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hcreight
Mar 19, 2007

My name is Oliver Queen...
Five years after ending King of the Hill and 2 1/2 years after an excellent but short lived Beavis and Butthead reboot, Mike Judge is teaming with frequent co-collaborators John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky to make his first foray into live action television with Silicon Valley.



This tech culture sendup stars Thomas Middleditch as Richard, a coder for Google stand-in Hooli, a company in Palo Alto, CA. Richard shares a house with fellow tech nerds Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani), Gilfoyle (Martin Starr), Big Head (Josh Brener), and landlord Elrich (TJ Miller) and spends his free time working on a phone app called Pied Piper. Richard's app intends to allow songwriters and musicians to check if their songs infringe on copyrights of previously created songs. Though Pied Piper's profitability is dubious, it is discovered that the app contains a revolutionary algorithm that could be used for much more practical (money making) purposes.

As a result, Richard finds himself in the middle of a bidding war between his boss, Gavin Belson (Matt Ross) and Gavin's former partner, venture capitalist Peter Gregory (Christopher Evan Welch). In the end, Richard has to decide whether he wants to take an easy payday from one of his bidders, or to try for even bigger success on his own.

Critical reception for the show has been very positive so far. It is currently sitting as an 86 rating on metacritic. Alan Sepinwall gave the pilot an A- and said that it's the best project Judge has been involved with in "a very long time." The show has drawn positive comparisons to Judge's own cult movie classic Office Space, The Big Bang Theory, and, oddly enough, Entourage. The one thing the show has been taking flack for so far is the major gender imbalance in the cast. Monica (Amanda Crew), Peter's assistant, is the only female in the main cast. Given Judge's sometimes wacky politics, it's hard to say if or how he'll respond to the criticism.

HBO apparently likes what it sees out of Silicon Valley and has given it a cushy time slot on Sundays at 10 ET, in between Game of Thrones and Veep.

Here's a trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69V__a49xtw

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NieR Occomata
Jan 18, 2009

Glory to Mankind.

1) kumail nanjiani is the greatest person so I can't wait for this

2) I've read several reviews from female tv critics that state that the lack of women on te show is a commentary on the real-life gender politics of Silicon Valley which is apparently one of the big draws of the show (that it so closely resembles how Silicon Valley actually is that it's barely a satire)

vaginadeathgrip
Jun 18, 2003

all them bitches can't handle my sassy ass mouth
This show will be great because everyone who is in this is great. Zach Woods is glorious.

Postal Parcel
Aug 2, 2013
Wow, this is realistic.
Brogrammers, awkward guys, and insane business culture.

Darth Windu
Mar 17, 2009

by Smythe
Are brogrammers real?

bondster
May 6, 2007

Haha the audience member of the Ted talk

"FACIST!"

edit: holy poo poo that 1 seated smart car.

Super Aggro Crag
Apr 23, 2008




And, of course as always, kill Hitler.


Liked the episode. I loving love Martin Starr so for his sake alone I hope this show sticks around.

lizardhunt
Feb 7, 2010

agreed ->
Loved it. Every single company has a nonsense buzz-word filled description and they're all saving humanity.

Samara
Jan 6, 2011

quote:

Deposited $150 at Mt Gox to try this Bitcoin thing out.

Stolen 6 days later. Really enjoyed my time there.

Helpful? Please donate - being this retarded ain't cheap!

Samara Investments
Basement Suite #101
Mom's House, Hometown FL
USAAA+
There was what, 2 million inside jokes in this?

Feel like I need a guide to the Valley here

DivisionPost
Jun 28, 2006

Nobody likes you.
Everybody hates you.
You're gonna lose.

Smile, you fuck.
Fantastic premiere, and I hear it only gets better. Wow.

That was the work of a very confident filmmaker that had everything he needed.

Fooz
Sep 26, 2010


Fine premiere, will watch.

Philthy
Jan 28, 2003

Pillbug
Fantastic premier. Telling all my brogrammers to watch this.

General Dog
Apr 26, 2008

Everybody's working for the weekend
Real strong pilot, this looks like it could be good. Personally I'd rather they stick with an unbalanced cast over pandering to us by needlessly inserting a bunch of female characters into what's obviously a very male-driven setting.

Kleptobot
Nov 6, 2009
So is Silicon Valley to app developers what LA is to scriptwriters now? I could believe that. I laughed at the scene where the doctor tried to sell his startup idea just before letting him go.

etalian
Mar 20, 2006

Super Aggro Crag posted:

Liked the episode. I loving love Martin Starr so for his sake alone I hope this show sticks around.

Starr is awesome, he has the passive aggressive nerd character down to a find art by now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s82gTkCDBW0

The Dave
Sep 9, 2003

I really enjoyed episode one, nailed the vibe of the industry so far.

poser
Jun 9, 2002

Are they booing the power play?

