''Super Pumped'' is an American

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

television series created by

Brian Koppelman Brian William Koppelman (born April 27, 1966) is an American television and film writer, producer and director. Koppelman is the co-writer of ''Ocean's Thirteen'' and ''Rounders (1998 film), Rounders'', a producer of films including ''The Illusion ...

and

David Levien David Levien (born December 9, 1967) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. He is co-creator, executive producer, and showrunner of Showtime's '' Billions'', along with Brian Koppelman. Some of his credits include ''Ocean' ...

, named for the 2019 nonfiction book of the same name by Mike Isaac. The first installment, subtitled ''The Battle For Uber'', is based on Isaac's book and centers on the rise and fall of former

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

CEO

Travis Kalanick Travis Cordell Kalanick (; born August 6, 1976) is an American businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer (CEO) of Uber. Previously he worked for Scour, a peer-to-peer file sharing application company, and was th ...

, played by

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt (; born February 17, 1981) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his leading perform ...

. Also starring

Kyle Chandler Kyle Martin Chandler (born September 17, 1965) is an American actor. He received critical acclaim for his performance as Eric Taylor in the NBC series '' Friday Night Lights'' (2006–2011), winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding L ...

Uma Thurman Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970) is an American actress. She has performed in a variety of films, from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action films. Following her appearances on the December 1985 and May 1986 cover ...

, and

Elisabeth Shue Elisabeth Shue (born October 6, 1963) is an American actress. She has starred in films such as '' The Karate Kid'' (1984), '' Adventures in Babysitting'' (1987), ''Cocktail'' (1988), ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989), '' Back to the Future P ...

, it premiered on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

on February 27, 2022. Ahead of the series premiere, the series was renewed for a second season, based on a separate forthcoming book by Mike Isaac about

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Premise

The show dramatizes the foundation of the ride-hailing company

from the perspective of the company's CEO

, who is ultimately ousted in a boardroom coup.

Cast and characters

Main

as Bill Gurley *

Kerry Bishé Kerry Bishé is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Donna Clark in the AMC period drama series '' Halt and Catch Fire'' (2014–2017) and Lucy Bennett, the lead/narrator in the final season of the ABC medical sitcom '' Scrubs'' ...

as Austin Geidt *

Babak Tafti Babak Tafti is an Iranian-American actor best known for the role of Emil Michael on ''Super Pumped,'' Chris in '' The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed'', Bradford Luke in '' Billions'', and Eduard Asgarov in ''Succession''. Ca ...

Emil Michael Emil G. Michael ( ; born September 19, 1972) is an Egyptian-born American businessman. Michael was previously the senior vice president of business and chief business officer at Uber, and the chief operating officer of Klout. In December 2 ...

* Jon Bass as

Garrett Camp Garrett Camp (born October 4, 1978) is a Canadian-French businessman, investor, and software engineer. He helped build the search engine StumbleUpon and is a co-founder of Uber. He lives in Los Angeles. Early life and education Camp was born ...

as Bonnie Kalanick * Bridget Gao Hollitt as Gabi Holzwarth *

Arianna Huffington Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (; , ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of ''HuffPost'', the founder and CEO of Thrive Global, and the author of fifteen books. She ha ...

The first season is narrated by

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...

Recurring

* Annie Chang as Angie You * Noah Weisberg as Quentin * Darren Pettie as Hendricks * Joel Kelley Dauten as Ryan Graves * Ian Alda as Peter Fenton * Sonny Valicenti as

Matt Cohler Matt Cohler (born March 27, 1977) is an American venture capitalist. He worked as Vice President of Product Management for Facebook until June 2008 and was formerly a general partner at Benchmark. Cohler has been named to the Forbes Midas List ...

* Mishka Thébaud as Cory Kalanick *

Virginia Kull Virginia Kull is an American actress who has appeared in ''Big Little Lies'', ''NOS4A2'', ''The Looming Tower'', and others. In addition to her roles in film and television, she has appeared in various Broadway productions. Most recently, she ...

as Jill Hazelbaker *

Damon Gupton Damon Jamal Gupton (born January 4, 1973) is an American actor and orchestral conductor, best known for his series regular roles as Charles Foster on '' Deadline'', Evrard Velerio on ''Prime Suspect'', Adam Page on '' The Divide'', Detective Cal ...

as David Drummond *

Amanda Brooks Amanda Brooks (born June 22, 1981) is an American actress who starred in the 2007 film ''D-War'' and in the 2006 film ''Cut Off''. She also had a leading role in the 2005 film ''River's End''. She also starred in '' The Canyons'' as Gina. She i ...

Rachel Whetstone Rachel Marjorie Joan Whetstone (born 22 February 1968) is a British public relations executive. Whetstone was in charge of communications and public policy at Google for nearly a decade, and served as senior vice president of communications and ...

