Halt And Catch Fire [AMC] [** Spoilers **]

Basq

Starts June 1st on AMC and stars the always reliable Lee Pace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYGwIsiyi3Q

Looks bloody excellent!

Mr E

Looks good alright.

Halt and Catch Fire is an upcoming 2014 period drama that is set to air on AMC. Its 10-episode first season is slated to premiere on Sunday, June 1, 2014. The name is a reference to the fictitious machine code instruction Halt and Catch Fire (HCF) which causes a computer's central processing unit to cease all meaningful function. The show is set in the early 1980s, and depicts a fictionalized insider's view of the personal computer revolution.

mafaa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcVwF8XyD-8

mafaa

the pilot is available on the usual sources

Watch: AMC Releases the Premiere Episode of 'Halt and Catch Fire' on Tumblr

Mick Murdock

Can't say it looks terribly good to me.

meoklmrk91

I'm really excited for this, I think it could be great.

JohnK

I watched the first episode last night and while there were one or two scenes that had me rolling my eyes I enjoyed it overall and will definitely be watching the next episode.

mafaa

Is 'Halt and Catch Fire' the Next 'Mad Men'?

SligoQueries

This looks incredibly stupid and unrealistic. There's no way a stereotypical punk girl like that was involved in the real story of this. She's a made-up character for today's audience.

iguana

Did not especially enjoy the pilot. I couldn't care for any of the characters, the amount of clunky exposition put ST Voyager to shame, the whole set up

of their bosses hating them soooooo very, very much was overkill

and it was painful how much of an effort was clearly being made to make the show scream 80s!!!!!! Compared to The Americans, a show set in a similar era, it came off really badly. In The Americans characters go about their lives while happening to live in the 80s, in HaCF some of the characters go around with a heavy handed 80s 'tude. It's eye roll inducing but at the same time badly done. Like how when Gordon's family came out of the cinema there were Return of the Jedi posters up, yet not one single person exited the cinema looking as if they'd just come out of Return of the Jedi. It felt like a sloppy imitation of bad 80s movie rather than an 80s setting.

I'll probably watch the next episode to see if it gets better now that the premise has been established and the characters are in place. But I'm not expecting much.

expectationlost

you can listen to the founder of compaq who were the ones that actually reversed engineered the ibm-pc interviewed via http://mashable.com/2014/05/29/halt-and-catch-fire-amc-compaq/

Anachrony

I was primed to like it, but it's just OK so far. I'll continue giving it a chance for a while.

In some ways Silicon Valley felt more insightful, even though it's a comedy. That one didn't hook me in the pilot either, but the season as a whole was strong.

SligoQueries wrote: »

There's no way a stereotypical punk girl like that was involved in the real story of this.

In real life it was three nerdy looking white guys, exactly like you'd expect.

In fiction, they're going to take heat if they made a show with an all male cast, but they could have at least gone with someone more representative of women working in the field and not strained credulity so much. The engineer's wife is a reasonable portrayal, though wouldn't have worked as the outsider.

JONJO THE MISER

Just finished watching episode 2.
Love this show.

Skerries

I just keep seeing Lee Pace as an Elf from The Hobbit films
anyone else thinks that they are trying to make him into the next Don Draper?

expectationlost

you can see the parrallels to mad men, but its its own story, although they've added a lot, its bit My Fair Lady

rockbeast

Very derivative but enjoyable nonetheless.

Looking forward to tonight's episode and am very glad to have something to watch on Monday evenings for the next couple of months.

The lighting is quite annoying though. Probably a production design decision to give it somewhere to go as "technology" advances, but too many scenes look like they've been lit with candles.I'm hoping that as the season progresses they'll brighten it up a bit.

Also, everyone's a bit one-note, performance-wise, at the moment. Again, I'm hoping we'll see some different shades to the characters as season moves forward.

Great premise though. Read up on IBM, Compaq, etc. and it was a very interesting time, to say the least!

Alfred Borden

Decent episode last night. Beginning to really enjoy this now and the bonus being something decent to watch over the summer months.

Alfred Borden

This has been really good, can defo see it sticking around for a while. Last nights episode was one of the best so far for me.

Skerries

computer based Mad Men

CAD Men

JONJO THE MISER

Great episode last night.
Your one has a very sexy look in her eyes sometimes.

charlie_says

Very hit and miss this one. Some great moments, some very poor and annoying ones.

Being a bit nerdy myself, I do like the idea of the plot and the era, but there is an awful lot of lame stuff going on here also.

Wait and see what happens.

I really like the opening credits though, which usually I nearly always fast forward after one watch. Loved the artistic design of these ones.

expectationlost

donnas on board woot

i didn't realise the thing they showed at the previous comdexshow where he had a meltdown was an electroic piano that donna played i thought it was just another computer

DeepBlue

Is it odd that Donna's my favourite character on this show? Initially I thought they were setting her up to be another Skylar White i.e. someone that acts as a drag on the main character but she's the most rounded character of the lot.

Joe is simply unlikeable as is Cameron and their sex scenes are laughably implausible and stupid. They should leave the "sexposition" to Game of Thrones.
Anyhow last night's episode was the best so far.

