Futurama and Billions release trailers with Damian Lewis who returns.

by Thinus Ferreira

Futurama and Billions have released new trailers with the animated series that is back after a decade, while Damian Lewis is returning to his role of billionaire Bobby Axelrod for the final Billions season.

Billy Axelrod who left for Switzerland returns for the upcoming 7th and final season of Billions, seen on M-Net (DStv 101) and starting 13 August in the United States, says in the trailer "I'm back now, and I'm wide awake".

According to Showtime's official logline for the final season "alliances are turned on their heads and old wounds are weaponised. Loyalties are tested. Betrayal takes on epic proportions. Enemies become wary friends. And Bobby Axelrod returns, as the stakes grow from Wall Street to the world."

Besides Damian Lewis who left at the end of the fifth season and is coming back, returning cast members in Billions' final season include Paul Giamatti, Corey Stoll, Maggie Siff, David Costabile, Asia Kate Dillon, Dola Rashad, Jeffrey DeMunn, Sakina Jaffrey, Daniel Breaker and Toney Goins. 

Although Billions is ending, Showtime announced that is in active development of several possible spinoff series for the Paramount+ video streaming service. 

Millions will follow "diverse, thirtysomething financial mogul wannabes doing whatever it takes to make in in Manhattan" while Trillions will be based on "fictional stories of the richest people in the world - titans of industry living all over the country but coming into contact and conflict with one another". 

Billions: Miami revolves around the world of private planes in Miami, Florida while Billions: London is set in the United Kingdom's financial world.

Back to the Futurama

The beloved Futurama, gone for a decade, is getting a "Hulurama" revival on the Hulu video streaming service in July, which means the new 8th season of Futurama will very likely show up on M-Net (DStv 101) for South African viewers. UPDATE 3 July 2023: Nope, it's going to Disney+ in South Africa.

While the previous seven seasons of the Matt Groening animated series which ended in 2013 were acquired by M-Net when it was distributed by Fox, Futurama is now part of the Disney contribution to Hulu which sells to M-Net.

The Planet Express crew are back in season eight after they have been cryogenically frozen, with the majority of the original voice cast including Billy West, John DiMaggio, Katey Sagal, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr and David Herman once again lending their voices for their characters like Fry, Leela and Bender. 

The 8th season will have 20 episodes, released in two batches of 10 episodes.

"After a brief 10-year hiatus, Futurama has crawled triumphantly from the cryogenic tube, its full original cast and satirical spirit intact," the show says in a press release.

"The 10 all-new episodes have something for everyone. New viewers will be able to pick up the series from here, while long-time fans will recognise payoffs to decades-long mysteries - including developments in the epic love story of Fry and Leela, the mysterious contents of Nibbler's litter box, the secret history of evil Robot Santa, and the whereabouts of Kif and Amy's tadpoles."

"Meanwhile there's a whole new pandemic in town as the crew explores the future of vaccines, bitcoin, cancel culture and streaming TV."

Damian Lewis leaves Billions at the end of season 5 in shocking exit and is being replaced by Corey Stoll from season 6.

by Thinus Ferreira

Damian Lewis has exited the Showtime series Billions at the end of the 5th season with the Bobby Axelrod character's gap that will be replaced by Corey Stoll's Mike Prince character from the 6th season.

Billions is seen in South Africa on M-Net (DStv 101) and MultiChoice's Showmax video streaming service but is behind is showing the latest 5th season.

Corey Stoll will now replace the void left by Damian Lewis' character that was part of the central premise and concept of the show, alongside Paul Giamatti portraying Chuck Rhoades and Maggie Siff playing Wendy Rhoades.

Mike Prince is another so-called "self-made billionaire" who functioned as a fierce rival for Bobby Axelrod in the series.

In Sunday night's season 5 finale of Billions in America, Bobby Axelrod escaped to Switzerland to evade prosecution in New York. In real-life Damian Lewis' wife Helen McCrory (52) died in April.

"This is not the first time I have said goodbye to Damian Lewis," says Gary Levine, Showtime's president of entertainment, in a statement.

