’s a brilliant attorney but secretly never went to law school. Hey, Bobby Axelrod only went to Hofstra. The crown jewel of USA’s “Blue Skies” era, Suits is a little lighter and more episodic than Billions, but it’s a well-written and well-acted piece of legalistic entertainment.
Dirty Money
Watch it on: Netflix
Jared Kushner, Dirty Money
If you’re like me, part of why you enjoy Billions is that it triggers your self-righteous anger about white-collar crime. If that’s the case, this documentary series gives you that feeling straight, without laundering it through Bobby Axelrod’s charisma. Executive-produced by Alex Gibney, America’s foremost chronicler of corporate malfeasance, Dirty Money investigates scams, fraud, and corruption, with episodes on Jared Kushner’s real estate empire, the Wells Fargo banking scandal, and HSBC laundering money for drug cartels, among many other infuriating financial crimes. Billions treats insider trading as an unsavory but normal part of doing business, but Dirty Money will remind you how wrong it actually is. Chuck is a pain, but he’s right to want to put Bobby Axelrod in prison!
Black Monday
Watch it on: Showtime
Regina Hall and Don Cheadle, Black Monday
This is the show least like Billions on the list, but this comedy shares a fixation on financial malfeasance and a willingness to take things very far in the name of entertainment. Don Cheadle stars as Maurice Monroe, an unscrupulous Wall Street stockbroker riding high in the cocaine ’80s, until the titular market crash of the title. Black Monday, currently in its second season, has also been postponed due to the coronavirus, so you could get caught up before it returns later this year.
Billions is available to stream on Showtime’s streaming apps.
