We already published a Billions Season 1 Dining Guide but Capparello’s Pizzeria or real life Rosa’s Pizza has become such a staple in the show that it absolutely deserves its own post! Bobby Axelrod, as much as he is a man of confidence, seems to feel most comfortable in his skin there echoing that Yonkers boy who wants to “get rich and get even” when he grows up. Every scene at this corner pizza joint reveals a thing or two about Bobby and THIS alone makes a trip to Rosa’s a MUST for me and my partner-in-crime Lewisto. And a comment on the blog in August from a reader, Alaston, saying “If you DO go to Rosa’s, get the Grandma slice” triggers it that we find ourselves on the M train heading to Rosa’s.
From the opening scene of the birds eye view over lower Manhattan to the closing credits of every episode, you know that music is very important to the show runners behind Billions. The underlying score, a sort of industrial ambient techno riff and drone, is composed by Los Angeles based electronic musician Eskmo. The general mood set by the score is one of dramatic tension and urgency. Like, what the heck are these people going to do next, is the thought the music puts into your head.
Peppered throughout nearly every episode are carefully curated tracks. chosen for the way they match a scene or a mood or a character, or simply because the show creators really dig the music and wanted to make a place for it in their creation. We get to hear an eclectic mix of hip-hop, techno, pop, Italian pop, alt-pop, alt-country, punk and metal. From classic rock to classic punk to classic motown. I think that’s it, but I probably missed some! They cover it all!
This post is the result of my binging all 12 episodes again, this time with Shazam in hand to identify all the musical bits I didn’t already know. Just as each of the 12 episodes had a unique core strength to them, so do the selection of songs backing them up. Whether the music is straight up mood inducer or meant as an ironic statement, there’s nary a dud in the bunch.
DRUMROLL! David Nevins, Showtime Networks CEO, shared the good news at TV Critics Association’s Summer Press Tour: Billions Season 2 is hitting our screens on February 19, 2017!
Source: Showtime
The season premiere may be six months away but given they have been shooting Billions for more than a month and a half in New York, we believe it is time we start talking about what we know so far about the new season! Are you ready?
Should we start with how a day on Billions set is like? And, for this, we owe big thanks to Brian Koppelman who opens a window for us all through Twitter and Instagram. We LOVED his series of tweets about a day on Billions set and JaniaJania storified it for us – fantastic job, partner! Continue reading “Billions Season 2: What do we know so far?”
“There’s a lot of humor in this — a lot of playfulness, which I was not expecting.” — Damian Lewis on Billions
source: Showtime
Humor derived from life and delivered at the right time and place can make a TV show! And, I believe, it is Seinfeld that perfected the delivery of small but precise details of daily life on small screen! George double-dips a chip in a bowl of dip at a wake and you laugh not just because of what he does but also because you remember the guy who double-dipped at the last party you attended. Elaine’s new boyfriend is a serious close talker and you laugh because you remember the close talkers in your life. Jerry believes you don’t need any extra incentive to kill your dry cleaner and you laugh because you remember the last argument you had with your dry cleaner about the remaining stain on your favorite pants. These are the scenes that stay with you for the longest time because they all come from real life!
Many dramas, as they try hard to stick to drama, forget about this kind of humor; which, given at the right time and place, may be one of the most delicious moments of an episode and can even send a serious message home. We applaud Billions for not shying away from giving us such moments.
As much as we are in love with the fake argument scene, an original, hilarious and genius Billions moment, we are even more impressed by the minutiae of life the writers provide with the right dose of humor. Knowing that most episodes in Seinfeld are based on its writers’ real-life experiences, re-written and re-interpreted for the show’s characters, we cannot help wonder if these bits and pieces of life in Billions are also based on real-life experiences. These moments work perfectly and the lines delivered in them become standard in our own conversations!
That is why Tbkwrm and I take a tour through Season 1 and talk about our most favorite bits and pieces of life in Billions. We would love to hear about your favorites, too!
So Billions Season 1 has come to an end, but we still have so much to say about it. And we promise to do our share and keep the conversation going on between seasons. While we were giving a lot of time and energy to our episode recaps, we had countless conversations about the show, the plot, the characters, and made a LONG list of ideas we want to write about. So, going forward, we will sit back, relax, go back to Season 1, keep writing about it and, of course, speculate about what could be in store for Team Axe and Team Chuck (and for us!) in Season 2. And we hope you stay with us!
In the meantime, get your Season Finale recaps here and re-live THAT explosive Billions hour!
