If at first glance HBO’s newest half hour show seems a little familiar, well, that is because it is. “Silicon Valley” is HBO’s latest sitcom and comes to a network known more recently for its dramas, such as “Game of Thrones” and “The Newsroom.” Written, directed and produced by Mike Judge, “Silicon Valley” is reminiscent of Mike Judge’s best-known film, “Office Space.” Like “Office Space,” “Silicon Valley” is about a group of underdog programmers who try to distance themselves from the larger, more established tech companies.
While it certainly resembles Judge’s hilarious hit, it sets itself apart as well. The story centers around Richard Hendrix, played by Thomas Middleditch (“Splinterheads“), an altruistic programmer working for Hooli, the series’ version of Google. Richard has been working on a side project, what he calls “the Google of music,” a search engine called Pied Piper that will allow artists to make sure they are not accidentally plagiarizing someone else’s music. However, Richard’s friend and landlord, Erlich (T.J. Miller, “Cloverfield”) tells him that no one cares about pirating music in today’s world and urges his friend to give up his project.
While the idea behind Pied Piper is pretty bad, as various characters point out during the pilot episode, it has a hidden heart of gold: A compression algorithm that will revolutionize the tech industry. While the tech details of the show are, admittedly, thinly based in reality, the humor of the show more than makes up for any shortcomings at the expense of realism. “Silicon Valley” seems to aspire to be the next “The Big Bang Theory,” a science-y show that everyone can enjoy. The episode may be filled with tech talk that only industry insiders will understand, but like CBS comedy, the jokes will land regardless of the viewers’ tech knowledge.
The show’s cast is filled to the brim with young and rising comedy stars, including Zack Woods (“The Office”), Martin Starr (“Party Down”) and Kumail Nanjiani, who was one of Comedy Central’s 2009 breakout comedians. Nearly every member of the cast has also appeared in either a “CollegeHumor” or “Funny or Die” video, and occasionally both.
One unfortunate aspect to the show is that it follows HBO’s typical comedy format. Like its network compatriots “Girls” and “Veep,” “Silicon Valley” is roughly a half-hour long, airing weekly. However, like the first seasons of the other two, HBO will only produce eight episodes, potentially leaving fans wanting more after the first run is done in two months.
HBO could stand to boost the production of its comedy shows, which have garnered just as much praise as their dramas. The dramas clearly get the majority of the funding, as the first seasons of all their currently airing dramatic shows were an hour long and contained more than eight episodes. With the shorter time format and simpler sets, HBO could easily provide twice the episodes for less than it costs to produce “True Detective,” for instance.
While a second season is pure speculation at this point, if the rest of the season is as laugh-out-loud funny as the pilot, Judge will definitely be writing more tech talk in the future. “Silicon Valley” airs on Sundays at 9:30 p.m. on HBO.