Alfred Borden

I like Joe and Donna's characters as well. Dislike Cameron's but hate Gordon :pac:

Alfred Borden

think this will get a second series? hope it does as im finding it very enjoyable

Skerries

Bosworth is really drinking the Kool-aid as the yanks say

Skerries

that was a fantastic episode, I didn't think it was as set in reality as it was but that ending!

please say people are watching this

evilivor

Skerries wrote: »

that was a fantastic episode, I didn't think it was as set in reality as it was but that ending!

please say people are watching this

Great ending.

MagicMarker

Good episode alright.

Mr E

Great ending.... the promo for the finale was very clever too (no escape, no alternative, no ctrl).

MagicMarker

That didn't feel like much of a finale tbh. Should have just finished up with last week's episode.

expectationlost

good ending, that was one hell of resignation letter from joe.

poor debbie

what would season 2 be about?

Halt and Catch Fire Bosses Talk Season 2 Hopes, Answer "Burning" Finale Questions
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Halt-and-Catch-Fire-Season1-Finale-Postmortem-1085225.aspx

Antar Bolaeisk

MagicMarker wrote: »

That didn't feel like much of a finale tbh. Should have just finished up with last week's episode.

Pretty much this. The whole episode felt like an extended version of the epilogue of a true events film.

It was a decent show interesting if not much too it. Will tune in for a season 2 if it returns.

evilivor

expectationlost wrote: »

good ending, that was one hell of resignation letter from joe.

poor debbie

what would season 2 be about?

Cardiff Computers battle with Apple for the nascent handheld computer market.

Apple come out with the Newton and change the world.

expectationlost

back may 31

http://www.comingsoon.net/tv/trailers/423633-halt-and-catch-fire-season-two-premieres-may-31

5 mins from the premiere ^

Arciphel

Did I read somewhere that this is going to be on Netflix in April - worth a watch?

Arciphel

Arciphel wrote: »

Did I read somewhere that this is going to be on Netflix in April - worth a watch?

I really liked it - finished a bit weaker than some the early episodes but well worth a watch - captures the early 80's really well - not a decade that you see too much of in tv or movies.

Hope that season two manages to keep up the interest.

Skerries

Arciphel wrote: »

Did I read somewhere that this is going to be on Netflix in April - worth a watch?

definitely! one of, if not my favourite new shows last year

kearneybobs

I put off watching the first season for quite a while. Then I binge watched it all in a day or two. Absolutely loved it.

TwoShedsJackson

glasso wrote: »

I really liked it - finished a bit weaker than some the early episodes but well worth a watch - captures the early 80's really well - not a decade that you see too much of in tv or movies.

Hope that season two manages to keep up the interest.

I thought it got better as it went on, first two or three episodes were average but from about episode 5 on it got better and better.

kearneybobs

Season 2 starts this sunday I think.

Here's a discussion about where the next season is going.....i.e. into the online infrastructure and gaming sectors.
http://www.destructoid.com/halt-and-catch-fire-explores-the-early-days-of-online-gaming-292774.phtml

charlie_says

Great looking forward to it. Quite enjoyed the first series. Music, title sequence and 80's look were bang on.

expectationlost

how did he hook up with an old flame, are we going to get alot of flashbacks?

northgirl

kearneybobs wrote: »

I put off watching the first season for quite a while. Then I binge watched it all in a day or two. Absolutely loved it.

Going to TRY to do that for Season 2 although I'm extremely tempted to catch up on the first episode

expectationlost

northgirl wrote: »

Going to TRY to do that for Season 2 although I'm extremely tempted to catch up on the first episode

why?

northgirl

expectationlost wrote: »

why?

cause binge watching the whole series would be enjoyable?

expectationlost

northgirl wrote: »

cause binge watching the whole series would be enjoyable?

more enjoyable then watching it each week as it appears?

FreudianSlippers

Interesting start to season 2 with the soft reboot. I'm in the same boat as most punters in thinking it was a slow burn for the first half of season 1 but that it really started to pick up in the second half.

northgirl

expectationlost wrote: »

more enjoyable then watching it each week as it appears?

yes

FreudianSlippers

Not sure I was blown away by this week's episode; felt like they took all the promise that was in the first episode and threw it out the window. This week's episode felt poorly constructed and the writing harked back to the completely unsubtle style of season 1. The Bosworth/Cameron Catherine scene was rushed and took an amazing "a-ha!" moment with two genuinely skilled actors with good screen chemistry and just bumbled through it.

Gordon, who looked like he might get a minor personality reboot in episode 1, reverts immediately back to type and is an overbearing and annoying character. No points awarded to the writers for the least subtle foreshadowing ever in the doctor's office!

Donna/Cameron excel together - this was the single best idea that has played out from the writer's room between season 1 and season 2. They are excellent together and I'm not sure if it's the writing for this pair specifically or it's the acting chops (or a bit of both) but I'd basically watch a show where they're the main characters and Gordon and Joe get written out :pac: - I'm not even going to mention Joe's story in episode 2. It's boring and we all know he won't remain isolated from the group for long.

JONJO THE MISER

Just watched all 3 episodes of season 2, it really is one of my Favourite shows.