"What a testament to his talent that he inhabited two wildly different characters - Axe and Brody - on two of our most successful series - Billions and Homeland - and made them both so iconic. He is an extraordinary actor and I hope there will be a third time".

For the 6th season of Billions that will start in January 2022 in America on Showtime, the official publicity description reads: "As we find Stoll's Prince large and in charge in season 6, Paul Giamatti's Rhoades must develop a new strategy that is keener and more sophisticated than before".

"All the players, from Wags (David Costabile) to Wendy, from Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) to Sacker (Condola Rashad), and of course Senior (Jeffrey DeMunn), must sharpen their weapons and look for new alliances in order to survive. The ground is ever shifting and the stakes absolute. New king, new war, new rules."

Coronavirus: Nat Geo's Genius Aretha postponed, FOX's Empire cut short without proper series finale, and M-Net's Billions and Black Monday getting mid-season breaks.

by Thinus Ferreira

As the impact of the spread of the global Covid-19 novel coronavirus increases in countries from the United States to South Africa more American-produced TV series are having to adjust with the shutdown of the TV industry now impacting National Geographic's Genius: Aretha, Showtime's Billions and Black Monday, and with FOX's Empire that will no longer have a proper series finale.

The biographical series, Genius: Aretha, with Cynthia Erivo in the lead role has been postponed and will no longer start in late-May 2020 on National Geographic (DStv 181 / StarSat 220) since the Fox21 Television Studios and Imagine Television Studios production shut down on 13 March with filming which hadn't completed. No new starting date exists.

"Production on National Geographic’s limited series Genius: Aretha remains suspended and it has become clear that the series will not be completed in time for our previously announced airdate," says National Geographic in a statement.

"We look forward to resuming work as soon as is possible and safe, and at that time will announce a new premiere date for later this year."

"We cannot wait to let Aretha's voice sing, and in the words of the Queen herself, 'Being the Queen is not all about singing, and being a diva is not all about singing. It has much to do with your service to people. And your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well.' "

"In that spirit, we wish all of our viewers well in these challenging times, particularly those who are working in our communities to keep us all safe."

Meanwhile FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) already announced that it has been forced to postpone the 10th season finale of The Walking Dead zombie drama series.

AMC already pushed out the starting date of the spinoff series, Walking Dead: World Beyond that would have started on 12 April directly after the 10th season finale of The Walking Dead, also because of the coronavirus pandemic. AMC said that Walking Dead: World Beyond will now start "later this year". This series will be shown on SundanceTV (DStv 108) in South Africa.

Preproduction on the 11th season of The Walking Dead was already postponed as well.

Empire, with episodes of the 6th and final season currently on Thursdays at 20:45 on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) will also now end two episodes earlier with episode 18 on 7 May 2020 in South Africa instead of episode 20.

South African viewers are two weeks behind the United States and will see the 14th episode next week, with the promo for next week's 16th episode of Empire in America suddenly saying "Get ready for the shocking final three episodes of Empire", meaning that the series with Taraji P. Henson will end with the 18th episode.

The latest season of the Showtime drama series Billions (on M-Net (DStv 101) and Showmax) and Black Monday on 1Magic (DStv 103) haven't completed filming. The 5th season of Billions will show the first 7 episodes, and the second season of Black Monday will start but then end mid-season, with the rest of the episodes of both series that will be broadcast later.

Billions seen on M-Net releases new teaser and official poster for season 4 as Bobby and Chuck team up together for an uneasy alliance to destroy their rivals.

The Showtime drama series Billions, seen on M-Net (DStv 101) and Showmax, has released a new teaser trailer and official poster for the upcoming 4th season as Bobby Axelrod and Chuck Rhoades - former enemies - team up together in an uneasy alliance to destroy their rivals.

While season 3 of Billions started in April 2018 on M-Net after it started in March 2018 in the United States, it's not yet clear when season 4 of Billions will be starting on M-Net, or whether it will be shifting to also become a "Showmax first" title.

The fourth season of Billions will start in America on 17 March.

