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

Oof, for an improv guy he is pretty inarticulate

The bad news is that TJ Miller won't be fully appreciated as a comedic genius until he's dead. The good news is 5...4...3...2...

— Anthony Jeselnik (@anthonyjeselnik) June 26, 2017

shots fired!

i rewatched the season 1 finale and laughed almost as hard as I did the first time i saw it.

Finale to this season was great imo. I don't get what kind of "evolution" ppl are expecting, that things always go back where they start is a lifelike eternal struggle imo trynna push the boulder up the mountain of economic success in a capitalist economy, v resonant shit & consistently amusing

where the fuck did Asshole Richard come from? It's yet another moment (out of many many many of them) where they write something really improbable or incongruent to like conveniently shuffle the plot along but it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense

Asshole Dinesh > Asshole Richard

Imagine if the season ended with that whole Dinesh as CEO storyline kicking in and not ending.

TJ Miller sounds like A POS

Well that was... something. Almost hated the ep but the return of Gavin was nice and the silly final scene did make me laugh.
Not looking forward to the next season....
(Veep's finale was great!)

Well that was... something. Almost hated the ep but the return of Gavin was nice and the silly final scene did make me laugh.
Not looking forward to the next season....
(Veep's finale was great!)

veep's finale was a good reset but kind of bad as tv, about 948028348 things happened to the plot....it felt like a really long 'what you missed last episode' clip

where the fuck did Asshole Richard come from? It's yet another moment (out of many many many of them) where they write something really improbable or incongruent to like conveniently shuffle the plot along but it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense

― he not like the banana (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, June 26, 2017 9:59 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i thought this was pretty well developed throughout the series, as he explains to dinesh & gilfoyle in the finale ... the entire plot was sparked by him wanting to create a new kind of company which isn't run by a hypocritical sociopath & as the company grows & runs into more & more issues everyone puts pressure on him to do exactly that and he refuses, & finally when he gives in & compromises his values for the good of the company it backfires & everyone dislikes him

binged the whole show over the weekend, it wasn't very good.

― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Monday, June 26, 2017 12:49 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"The food here is terrible...." "...I know, and such small portions!"

yeah, i've given up on shows that WERE good, just not good enough to compel me to see them through.

i'm not complaining that i knocked it out fast! I'm glad it was short! I loved prior seasons a lot; this one was lacking in ways that have been extrapolated to death upthread. i finally burnt out on television i guess.

there was a couple eps this season i thought weren't funny or were boring but i don't think the show fell off like that ... ive been back watching king of the hill & it could have the same issues

the entire plot was sparked by him wanting to create a new kind of company which isn't run by a hypocritical sociopath & as the company grows & runs into more & more issues everyone puts pressure on him to do exactly that and he refuses, & finally when he gives in & compromises his values for the good of the company it backfires & everyone dislikes him

it feels like yes this is the narrative arc of the show but they just did a shitty job connecting dots or gave up 3/4 of the way through entirely. does Richard have any values past doing only what he wants at any given moment? there is this vague stuff about a new internet, that's about it. we as an audience are cut off from the day to day. we just get clued in for the dramatic moments. we don't know anything about this new thing they are working on unless it directly relates to the current episode's plot upheavals. in the first few seasons we learned about the technology, we saw different ways in which it could be implemented, we saw the UI disaster, we saw the thing at work. ever since he first left PP it turned into a need to know basis.

also i think there is a difference between compromising your values re: selling your work and straight up just being a belligerent jerk maybe the writers leaning too much on the latter to cover the former

I need the condescending, useless doctor to show up and say more negative shit

it feels like yes this is the narrative arc of the show but they just did a shitty job connecting dots or gave up 3/4 of the way through entirely. does Richard have any values past doing only what he wants at any given moment? there is this vague stuff about a new internet, that's about it. we as an audience are cut off from the day to day. we just get clued in for the dramatic moments. we don't know anything about this new thing they are working on unless it directly relates to the current episode's plot upheavals. in the first few seasons we learned about the technology, we saw different ways in which it could be implemented, we saw the UI disaster, we saw the thing at work. ever since he first left PP it turned into a need to know basis.

― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, June 27, 2017 3:23 PM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"does richard have any values past doing only what he wants at any given moment?"

why are you asking this question as if this isn't *what the show is about"—negotiating your values in a system that punishes ppl for sticking to their principles? Richard obviously has principles—he's stated them throughout the show...he's trying to create a new freer internet which levels current gatekeepers & has come to see this mission as an 'ends justifies the means' situation

there is this vague stuff about a new internet, that's about it. we as an audience are cut off from the day to day. we just get clued in for the dramatic moments. we don't know anything about this new thing they are working on unless it directly relates to the current episode's plot upheavals.

who on earth wants more details on the new internet? who wants the day to day of developing the new internet? i actually like that the show rotates around plot mechanisms instead of ... what, watching them program for hours at a time? i cant even understand what it is you're looking for them to do

hum. I'm not sure it's about seeing them program for hours but I agree that in the previous seasons you got to see more about their work, as a team, to build the company.
this season, not really. I think the only real team work was their "pineapple" operation at the hooli convention (and the final "moving Anton" maybe).
but it's very far from the fun of their collective work to get enough power to handle the traffic for the Condor livestream (including Erlich putting on his wrists braces... hair pin ! and the subsequent toast issue) for instance !

