I do my weekly DVR Purges, but let's be frank: they are crap. I don't proofread them at all most weeks. They're collections of scattered thoughts that barely even make sense a week later. What I've decided to do is, with most of these shows I watch taking a break, reflect on where I stand with them, assessing what is in the show's favor (assets) and what could get it in trouble (liabilities).
Now, not every show I watch will be included. In general, I'm sticking to shows that I've kept notes (be them from Purges or otherwise) as I've watched. That means, shows like The Bridge, Looking, Sherlock, and Dexter will not be included. To get my thoughts on those, ask me. This project, supposing I stay on schedule should take all month and I hope it does a good job summing up where these shows stand. In some cases, I'm hoping to convince you to start watching. Other times, it'll be nothing more than a postmortem for a show that's gone.
I hope you enjoy.
Favorite Episode(s): "Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency"
High Brow/Low Brow: Mike Judge is a master of making a stupid jokes smart. King of the Hill, Office Space, and Idiocracy all relied on this. It's not a surprise that he employs that well in Silicon Valley too. I mean, the triumphant finale resulted from an in depth discussion about the most efficient way to jack off a room full of men. That's kind of amazing. The same episode also includes all of Jared's pivots, which is a savvier business concept than I expected them to include.
Well-used cast: This is a cast full of "the protagonist's best friends". It's a bunch of actors who normally don't get the chance to just play guys in the group. TJ Miller is someone casting agents have been trying to figure out for a while. Martin Starr seems disinterested in most of the roles he's landed. Josh Brener hit familiar-face saturation with all the places he's shown up (for me at least: Maron, The Internship, that phone commercial that played before movies for a while). The same goes for the rest of the cast, but they all fit perfectly on the show. Thomas Middleditch looks convincingly over his head at all times. I'm so happy that Zach Woods is as great as he is playing Jared. The Office never figured out how to use Gabe effectively, but it was always clear that he had performance chops. Even Amanda Crew started to get some things to do by the end, in the absence of Christopher Evan Welch. I expect her role to grow in season two.
New Angle for Familiar Material: You don't often see this side of computer nerds. They're just guys, in the show. There's a few people who look down on them, but normally they're people who are also in the machine (specifically, at hooli). In Los Angeles, everyone is an actor. In Silicon Valley, everyone is a programmer with a dream. It's the difference between laughing at the characters (The Big Bang Theory) and laughing with them (what this show does).
Sausage Fest: Part of the larger joke/truth of Silicon Valley is that it is not a female-dominated world. They sum it up well at the convention when they explain the number of women would spike from 2% to 15%. Still, it would be nice to have a little female influence in there. Even just increasing Amanda Crew's role (as I predict they will) would help. Baby steps.
Christopher Evan Welch's Death: He was such an asset to the show. His absence moving forward is going to be tough to deal with. They talked around him being present in the last couple episodes and it was a good stall. Eventually, they will have to address it, be it replacing the character or the actor or coming up with a permanent reason for him to not be around.
Phase 2: The season finale played like they were hedging their bets in case it needed to be the series finale. The first season was the rough founding of Pied Piper. The bigger and more established it gets, the harder it will be to give everything the relaxed, messy feel that worked so well in the first season. I'm not saying it can't be done. It's just something to watch out for.
I originally planned blog entry as being about this as a scrappy underdog story: one of those great comedies that gets completely lost in the shuffle. Veep is HBO's darling and Girls has had the it-factor for a while. Then, Emmy nominations come out and Silicon Valley is nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series and Directing. Suddenly, the narrative changes to that of an over-achieving wunderkind. I'm curious to see what kind of buzz factor it will have now leading into the second season. Eight episodes is not a lot to go off. As much as I enjoyed the first season, I'll need to see what season two looks like to fully decide what my opinion of the series is. Luckily for everyone who missed it, it's only eight episodes. It's funny. It's short. The cast is solid. You have no excuse to not watch it.
Previously this Offseason...
Community
Brooklyn Nine Nine
New Girl
Suburgatory
Modern Family
Parenthood
The Mindy Project
The Michael J Fox Show
The Big Bang Theory
Agents of SHIELD
The Crazy Ones
Back in the Game
Parks and Recreation
The Walking Dead
The Middle
Saturday Night Live
Cougar Town
House of Cards
Louie
How I Met Your Mother
The Americans
Archer
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