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Thread: Silicon Valley - Why You Should Watch It

  1. #121
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Also something else I wanted to point out about Season 5.

    It's not a big deal, but I already noticed two instances where Mike Judge has uncharacteristically caved in to the Hollywood left.

    The first episode had a scene where Richard was complaining to Gilfoyle and Dinesh that they were rejecting nearly every candidate they were interviewing. This led to a little comedic bit where they described various undesirable people who applied, two of whom included "alt-right guy" and "closeted alt-right guy". (Presumably "closeted" referred to his politics, not his sexual preference.)

    Shortly after that, it was mentioned that one of the alt-right applicants "was on a campaign to remove the black emojis".

    Groan. That unfunny quip was the best they could do to make fun of the alt-right?

    But more importantly, rather than Judge injecting some sharp social commentary about right-leaning applicants being shut out of being hired into Silicon Valley software firms (hence the need to be "closeted"), they were clearly justifying the rejection of the only two right wing people to apply, one of whom was a fanatical racist.

    I totally expect this nowadays from nearly any other show, but Mike Judge has always leaned libertarian-right, and while his shows have been mostly apolitical (including this one), the few political/social barbs have tended to be aimed at the left. "King of the Hill" (where conservative Hank Hill was the protagonist, and not mocked for it) and "The Goode Family" (a show entirely mocking the SJW-type left) were both considered conservative shows. Even "Beavis and Butthead" often mocked the liberal characters for being too touchy-feely and naive to understand that Beavis and Butthead were just ignorant delinquents, rather than good kids in need of a bit of help.

    There was another quip in episode 3, from the new COO, that the office "needed a bit of color", referring to the racial makeup of the employees.

    Again, surprising to come from a Judge show.

    I will say that, despite Judge's right political leanings, he clearly dislikes Trump. In 2016, he was unhappy that Fox killed an Idiocracy-themed anti-Trump ad that he and the film's writer had cooked up.

    So maybe Trump has pushed Judge to the left. I hope that's not true.

  2. #122
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    BUMP

    Well, I finished watching Season 5. The last episode aired about a week ago, I think.

    Anyway, not all that impressed. It's been renewed for another season, but I'm not that impressed.

    I will say that I didn't really notice the Erlich Bachmann absence as much as I thought I would. I guess they were already kinda running out of things to do with his character, so his departure wasn't as harmful as I thought it would be.

    Spoilers follow below.

    The best gimmick of the season was that female AI robot. The episode where she was introduced was also the best episode of the season. However, they inexplicably did away with her almost as soon as she appeared. She was unceremoniously dismantled, just as they got into an interesting plot point of Jared starting to fall in love with her.

    Dinesh was insufferable this season. His character seems to have mostly been reduced to an obsession with Teslas -- a plot thread which quickly lost its charm, and then just got boring/ridiculous.

    Wasn't thrilled with the new side characters they brought in as Pied Piper developers. They all basically had disdain/disrespect for the main characters, and were unlikable/unpleasant to watch. They tried in the final episode to introduce a short-lived romance between two of them (and the aftermath of resentment), but not caring much about these characters in the first place, it didn't land.

    The weird, asskissing assistant brought in for Richard wasn't particularly interesting, and the odd plot point of Jared intimidating/scaring him just was out of character for Jared -- even given Jared's seemingly traumatic past and tendency to act out of character.

    So here we were in Season 5, and Pied Pier is still trying to get funding.

    That pretty much sums up how this show has been spinning its wheels.

    I don't know why the writing/creative team seems incapable of getting past the whole funding/startup plot point and making some good comedy/drama about managing an existing successful company.

    It does seem from the closing minutes of the finale that they intend to do that in Season 6, but knowing this show, the whole thing will fall apart within 1 or 2 episodes, and we'll be back to the core characters trying to reinvent Pied Piper yet again.

  3. #123
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Interestingly, I just found this article when searching for season 5 reviews, which agrees with my assessment that the female AI character and plot point introduced in season 5 was one of the best elements, and criticized its abrupt dropping of the plot point in the following episode.

    https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/1/17...l-intelligence

  4. #124
    Plutonium lol wow's Avatar
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    if todge had a company it would be called pied griper

  5. #125
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    The show isn't as good this year. The writing is annoying. And TJ Miller was very funny in the show. Without him, the show suffers.

    Anyway, I got very tired of watching the guys be bad at running their company. It was annoying and lame.
    Last edited by Dive_Bar_Dave; 05-28-2018 at 10:00 AM.

  6. #126
    Hello again everyone.

    I wanted to give you guys an update on Silicon Valley.

    Season 6 will be the final season, but even that is being delayed.

    HBO is much higher on its newer series Barry, and has decided to direct showrunner Alec Berg's efforts to that project, rather than Silicon Valley, which he also runs.

    Privately, HBO is not happy with Silicon Valley anymore. My sources around Hollywood tell me that HBO feels it is getting too repetitive and is really missing a lot of its luster since TJ Miller left the program.

    Additionally, Alec Berg had always envisioned the show to run about 5-6 seasons maximum anyway, thus the show's natural conclusion seems to be near.

    The writing will reportedly be directed toward the gang at Pied Piper finally getting their big break which, for once, doesn't go belly up.

    You will not see Season 6 until 2020.

     
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      Flipper_Fair: good intel

  7. #127
    Plutonium sonatine's Avatar
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    Barry is good-ish btw.

