WHEN THE EMMY Awards nominations were announced yesterday, there was one show nominated for Best Comedy Series that you may not be all that familiar with: Silicon Valley.
Here’s the lowdown on the HBO series, which begins airing on Sky Atlantic on July 16th.
What’s it about?
As its title suggests, the series is based in the dog-eat-dog tech world and follows Richard (Thomas Middleditch), a low-level programmer in a giant internet company called Hooli, while developing a revolutionary music app in his spare time. All the while, he lives with three of his bumbling tech buddies in a start-up incubator founded by an arrogant, pot-loving entrepeneur, Erlich.
Angel investors, start-ups, tech jargon – they’re all here.
Hmm, sounds kind of like The Social Network.
And you wouldn’t be wrong in thinking that. But Silicon Valley is a much funnier, sharper send-up of the tech world. If you’ve ever rolled your eyes while listening to a tech entrepeneur bang on about “disruption”, you’ll enjoy it.
Who’s in it?
A bunch of very funny people who you may or may not be familiar with right now, but are sure to see a lot more of in the future including Thomas Middleditch, TJ Miller (Cloverfield, Transformers: Age of Extinction), Martin Starr (Knocked Up, Freaks and Geeks), Kumail Nanjiani, Josh Brener, Zach Woods (The Office) and more.
Who’s behind it?
Oh, just Mike Judge, who you will know as the man behind the likes of King of the Hill, Beavis and Butthead and Office Space.
Is it any good?
Well, it was nominated for three Emmys yesterday (Best Comedy Series, Best Writing in a Comedy Series and Best Direction of a Comedy Series) and picked up three nominations at the Critics’ Choice Awards earlier this year. Critics love it and it’s buil
HBO have renewed it for a second season, so now is the time to jump on the bandwagon.
What does the tech industry have to say about it?
The series screened for approximately 400 tech investors back in April and reports indicate that they largely seemed to enjoy it. Venture capital Marc Andreessen, who serves on the board of Facebook and eBay, loved it.
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However, investor Elon Musk publicly criticised the show’s portrayal of Silicon Valley saying, “If you haven’t been, you just don’t get it.”
Sounds good. When can I watch it?
Silicon Valley begins airing on Sky Atlantic on July 16th at 9pm.
