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What's The Best TV Show About Working in Tech? (gizmodo.com)
An anonymous reader writes:
Recently Gizmodo hailed "the best show ever made about Silicon Valley", asking its readers one question: why didn't you watch it? They're talking about AMC's Halt and Catch Fire, which their Senior Reviews Editor says "discovered the fascinating, frustrating human side to the soulless monsters who built Silicon Valley." Unfortunately, "nobody watched it. The show never cracked a million live viewers after the pilot episode. It sat firmly on the bubble every season, getting greenlit only by the grace of AMC."
Today Netflix is making that show's fourth (and final) season available -- but is it the best show about working in tech? What about Mr. Robot, Silicon Valley, or The IT Crowd -- or that short-lived X-Files spin-off, The Lone Gunmen?
Has there ever been a good show about geeks -- besides those various PBS documentaries? Leave your own answers in the comments.
What's the best TV show about working in tech?
Today Netflix is making that show's fourth (and final) season available -- but is it the best show about working in tech? What about Mr. Robot, Silicon Valley, or The IT Crowd -- or that short-lived X-Files spin-off, The Lone Gunmen?
Has there ever been a good show about geeks -- besides those various PBS documentaries? Leave your own answers in the comments.
What's the best TV show about working in tech?
UK version. Nothing else is close.
The IT Crowd was produced by the BBC. You can find it online. It followed a company's "technical support" geeks who'd been banished to the basement. Very funny!
Mr Robot is about working in tech the same way that Die Hard is about working in law enforcement.
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
Is there anything this movie gets wrong about "working" in IT?
Moron bosses who know nothing about what you actually do? Check.
Multiple pointy-haired types hounding you about your work because they "have to be involved"? Check.
Consultants? Ugh, check.
Outdated tech that needs replacing but its "not in the budget"? Damn it feels good to be a Check sir!
So much more. This is the penultimate look at what working in IT is like. The only thing close is The IT Crowd.
You're forgetting about The Walking Dead.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Actually I think Halt and Catch Fire's problem as you describe was exactly the reason it was the most accurate portrayal - it's blandness was a recognition of reality. I actually watched all 4 series for what it's worth, it was watchable, and it did a good job of compacting the rise of the modern computing industry, but if you're looking to be on the edge of your seat then that show isn't it. Whilst the real world industry isn't devoid of the sort of humour you see in Silicon Valley and the IT Crowd, it certainly isn't like that every minute of every day - that's what the Half and Catch Fire captured, the reality of the day to day, the complex egos, the fact that for every billionaire Bill Gates that made it there were hundreds of others who were on the cusp of getting it but just missed the target. That becoming a silicon valley billionaire was as much about the right idea at the right time with the right people working on it being sold to the right people, and that plenty of people had the time and idea, but the wrong people, or the right people and the wrong idea and so on and so forth - that success in the computing industry that's led to the current giants was largely about the luck of stars aligning for the right people as much as it was anything else and that the valley is full of many thousands of equally talented people who had the ideas but just didn't get lucky enough for the rest of it to align - Halt and Catch Fire captures that, it recognises the reality and dispels the myth of the Zuckerbergs, Gates, and so on and so forth as being unique geniuses - it's an ode to those who were equally as talented and innovative but who simply just did not have quite so much luck on their side.
Silicon Valley is funny, but it's an over the top comedy, so whilst it does indeed touch on real arguments, it of course uses an absurdist form of humour which doesn't match day to day reality. That is of course however what makes it enjoyable to watch.
"ruined their piece of mind".
What a fabulous typo. It's like you shot them in the head.