It’s not easy to create a niche comedy series that balances mainstream appeal with accurate parody, but HBO’s “Silicon Valley” does a decent job of it.
The half-hour comedy, co-created by Mike Judge, pokes fun at stereotypes surrounding the tech elite in Silicon Valley while keeping its main characters relatable.
And it’s not half bad.
When we initially saw the trailer for “Silicon Valley” last month, we were convinced it would be a disaster. The trailer showed little more than a dick joke and a group of cookie-cutter misfit nerds trying to play the underdog card. The truth, however, is that the trailer really didn’t do the show justice and we were pleasantly surprised with the end result.
Judge and co-creator Alec Berg (“Seinfeld”) not only did extensive research into the Bay Area culture, but both have personal ties to the region. Before becoming a successful writer (he wrote "Office Space"), Judge worked as a test engineer in Silicon Valley and Berg’s brother worked for Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft.
“Silicon Valley” is full of quips and jabs that those familiar with the tech industry will find amusing, but it’s also broad enough to lure in average HBO watchers in the mood for a comedy. The show debuts on April 6 right after "Game of Thrones" on HBO.
We watched the first five episodes of “Silicon Valley,” and here’s what we came away with.
The story follows a Zuckerbergish programmer named Richard who works for Hooli — a giant tech firm that mimics the lavish corporate culture at major companies like Google.
Richard lives in a startup incubator along with three other programmers. He's pictured here alongside his best friend Big Head. They've been friends most of their lives.
Gilfoyle is one of the four programmers living in the incubator with Big Head and Richard. He's a Satanist with a pompous attitude.
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