4 ms·

The whole TV show “Halt and Catch Fire” was basically about serial failure by a bunch of technically minded narcissists. I’ve never related more to a television

The whole TV show “Halt and Catch Fire” was basically about serial failure by a bunch of technically minded narcissists. I’ve never related more to a television show. Notably, it got ignominiously cancelled. I think failure is bad entertainment.

prepend 6y ago
I loved that show and think it finished rather than was cancelled. But many of the folks I recommended it to, didn’t like it. Various reasons provided but I remember stuff like “depressing” and “failure” coming up a lot.
- as1mov 6y ago
  I tried watching it, couldn't get past the first season because of the characters. I've dealt with enough asshole Steve Jobs wannabes and the 10x rockstar programmer types in real life that watching them on screen gives me PTSD.
  - hinkley 6y ago
    At least with Silicon Valley you get to laugh through the tears.
  - cableshaft 6y ago
    Yeah, that's what's stopped me from continuing with the show so far, the characters are all insufferable. At least in Silicon Valley they're insufferable and hilarious.
  - jrmg 6y ago
    Part of the joy of that show is seeing how the characters evolve personally throughout the seasons. It’s often not predictable - but I would say it is believable.
  - prepend 6y ago
    Yeah, similarly pain for me too. But I think it was accurate based on my experience and I think showing the four broken, jerk people was really representative and accurate. Turning them into likable characters would be even more of a fantasy than it already was. I suppose there’s nice people somewhere, but I had the bad luck of not working with them.
- mrguyorama 6y ago
  It just felt so contrived to me, above and beyond what is normal for a TV show. These 6ish people are responsible for pretty much every revolution and success in the tech sector? Yeah fuck that. It felt like tech-bro worship, completely ignoring the same folks everyone else always ignores who tend to be the ones putting in the uninteresting work that keeps those types able to make their successes. But I watched every second of it with interest so I don't know what that says about me.
  - prepend 6y ago
    > These 6ish people are responsible for pretty much every revolution and success in the tech sector? But they weren’t. All their “revolutions” were me too products alongside compaq, aol, and yahoo. It seemed like how there were lots of almost-wases around those times. Just look at all the ibm compatible companies who all made similar stuff and didn’t make it.
- mikestew 6y ago
  I grew up in that era, and maybe that's the problem, but it struck me as a poorly-done "Mad Men" for geeks. The nostalgia wasn't just tacked on, it was duct-taped and painted bright green to make sure you noticed. One scene that stands out in my mind was when the older business owner is ordering some US Robotics modems. As the scene cuts away from him with a phone in his hand: "Of course I want the V.32!!!11!" I cringed so hard my shoulders ached for two days.
  - roflc0ptic 6y ago
    For us youngsters, I think that was probably a necessary move - I don't know what I'm supposed to feel nostalgic for, so by making it obvious enough, I could vicariously imagine "Oh, I bet other people are supposed to be feeling nostalgic right now." shrug
iroh2727 6y ago
How is HACF bad entertainment? Greatest show ever IMO
- roflc0ptic 6y ago
  I'm saying I like it a whole lot. I'm just saying I think it had limited appeal because it wasn't really the hero's story archetype. Or even an anti-hero archetype.

prepend 6y ago

I loved that show and think it finished rather than was cancelled. But many of the folks I recommended it to, didn’t like it. Various reasons provided but I remember stuff like “depressing” and “failure” coming up a lot.

as1mov 6y ago
I tried watching it, couldn't get past the first season because of the characters. I've dealt with enough asshole Steve Jobs wannabes and the 10x rockstar programmer types in real life that watching them on screen gives me PTSD.
- hinkley 6y ago
  At least with Silicon Valley you get to laugh through the tears.
- cableshaft 6y ago
  Yeah, that's what's stopped me from continuing with the show so far, the characters are all insufferable. At least in Silicon Valley they're insufferable and hilarious.
- jrmg 6y ago
  Part of the joy of that show is seeing how the characters evolve personally throughout the seasons. It’s often not predictable - but I would say it is believable.
- prepend 6y ago
  Yeah, similarly pain for me too. But I think it was accurate based on my experience and I think showing the four broken, jerk people was really representative and accurate. Turning them into likable characters would be even more of a fantasy than it already was. I suppose there’s nice people somewhere, but I had the bad luck of not working with them.
mrguyorama 6y ago
It just felt so contrived to me, above and beyond what is normal for a TV show. These 6ish people are responsible for pretty much every revolution and success in the tech sector? Yeah fuck that. It felt like tech-bro worship, completely ignoring the same folks everyone else always ignores who tend to be the ones putting in the uninteresting work that keeps those types able to make their successes. But I watched every second of it with interest so I don't know what that says about me.
- prepend 6y ago
  > These 6ish people are responsible for pretty much every revolution and success in the tech sector? But they weren’t. All their “revolutions” were me too products alongside compaq, aol, and yahoo. It seemed like how there were lots of almost-wases around those times. Just look at all the ibm compatible companies who all made similar stuff and didn’t make it.
mikestew 6y ago
I grew up in that era, and maybe that's the problem, but it struck me as a poorly-done "Mad Men" for geeks. The nostalgia wasn't just tacked on, it was duct-taped and painted bright green to make sure you noticed. One scene that stands out in my mind was when the older business owner is ordering some US Robotics modems. As the scene cuts away from him with a phone in his hand: "Of course I want the V.32!!!11!" I cringed so hard my shoulders ached for two days.
- roflc0ptic 6y ago
  For us youngsters, I think that was probably a necessary move - I don't know what I'm supposed to feel nostalgic for, so by making it obvious enough, I could vicariously imagine "Oh, I bet other people are supposed to be feeling nostalgic right now." shrug

iroh2727 6y ago

How is HACF bad entertainment? Greatest show ever IMO

roflc0ptic 6y ago
I'm saying I like it a whole lot. I'm just saying I think it had limited appeal because it wasn't really the hero's story archetype. Or even an anti-hero archetype.