* Erinn Ruth as Olivia Lungociu * Mousa Hussein Kraish as Fawzi Kamel * Rama Vallury as Tahir Khan *

Hank Azaria Henry Albert Azaria ( ; born April 25, 1964) is an American actor and producer. He is known for voicing many characters in the long-running animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' since 1989, including Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Superintendent Chalmer ...

Tim Cook Timothy Donald Cook (born November 1, 1960) is an American business executive who is the current chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Cook had previously been the company's chief operating officer under its co-founder Steve Jobs. Cook joined ...

* Eva Victor as Susan Fowler *

Richard Schiff Richard Schiff (born May 27, 1955) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on ''The West Wing'', a role for which he received an Emmy Award. Schiff made his television directorial debut with ''The West Wing'', directing an ...

as Randall Pearson *

Rob Morrow Robert Alan Morrow (born September 21, 1962) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Dr. Joel Fleischman on '' Northern Exposure'', a role that garnered him three Golden Globe and two Emmy nominations for Best Actor in a Dramati ...

Eddy Cue Eduardo H. Cue (born October 23, 1964) is Apple Inc., Apple's senior vice president of Services, reporting to CEO Tim Cook. Cue oversees Apple's numerous content stores and products including the iTunes Store, the Apple Books Store, and Apple ...

Jessica Hecht Jessica Hecht (born June 28, 1965) is an American actress known for her roles as Gretchen Schwartz on ''Breaking Bad'', Susan Bunch on ''Friends'', Carol Mannheim on '' The Boys'', and Karen on ''Special''. She is also known for her expansive ...

as Amy Gurley * Chelcie Ross as

David Bonderman David Bonderman (November27, 1942December11, 2024) was an American billionaire businessman. He was the founding partner of TPG Inc. (formerly Texas Pacific Group), and its Asian affiliate, Newbridge Capital. He was also one of the minority owne ...

Episodes

Production

Development

The project first emerged on September 18, 2019, when the non-fiction novel ''

Super Pumped ''Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber'' is a 2019 book by ''New York Times'' journalist Mike Isaac. The book covers the events between the founding of Uber and its initial public offering in 2019. Background The book was based on Mike Isaac's ...

'' by

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

technology journalist Mike Isaac was featured on ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

''s list of highly sought-after

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

. The following month, it was announced that

had optioned the television rights to the book, with the intention to adapt the novel into a

limited series In the field of comic books, and particularly in the United States, a limited series is a comics series with a predetermined number of issues. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is finite and determined ...

. '' Billions'' co-creators

and

were attached to create, write, and executive produce the series under their overall deal with

Showtime Networks Showtime Networks, Inc. is a subsidiary of American media conglomerate Paramount Global under its networks division that oversees the company's premium cable television channels, including its flagship namesake service. Overview The compan ...

. By March 2021, the series had quietly received a series pickup, with the series given a 2022 premiere timeframe. It was later announced in May 2021 that Showtime had officially given the project a series order, with the series following an

format, opening up the possibility of future seasons instead of the miniseries previously envisioned. The series, subtitled ''The Battle For Uber'' in its first season, premiered on February 27, 2022, on Showtime and Paramount+ Internationally.

Allen Coulter Allen Coulter is an American television and film director, credited with a number of successful television programs. He has directed two feature films, ''Hollywoodland'', a film regarding the questionable death of George Reeves starring Adrien ...

was the director and executive producer for the first episode. On February 15, 2022, ahead of the series premiere, Showtime renewed the series for a second season which will focus on

Casting

In May 2021,

and

were cast in lead roles. In August 2021,

, Babak Tafti, Mousa Hussein Kraish, and

were added to the main cast. The following month, Bridget Gao Hollitt and

joined the cast in lead roles while

, Annie Chang, Erinn Ruth, and Mishka Thébaud were cast in recurring capacities. In October, it was announced

would be playing the role of

. On February 16, 2022, it was reported that

is set as the narrator for the first season. Tarantino indicated he was a big fan of ''Billions'' which led Koppelman and Levien to pitch the role to him.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began in September 2021 in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Reception

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported a 64% approval rating with an average rating of 6.5/10, based on 28 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Super Pumped'' has energy to spare, but

's committed turn as an unpleasant tech honcho will leave many viewers feeling stuck in a particularly uncomfortable rideshare."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 63 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Ratings

References

External links

* * {{Showtime Network programming 2020s American anthology television series 2020s American workplace drama television series 2022 American television series debuts American biographical series American English-language television shows Showtime (TV network) original programming Television series based on actual events Television shows based on American novels Television shows based on non-fiction books Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television shows set in the San Francisco Bay Area Television shows set in San Francisco Television series by CBS Studios Works about Uber Films about startups