I was saying Boo-urns!
This show is amazing.. They had inside jokes about Palo Alto residents and it was amazing.

Factor Mystic
Mar 20, 2006

Baby's First Post-Apocalyptic Fiction
Pretty good pilot, I hope the rest of the episodes can keep up the quality. A thing I greatly appreciated was that there was quite a bit of tech talk and not once did any character say "now what's that mean IN ENGLISH".

Thaddius the Large
Jul 5, 2006

It's in the five-hole!
I thought it was fantastic and hilarious, even though my only exposure to tech company culture is via my wife. She thought it was spectacular, said it was frighteningly relatable.

Baron Patsy
Apr 9, 2006

I'M SPECIAL DAMMIT
am I really the only person who thought this was absolutely insufferable? I remember when this show had a laugh track and wasn't on HBO and everyone hated it

Baron Patsy fucked around with this message at 05:40 on Apr 7, 2014

etalian
Mar 20, 2006

Samara posted:

There was what, 2 million inside jokes in this?

Feel like I need a guide to the Valley here

This is the best guide for people not familiar with the bay area:

http://gawker.com/heart-of-blandness-a-walking-tour-of-silicon-valley-1531745028

Storgar
Oct 31, 2011

hcreight posted:

...major gender imbalance in the cast. Monica (Amanda Crew), Peter's assistant, is the only female in the main cast.

As a resident of Man Jose, I can tell you this part, at least, is completely realistic.

Vhy
May 12, 2001

bondster posted:

edit: holy poo poo that 1 seated smart car.

A reference to the Google founders? It looked like one of these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commuter_Cars_Tango

hcreight
Mar 19, 2007

My name is Oliver Queen...

Storgar posted:

As a resident of Man Jose, I can tell you this part, at least, is completely realistic.

So I've been told!

I enjoyed the pilot a lot. Judge's gift for satire has never received its due praise and I'd love it if this show could change that.

Storgar
Oct 31, 2011

etalian posted:

This is the best guide for people not familiar with the bay area:

http://gawker.com/heart-of-blandness-a-walking-tour-of-silicon-valley-1531745028

This link is also painfully true. God I am going to go insane and die of boredom here. :cripes:

By the way, I forgot to ask. Is this being streamed on Hulu or Netflix? I really, really want to watch this. How can I watch this without HBO?

teagone
Jun 10, 2003

That was pretty intense, huh?

I'm a nerd, and this poo poo was funny as hell to me. Pilot sold me good.

Relentlessboredomm
Oct 15, 2006

It's Sic Semper Tyrannis. You said, "Ever faithful terrible lizard."
I was confident Mike Judge could capture the crazy douchey up its own rear end vibe of Silicon Valley and he knocked it out of the park. Plus anything that keeps Martin Starr employed is cool by me.

Exploder
Nov 15, 2005

Just a humble motherfucker with a big ass dick
Somehow, I hadn't even heard of this show until tonight, and I consider myself to be a Mike Judge fan, so this was a very pleasant surprise. "Boy, is she on the spectrum. She can't even make eye contact with the computer!"

Good Will Hrunting
Oct 8, 2012

I changed my mind.
I'm not sorry.
I'm not sure if I laughed harder at the bike meeting or the doctor pitching his start-up. The cast is phenomenal.

Cheesus
Oct 17, 2002

Let us retract the foreskin of ignorance and apply the wirebrush of enlightenment.
Yam Slacker

Baron Patsy posted:

am I really the only person who thought this was absolutely insufferable?
I didn't find it insufferable but didn't care for it.

In the trenches, it's not funny like this isn't funny either:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
Both are more trauma/PTSD inducing.

EL BROMANCE
Jun 10, 2006

COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬



Not sure I agree it was an A- premiere, but it was enjoyable and it was good to see TJ, Kumail, Martin, Andy Daly etc. Will be tuning in.

I never kept up with BETAS after the premiere, but it seemed similar-ish to a degree yeah? SV is definitely better, but isn't Jon Daly in Betas and the dude giving the TED talk had a real Jon Daly vibe about him which was weird.

poser
Jun 9, 2002

Are they booing the power play?

I was saying Boo-urns!

Storgar posted:

This link is also painfully true. God I am going to go insane and die of boredom here. :cripes:


Get in your car and drive places.. There are a million things to do here but you need to drive to them:)

Shageletic
Jul 25, 2007

Echoing that it this was funny and surprisingly realistic, but what really's got me hooked is the drama potential, Peter Gregory, the fact the main guy, even in his nebbish, larval stage as a character, slapping down the idea that him and TJ Miller are "partners"...that's really got me itching to see where it goes from here. The tech world is so full of money and drama and weirdos, its been begging for a proper adaptation of what happens there, something the Social Network only scratched the surface of.

