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Silicon Valley - S4 OT - The Venture Continues - Sundays on HBO
- Thread starter Cornballer
- Start date
Agreed. The snippets from his HBO special I've seen don't do it for me. He was perfect in this role because he personified that type of person who lucks out one time and arrogantly rides that wave for the rest of their life.
Woah, TJ Miller really doesn't like Alec Berg. Just speculating here but within all the fluffy hot-air and whatever in that interview, you can definitely isolate the core feeling that this is where the strife lay. Mike Judge and some members of the cast were probably trying to keep the peace and insulate the dynamic to keep going on for as long as it did.
I can't get a read on his sincerity when he praises Thomas Middleditch. It sounds like he has some contempt for him but also respects him? Are they friends in real life and he's just pulling punches?
And yeah, TJ's comedy special was hard to watch. It has a few moments of genuine funny, but he's mostly off the rails in that and doesn't stick the landings. It's definitely not a classic or hilarious in a consistent, relatable way.
I can't get a read on his sincerity when he praises Thomas Middleditch. It sounds like he has some contempt for him but also respects him? Are they friends in real life and he's just pulling punches?
And yeah, TJ's comedy special was hard to watch. It has a few moments of genuine funny, but he's mostly off the rails in that and doesn't stick the landings. It's definitely not a classic or hilarious in a consistent, relatable way.
Grinchy
Banned
Writing Erlich out the way they did kinda felt like a slap in the face to him. It almost seems like the rest of the crew feels like TJ thinks he's better than them. Well, hopefully things go well for the guy. Maybe he got out before the show went to shit and he'll end up looking like the smart one.
MrCompletely
Member
I agree 1000% with this. I think it was the worst episode of the entire series, and i generally liked Season 4. The show has always been about the writing and satire for me, and this episode just went off the rails to force its conclusion.
The biggest problem for me is that Richard's mean streak was/is so out of character for him. I found it simply not-believable that he would berate Jared how he did. For consistency, he should have consulted with Monica (who was sadly absent from the finale). This killed the episode for me, and for the first time I could not empathize with him and just found him unlikable and as a character.
The funniest gag of the episode was Guilfoyle's contact lenses, and they served nothing more than a hilarious site gag - ultimately filler. This is disappointing, because the show has excelled at giving clever plot-moving twists to seemingly slapstick style gags. Also, I found Martin Starr pretty bad this episode, he seemed to be phoning it in. He's usually my favorite.
The plot device of the dead battery leading to the open truck boot felt really contrived.
I appreciate the writers weaving in and closing some of the season-long jokes, like Barker's Jackson Hole flight, the smart fridge, Bigheads Stanford job, Anton, the Palapa, Richard's tryst (and the fact that it was that guy Dan's wife).
Jack Scofield
Member
Really weird interview with TJ Miller. I like his character on Silicon Valley but he comes across as an out-of-touch narcissist in that interview. I hope things work out for him in Hollywood, but airing his dirty laundry like that and burning bridges might come back to bit him in the ass later.
Also, Erlich's fate made me uncomfortable. I guess I'm supposed to laugh now that he's an opium addict? I don't know. It felt rather ugly to me.
Also, Erlich's fate made me uncomfortable. I guess I'm supposed to laugh now that he's an opium addict? I don't know. It felt rather ugly to me.
LOL Big Head is so stupid, it's great. Literally has no idea what happened.
Depends on your bottleneck.
Gigabit internet (assuming they live in Silicon Valley and Ehrlich had the house rigged for mega-internet) tends to be about 940Mbps in the US (though maybe they got something faster, lets go with that).
940Mb = 117.5 MB
1 Petabyte = 1,073,741,824 MB (as its 1,024 MB per GB, 1,024 GB per TB, and 1,024 TB per PB).
So Gigabit internet would take 9,138,228 seconds to transfer 1 Petabyte of data, or 2,538 hours to transfer a PB. 105 days, 15 weeks, or a little under 4 months.
That's assuming you had equivalent upstream/downstream. Though i bet they had a business class connection which gets you up higher, but that's the kind of scale you're talking about if Ehrlich had only sprung for a residential connection and they were relying on routing all of Anton through that one connection.
Edit: of course the issue isn't moving all the data at once, it's merely hosting it.
The way they went in one direction and completely pivoted after an episode left it so Ehrlich could have just as easily returned for the next season.
Just show Ehrlich getting kicked out of the opium den while the owner pockets all the cash.
It only plays harsh because we know of things outside the show.
Just show Ehrlich getting kicked out of the opium den while the owner pockets all the cash.
It only plays harsh because we know of things outside the show.
