Betas (TV Series 2013– ) | Hacker News Reader

Betas (TV Series 2013– )

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41 pointsNicoJuicy43 comments

Note that this show is terrible.

They are trying to make Silicon Valley and startups look like Hollywood and scriptwriting. The first episode has the main characters (startup co-founders) hanging out at a trendy bar and programming there. Of course one is a stereo-typical aspie guy with no social skills but is a genius with computers. Then they go to a house party thrown by a big name VC that I think is supposed to be Ron Conway; the house is filled with professional models glomming all over the VC and everyone is generally gorgeous. The guys sneak in to pitch him on their new social networking app that somehow has data "hacked" from some government database or something. They just know that if only they can get 5 minutes of their time with this VC, they will be able to land funding-- which will... make their business successful somehow?

You know, exactly like real startup life.

Sure, it's a little exaggerated for television, but...

I dunno, I found it wasn't that far off from my own observations of SF startup culture, working at a startup myself in South Park. I think it's a hilarious show.

YMMV.

Heh, sounds like the (great) movie Primer shows a more accurate view of tech start-ups (and I assume the similarities end there...).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390384/

Yeah, except for Primer's funding model, which was based on ethically-questionable securities trading practices involving a time machine, it was just like an SV startup.

Betas probably hits a little close to home for some people around here, I imagine.

Primer is fantastic if only because it shows how new breakthroughs are really achieved. Much less glamorous and a lot scarier than Hollywood always presents.

I watched the pilot last night. It's terrible. Terrible story, bad acting, and jokes are so not funny.

All of your criticisms are on point. Also note that all of the women in the cast with anything close to a major role, even the ones who affect the plot, are ultimately only used as romantic tension. Yes, this is a show about a white- and asian-male dominated industry, but the female characters they have are utterly wasted. Some of the plotlines revolve around gender issues, which makes it even more surprising that the show itself is, in the end, so stiltedly male-oriented. It's a major disappointment to see new show after new show, even on theoretical risk-friendly platforms like this continue to waste their female talent and portray women as eye candy and sex objects rather than as human beings.

wow.

It's a tv show. Not a reality show.

I hope you see the irony in that statement...

For people outside the US, "reality shows" in the US are even crazier and are even more hyper-stereotypical than normal scripted TV shows.

Yep my bad, yet hopefully you get my point. I should have said documentary instead :)

I watch a bunch of TV shows with the CIA or FBI in them. I don't for a second think that they depict anything realistically.

Yeah, I found it pretty bad. I watched a whole 2 eps, then bailed. I think Amazon has a hit with Alpha House, though. Very, very funny. Good cast, too.

I usually watch soap operas to learn how different people live. It's a pity they messed up the one about start ups.

Doesn't sound too much worse than The Social Network.

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> (Apparently the HBO Silicon Valley series will be closer to reality.)

Didn't that air last year? Or are you talking about another HBO Silicon Valley.

There's also going to be a Mike Judge-created HBO series called "Silicon Valley": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley_(TV_series)

It's hard to imagine Mike Judge failing at anything. I'll be anxiously awaiting this.

How about failing at producing his content for a company that will make it available to people who use streaming rather than cable?

Well I don't see any evidence that he's tried to do that so he hasn't exactly failed at it, has he?

Good point. If someone wants to start a symphony orchestra for the deaf, who am I to criticize?

I think the Silicon Valley show will do pretty well though, at least in comparison to this show.

Yeah, considering that the other movie Judge made was the most insightful w.r.t. software engineering (and hilarious and still relevant to boot) I have high hopes for this one.

People on here seem to think the show is terrible. Is the Big Bang Theory equally terrible? It similarly makes fun of stereotypes and many people love that show and many scientists often think it's atrocious. Maybe the same thing is happening here.. hitting a little to close to home for some people.

>> "Is the Big Bang Theory equally terrible?"

I don't know about equally, but it is terrible. Watch a clip with the laugh track off (you can find them on YouTube) and you will realise how unfunny it is.

Big Bang Theory is shot with an actual audience, not a laugh tape.

The funniness diminishes when you do that because that is a live audience, not a laugh track. The actors have to adjust the timing of the dialog to fit around the laughs.

When you watch without the laughs, that leaves gaps that turn into weird pauses, and can destroy the timing of a joke or funny remark. Timing is often a big component to making a joke work.

Yeah if they were talking during laugh track it would be so much better... (sarcasm..)

Thats funny because it is the only comedy tv show I like.

And you all know the IT crowd?

> many people love that show and many scientists often think it's atrocious

Most people who don't like everything that's on TV think TBBT is atrocious. Not sure what it has to do with scientists, as it mostly tries to poke fun of nerd culture. And it fails even at that.

Is the title really a reference to that strange psychosexual thing people have about alphas and betas, As and Bs? What is it referring to, in the context of the show?

> Is the title really a reference to that strange psychosexual thing people have about alphas and betas

But, wolves do that, so it must be true! I read it on the Internet!

I thought it was gorillas?

I think it's more an Amazon naming thing. Their other big made-by-amazon show is called Alphas.

Alphas is a SyFy (I can't say that name with a straight face) show. You're thinking of Alpha House.

It could be a reference to newly-written software in "beta test".

Most notably, this is an Amazon original show and available for free to Amazon Prime members on their streaming video service.

This show is filled with trite stereotypes. For example: an Indian(?) programmer with terrible social skills has dinner with his parents where they try to arrange a marriage for him. Seriously? The main character is self-obsessed, shallow, and boring, just like this show.

Did Amazon do a bunch of analytics and figure out that this is what people want to watch? (IIRC that's how House of Cards was conceived). It's terrible on so many levels.

I didn't realize Amazon had exclusives. Is this new that they're getting into their own original series, like Netflix?

Yup. Their other show, Alpha House, stars John Goodman and Clark Johnson (of The Wire). It's good; not great, but I'm watching it.

Alpha House...Betas....where are we going with this?

Not to mention there's a show just called "Alphas"

All the way down to the Omega, man!

Oh wait, we've been there...

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