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Mike Judge Skewers Silicon Valley With the Satire of Our Dreams
- phusion 13y agoNo comments!? I really enjoyed this show, I don't think there has really been anything like it-- but then again I never saw "Betas". Mike Judge brings some interesting things to the table, I had no idea he was a math major and had geeky leanings. This show has lots of promise, and not just for IT industry folks. It's a great ribbing of the mentality of the giant tech companies who promise to make the world a better place-- "Hooli is making the world a better place through minimal messaging transport layers." -- laughed my ass off. What did HN think of this show? Did you watch it? Will you keep watching every week?
- 1qaz2wsx3edc 13y agoI love Mike Judge. And as entertaining as Silicon Valley is. I find Betas to be more genuine and well rounded as a show, give it a try! Both are good.
- joshbert 13y agoI saw SV's first episode and found it overly boring. I got the jokes and even got a couple of chuckles here and there, but the show as a whole is not worth the hype it currently has behind it. I'll keep watching, however, hoping to be pleasantly surprised.
- jacoblyles 13y agoI thought it was "meh" until the doctor started pitching the main character on his startup during an appointment - then I lost it
- ojbyrne 13y agoI find a lot of HBO (and other cable) shows start slow and improve once they find a rhythm. Perhaps because they don't need to immediately grab an audience. The show did seem a little slow, but looks promising.
- randomdata 13y agoI agree. Many of the shows that turned out to be my most favourite began with me not enjoying the first episode or two. That said, I did like this one.
- dragonwriter 13y ago> I find a lot of HBO (and other cable) shows start slow and improve once they find a rhythm. Perhaps because they don't need to immediately grab an audience. I find that's true of most shows, including those on traditional networks. I don't think its really a cable (or premium cable) vs. traditional network issue.
- ojbyrne 13y agoIt is, but basic cable shows are more prone to pull the plug early. HBO, especially, seems to have much more patience. The canonical example would be "The Wire."
- poolunion 13y agoThe doctor was played by Andy Daly. You may like his new Comedy Central show review.
- quanpod 13y agoI liked it, I'll keep watching - it's funny to see the tech memes played back and interpreted and I love the way they exaggerate the silly things about our industry (like the comment you mentioned). Betas just... got weird at certain points and some of the jokes were a bit out of bounds.
- booruguru 13y agoIt's funny. Much funnier than most of the crap that passes for comedy on TV these days. I think the show is in danger of being a bit too cartoonish, thenagain silicon valley itself is danger of becoming too cartoonish. I understand that a lot of stereotypes about geeks and silicon valley are true. But someday I'd like to see a show or movie about reasonably attractive, successful, well-adjusted people who happen to work with computers. I see these kind of people all the time in my social circle and it saddens me we/they aren't reflected in pop culture.
- Dirlewanger 13y agoAbsolutely hilarious. From the Hooli founder or whatever contemptuously observing programmers traveling "in packs of 5" to the self-righteous incubator runner still high off his selling his start-up who-knows-how-long ago...just great stereotypes to poke fun at. And it wasn't too technical either, so as to alienate the general public. I think the most technical thing was "compression algorithm".
- monksy 13y agoI found it to be the IT Crowd taken to an absurd level. One question, does the main character work at the social networking company? If so why does the found want to buy him out?
- pswilson14 13y agoThe company he works at is supposed to be a satire of Google, I believe.
- rjd 13y agoI loved it, but I'm bias as I love all of Mike Judges work. I don't really find most his his work boisterous comedy, more a charming satire that I can watch over and over and still enjoy. I do find however when I try to retell scenes from his work I often choke up with laughter more in the retelling than the watching. I can't retell a scene from office space ending up gasping for air LOL I think thats the genius of his work, and I definitely got that feeling watching it. His other strength is always the depth of his characters, their nuances, and subtly... so they get funnier the more you understand them. The characters from King of the Hill are some of the best thought out characters I've seen on television, the mannerism, reactions, interactions, just brilliant. From what I saw of the characters there definitely was a lot of that to come, so hopefully as it develops it'll become something truly amazing. I can't wait to see more of this show for that reason, everything looked promising, and everything looked balanced for great satire.
- spo81rty 13y agoI loved it. It's like big bang theory meets start ups and IT.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- LukeWalsh 13y agoI think it's odd that tech people are comparing this to the Big Bang theory. Big Bang theory dumbs down all of the jokes at the expense of not conveying a genuine culture. This is why it is massively successful in the general population and regected by geeks. Silicon Valley seems to be the opposite at least based on the first episode. There are at least 4x as many subtle tech memes as there are jokes.
- andrewhillman 13y agoI feel it's a lot like Entourage. Has all the same elements. Entourage is about the Entertainment industry in LA whereas Silicon Valley is about the Tech scene in SV.
- crisnoble 13y agoWell the article states that his team calls it "Entourage with Aspergers"
- andrewhillman 13y agoI didn't the read article. ;)
- melling 13y agoThat would be another great meme for the show. Commenting on something without actually reading it. Definitely a HN meme.
- saraid216 13y agoIt's not an HN meme. See: http://gawker.com/npr-pulled-a-brilliant-april-fools-prank-on-people-who-1557745710 http://gawker.com/npr-pulled-a-brilliant-april-fools-prank-o...
- dfc 13y agoAnother great HN joke: Have a character frequently referencing XKCD cartoons and acting as if they said something profound.
- valarauca1 13y agoI like the show a lot. I think it does a good job at mocking stereotypes that are all too prevalent in the industry and playing it off for laughs. Most the jokes are very pointed and I feel easy to miss. The world changing CEO who only a 15 minute conversation with can change your outlook on life. Its great.
- kqr2 13y agoHBO put the first full episode on youtube for at least US viewers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvkmsI54ss4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvkmsI54ss4
- bowlofpetunias 13y ago"Not available in your country." Nothing encourages piracy like geotarded content on youtube. What other industry thinks "na na na, you can't have this" is good marketing?
- dfc 13y agoAnswer: Every high end luxury good ever marketed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
- waterlesscloud 13y agoIf all the show ever does is make saying your startup is "making the world a better place" instantly mock-worthy, then it was worth it.
- aaronem 13y agoOh? I've never been all that close to the SV startup scene, and as far as I've been able to tell, that was mock-worthy already. Many good things have come from startups, but maintaining a sense of perspective is a good thing, too.
- gdubs 13y agoI thought the satire was well-aimed, and my wife and I laughed out loud a few times. My nit is that I was hoping for it to feel less "sitcom-y" for an HBO production. Looking forward to AMC's Silicon Valley drama that's coming -- I believe that one is set in the early 90's, and more of a drama.
- daphneokeefe 13y agoI'm confused. So many comments here but the link returns "Not Found. The requested URL /2014/04/mike-judge-silicon-valley/ was not found on this server."