Sometimes you’ve got to make a TV show but you don’t want to walk, maybe because it’s raining or it’s already pretty late, and you absolutely don’t want to make a TV show with a regular taxi. So what do you do? Obviously you take out your phone, open up the app, and call an Uber… or, if you’re Showtime, you call for a season of a TV show about Uber. As announced today in a press release, Showtime has picked up Super Pumped, an anthology series about stories “that rocked the business world to its core and changed culture,” with its first season being based on Mike Isaac’s Super Pumped: The Battle For Uber.
The book is about the downfall of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who will be played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the TV version. The press release describes Kalanick as a “hard-charging CEO,” with Showtime exec Amy Israel adding that he’s “hyper-brilliant and controversial.” Perhaps in the interest of not spoiling the show, the press release doesn’t go into his crusade to prevent Uber users from tipping drivers or his poor response to sexual harassment allegations against the company, but there is a reason he’s not Uber’s CEO anymore. Again, the show is probably about this stuff.
Super Pumped comes from Billions’ Brian Koppelman and David Levien, with the two of them and Beth Schacter executive producing, writing, and serving as showrunners. No word on what subjects will be tackled in future seasons of Super Pumped, obviously (since this first season hasn’t been made yet), but Showtime deserves some credit for resisting the impulse to make this thing all about Elon Musk. An anthology about stories that rocked the business world? Elon Musk should be the Evan Peters of this thing, popping up all over the place in every season.