I have the actual 'Cardiff Giant' laptop from the show. Got it in LA at a prop auction. Should I do a YouTube?
YES! NOW!
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)
#92I've heard many great things but have not been able to make it past the classroom scene in the first episode. I love both of the actors in other media, but I find the dialogue in these opening scenes makes me feel..embarrassed? I have similar feelings about other shows and movies at times where I just have to turn them off because of the way the characters are behaving. I think it just ties directly into some anxiety I have.
Re: Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
He also played Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy and King Thranduil in Lord of the Rings!
how dare you mention Lee Pace and -not- mention his role in Foundation, he carried that entire show on his way too muscley back
It’s not cancelled, there’s a fourth season on the way.
But yes, him and Jared Harris are pretty much the primary reasons to watch. And given the limited Harris screentime, definitely Pace carries it.
Re: Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Don't forget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_(2006_film)
Re: Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)
#95HACF 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/tt2…
Scavengers reign is from the same people as common side effects. Both shows are amazing.
Re: Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)
#96And as I understand it loosely based on the fantastic and seminal book Soul of a New Machine. I had a great EM once who said I need to read it because nothing has changed in 40 years, and I keep a copy on my desk. Touching as well, as it's on Joe MacMillan's desk in the final scene of third season. What's so great about it is: - mushroom theory of management works - trust new graduates and juniors to win by not under…
My father was an unnamed DG marketing executive in the book, who joked that his greatest career regret was asking Kidder to be unnamed in case the book wasn’t any good (it won Kidder the Pulitzer). I’ve been meaning to go through his old notebooks, as he took detailed notes on everything, to see if there is anything left from that era.
DG = data general a “large” computer company in Westboro mass. My mom worked there doing internationaliztion.
Soul of a new machine is a fantastic book. About DG going up against DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) and their Vax machines.
Re: Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)
#97I've heard many great things but have not been able to make it past the classroom scene in the first episode. I love both of the actors in other media, but I find the dialogue in these opening scenes makes me feel..embarrassed? I have similar feelings about other shows and movies at times where I just have to turn them off because of the way the characters are behaving. I think it just ties directly into some anxiety…
Consider just fast-forwarding past a scene you can't handle. Like many shows, it takes a few episodes before the actors truly understand their characters.
The feeling you're experiencing has a name: it's called "cringe". I can't watch Frasier for more than about half an episode because of it. Or I Love Lucy... same problem. But Seinfeld, which has plenty of the same humour mechanic, always seems to manage to stay just below the threshold for me.
Halt and Catch Fire is really, really good. Please trust us. Give it another shot. Skip forward a bit when you feel the need to. Skip the first episode entirely and just read a synopsis if you need to.
Re: Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)
#98I just tried to watch this show because someone told me its the next best tech show after Silicon Valley, and the second season is by far some of the worst storytelling and acting I've ever seen on a screen, I don't think I'll be finishing the show. I really don't understand why people are so into it.
Re: Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)
#99I thought Halt and Catch Fire was fairly well known, especially in the tech world. Season 1 was absolutely killer. I like that they tried to capture different eras per season, but subsequent seasons got progressively weaker. I still think Gordon's final scene is one of the best pieces of writing in TV drama history. Took my breath away the first time I saw it.
It's fairly well known to some of us. It's one of the few shows I own DVDs of.
Where can one even find the seasons? I only found season 1 on Blu-ray.
Re: Halt and Catch Fire: TV’s best drama you’ve probably never heard of (2021)
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
Season 1 is Soul of a New Machine-ish, but about personal computing, not minicomputers, and is set in Texas. Season 2 is roughly about BBSs and Compuserve, and still in Texas. Season 3 is about the early commercial Internet, same characters, SFBA. Season 4 is about the Yahoo era of the Internet and about venture capital, also SFBA.
The problem with it is that it is ahistorical enough in the tech that some things just don't work. The show tackles stuff about like a decade before it was actually relevant in market, and that has subtle problems that give the business stuff an uncanny-valley feel. Still a fun drama though.
Yeah, agreed. Watching it as a drama, it’s fun. Watching it with any perspective on tech history it gets a little cringy.
The first season is semi-accurate if you just replace Compaq with their company. But it quickly goes off the rails.