EDIT: And if this thread devolves into "this is nerd theater/exploitation!" or this isn't HOW IT WORKS I will flee from this thread screaming.

Shageletic fucked around with this message at 14:40 on Apr 7, 2014

Veskit
Mar 2, 2005

I love capitalism!! DM me for the best investing advice!
Perfect pilot, and it really hits what it's like there, even down to the loving super ugly 50s/60s style house they're programming in. Makes me not miss home.


It's super crazy to me how well Mike Judge can portray such diverse worlds/regions so perfectly.

sbaldrick
Jul 19, 2006
Driven by Hate
Peter Gregory was the best part right down to his nerdy walk.

Shadowhand00
Jan 23, 2006

Golden Bear is ever watching; day by day he prowls, and when he hears the tread of lowly Stanfurd red,from his Lair he fiercely growls.
Toilet Rascal

bondster posted:

Haha the audience member of the Ted talk

"FACIST!"

edit: holy poo poo that 1 seated smart car.

That 1 seated smart car is pretty awesome. I know Sergey Brin has a few of them that he drives around:

http://www.commutercars.com/

I happened to be at the HBO premiere in Redwood City and saw the second episode. Definitely only gets better from the first episode.

Elon Musk hated this show though:

http://recode.net/2014/04/03/at-hbos-silicon-valley-premiere-elon-musk-is-pissed/

I was the only one in the theater who laughed at the ME3 finale joke

Shadowhand00 fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Apr 7, 2014

Fatkraken
Jun 23, 2005

Fun-time is over.
That was alright, even without any experience of that world.

Reminded me of a less openly vitriolic Nathan Barley, only the Tech world rather than Hoxton Media Cunts. Not sure whether the main guy being basically likeable but ineffectual rather than a self loathing shambles will work in it's favour or not, though UK stuff does tend to be a bit more mean spirited overall, and Barley was the logical end point of that kind of comedy, so I imagine it'll be fine.

Modulo16
Feb 12, 2014

"Authorities say the phony Pope can be recognized by his high-top sneakers and incredibly foul mouth."

I was incredibly excited for this show when i saw the trailer for it. Now I'm blown away by how funny it was, and kind of sad it was only a half an hour.

Storgar posted:

This link is also painfully true. God I am going to go insane and die of boredom here. :cripes:

By the way, I forgot to ask. Is this being streamed on Hulu or Netflix? I really, really want to watch this. How can I watch this without HBO?

They put up the pilot for anyone to watch free on HBO go.

coffeetable
Feb 5, 2006

TELL ME AGAIN HOW GREAT BRITAIN WOULD BE IF IT WAS RULED BY THE MERCILESS JACKBOOT OF PRINCE CHARLES

YES I DO TALK TO PLANTS ACTUALLY

Fatkraken posted:

That was alright, even without any experience of that world.

Reminded me of a less openly vitriolic Nathan Barley, only the Tech world rather than Hoxton Media Cunts. Not sure whether the main guy being basically likeable but ineffectual rather than a self loathing shambles will work in it's favour or not, though UK stuff does tend to be a bit more mean spirited overall, and Barley was the logical end point of that kind of comedy, so I imagine it'll be fine.

I've got my fingers crossed that they're portraying the protagonist as an alright guy so it'll contrast his descent into being a bastard as money and power goes to his head.

Also while it is an accurate reflection of the tech world, it'd be nice if the startup gained at least one woman on the programming staff. In the meantime, it's cool that the VC's assistant was shown to be the first one to grasp the technical significance of the "compression algorithm".

coffeetable fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Apr 7, 2014

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Postal Parcel
Aug 2, 2013

Shageletic posted:

Echoing that it this was funny and surprisingly realistic, but what really's got me hooked is the drama potential, Peter Gregory, the fact the main guy, even in his nebbish, larval stage as a character, slapping down the idea that him and TJ Miller are "partners"...that's really got me itching to see where it goes from here. The tech world is so full of money and drama and weirdos, its been begging for a proper adaptation of what happens there, something the Social Network only scratched the surface of.

EDIT: And if this thread devolves into "this is nerd theater/exploitation!" or this isn't HOW IT WORKS I will flee from this thread screaming.

This is nerd face nerdsploitation!
If it were black/gay/female people...:v:


Baron Patsy posted:

am I really the only person who thought this was absolutely insufferable? I remember when this show had a laugh track and wasn't on HBO and everyone hated it
I think that's the point. I mean, you had the programming company Hooli have a picture of starving Africans in their breakroom suggesting "We're such good guys"
And how many times did someone say that Silicon Valley is the "cradle of innovation" or at the beginning, that party with people who just got bought out. Even the CEO is his own brand of insufferable with his stupid feet-shoes and the board(VP, etc.) talking about how it was a "Life-changing experience" to meet with him.
I did like his observation about the makeup of Programmer groups. Four white guys and an IndianEast Asian.

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