Black Monday (TV series)

• Don Cheadle as Maurice Monroe
• Andrew Rannells as Blair Pfaff
• Regina Hall as Dawn Darcy
• Paul Scheer as Keith Shankar

• Casey Wilson as Tiffany Georgina
• Horatio Sanz as Wayne
• Yassir Lester as Yassir X
• Ken Marino as Larry and Lenny Leighman
• Kadeem Hardison as Spencer
• Eugene Cordero as Ronnie
• Julie Hagerty as Mrs. Georgina
• Phil Reeves Mr. Georgina
• Dannah Feinglass as Agent Mills
• Danielle Schneider as Agent Fox
• Bruce Dern as Rod "The Jammer" Jaminski
• Kurt Braunohler as Ty Daverman
• Melissa Rauch as Shira
• Tuc Watkins as Congressman Roger Harris

• Michael James Scott as Chad ("365")
• Hugh Dane as Calvin ("365")
• Paul Rust as Brandt ("364")
• Teresa Ganzel as Trisha ("364")
• Vanessa Bell Calloway as Ruth ("339")
• Tim Russ as Walter Darcy ("339")
• Tim Heidecker as Not Milken #1 ("243")
• Fred Melamed as Not Milken #2 ("243")

In 2013, Showtime began to develop the production, then titled Ball Street, but did not end up moving it beyond the developmental stage. In the fourth quarter of 2016, following the purchase of a pilot by David Caspe and Jordan Cahan, the project was put back into development with Caspe and Cahan in charge.[25]

On September 7, 2017, it was announced that Showtime had given the production a pilot order. The pilot script was written by Caspe and Cahan, both of whom were also expected to act as showrunners. The pilot was set to be directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the pair of which were also to serve as executive producers alongside Caspe and Cahan. Production companies involved with the pilot included Sony Pictures Television.[25]

On June 14, 2018, it was announced that Showtime had given the production, now titled Black Monday, a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes.[3] On October 19, 2018, it was reported that the series would premiere on January 20, 2019.[26]

On April 29, 2019, Showtime renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on March 15, 2020.[1][2]

Alongside the pilot order announcement, it was confirmed that Don Cheadle and Andrew Rannells had been cast in the series' lead roles.[25] On February 12, 2018, it was announced that Regina Hall, Paul Scheer, Kurt Braunohler, and Eugene Cordero had joined the pilot's cast. Additionally, it was reported that Casey Wilson would guest star in the pilot with the potential to become a recurring cast member if the pilot was picked up to series.[27]

Alongside the series order announcement, it was confirmed that Yassir Lester and Michael James Scott had joined the cast and that Ken Marino would make a guest appearance.[3] On September 20, 2018, it was announced that Kadeem Hardison had been cast in a recurring role.[28] On October 16, 2018, it was reported that Bruce Dern, Melissa Rauch, Horatio Sanz, Julie Hagerty, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Tim Russ and Jason Michael Snow would appear in guest starring roles.[29]

Principal photography for the pilot was expected to begin in mid-February 2018 in Los Angeles, California.[27] Filming for the rest of season one began on September 28, 2018, at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles.[30][31]

In September 2018, the first teaser trailer for the series was released,[32] followed in October by the official trailer.[26] In December 2018, a second teaser trailer was released.[33] On December 28, 2018, the first episode of the series was released early through Facebook, YouTube, and Showtime's streaming applications.[5] The program's marketing, rather than using the current "SHO" disc logo utilized by Showtime, used the wordmark version used from 1984 to 1997 to tie the series to its time period.

On January 14, 2019, the series held its world premiere at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Those in attendance included David Caspe, Jordan Cahan, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Don Cheadle, Regina Hall, Jon Hamm, Horatio Sanz, Paul Scheer, Yassir Lester, Ken Marino, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Elia Cantu, Kadeem Hardison, Kurt Braunohler, Jennifer Zaborowski, Xosha Roquemore, David Krumholtz, David Nevins, and Amy Israel.[34]

The series was met with a mixed response from critics upon its premiere. As of June 2020, the series' first season holds a 56% approval rating with an average rating of 6.08 out of 10 based on 45 reviews on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. The website's critical consensus reads, "Black Monday zips with irrepressible style and a seductively stacked cast of charismatics stars – but this Wall Street odyssey is too preoccupied with flash to ferment its needed substance."[35] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 57 out of 100 based on 29 critics' reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[36]