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Silicon Valley - a new Mike Judge comedy series - HBO Sundays (S2 full trailer is up)

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B

BuggyDClown

Member
Cornballer said:
Good episode. I like that they're giving Richard a little more backbone and a few small victories along the way. I agree with everyone mentioning Erlich as a problem right now. I like TJ Miller in most things I've seen him, but his character isn't really working for me yet.
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This 1000% times. Hes usually great, I think his character is too much of a dick and a phoney. He doesn't seem like he would have built anything before nor does he fit in. I just don't buy his character. It's too bad.
 
B

big_z

Member
Cornballer said:
Good episode. I like that they're giving Richard a little more backbone and a few small victories along the way. I agree with everyone mentioning Erlich as a problem right now. I like TJ Miller in most things I've seen him, but his character isn't really working for me yet.
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my guess is he will have a breaking point which will turn him around. it might happen when they can afford a new place and realise erlich is useless but they him on as an intern because they feel sorry for his sad ass.
 
L

Leunam

Member
Cornballer said:
- Onion A|V Club review
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Richard going off on his own also lets the rest of the cast gel further as an ensemble, with riffs dedicated to Gilfoyle’s status as an illegal alien and the hunt for a new company name. The dynamic that Martin Starr and Kumail Najiani have developed is one of the great early joys of Silicon Valley, and Zach Woods slots easily between them as a sounding board for their mutual contempt. The writing staff knows how to write for all three of these characters right out of the gate, and Mike Judge and company’s dialogue takes on an almost clockwork-like rapport. Gilfoyle mocks the idea of citizenship (“Your borders are a construct”), Dinesh gets incensed and starts insulting his country (“You know who else is Canadian? Justin Bieber. The Hitler of music”), and then Jared tries to weakly patch things up with a nebbish remark (“Hitler played bassoon. So technically Hitler was the Hitler of music”).
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Definitely agreed with this. I like Richard and am always eager to see the story develop week by week but these guys work so well together without a need for a lead character present. It's a lot like the few Bill/Dale/Boomhauer plots where Hank isn't around and they still deliver a good sub-plot.

Speaking of which Peter Gregory is hysterical and might be my absolute favorite character on the show. It's always hard to pick a favorite line or moment, but that review reminded me of this one:

And their selection consists of burgers, of which they are ostensibly king.
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I know there are questions of diversity, but isn't Silicon Valley and the tech industry in general pretty male dominated? I know Girls had a bit of a diversity issue and I admit I don't know anything about the show but it seems like Silicon Valley is at least realistic in that regard. Though I don't think more female cast members would hurt.
 
Z

ZackieChan

Member
Loved this episode, but having an inaccurate legal analysis be the basis for it irked me. There wouldn't have been a problem with using the name Pied Piper (as long as they named the corporation something different, the brand could be the same name) because they are clearly in different industries and wouldn't create consumer confusion. No trademark infringement.

Rant over. Really digging this show! I actually LIKE Erlich. I must be the only one.
 
R

royalan

Member
I think the problem with Elrich is that the actor is playing him too comically. All of the other characters, while meant to be funny caricatures, are tempered with just enough realism. As ridiculous as they are, on some core level, we can believe them. Even the two billionaire CEOs can get away with some wackiness because they're billionaire tech CEOs; the audience expects them to be a bit whacked with power.

But Elrich is a total cartoon character at this point. I don't buy a single thing about him, and so he stands out like a sore thumb, even on a show like this.

They need to show that he's competent on some level. He can't be a complete fucking idiot in every single way. Because then he's just Jar Jar Binks.
 
M

Mr.Swag

Banned
That burger king shit was some weird product placement.
shows funny enough that I'll ignore the annoying characters
 
P

PlayALLtheGames

Banned
Kind of solidified it with the 3rd episode that, for me, this show is fairly entertaining but has very little comedic value. Just not a lot funny going on, IMO.
 
M

Miss.Selfdestruct

Member
Last night's episode is what I expected from the pilot. Maybe my expectations of it being funny were too high.

Really wanted to love this show but it's stil just "meh." :/
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
boutdown said:
People are talking about how T.J. Miller sucks but that CEO (Christopher Evan Welch) takes the cake.
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I still think the weakest part of the show is the main character... he's just not at all interesting. I want to see far less of him and far more of his employees.
 
C

Cornballer

Member
Silicon Valley has been renewed for S2
LOS ANGELES, April 21, 2014 – HBO has renewed the comedy series VEEP for a fourth season and SILICON VALLEY for a second season, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming. The renewals follow the recent two-season renewal of “Game of Thrones.”

Created by Armando Iannucci (Oscar® nominee for co-writing “In the Loop”), VEEP stars Emmy® and Screen Actors Guild Award winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer, who becomes vice president, only to discover The Job is nothing like she expected, but everything she was warned about. The Emmy®-nominated and Writers Guild Award-winning series kicked off its ten-episode third season Sunday, April 6 (10:30-11:00 p.m. ET/PT).

In addition to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the ensemble cast for the third season includes Emmy® winner Tony Hale, Emmy® nominee Anna Chlumsky, Reid Scott, Matt Walsh, Timothy C. Simons, Sufe Bradshaw and Kevin Dunn.

Mike Judge (“Office Space,” “Beavis & Butt-head,” “King of the Hill”) brings his irreverent brand of humor to HBO in the new comedy series SILICON VALLEY. Partially inspired by Judge’s own experiences as a Silicon Valley engineer in the late ‘80s, the show is a collaboration between Judge and Alec Berg (“Seinfeld,” HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”), and began its eight-episode first season Sunday, April 6 (10:00-10:30 p.m.).

Cast regulars for the first season include Thomas Middleditch, T.J. Miller, Zach Woods, Kumail Nanjiani, Martin Starr, Josh Brener, Amanda Crew and the late Christopher Evan Welch. Matt Ross guest stars.

Both shows have sparked critical raves, with TheDailyBeast.com calling VEEP a “whiz-bang brilliant political farce,” while Variety.com praised the show’s “fearless irreverence” and described it as “ruthlessly funny.” VanityFair.com hailed star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, observing, “Hers is the strongest comedic performance on television.” SILICON VALLEY was termed a “terrific new comedy” by Entertainment Weekly, which awarded the show an A-, and HollywoodReporter.com called it “flat-out brilliant” and “uncommonly insightful,” while the Washington Post described the show as “delicious” and “hilarious.”
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H

hokahey

Member
ZackieChan said:
Loved this episode, but having an inaccurate legal analysis be the basis for it irked me. There wouldn't have been a problem with using the name Pied Piper (as long as they named the corporation something different, the brand could be the same name) because they are clearly in different industries and wouldn't create consumer confusion. No trademark infringement.

Rant over. Really digging this show! I actually LIKE Erlich. I must be the only one.
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He couldn't incorporate under a different name if he wanted to be able to open the account he needed to cash his check.

Anyway, last night's episode was fantastic. That vision quest was some of the funniest shit I've probably seen on TV.
 
-COOLIO-

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
i was really rooting for him losing the 'pied piper' name.

if his whole team thinks it's dumb shouldn't he be more open to feedback?
 
L

Leunam

Member
Maybe a little, yeah. But his inability to maintain eye contact is very believable.

-COOLIO- said:
i was really rooting for him losing the 'pied piper' name.

if his whole team thinks it's dumb shouldn't he be more open to feedback?
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I actually really liked the idea behind Smlr, but I instantly thought of the same thing Gilfoyle and Dinesh pointed out about the pronunciation. Snack dick it is.

Cornballer said:
Silicon Valley has been renewed for S2
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Awesome. And this reminded me that I needed to check to see if Getting On was getting renewed. Happy to say it did.
 
T

The Illiterati

Member
I guess I haven't been reading enough about this show....I can't believe the guy who plays Peter Gregory, Chris Welch, is dead as of December. Terrible.
 
NYR

NYR

Member
None of the characters are appealing - it's like the anti-Entourage. Don't know if I can stick with this for much longer, the show more or less writes itself, you know how characters behave and would react already and it is only 2 episodes in. There is no depth unless everyone is on screen at once.
 
L

Linius

Member
Yeah the news about the guy who plays Gregory is shit on all levels. From what I understood they had to rewrite some bits. At first I thought that would mean that he wouldn't be such a big characters but he's having a lot of screen time the first three episodes.
 
I

inm8num2

Member
This show has a lot of potential. I think so far Judge has nailed the culture around SV, or at least what we've seen of it through the techies' eyes.
 
J

Jim

Member
My favorite episode so far, and I laughed a few times. I enjoyed the Gilfoyle/Dinesh illegal alien banter and the BK Sesame Seed twist.
 
K

Kikarian

Member
royalan said:
I think the problem with Elrich is that the actor is playing him too comically. All of the other characters, while meant to be funny caricatures, are tempered with just enough realism. As ridiculous as they are, on some core level, we can believe them. Even the two billionaire CEOs can get away with some wackiness because they're billionaire tech CEOs; the audience expects them to be a bit whacked with power.

But Elrich is a total cartoon character at this point. I don't buy a single thing about him, and so he stands out like a sore thumb, even on a show like this.

They need to show that he's competent on some level. He can't be a complete fucking idiot in every single way. Because then he's just Jar Jar Binks.
Click to expand...
Spot on.
 
R

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
PlayALLtheGames said:
Kind of solidified it with the 3rd episode that, for me, this show is fairly entertaining but has very little comedic value. Just not a lot funny going on, IMO.
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Agreed. It's a nice amusement, but it isn't very funny at all. It is getting better with each episode though, so maybe it will eventually reach "comedy" status for me.
 
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