rant · moment 7 of 13
Bunchie's Wrestler Wife and Billions vs. Showtime's Formula
from Ray Kump Donovan · #35
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
5 minTim finishes the Ray Donovan family saga (Bunchie's masked Mexican wrestler wife, postpartum depression, baby handoff) then pivots to critiquing Showtime's formulaic prestige dramas like Billions, comparing them to FX's stronger slate (Atlanta, Louie, The Americans).
- 27:07Bunchie married a Mexican wrestler who had postpartum depression and threw him out, leaving Ray Donovan's wife to raise their baby.
- 27:48Tim says he's always thought the lead actor was good-looking, then launches into a Ray Donovan dialogue parody about killing babies for money.
- 28:13Ann Pinceman wrote Ray Donovan while drunk and leaving the business, pitching Showtime on a show about a Jew from Boston fucked by a priest who kills people in LA.
- 28:41Billions uses lazy archetypes and on-the-nose writing, raising the question of whether showrunners lack talent or just know how dumb American audiences are.
- 29:14TV executives don't actually understand why things succeed; they can carbon-copy a hit show and watch it fail completely.
- 29:34Rubicon and Terriers were phenomenal AMC shows that nobody watched and didn't get past the first season.
- 29:52The Wire, arguably the greatest show ever made, was a cult classic that wasn't well-received when it aired.
- 30:23HBO and AMC shows like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones function as prestige brand investments rather than pure profit engines.
- 30:50FX knows they've made some of the best TV—Atlanta, Louie, Baskets, The Americans, Shield—and you can feel that confidence in their office culture.
- 31:16Showtime comes close with shows but seems okay with that; they're more about chasing finance than building a legacy brand like FX or HBO.
The WireBillionsBreaking BadFXShowtimeRay DonovanBasketsRubiconHBOThe AmericansAtlantaLouieAnn PinchamGame of Thrones