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Is anybody watching Halt & Catch Fire?

alexd

alexd

Administrator
Staff member
I have been watching this show reluctantly since the beginning - maybe because it coincided with the Silicon Valley show, or because the characters are completely unlike-able as people, but I stuck with it.

I am liking the show now and the music in particular, which reminds me of a lot of stuff I used to spin at my club gigs in the early 80s.

Anyway, I am liking the environment of this show more than anything - the capitalism mixed with backstabbing and geekiness.

It seems to me that the unveiling of the Mackintosh didn't happen at COMDEX '83, but I could be wrong.
 
D

Dialog

TRIBE Member
I want to like it, I like it enough, but the way it inserts 2010-s characters, attitudes, vocabulary (people didn't say "I'm good" then) in 1983 and just generally plays with history has been getting on my nerves. From what I gather, the ratings are abysmal, and AMC would have to really see some potential in the show to green light a second season.

We shall see...
 
acheron

acheron

TRIBE Member
I'm liking it. The look and feel are very early-eighties and I find the story compelling. The semantics of the language being used, well.. "I'm good" goes back to the early 1990's but stuff like that is relatively minor. They're doing pretty well on the particulars of creating a new computing platform.. One of my favourite books, Steven Levy's silicon valley history, "Hackers", is clearly a major influence for the show's writers.

As an aside, The Macintosh was introduced in a separate press event held by Apple in late 1983. Quickly followed by the Superbowl commercial directed by Ridley Scott. I am piqued by the title of the final episode of the season, "1984"...

I am going to guess that the fledgling creation of this bunch could be significantly overshadowed by the introduction of the Macintosh, which was itself touted as a portable computer and which had a significantly smaller footprint than any other portable available at the time. The one they're working on in the show now reminds me of what Compaq were doing around the same time.
 
kerouacdude

kerouacdude

TRIBE Member
Someone in another thread threatened to write to AMC, loathed it so much haha

For me, one of my favourite shows of last several years.

Why? Partly because I'm old enough to remember that year and they're getting so many of the details right - the clothing, the carpets, the Bic multi-colored pens, the toys. So much so that they're reminding me of shit I hadn't though of in years if not decades. I think in recent years this and Adventureland totally nailed the "feel" of the 80s.

It's flawed and at times outlandish but I've never seen characters like that and I think all 5 main cast members did well (although it's funny how Joe and Cameron came out of the box sensational and unlike much we've seen before, while now Gordon and Donna are really showing layers).

and like alexd said, the music is about the best ever seen on a TV series: Talking Heads, The Clash, Boomtown Rats, Bad Brains, XTC, X-Ray Spex, Nick Lowe, Human League, plus some appropriately placed mainstream stuff (Boz Scaggs, Dolly, Steve Miller)

I'll miss these characters if there's no season but it's like they're kinda headed into a corner here, and I'm getting more used to, through British series like Saxondale and Thick of It, series that only last a few handful of episodes.
 
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Karim

TRIBE Member
I've been watching it. I've enjoyed it. Some characters are great, others suck. Cameron and Gordon are pretty brutal IMO.

Didn't trentmoller do the music for the opening credits?
 
ndrwrld

ndrwrld

TRIBE Member
Yes.
The people behind Halt & Catch Fire approached Trentemøller this past winter, with a request to compose a theme that could match the mesmerizing visuals.
 
O

octo

TRIBE Member
it's my only must see tv right now.
well that and big history.

i find myself pausing it just to check and smile at stuff like the fonts on banners.

the cars. the clothes. the music!

that cameron chick is canadian. i think. she's cute. but sometimes i don't like her face.

i hope they all move to cali for season 2
 
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deep

deep

TRIBE Member
Just watched all ten episodes over the past three days after a great rec from sugar. Really enjoyed this and hope it continues.
 
A

awwnaw

TRIBE Member
I'm the person. A producer of this piece of shit obviously caught a senior AMC exec murdering someone and has the evidence locked in a vault. You've all lost your goddamn minds.
 
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D

Dialog

TRIBE Member
kerouacdude

kerouacdude

TRIBE Member
Guess I should be thrilled given how much I liked the first season but some of the finale notes were a bit worrisome. Does Joe have a Lazarus moment in Colorado and became a good guy or something?
And for the more tech savvy than me - doesn't Cameron's company idea (with Donna in tow) seem a little "too" ahead of its time as a money making venture?
Am intrigued to see if Gordon rises to the occasion or descends into madness now that he's alone on an island.
 
kerouacdude

kerouacdude

TRIBE Member
Tool was definitely used in early 80s. Not a lot, but I remember it on the schoolyard, from my brother.
They're doing pretty good with the speech compared to other shows that are so blatantly wrong. I did catch an "I got this" said in an Obama like way, which most definitely was not an expression back then.
 
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