Halt and Catch Fire | Hacker News Reader

Halt and Catch Fire

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30 pointstosh17 comments

If you were put off by the first few eps of this show – or in my case, the first 20 minutes – and abandoned it, please reconsider. It's one of the best shows I've ever seen about business, creativity, working in a team, and of course, the computer industry. Season 1 takes some time to get going, but it's well worth the effort.

Fans of books like The Soul of a New Machine and Dealers of Lightning will find a lot to like here. Yes, it's a little unbelievable that the same small group of people somehow get involved in every computer revolution in a decade, but no more so than Don Draper apparently writing every good ad in the 60s and 70s. And the fact that the characters are drawn as real people rather than caricatures is a sign of the show's maturity and great writing.

My experience too. I started it once and didn't continue past the first few eps. Years later I was casting about, looking for something to watch and decided to give it another go. Now I consider it in my top 5 shows.

The character development in this series was really wonderful. The show takes most of the first season finding itself, but from there on out it was a fantastic series.

One of my all time favorite shows. Very underrated in my opinion. Also the first season is based in my hometown so that is neat. There is very much a silicon prairie culture in North Texas that doesn't get talked about too much.

Texas Instruments

HP (formerly EDS)

Dell (formerly Perot Systems)

Raytheon

id Software

Lockheed Martin

Bell Helicopter

Match.com and Hotels.com

RealPage

I know I'm missing a bunch others

HCF is really good, but you need to go into it with the correct mindset. It is NOT a documentary — it’s more like a modern film student’s imagination of what things might have been like back then, loosely based on the facts. For example, they make references to things like a BBS being a “social network”, which is not the correct term to use for things in that time period.

It is a very good and entertaining show, but be warned: if you’re the type of person who was bothered that type of things they did in CSI was not “real science” or technically accurate, you may be bothered by this as well. TV shows are meant to be entertaining and convey an overall story and concept.

I remember the term social network being used in the BBS era. Sure, maybe it wasn’t called like that all the time, but it’s not a term from the 2010s either?

The BBS era (and the setting of HCF) was in the 1980s and 1990s. The term “social media” was first used in 1997 as a reference to AOL. What we call a “social network” today as a concept simply didn’t exist back then. You can say a BBS was sort of like a social network, but that is retroactively applying a label that just didn’t exist at the time.

I loved this show. You can watch purely for the opportunity to drool at Lee Pace even if for no other reason, and there are PLENTY of other reasons. It's a great story and gives a very insider look at the early days of the commercial web, online gaming, the PC, etc. etc. . . . Deals very well with sexism in the industry without being hectoring about it. And did I mention Lee Pace? I think I might have . . .

Truly a great show. As mentioned, one of the inciting incidents takes place in the first episode. Although it’s a bit much and makes you want to hit stop. I promise it’s worth it. It’s like a Forrest Gump of the tech industry and tackles so many current issues that we are still dealing with along the way.

It is one of my all-time favorite shows. I am so glad I found someone recommending it about a year ago. If you are on the fence give it a go, you won't be disappointed.

It’s a great show, thought indeed it takes a few episodes to find its footing. If you can suspend your disbelief a little about the liberties taken for the sake of storytelling, you will find it a compelling drama.

It should be noted that it has a proper ending, it doesn’t simply come to an abrupt stop due to cancellation.

Hadn’t heard of it! In the UK it seems to be available on Amazon Prime and I will give it a try

Just watched the trailer for season 1.

Whoever posted this has my eternal gratitude! That show was not on my radar before. Fingers crossed.

Any other suggestions?

Excellent show. Highly satisfying ending.

Amazing show. I need to rewatch it ASAP

This was so good and it just got better for every episode and every season.

HCF is such a good show, I highly recommend it.

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