Cornballer
Member
- Onion A|V Club's For Our Consideration feature: Losing Erlich Bachman gives Silicon Valley more than just an asshole vacuum
Diprosalic
Banned
Fuck this show and fuck Richard.
Adam_Vania
Banned
this was so lame. rip this show. TJ getting out at the right time.
i know complaining about Richard is pointless, since his arc is obviously about him hitting rock bottom and being a horrible person, but it can't but help make the other characters seem weaker for it, for instance for all Gilfoyle's self-determinist Satanist quips he allows himself to work for someone who does not respect his ideas, lies to him, and point blank berates him to his face. when Jared left i thought, oh this might be interesting, if they don't immediately reset things back to status quo. guess what, they did. none of these characters matter. nobody has any motivation beyond the fact that they are in a tv show.
i know complaining about Richard is pointless, since his arc is obviously about him hitting rock bottom and being a horrible person, but it can't but help make the other characters seem weaker for it, for instance for all Gilfoyle's self-determinist Satanist quips he allows himself to work for someone who does not respect his ideas, lies to him, and point blank berates him to his face. when Jared left i thought, oh this might be interesting, if they don't immediately reset things back to status quo. guess what, they did. none of these characters matter. nobody has any motivation beyond the fact that they are in a tv show.
bootsthecat
Banned
This is sadly how I'm feeling about this and Veep.
I wish they would just end...but I don't want them to end.
As others mentioned, they are both basically going back to season 1 next season; let's hope they can re-capture some of the magic that made them so good early on.
Also agree with how jarring Richard turning into an unscrupulous jerk was. It just made me cringe, moreso than all his epic fuckups to date.
Yeah, Starr's laugh at one point got really weird and there was this bizarre expression on his face. Such a bizarre episode.
And like, after the way Richard treated Dinesh and Gilfoyle, they would still support him at that company just because Jared called them up and pleaded with them? Come the fuck on.
tearsintherain
Member
I really wonder if TJ Miller is just trying to troll everyone at this point and just saying shit he knows will get a lot of print so he can cackle with the rest of the silicon valley crew in a "haha, the public will buy anything we say!" way.
The only flaw is of course thats our ONLY way of getting any sort of behinds the scenes, we naturally take actors and other hollywood types at their word when they say stuff in interviews. So its kind of weird to feel proud about deceiving us, its not like we could really know whats going on. But it does feel like a very TJ Miller thing to want to TRY and do.
The show would go from 4/10 to 10/10 if they did a FULL reset next season, just brought back Jared and no one elses character, Jared is working at a restaurant in silicon valley and over the season we find out some crazy shit like he imagined the first 4 seasons at night in his dreams or something after overhearing all the tech people who eat at his place.
The thought of watching another season of Pied Piper doing stupid shit while spinning its wheels is a bit depressing.
The only flaw is of course thats our ONLY way of getting any sort of behinds the scenes, we naturally take actors and other hollywood types at their word when they say stuff in interviews. So its kind of weird to feel proud about deceiving us, its not like we could really know whats going on. But it does feel like a very TJ Miller thing to want to TRY and do.
The show would go from 4/10 to 10/10 if they did a FULL reset next season, just brought back Jared and no one elses character, Jared is working at a restaurant in silicon valley and over the season we find out some crazy shit like he imagined the first 4 seasons at night in his dreams or something after overhearing all the tech people who eat at his place.
The thought of watching another season of Pied Piper doing stupid shit while spinning its wheels is a bit depressing.
just saw it
while I didn't hate the episode, there was a lot that bugged me, specially how richard was acting but that's been ramping up over the last couple of episodes. it just feels so out of character, even after all that has happened
hope next season picks it back up. The show is still salvageable especially after where they've ended it. Just a lot of roughness the past few eps.
while I didn't hate the episode, there was a lot that bugged me, specially how richard was acting but that's been ramping up over the last couple of episodes. it just feels so out of character, even after all that has happened
hope next season picks it back up. The show is still salvageable especially after where they've ended it. Just a lot of roughness the past few eps.
stenbumling
Unconfirmed Member
It is still funny, but not interesting in any way. I just don't care about any of the characters or the plot. I'm out.
blame space
Banned
did you ever really care about the characters? SV has never screamed deep character study to me.
i just chalk it up to severe crisis mode
The smart fridge thing was a ridiculous deus ex machina. Just absurd.
It'll be real lame if there are never consequences to Pied Piper hijacking phones and appliances to run their software.
It'll be real lame if there are never consequences to Pied Piper hijacking phones and appliances to run their software.
They've unfortunately been written into a corner of being completely pathetic and incapable of really standing up for themselves. Even when they tried at the season's beginning it was subverted by Richard beating them to the punch and leaving to start his own thing. How many times can Richard actively turn down making them all rich before they cut their losses?
