5 ms·

I recently watched all of Halt and Catch Fire, and i have to say it is a really special show. The first season is fun, but it really comes into its own in the f

I recently watched all of Halt and Catch Fire, and i have to say it is a really special show. The first season is fun, but it really comes into its own in the following seasons, exploring long relationships, friendship, growth, and love in ways that really surprised me. Highly recommend.

floren 1y ago
I recently finished it too! I was pretty over it by the final season, but then the last few episodes brought me back around. Cameron "it's all in the eyes" Howe annoyed the shit out of me at pretty much all points, which I understand is how they wrote the character but it walked a line of almost making me quit the show. As with the show as a whole, though, she brought me around a bit in the last few eps.
awesome_dude 1y ago
Silicon Cowboys[1] came out roughly the same time, and it always struck me how similar the first season of HCF was to the actual documentary of Compaq's rise https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4938484/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4938484/
hnlmorg 1y ago
I was largely disappointed. The subject matter was special but the execution was over the top. Every time I was starting to get drawn in, there would be another affair, car crash, exploding lorry or something else just as forced. I can’t even remember the number of times it felt like they’d “jumped the shark” in even just the first season alone. There really wasn’t any need for half the dumb shit they did in that show. It didn’t add to the drama, it just made the whole thing feel completely fake. Which is impressive considering they’re writing largely about real world computing history. And don’t get me started on the characters themselves. I think I liked maybe half the cast. The others made me cringe every time they were on screen. It’s such a pity because they could have just as successful show if they refined it a little.
- aspenmayer 1y ago
  This complaint largely lands on the same points as the ones against Mr. Robot, and it has some merit, but the shows are made for cable TV audiences, so they're a bit more niche than broadcast shows, but they're mass market vehicles. They're nearly pushing a rope to make this content entertaining at all. If people cared, they'd already know the history and the social implications of the technology, as well as the personalities involved. These kinds of shows are meant to bring more folks into the industry and help folks see the humanity in each other and in themselves if they're in it. Most folks don't watch tv for anything but storylines and personalities, so historical or current relevance in entertainment is something I'll take where and when I can get it. What are some tech shows that you like, or dramas, for context?
  - hnlmorg 1y ago
    I’m not suggesting the show should be factually accurate. I’m saying it doesn’t need pyrotechnics to be engaging. Mr Robot was a different beast because that was literally about criminal and hacker culture. So you’d expect a little action in that regard. To put it another way: you have shows that have strong enough writers where they don’t need gimmicks to keep your attention. And you have shows that are intentionally about the gimmicks. Then you have shows that aren’t about the gimmicks but the writers don’t have enough confidence in their work to avoid putting them in anyway. Shows like The West Wing, House of Cards etc aren’t about gimmicks and don’t need them. Shows like Stargate are about the gimmicks. And that’s ok too because you know it’s meant to be silly drama. But shows like HCF feel like they should be executed like HoCs, yet they’re written like Mr Robot, Stargate, etc. So it’s very jarring to watch every time another gimmick gets thrown in. Maybe I expected too much from that show? But it just felt like they didn’t have any confidence in people’s attention spans.
    - aspenmayer 1y ago
      > To put it another way: you have shows that have strong enough writers where they don’t need gimmicks to keep your attention. And you have shows that are intentionally about the gimmicks. Then you have shows that aren’t about the gimmicks but the writers don’t have enough confidence in their work to avoid putting them in anyway. Can you elaborate a bit about the gimmick(s) in Halt and Catch Fire? I think it's a drama, so there are human concerns and interactions, but that's like, what tv shows are? I don't know what you mean specifically. > Shows like The West Wing, House of Cards etc aren’t about gimmicks and don’t need them. The West Wing is statist propaganda for liberals. House of Cards is statist propaganda for neocons. > Shows like Mr Robot are about the gimmicks. And that’s ok too because you know it’s meant to be silly drama. I actually really appreciate that every hack shown on Mr. Robot had a real world POC and used actually existing tools and techniques. The storyline is hokum and gives hackers a bad name, but black hats are kinda supposed to have a bad name. Elliot is kinda gray hat, but he definitely violated CFAA multiple times and would probably be dead or in jail irl.
udev4096 1y ago
It's so good and criminally underrated. Edit: removed spoilers
- MattGrommes 1y ago
  Spoilers! If HN has spoiler text maybe use that or redact. The shock is part of the importance of that event I think.

