S01.E01: Grow or Die

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

UberCab CEO Travis Kalanick sets his sights on landing an important partner for his fledgling company: VC powerhouse Bill Gurley. But Gurley's money might not be enough. Series premiere.

Original air date 2022.02.27

[chocolatine]

Wow, the writing for this show is so bad, even JGL and Kyle Chandler can't salvage it. I know Travis had/has a terrible reputation, but it's hard to believe he was so full of cliches. And what was that cheesy voiceover with the 90s-looking animations?

And LOL to there being a city official named Randall Pearson who is prone to speechifying. (Those who watch This Is Us know what I'm talking about.)

I did like the family brunch scene and Travis's phone call with his mom, but they were also sad to watch knowing that 

Spoiler

his mom died in a boating accident in 2017.

The only great thing about this episode was the soundtrack.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

You can really tell this was written by the folks who write Billions. The dialog was terrible.  So many cultural references shoved in where they make no sense.  Much like many of the tech CEOs they plan to skewer, the writers think that they are much more clever than they are.  I felt bad for the actors trying to get through some of those speeches.  It's a great cast.  I hope this improves. 

[Carolina Girl]

I would have been somewhat interested to have some background on how long it took Uber to recruit drivers and establish itself in San Francisco.  I remember when I first started hearing about people using it.  

[hoodooznoodooz]

Elisabeth Shue looks like Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s sister, not his mom.

IRL, she is seventeen years older. She looks fantastic!!

I wonder how the creators of a cr- -fest such as “Billions” were able to recruit so much talent.

 

[IntrovertRed]

On 2/27/2022 at 10:47 PM, chocolatine said:

Wow, the writing for this show is so bad, even JGL and Kyle Chandler can't salvage it. I know Travis had/has a terrible reputation, but it's hard to believe he was so full of cliches. And what was that cheesy voiceover with the 90s-looking animations?

It's gotten a little better in later episodes.

On 2/28/2022 at 2:14 PM, Carolina Girl said:

I would have been somewhat interested to have some background on how long it took Uber to recruit drivers and establish itself in San Francisco.  I remember when I first started hearing about people using it.  

Yes, I agree.  I didn't know that Uber was considered luxury and had town cars.  By the time I used Lyft/Uber, the drivers were using their own cars.  I generally use whichever one is cheaper at the time.  My work also pays for my Uber to/from train, most drivers are nice but many seem to be former cab drivers. 

So Uber was Garrett's idea, but Travis sort of took over the reigns with Garrett's permission?

Kyle Chander is aging VERY well.