In the fourth season, Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis), Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) and Wendy Rhoades (Maggie Siff), the chief counselor to each, have come together to form an uneasy but highly effective alliance, aimed at the eradication of all their rivals, including Grigor Andolov (guest star John Malkovich), Taylor Mason (Asia Kate Dillon), Bryan Connerty (Toby Leonard Moore) and Waylon "Jock" Jeffcoat (guest star Clancy Brown).

"Ambition and betrayal have long been at the heart of Billions, and this season all the characters find out exactly how high a price they'll have to pay to satisfy those needs," says Showtime in the fourth season's new logline.

Billions is created and executive produced by showrunners Brian Koppelman and David Levien and was also created by Andrew Ross Sorkin.

DAILY TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 22 February 2017.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read, and that you should too:

■ "The SABC's coverage of Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation 2017 address analysed.
Media show The Listening Post on Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257) looks at how the SABC and the Guptas The New Age Breakfast Briefing on SABC2's Morning Live the day after the speech was covered.

For instance: Al Jazeera finds that Leanne Manas throws president Jacob Zuma softball questions - that is until the show switches away from SABC2 (viewers) and continues to only be broadcast on MultiChoice's DStv on the SABC News (DStv 404) channel catering to pay-TV audiences.

Now suddenly "Peter Ndoro asks much tougher questions" when a much smaller TV audience is watching.


■ Television graveyard.
Millions of old TV sets are dumped and abandoned in massive warehouses across America - and the hard manual labour involved to break down and destroy or recycle old TV sets.

■ Second season of Showtime's Billions getting "a big promotional push" as if it's a new show.
In South Africa on DStv, not so much.

■ Lovely.
Matt LeBlanc eats horse penis in the new upcoming season of Top Gear starting on 8 March at 20:00 on BBC Brit (DStv 120).


■ Alberton school furious over eNCA (DStv 403) story it slams as a false report.
Marais Viljoen High School (MVHS) considering taking eNCA and eNuus on kykNET (DStv 144) to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) after unsubstantiated, slanderous report and the apparent failure to ask the right people for comment.


■ Russia's president Vladimir Putin is obsessed with television.
Specifically in watching to see how different TV channels cover him.


■ Court papers reveal how Botswana Television (BTV) got rid of its head of news in an election year.
Koketso Joshua Ntopolelang wants his job as head of TV news and current affairs at Botswana's state broadcaster back; shows court how he was allegedly purged from BTV and moved to another government department because he could allegedly "not be trusted" during an election year in Botswana.


■ New Zealand TV is trashing up current affairs in prime time.
Strange and trashy chit-chat as actuality programming instead of news.

■ Sky News (DStv 402) anchor Dermot Murnaghan warns
that the TV news at 22:00 on British television can't survive due to falling viewership.

■ Cameroon viewers treated to TV fight.
After last week's Egypt on-set brouhaha, in Cameroon on Sunday novelist Calixthe Beyala created an "incident close to barbarism and savagery" in an on-set clash.

■ CNBC Africa (DStv 410) opens a new studio in Rwanda.
Who knew? Apparently the ABN Group running the business TV channel on MultiChoice's DStv platform opened a new studio in Rwanda's Kigali Convention Centre. Of course there wasn't even a basic press release or statement to the media.

■ Japan gives money to improve Malawi television.
Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) gets millions from Japan to improve its MBCTV broadcasting equipment in Blantyre.

■ Unnamed Indian TV anchor caught as a prostitute.
Allegedly used her good looks to become involved in prostitution at a guest house in Hyderabad; police reprimanded her for illegal activities and "advised her to pursue her anchoring career professionally".

■ A second golden age for TV news channels in America?
Viewership soars thanks to The Lorax Donald Trump.

■ The SABC has now implemented the Scisys' dira! and MusicMaster systems.
New production and playout systems used by 19 of the SABC's radio stations. Of course it's hopefully not being held together by sticky tape in the rundown SABC studios.

■ Script for final episode of The Vampire Diaries is so brutal ...
it made actor Paul Wesley cry.