floren 1y ago

I recently finished it too! I was pretty over it by the final season, but then the last few episodes brought me back around. Cameron "it's all in the eyes" Howe annoyed the shit out of me at pretty much all points, which I understand is how they wrote the character but it walked a line of almost making me quit the show. As with the show as a whole, though, she brought me around a bit in the last few eps.

awesome_dude 1y ago

Silicon Cowboys[1] came out roughly the same time, and it always struck me how similar the first season of HCF was to the actual documentary of Compaq's rise https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4938484/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4938484/

hnlmorg 1y ago

I was largely disappointed. The subject matter was special but the execution was over the top. Every time I was starting to get drawn in, there would be another affair, car crash, exploding lorry or something else just as forced. I can’t even remember the number of times it felt like they’d “jumped the shark” in even just the first season alone. There really wasn’t any need for half the dumb shit they did in that show. It didn’t add to the drama, it just made the whole thing feel completely fake. Which is impressive considering they’re writing largely about real world computing history. And don’t get me started on the characters themselves. I think I liked maybe half the cast. The others made me cringe every time they were on screen. It’s such a pity because they could have just as successful show if they refined it a little.

aspenmayer 1y ago
This complaint largely lands on the same points as the ones against Mr. Robot, and it has some merit, but the shows are made for cable TV audiences, so they're a bit more niche than broadcast shows, but they're mass market vehicles. They're nearly pushing a rope to make this content entertaining at all. If people cared, they'd already know the history and the social implications of the technology, as well as the personalities involved. These kinds of shows are meant to bring more folks into the industry and help folks see the humanity in each other and in themselves if they're in it. Most folks don't watch tv for anything but storylines and personalities, so historical or current relevance in entertainment is something I'll take where and when I can get it. What are some tech shows that you like, or dramas, for context?
- hnlmorg 1y ago
  I’m not suggesting the show should be factually accurate. I’m saying it doesn’t need pyrotechnics to be engaging. Mr Robot was a different beast because that was literally about criminal and hacker culture. So you’d expect a little action in that regard. To put it another way: you have shows that have strong enough writers where they don’t need gimmicks to keep your attention. And you have shows that are intentionally about the gimmicks. Then you have shows that aren’t about the gimmicks but the writers don’t have enough confidence in their work to avoid putting them in anyway. Shows like The West Wing, House of Cards etc aren’t about gimmicks and don’t need them. Shows like Stargate are about the gimmicks. And that’s ok too because you know it’s meant to be silly drama. But shows like HCF feel like they should be executed like HoCs, yet they’re written like Mr Robot, Stargate, etc. So it’s very jarring to watch every time another gimmick gets thrown in. Maybe I expected too much from that show? But it just felt like they didn’t have any confidence in people’s attention spans.
  - aspenmayer 1y ago
    > To put it another way: you have shows that have strong enough writers where they don’t need gimmicks to keep your attention. And you have shows that are intentionally about the gimmicks. Then you have shows that aren’t about the gimmicks but the writers don’t have enough confidence in their work to avoid putting them in anyway. Can you elaborate a bit about the gimmick(s) in Halt and Catch Fire? I think it's a drama, so there are human concerns and interactions, but that's like, what tv shows are? I don't know what you mean specifically. > Shows like The West Wing, House of Cards etc aren’t about gimmicks and don’t need them. The West Wing is statist propaganda for liberals. House of Cards is statist propaganda for neocons. > Shows like Mr Robot are about the gimmicks. And that’s ok too because you know it’s meant to be silly drama. I actually really appreciate that every hack shown on Mr. Robot had a real world POC and used actually existing tools and techniques. The storyline is hokum and gives hackers a bad name, but black hats are kinda supposed to have a bad name. Elliot is kinda gray hat, but he definitely violated CFAA multiple times and would probably be dead or in jail irl.

udev4096 1y ago

It's so good and criminally underrated. Edit: removed spoilers

MattGrommes 1y ago
Spoilers! If HN has spoiler text maybe use that or redact. The shock is part of the importance of that event I think.