Mike Judge's "Silicon Valley" (HBO Show)

lol

dude everything always works out in this show too (see the deus ex machina that is haley joel osment coming out of no where) gimme a break.

Jared is not recognizably human. But he's a brilliant TV creation.

These guys are not hurting for cash, not unhappy, sit around the house working on stuff, occasionally meet girls, smoke pot, drink beer. They don't seem to be worried about bills or anything. Their biggest concern, even Martin Starr, seems to be hitching their wagon to something that will make them rich. That's been the goal of every season. I suppose Richard also wants some semblance of independence/integrity, but even he has always had tres commas on the mind. I mean, I enjoy this show a lot, and have really come around to it. But it's not a show I watch to track the characters' personal growth, overcoming challenges, etc. There has yet to be any real fallout from anything that has gone wrong save them not being filthy rich. Save Bighead, I guess, who had money and lost it all, but he seems like the only one who doesn't care about money. Or know what money is.

Is it an accurate portrayal of Silicon Valley? Maybe, but then, I think Entourage was probably a pretty accurate portrayal of that sort of Hollywood life, too. FWIW. I don't know if I ever saw more than a season or two of Entourage, but most of that show was about their collective humiliation, iirc, with the one famous fulcrum guy constantly failing up and bringing the others with him.

hmm yeah I don't disagree when you put it that way. they are p static in a sit-com-y way. They don't seem very happy-go-lucky, which was maybe me misinterpreting your comment about them "not having a care in the world" but that's because they are neurotic, not because they ever encounter serious problems (that then aren't conveniently solved w referenced deus ex machina tricks_)

Yeah, that's what I meant. They are neurotic and so probably can never be "happy," but they have the luxury of being neurotic because they keep getting bailed out and rescued despite it all.

The arcs of the two shows are about careers more than any other kind of growing up. And when the TJ Miller news came out, I thought it sounded like if Piven had left Entourage mid-series. Also the detail and specificity of industry in-jokes and references combined with broad comedy, and both have been pretty delicate in focusing on guys in a pack without slipping into misogyny.

see the deus ex machina that is haley joel osment coming out of no where

he sees VC people

dude everything always works out in this show too (see the deus ex machina that is haley joel osment coming out of no where) gimme a break.

for every do sex machina there's a corresponding twist that brings them back to square one

get on up

I don't think the arc of either show is about careers. Whether it's the actor guy and his buds or the SV nerds, they can always find work/careers. The arc seems to be about getting rich, which in both cases is a queasy thing to root for.

this is totally nerd entourage stop trying to deny it

True, JiC!

imo the Silicon Valley thing is also about nerds who have this *pressure* to overachieve

if it was just making good money, they could have jumped whole hog on that "pied piper appliance" crap w/hooli and sold it to large corporations for $$$

you could argue it's about wanting to break out and be super rich, but I think some sort of ideological purity about the nature of the success is the core thing

wanting to ~change the world~

it reminds me of this dude I knew in high school who did the stanford -> working at a tech company route, and was starting to come into his own success when I saw him speak back home at a small conference

I hung out with him for a while that evening, and his dad was there, and I got the impression his parents (both doctors) were just getting past the idea that he was fucking around in his life by not being a doctor or w/e

I'm not really concerned with the character's success. Part of the fun is watching everything fall apart at varying degrees of extremely fast.

The actual characters aren't really the focus anyway imo, they're just used as a way in which to parody the culture of silicon valley in general.

imo both the story/characters and the thematic material have to be tight or you end up with soap opera hijinks or some sort of corporate parable with no investment in the episodes

the narrative drive of this show is incredible when it's really working.

it's been mentioned on this thread before but the commitment to narrative - over character, over laughs - is one of the the things that makes this show unique

every joke in this show is character driven humor.

the narrative is very dull characters are the only thing that matters

aldo's post above pretty much fits the story loop. we don't really care where this company is going or Gavin or anything so long as there are lols. it's obvious nobody is in any real danger and consequences matter only in that they provide lols.

ugh i know he's supposed to be funny but i find Erlich so detestable in such a specific that it's hard to appreciate him even as just a character, i'm actually p stoked he's leaving

This show is Nerd Entourage and that's fine with me

ya this show is def Nerd Entourage

I'm surprised some people are glad Erlich leaves.
I would say he's the character that's the most identified with the show (with Jared maybe).
As I said earlier, he might be my favourite. but since I also really like Russ Hanneman and Gavin... I might simply enjoy major assholes !

he's a character that fits in really well w this particular time and place. he's still sort of a nerd bc he is immersed in this tech stuff. he is also nth generation california hippie hence the pot smoking and spirit quests. he can act ludicrously pompous because a lot of the people around him also think they are changing the world. its fun to see him try to take credit for things because that's the culture. take all that away and he doesn't work as well. the new non-SV things i've seen Miller in, he just seems douchey, prone to frat boy humor, not very smart.

He's Falstaff to a bunch of Hals.

I am going to see him do standup on Monday, mainly out of curiosity. Also, the other comics on the bill are rock solid, so even if he's rubbish, it'll still be a good show.

There is a key difference between this and Entourage, in that SV is funny and charming, and Entourage was neither

I'm okay with TJ Miller leaving, as long as it doesn't mean more Russ Hanneman - he is p. much the definitive "fine in small doses" character

Surprised they dropped the Gavin Belson story so early, felt like that had much more potential

"There is a key difference between this and Entourage, in that SV is funny and charming, and Entourage was neither"

^^^ this.

imo Gavin will be back

still mourning the loss of Peter Gregory. Christopher Welch really pulled out all the stops in his acting on that one

trailer for tj miller special on hbo makes me think i wouldn't like him in anything but this.

will miss interplay b/tw him and jian yang.

yeah that promo for his stand up made me think that tj miller was more obnoxious than erlich bachmann

erlich/jian yang are the laurel & hardy of our days

that trailer looks terrible, but I did like him in Crashing.

i don't really care about whether i care about these characters or their personal growth or whatever, it's a sitcom. i do care whether it's funny or not, and unfortunately it's not as funny rn, though i still get some decent laughs out of each episode

i love martin starr but gilfoyle is pretty annoying. it's constant gilfoyle/dinesh battles but gilfoyle always comes out on top and is always smug, i want him to get some kind of comeuppance eventually

strong start but past three episodes have def been not as funny

xp hah if you think Gilfoyle always comes out on top you should have loved the last episode.

biggest laugh this week was jared's bro alter ego in the preview of the next episode

you mean the last episode where gilfoyle essentially came out on top again? i mean sure he destroyed his phone but so did dinesh and his secrets remain unexposed

yeah the big loss for gilfoyle is... the reveal he might have something worth hiding on his phone

plot hole: if they really were nerds they'd extract the memory chips

throw the phone in the microwave imo

many xps but

both have been pretty delicate in focusing on guys in a pack without slipping into misogyny

Sorry, is that supposed to apply to Entourage? are you crazy?

yeeah, I think I made it through 2/3 of one episode of Entourage and lost interest

I watched a lot of it and while it does have some similarities it is fairly terrible re women

otoh, so is Hollywood.

I'm not a huge TJ Miller fan, but his character on SV is a quintessential Mike Judge character. Nobody is really filling that absence

how has Stephen Root not had a guest appearance on this show yet?

I mean, the answer is probably that he's really busy, but I hope it happens