i don't really buy that Richard has values and these are driving the new company. i think the internet scheme is mostly a mostly ego boost for him. i think he's good about coming off as a brilliant visionary in speeches but it is obvious he wants total control over anything he creates. im not buying that he is going to create a new decentralized internet that nobody controls. it goes completely against the one principle he has stood buy, that he should have total control over everything.

i cant even understand what it is you're looking for them to do

plots beyond "(another) last ditch effort where Richard screws it up and magically it works anyways" every single episode would be good. the earlier seasons had a flow to them, you saw things develop, you saw people float in and out of their orbit. everyone is a walking a plot device now. these other characters are all shells of people. when Gilfoyle and Nidesh say "You lied to us!" i wanted to slap them. yes you idiots, the guy who has lied to you dozens of times now, has lied to you again, and yet you are still working here. for what? is he paying their salary? they didn't pay the internet bill because when Jared brought him the bill he said "Go away mom". which is funny, lol, what a great joke, but it also displays that the show itself is a joke.

i think he's good about coming off as a brilliant visionary in speeches but it is obvious he wants total control over anything he creates. im not buying that he is going to create a new decentralized internet that nobody controls. it goes completely against the one principle he has stood buy, that he should have total control over everything

this is both accurate to the character and to, ime, their real-life equivalents. personal rep and/or wealth overshadows any and all other hifalutin considerations.

who on earth wants more details on the new internet?

who wants details on a compression algorithm? yet we heard about that constantly. its detailed funtionality is even central to the final episode-long joke of the season 1-ending.

they can write good. they once did. they are writing poorly now.

personal rep and/or wealth overshadows any and all other hifalutin considerations

but this is not a VALUE. "I'm going to do what is good for me" is not a VALUE.

I could use a few more technical shenanigans (losing Anton out the back of the truck, their network somehow working on fridges, VR exposed as a technical failure) than venture capital shenanigans (the Jack/Gavin junk which seems a little too petty to be entertaining, the will-or-won't-they stuff with Laurie funding them, failing to really make Monica have any stake in what their doing but having her appear for balance).

*they're

my god I'm a monster

why make the writers play to their weaknesses when they can double down on
http://i.imgur.com/VTgM7VC.jpg?1

i don't really buy that Richard has values and these are driving the new company. i think the internet scheme is mostly a mostly ego boost for him. i think he's good about coming off as a brilliant visionary in speeches but it is obvious he wants total control over anything he creates. im not buying that he is going to create a new decentralized internet that nobody controls. it goes completely against the one principle he has stood buy, that he should have total control over everything.

This paragraph does not resonate as true to me whatsoever. i mean, of course its an 'ego boost' for him, so is you posting on this thread—that doesn't mean he doesn't have any values

flopson otm

in the TJ interview he kind of nails it with the "this guy is from Seinfeld and he's applying Seinfeld logic to the arc" except it this HBO context it just doesn't really work as a compelling thing

gilfoyle with the cat eye contacts was a great, obvious gag

of course he doesn't have normal contact lenses, just ones he got for halloween

yeah kurt OTM, read that Miller interview and it's interesting that he thought his own departure may change the shows staid formula. Also seemed like he had some weird tension with Middleditch.

Anyways, weakest season overall easily

imo they should make Richard fully devolve into the malnourished, shrinking, weird sexual deviant malcontent he seems to be

they could have a couple episodes of him finding out where all the leaders of failed startups go and have that fear put in him

mh very much agree

they could have a couple episodes of him finding out where all the leaders of failed startups go and have that fear put in him

I picture them somehow being in partnership with another company that takes them to an escape room place for cross-team bonding

and Richard keeps talking to the guy working there, who looks dejected and hungover, and he's the ex-ceo of some company hooli bought and immediately shelved

then they find out the escape room has no escape

finding out where all the leaders of failed startups go

^^ There you go. Burning Man with Russ Hanneman.

Looking forward to this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_iYWKev1x8

nice

this new show is good stuff

i'm still watching season 4 of this but i had a question that probably can't be answered because this is a sitcom: when action jack left pied piper WHY didn't the guys just decide to make boxes anyway? they would have been rich and they could have spent their time doing whatever they wanted. working on the platform. etc. i know they hated the box, but still it seems dumb that they had this easy money maker and they just abandoned it. felt kinda dumb. especially since they spend episode after episode trying to get funding and they had this cash cow of their own.

oh well. love the show.

they didn't cos the box wasn't Richard's idea. the entire show is based on Richard being a visionary, which excuses his shitty behavior. well, it's supposed to at any rate. after last season i don't think i'll continue w the show

but it was kinda his idea. even though he was joking about building a box at first.

it just seemed like his financial pals would have said hey you can make a ton of money with the box and then go be a visionary. but whatever.

Richard is a petulant egotist who self-sabotages at every opportunity. This is the core principle of the show.

I don't think anything meant to excuse his shitty behavior. It's supposed to be shitty.

sic and Evan otm

it's a pretty funny take on the fact that most startups have no purity of vision or moral compass and would kill to just cash out, and these guys are saddled with the one dipshit ego-bound dude who seems hell-bent on doing something the _right_ way, even when it's very clear that whatever he comes up with is going to get undercut five minutes later

i still like him though. for some reason. richard.

Isn't this what a comedy is?