Not much really good stuff in the season premiere. Like the new boss so far, but it might be difficult to keep her story going. Maybe they’ll rotate managing partners?
Liked the “aha” moment of the guy who got shafted out of his own company.
No Big Head. Not enough Gilfoyle. Just the right amount of Erlich.
I strongly suspect that there’s a lot of SV startup execs that are worried that Erlich is based on them.
I’m glad Josh Brener is coming back.
And in a clever plot development, too. As far down as we will see the Pied Piper guys fall–and it may be pretty damned far, given the capacity for destruction that Russ Hannerman has demonstrated–that’s how far up the success-ladder Big Head will be flung by the conniving Gavin Belson.
Swimming pools! Movie stars! And such.
They made a big deal about Russ Hannerman’s product being “Radio on Internet” or ROI if you will :-)… Mark Cuban made his money from Broadcast.com way back when which was essentially Radio on the Internet. Is Mark Cuban seen as douchy in the real world? Is Russ Hannerman essentially a parody of him or is there no connection?
I assumed that they were parodying Mark Cuban in that respect (pioneering radio on the internet). But I also assume that they mix and match the real-life people when they construct the parodies.
I liked the blink-and-you-miss it sight gag, of what gets auto-filled when you google Russ Hanneman – “Russ Hanneman douchebag”…“Russ Hanneman misogynist”…
Yeah, they borrowed Cuban’s obnoxious personality and his background, but Hanneman appeared to be set up as a guy who got lucky once and hasn’t done much since. Cuban’s had several successes beyond Yahoo buying broadcast.com for a ridiculous price.
I don’t follow sports in any way, so the Mark Cuban I’ve encountered has been entirely as a booster of HDTV back when all the broadcast networks were dragging their feet. Mark was well known for actually answering his own e-mail and responding to problems, and when I met him at CES and NAB he seemed like a pretty decent guy.
Larry Ellison, on the other hand, seems to be a complete douchebag, so they look like the combined Cuban’s history with Ellison’s personality.
I am a huge Mike Judge fan that’s the only reason I watched this show. I like it
I binged the first season in one day and am now watching the second season weekly
So far I am finding the second season funnier. Maybe a result of just binging through the first season and going slower here?
Russ Hanneman is a cool dude. This guy fucks.
I know Mark Cuban as the owner of a basketball team and a star of reality shows. He comes off as a giant douchebag in that context.
Having the foresight regarding a particular technology doesn’t mean that you won’t come off as a douchebag when you start airing your personality in public.
The actor that plays Richard was on the Tonight Show last night. Talk about an actor with a completely different personality then his character.
I saw part of that (Tonight show appearance) and had the same thought. He really is an Actor! In real life he seems to have none of Richard’s diffidence.
At first, I didn’t like T.J. Miller, but Erlich Bachman has really grown on me. I loved his little Fage freakout. And I chuckle every time he over-pronounces “Aviato.”
Miller is a fascinating guy himself. I listened to his three segments on Pete Holmes’s “You Made It Weird” podcast.
The novelty has worn off for me, but I’m still enjoying it. The treatment of Big Head cracks me up. His “What? Me?” reaction is priceless.
I think the show is hilarious. I’m not a coder, but I know something of the process and know lots of people who are, and this show gets a lot right. There was a funny bit a couple of episodes ago in which someone explained to Richard why he was better off not seeking any revenues for his company. That seems to explain some of the insane valuations given to tech companies that give away their products.
I was directed to this show by someone who swore that they couldn’t believe I hadn’t sued the show over Gilfoyle being based on me. After watching a couple of YouTube clips, I had to subscribe to HBO and binge watch, if only to prove them wrong. 
He has more hair, and is more audacious than I am today. But I’d never be Canadian, and there’s no way I’d ever be a LaVeyan Satanist, either. Other than that, I don’t know whether to be flattered or not. He’s me in Technicolor.
Hehee, and remember that every Gilfoyle secretly dreads that he’s Big Head, and doesn’t realize it. I root for Big Head every time I see him and his Big Gulp (that has got to be product placement)*.
I like the story and ensemble cast so far. It’s got enough tech (and sci-fi tech, who’d go bananas over a non-breakthrough?) to make a believable world, and the writers certainly seem to know the absurdity of the situation. I imagine I’ll maintain my HBO subscription until the series ends, at this point.
Oh, and yeah, completely epic dick joke.
*OOOOh! Or forshadowing! Isn’t it a Super Big Gulp?
Silicon Valley is the TV show I most look forward to nowadays. Not only do the characters feel real (I’m a Bighead type, personally), and not only is it a funny show, but it has the rare distinction (for a comedy) of having a plot that would be interesting as a drama as well.
The only episode I had some doubts about this season was “Homicide”. I thought it was funny, but some parts were a bit contrived – it seemed a bit hacky to have Dinesh and Gilfoyle doing their SWOT analysis at Homicide headquarters where anyone could just walk in.
I liked Peter Gregory, but I think Russ Hanneman is at least as funny as a replacement. “I had 1.2 billion ten years ago, and I have 1.4 billion today. You do the math!”
My favorite in-joke so far has to be the scene when Richard is explaining that “Kool-Aid” is not an affectionate nickname. On the wall behind them is the Lena image, the scan of the November 1971 Playboy centerfold Lena Söderberg that became the standard test image for compression algorithms.
Seriously, how cool is it that someone at the show included something so geeky?
…I think he’s still alive.
But I fear, if I stop watching, that may change. (And its good to see that Carla is still on team.)
While the series as a whole has just been ok, the dick joke scene was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in years. For those who haven’t seen:
