Showtime (TV network) in the context of "Billions (TV series)"

The Gold Coast, also known as Lower Fairfield County or Southwestern Connecticut, refers to an affluent part of Western Connecticut that includes the entire southern portion of Fairfield County as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, Super-Public Use Microdata Area (Super-PUMA) Region 09600. The area is about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of New York City, and is home to many wealthy Manhattan business executives. Parts of the region are served by the Western Connecticut Council of Governments.

The Gold Coast of Connecticut is often portrayed in culture as a bastion of wealth. Since the mid-20th century, a number of novels and films have been set here, including Gentleman's Agreement, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Revolutionary Road, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, The Swimmer, The Stepford Wives, and The Ice Storm. The Showtime drama series Billions highlights the area's prominence as a haven for hedge funds and other financial services firms.

Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, but also increasingly via digital terrestrial and streaming television. In the United States, subscription television began in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the form of encrypted analog over-the-air broadcast television which could be decrypted with special equipment. The concept rapidly expanded through the multi-channel transition and into the post-network era. Other parts of the world beyond the United States, such as France and Latin America have also offered encrypted analog terrestrial signals available for subscription.

The term is most synonymous with premium entertainment services focused on films or general entertainment programming such as, in the United States, Cinemax, HBO, MGM+, Showtime, and Starz, but such services can also include those devoted to sports, as well as adult entertainment.

Helen Elizabeth McCrory OBE (17 August 1968 – 16 April 2021) was an English actress. After studying at the Drama Centre London, she made her professional stage debut in The Importance of Being Earnest in 1990. Other theatre roles include playing Lady Macbeth in Macbeth at Shakespeare's Globe, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Rosalind in As You Like It in the West End for which she received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination, and Medea in the eponymous play at the Royal National Theatre.

McCrory is known for her film roles as Françoise in Charlotte Gray (2001); Cherie Blair in both The Queen (2006) and The Special Relationship (2010), alongside Michael Sheen, who portrayed husband and Prime Minister Tony Blair in both; Narcissa Malfoy in the final three Harry Potter films (2009, 2010, 2011); Mama Jeanne in Hugo (2011); and Clair Dowar in the James Bond film Skyfall (2012). She was also known for her television roles as Polly Gray in the BBC series Peaky Blinders (2013–2019); Madame Kali in the Showtime series Penny Dreadful (2014–15); Emma Banville in the ITV series Fearless (2017); and Kathryn Villiers in the BBC mini-series MotherFatherSon (2019).

Neil Patrick Jordan (born 25 February 1950) is an Irish filmmaker and writer. He first achieved recognition for his short story collection, Night in Tunisia, which won the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1979. After a stint working at RTÉ, he made his directorial debut with the 1982 film Angel.

Jordan's best-known films include the crime thrillers Mona Lisa (1986) and The Crying Game (1992), the horror dramas Interview with the Vampire (1994) and Byzantium (2012), the biopic Michael Collins (1996), the black comedy The Butcher Boy (1997), the Graham Greene adaptation The End of the Affair (1999), the transgender-themed dramedy Breakfast on Pluto (2005), and the psychological thriller Greta (2018). Jordan also created the Showtime Network television series The Borgias (2011–2013) and Sky Atlantic's Riviera (2017–2020).

Paramount Global, also known by its trade name as simply Paramount and formerly ViacomCBS, was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, Midtown Manhattan that was in operation from December 4, 2019 to August 7, 2025.

Established through the merger of the second incarnations of Viacom and CBS Corporation, which were split from the original Viacom on December 31, 2005, it took its latest name on February 16, 2022. Paramount's main properties include the namesake Paramount Pictures Corporation, the CBS Entertainment Group (consisting of the CBS television network and television stations as well as The CW and other CBS-branded assets), the BET Media Group (which oversees BET and its sister channels), Paramount Media Networks (consisting of locally-based cable television networks including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, CMT, Paramount Network and Showtime) and Paramount Streaming (including Paramount+ and Pluto TV). It also has an international division that manages international versions of its cable networks, as well as region-specific assets including Argentina's Telefe, Chile's Chilevisión, the United Kingdom's 5 and Australia's Network 10. From 2011 to 2023, the division also owned a 30% stake in Rainbow S.p.A. of Italy. As of 2019, the company operates over 170 networks and reaches approximately 700 million subscribers in 180 countries.

Episodes is a television sitcom created by David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik and produced by Hat Trick Productions. It premiered on Showtime in the United States on 9 January 2011 and on BBC Two in the United Kingdom on 10 January 2011. The show is about a British husband-and-wife comedy writing team who travel to Hollywood to remake their successful British TV series, with unexpected results. It stars Matt LeBlanc portraying a satirical version of himself. LeBlanc made his regular return to television for the first time since he was on NBC's Joey.

On 10 June 2015, it was announced that Showtime had renewed Episodes for a fifth season, which was due to begin filming in London in 2016. On 11 April 2016, the fifth season was confirmed to be the series' last; it consists of seven episodes and premiered on 20 August 2017. The series finale, "Episode Seven", aired on 8 October 2017.

The first incarnation of Viacom Inc. (derived from "Video & Audio Communications") was an American mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in New York City. It began as CBS Television Film Sales, the broadcast syndication division of the CBS television network on March 16, 1952; it was renamed CBS Films in 1958, renamed CBS Enterprises in 1968, renamed Viacom in 1970, and spun off into its own company in 1971. Viacom was a distributor of CBS television series throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and also distributed syndicated television programs. The company came under Sumner Redstone's control in 1987 through his cinema chain company National Amusements.

At the time of its split, Viacom's assets included the CBS and UPN broadcast networks, the Paramount Pictures film and television studio, local radio station operator CBS Radio, cable channels such as MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, and Showtime, outdoor media operator Viacom Outdoor, television production and distribution firm King World Productions, and book publisher Simon & Schuster. It also owned its IP holding subsidiary Viacom International and brand licensor Westinghouse Licensing Corporation.