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Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)

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Re: Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)

#81

Post by metamet »

Slow_Hand wrote: post #65
danielvaughn wrote: post #3

Lee Pace's performance in that show is one of my all time favorites. It's incredibly hard to play a charismatic marketing guru because in some sense, you're not acting. In a given scene, the character might be trying to convince people around him of some crazy idea, but if he hasn't convinced you, the viewer, then the entire illusion falls apart. So he really has to do in real life what he's pretending to do on scree…

Funny that this came up today. Last night I started re-watching the series after several years. Just this afternoon I was reflecting on how genuinely charismatic Lee Pace's Joe McMillen is. You really feel it. Even when we know he's a manipulative sonuvabitch. It's mesmerizing. You have to admire his ability to spin shit into gold. The man has vision. There's a sequence around S01E07 that I'm looking forward to reach…

You're making me really want to start a rewatch.

It's shocking how few people have seen this show, let along watched it. Part of that probably has to do with how inaccessible it is on streaming. It's only readily available on AMC+. And no one has AMC+.

This is one of those shows that would likely shoot to the top if Netflix got the rights to it and even did a mild push. It's genuinely peak prestige TV.

Re: Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)

#83

Post by hola-tamale »

gnabgib wrote: post #80
hola-tamale wrote: post #12

Fantastic show! Just wrote an analysis of the conflicts between the characters and how every disagreement turns into a zero sum game: https://gilpignol.substack.com/p/halt-and-catch-fire-the-tra...

Looks like @light_triad's blog.. new account?

Indeed, not trying to circumvent your rules. Just want to contribute to the conversation. I just love this website.

Re: Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)

#84

Post by caycecan »

HACF is a goodie but there's a lot of great shows no one's heard of.

In an effort to sing the song of underappreciated works of greatness...

Patriot - a CIA hitman who writes folk songs about his exploits imdb.com/title/tt4687882/

Counterpart - not a multiverse, just a biverse imdb.com/title/tt4643084/

Scavengers Reign - Robinson Crusoe by way of a nature documentary of a very bizarre alien planet. imdb.com/title/tt21056886/

Common Side Effects - cops, robbers, magic mushrooms, corporate bad guys and the cure for everything. imdb.com/title/tt28093628

Evil - x-files meets Catholic mysticism. imdb.com/title/tt9055008/

The Heat Vision and Jack pilot episode - Jack Black, Owen Wilson and a script by Dan Harmon. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6lWgXDOAJ5s&pp=ygUUaGVhdCB2aXN...

Re: Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)

#85

Post by etchalon »

DrFunke wrote: post #20

Season 1 was wonderful. The showrunner had initially written the pilot to get a job on Mad Men. It was eviscerated by critics for being too male, too masculine and seasons 2 onward pivoted into a girlboss series with Lee Pace's character taking a backseat and Scooter's character becoming a stay at home house husband. But if you like Breaking Bad and Sopranos, S1 is very well written.

Season 1 was just Mad Men but computers.

Seasons 2 through 4 were vastly more interesting. We've seen Joel a hundred times. Donna and Cameron and Gordon felt less worn, and Donna and Cameron's relationship vastly more interesting than Gordon (the skeptic) and Joel (the believer!) in Season 1.

If you prefer "great men" stuff, I can see preferring Season 1.

But it's not exactly a story you can't watch elsewhere.

Re: Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)

#86

Post by mikepurvis »

esafak wrote: post #64
danielvaughn wrote: post #3

Lee Pace's performance in that show is one of my all time favorites. It's incredibly hard to play a charismatic marketing guru because in some sense, you're not acting. In a given scene, the character might be trying to convince people around him of some crazy idea, but if he hasn't convinced you, the viewer, then the entire illusion falls apart. So he really has to do in real life what he's pretending to do on scree…

Lee Pace is a first rate actor but I could not recognize him or indeed, most of the characters in this show, as representative of their roles. I struggled to suspend my disbelief. The show felt like it was written by people who imagined what it must have been like rather than people who had any experience of it. I still enjoyed it somewhat. Not Silicon Valley good but okay.

I'm always surprised Lee Pace doesn't get more recognition; I've loved a lot of his quirkier projects like Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies, and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, but it's not like he hasn't also been in mainstream things like The Hobbit and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Re: Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)

#88

Post by CSMastermind »

Look I love the show but it does feel like a missed opportunity in a lot of ways. In order to get more moments in the story itself took a backseat. Lots of cool moments if you love tech history but as a stand alone drama it was kind of a let down.
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