     
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      rum dick: It's breaking bad series finale level
    "Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness." - Alejandro Jodorowsky

    "America is not so much a nightmare as a non-dream. The American non-dream is precisely a move to wipe the dream out of existence. The dream is a spontaneous happening and therefore dangerous to a control system set up by the non-dreamers." -- William S. Burroughs

  8. #128
    Plutonium lol wow's Avatar
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    WERE 9 MONTHS FROM MY ICONIC IF TODGE HAD A WEBSITE IT WOULD BE CALLED PIED GRIPER



    WERE GONNA NEED A RETROSPECTIVE FROM THE COMMUNITY

     
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      rum dick:
      
      1marley1: was funny

  9. #129
    Puts His Dick in the Mashed Potatoes
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    The oral history of PFA/DD/NWP/Boris/Skatz would actually make for a decent podcast/article series

  10. #130
    Well, even though I was spot on in my release date posts about "F is For Family" Season 3 and "Rick and Morty" Season 4, looks like I got this one a bit wrong.

    I stated that we would not see the final season (#6) of Silicon Valley until 2020.

    It turns out that HBO will be releasing it in October 2019.

    Producers have said the season will be a "fitting conclusion", presumably with Pied Piper finally becoming successful.

  11. #131
    Master of Props Daly's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Harry Hollywood View Post
    Well, even though I was spot on in my release date posts about "F is For Family" Season 3 and "Rick and Morty" Season 4, looks like I got this one a bit wrong.

    I stated that we would not see the final season (#6) of Silicon Valley until 2020.

    It turns out that HBO will be releasing it in October 2019.

    Producers have said the season will be a "fitting conclusion", presumably with Pied Piper finally becoming successful.

    Not sure who you are Harry but you have been very consistent on your gossip. Well done and this wasn’t that far off.

  12. #132
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Season 6 has dropped. Well, there's 2 episodes not aired yet.


     
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      Brittney Griner's Clit: How did I know.

  13. #133
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    I'm one episode away from the series finale, which airs in 5 days.

    The ratings stayed fairly steady through season 3, then fell apart in season 4, and this season is the lowest rated ever, getting about 1/6 the viewership of season 3. Ouch.


     
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      WillieMcFML: not good

  14. #134
    Diamond TheXFactor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Harry Hollywood View Post
    Well, even though I was spot on in my release date posts about "F is For Family" Season 3 and "Rick and Morty" Season 4, looks like I got this one a bit wrong.

    I stated that we would not see the final season (#6) of Silicon Valley until 2020.

    It turns out that HBO will be releasing it in October 2019.

    Producers have said the season will be a "fitting conclusion", presumably with Pied Piper finally becoming successful.
    I like the show because they make fun of the real Billionaire assholes in Silicon Valley.

    A shit company like Pied Piper would never become successful in the real Silicon Valley.


  15. #135
    How Could You? WillieMcFML's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
    I'm one episode away from the series finale, which airs in 5 days.

    The ratings stayed fairly steady through season 3, then fell apart in season 4, and this season is the lowest rated ever, getting about 1/6 the viewership of season 3. Ouch.

    the stories kept getting repetitive, and no erlich bachman are reason number 1 & 2, i'd imagine
    Hi Lew!!!

  16. #136
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WillieMcFML View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
    I'm one episode away from the series finale, which airs in 5 days.

    The ratings stayed fairly steady through season 3, then fell apart in season 4, and this season is the lowest rated ever, getting about 1/6 the viewership of season 3. Ouch.

    the stories kept getting repetitive, and no erlich bachman are reason number 1 & 2, i'd imagine
    I thought about Erlich's absense, but he left after Season 4, and ratings already took a dump from the beginning of his final season. So it wasn't really him.

    The stories being repetitive was probably the killer. Looks like half the audience had enough after season 3, and then half of the remaining audience just lost interest during the long delay between seasons 5 & 6.

    While many elements of the series were clever, and continued to be throughout, it seems the writers just weren't good at transitioning the story from "Pied Piper can't get funding or keep funding" to "Pied Piper has funding and is now competing with Hooli or whoever else". It was six seasons of Pied Piper being unable to keep funding and stay afloat, and the various crises surrounding that. I also didn't like how they turned Hooli and Gavin Belson into incompetent jokes, when it started out as a stand-in for Google.

    I have to admit that I enjoyed the series, but it had a lot more potential than it ended up realizing.

  17. #137
    Platinum duped_samaritan's Avatar
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    I think the most recent episode was the best of the season so far.

    Bighead > Erlich

    Prediction: Monica hooks up with Richard or the Chinese dude in the finale.

  18. #138
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by duped_samaritan View Post
    I think the most recent episode was the best of the season so far.

    Bighead > Erlich

    Prediction: Monica hooks up with Richard or the Chinese dude in the finale.
    I agree. Episode 6 has been the best episode of Season 6. The rest were kinda blah, and that new "Maximo" villain, while initially presented as scary and heartless, has been basically a non-factor. Season 6/Ep 6 captured some of the magic from earlier in the series run.

    I don't think Monica hooks up with Richard. They've dialed down the sexual tension between them in recent seasons. Jian Yang hooking up with her is a little more likely. She even has him as "Bitchard" in her phone, as Jian Yang does.

  19. #139
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Forgot to post my impression of the series finale.

    While it was longer than the others (48 minutes compared to the typical 30-35), it was disappointing, especially since the prior episode was really good.

    Without giving anything away, the entire episode was pretty much a "fuck you" to everyone who stayed with the series for all 6 seasons. Not satisfying in the least, and while there was only a small cliffhanger (pretty much a side plot intentionally left unresolved), the finale made the entire show seem pointless.

    This episode oddly got a lot of praise from critics, but I didn't care for it.

    It was almost as bad as a finale where it ends with "It was all a big dream". That's not how it ended, but it kind of felt like that when it was done. I also don't understand why they bothered introducing that Maximo villain, just to have his storyline peter out and essentially disappear. Reminds me of the prior season where they had the interesting AI robot head, which they also inexplicably killed off.

    They really had no clue what to do with the series after the second season. Sad!

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