Dominican Power
Member
TJ Miller as Elrich is funny in the asshole/douchey kind of way. But him being actually funny? I'm not buying.
I'm pretty sure they're BFF'S IRL, also he sounds pretty high, so I dunno.
I believe he's being what the kids call 'self-deprecating'.
FantasticMrFoxdie
Mumber
Oh my goooood
Witcher Gilfoyle killed me
Witcher Gilfoyle killed me
A breakdown of Silicon Valley's opening titles
Quite interesting. Would've liked to have seen a rundown of all the changes over the seasons, though.
Quite interesting. Would've liked to have seen a rundown of all the changes over the seasons, though.
I feel like the next season will be better than this one, at least structurally, because Mike Judge said they've settled on the "distributed internet" scheme as Pied Piper's true calling, so next season won't meander like this one did.
Adam_Vania
Banned
yes i did. remember that long sequence w Jared trapped in the car? that was a solo character study. remember TJ going off to take mushrooms by himself and come up w a company name? character study. Gilfyole bringing them to his Satanism meeting was cool. these characters used to have lives partially defined by these glimpses outside of the office. now they are just cogs in this aimless wacky plot machine.
anyways this is a bad counter argument as the show has always balanced humor w drama and continues to do so. look at the prolonged scene of Richard staring down the road w Anton scattered on it. it even has sad sappy music to make you know you need to be sad for this meaningful character moment.
TJ does seem kind of like an asshole, but I don't necessarily begrudge his decision. This season, as far as I'm concerned, was miles behind the previous three. I hated Richard for most of it, other characters were reduced to punch lines, and the overarching narrative did very, very little for me.
If Season 5 is getting rave reviews, I might give it a shot. Otherwise, though, I'm out.
If Season 5 is getting rave reviews, I might give it a shot. Otherwise, though, I'm out.
FantasticMrFoxdie
Mumber
After reading that whole thing, I mean, i guess he is right. About all of that. Its going to be interesting to see this show without him. Erlich was always kind of an obstacle, but im still sad we don't get to see him and Jian Yang do more.
On another note, Jimmy Yang aka Jian Yang does standup and LOL hes good: https://youtu.be/1d7vrmeF-nY
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
They did Erlich dirty with that exit. He deserves better.
I'm not a fan of the reset, although I did find the finale very entertaining. I kinda wanted a change of pace with Gavin having some character development and teaming up with Richard for at least a full season as he tries to become a better person.
I'm not a fan of the reset, although I did find the finale very entertaining. I kinda wanted a change of pace with Gavin having some character development and teaming up with Richard for at least a full season as he tries to become a better person.
indigo-cyclops
Member
I agree with this. As a written character, he was awesome. His stand up is fucking garbage tho. He's completely unfunny.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
Awesome episode. I liked the season overall. I want more already!
Also no offense to him but TJ miller sounds like your typical douchy bullshit artist in all these interviews lately.
Also no offense to him but TJ miller sounds like your typical douchy bullshit artist in all these interviews lately.
CocaMantis
Member
That interview its great but am I the only one who thinks that some things he said were jokes or plain irony? Like when he talks about Middletich he said stuff like "he is great!!" and a few lines later "he is such a star, he wanted more lines".
If it's true that HBO tried to work around his schedule and he declined because of reasons, that's fine and actually kinda great or sweet. But I don't know...the tone in this interview actually makes me doubt about pretty much everything he said. It really sounded like he was kicked/written out and he found out while reading the final script and he is trying to land on his feet somehow while acting cool and smug about it.
If it's true that HBO tried to work around his schedule and he declined because of reasons, that's fine and actually kinda great or sweet. But I don't know...the tone in this interview actually makes me doubt about pretty much everything he said. It really sounded like he was kicked/written out and he found out while reading the final script and he is trying to land on his feet somehow while acting cool and smug about it.
They didn't exactly write him out of the show. Considering the situation they left him in, he could literally come back at any time. Doesn't seem like TJ is, but if relationships were repaired, there wouldn't be much stopping Ehrlich from being a character again.
DeaconKnowledge
Member
Erlich has been written out of the show slowly over the course of the past 4 seasons. In season 1 he was Jobs to Richard's Wozniak and even went so far to (rightly) call himself the face of Richard's company. By the beginning of season 4 outside of a hail mary bailout he had absolutely nothing to do with the company and was never involved in any of the main storylines. Meanwhile every other character has stayed within their rigid archetypes.
Seems his departure was a long time coming.
Seems his departure was a long time coming.
Grinchy
Banned
Yeah, I agree. His character became progressively less useful every season.
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