Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber
The Showtime series is a rundown of how ride hailing app Uber and its former CEO Travis Kalanick got their start and how the once-head honcho fell from grace.
Super Pumped is based on the 2019 book by the same name, written by New York Times journalist Mike Isaac, but it takes a hard, Hollywood-esque depiction of Kalanick coming onto the fledgling startup once called UberCab as a mere advisor before taking the reins of the entire company himself. Kalanick’s zany antics as CEO and his eventual fall are depicted in grand, dramatic moments, with some scenes playing up the smarmy nature of the business (like when the team avoids paying city transit fees by simply removing “Cabs” from the name).
It’s got a pretty stacked cast. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the eponymous Kalanick, Uma Thurman is Huffington Post co-founder and Uber board member Arianna Huffington, and Kyle Chandler is venture capitalist Bill Gurney. Though the first season ended with seven episodes this month, a new season is expected to look into the rise of Facebook through the eyes of Mark Zuckerberg, but honestly, you might be better looking at our number 6 for that rollercoaster.
