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Halt & Catch Fire - new AMC show


AncalagonTheBlack

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With Mad Men's abbreviated run already coming to a close on May 25, new drama Halt and Catch Fire will soon move into AMC's Sunday lineup. And unlike most new series on the cable network, this one is getting a particularly aggressive preview -- including a first-ever Tumblr preview.



Starting Monday, May 19, the first episode of the 1980s tech drama will be available on Tumblr — marking AMC's first social platform push — as well as the more traditional on-demand availability and AMC's website.



http://amctv.tumblr.com/


http://www.amctv.com/full-episodes/halt-and-catch-fire/3571290828001/i-o-full-episode



“Halt and Catch Fire” from AMC Studios is a fictionalized history of the rise of the PC era in the early 1980s, set in Texas’ Silicon Prairie one year after IBM’s introduction of the personal computer. The 10-episode series is created by Christopher Cantwell and Christopher C. Rogers and exec produced by showrunner Jonathan Lisco (“Southland”), Gran Via Productions’ Mark Johnson (“Breaking Bad,” “Rectify,” “Diner,” “Rain Man”) and Melissa Bernstein (“Breaking Bad,” “Rectify”).


Drama revolves around fictional former IBM executive Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace), who plans to reverse-engineer the flagship product of his former employer. Show co-stars Scoot McNairy, Kerry Bishé and Cameron Howe.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So has anyone watched it other than me? The first episode is up on AMC's website.



It's a bit melodramatic and on-the-nose, but I'll give the show four episodes before making the call on whether to stop watching or continue.


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I liked it. It certainly continues the Mad Men trend where no one wants to get in the way of a psychopathic man with huge ambitions, but combining it with IBM-era computer technology is a brilliant idea. It's a great time to set a drama in, full of uncertainty about the future of computers, which easily becomes uncertainty about the future of mankind. I hope they remember to keep some of that in, the sense of standing at the threshold of a new era for everyone. The three main characters are all good in each their own way. Definitely following.


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The setting is certainly interesting and it's stylishly made but it needs to do some work to set itself apart. All the characters are just well-acted cyphers so far, really. It could do with more of the sort of odball black humour that it started with with the armadillo.



I'll give it a chance.


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I'll have to watch this with my grandfather. He worked at IBM most of his life and was part of the team that developed the first PC, so I'd love to hear his thoughts on it.



Can't be any worse than Low Winter Son. I hope :P


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So, this show is running now, and I suspect that this will be the thread where I ask extremely stupid things about the plot that I missed because everyone's talking so fast and all technical.



What was the deal with the binder? I get that it was the recipe for either the entire IBM BIOS or something integral, but I didn't get how it went back and forth. IBM kept giving it to Cameron during the lawyer interrogations while also threatening her not to read it. Why? And why was it a big deal if Cameron had taken it and disappeared to IBM? Surely they have it already; it's their system, and without her, the binder wouldn't be of much use to the two other guys.



Still, solid show so far, loving the 80s style and references.


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I'll have to watch this with my grandfather. He worked at IBM most of his life and was part of the team that developed the first PC, so I'd love to hear his thoughts on it.

Can't be any worse than Low Winter Son. I hope :P

Wow... My father was part of the team that built the first PC as well... I bet they knew each other

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I'm waiting for tonight to watch the first episode.

In the meantime, this was cute, though it can make you feel nostalgic and horribly old at the same time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF7EpEnglgk

Nooooo! Old, yes. Nostalgic, NO!

:)

It's hard to imagine that there actually was a time when there was no Internet. How ever did we get by?

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Wow... My father was part of the team that built the first PC as well... I bet they knew each other

It's definitely possible!

I got it wrong though, he was on the team that developed the IBM 1401 (Way before the PC :lol:) but he was still working for IBM at the time that the PC was developed.

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I'm liking the show so far, but I do hope that the characters get some more depth soon, particularly Cameron.

I thought Cameron got some good scenes this episode, they're on the right track but yes, even more depth please.

I am really enjoying this show except for one thing, Joe MacMillon. I can imagine his character is supposed to be abrasive, but it's not that that annoys me about him.

It's every time he opens his mouth I hear a poor imitation of Don Draper, like AMC is pressuring H&CF to clone that character for their show to replace their flagship show's star personality.

The way he talks, dresses, postures, has a dark and cloudy back story that's being s l o w l y revealed, it all reeks of faux Draper. They just said let's amp up the excess for the 80's make him bi, let him do blow, etc. he's still a lesser copy and it irritates me whenever I see him on screen, especially when he's trying to sell himself.

ETA:

Oh and as much as I love animals, the bird subplot was idiotic.

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I thought Cameron got some good scenes this episode, they're on the right track but yes, even more depth please.

I am really enjoying this show except for one thing, Joe MacMillon. I can imagine his character is supposed to be abrasive, but it's not that that annoys me about him.

It's every time he opens his mouth I hear a poor imitation of Don Draper, like AMC is pressuring H&CF to clone that character for their show to replace their flagship show's star personality.

The way he talks, dresses, postures, has a dark and cloudy back story that's being s l o w l y revealed, it all reeks of faux Draper. They just said let's amp up the excess for the 80's make him bi, let him do blow, etc. he's still a lesser copy and it irritates me whenever I see him on screen, especially when he's trying to sell himself.

ETA:

Oh and as much as I love animals, the bird subplot was idiotic.

The inception of this show definitely involved a bunch of people in a room and a whiteboard with the header "How do we replace Mad Men?"

This was the weakest episode of the three. It seemed way too focused on just showing the characters going through the motions. Cameron had like four separate scenes of dancing, stealing and drinking. That stuff with the tattoo seemed a bit too out of nowhere. And I don't have enough insight into Married Man's psychology yet to understand anything that happened from the car crash and onwards.

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  • 1 month later...

I don't quite understand how Hunt stole Donna's info on the Cardiff computer; I don't remember her bringing notes to the office.



Also, given Joe's actions with the Cardiff truck, how did the Giant get shipped out? Or were the boxes empty, being symbolic rather than actual transport ready-to-go?



I've enjoyed this season and hope the show continues. Though I hope Joe will find a way to Get Over Himself and grow up a bit. (same can be said for Cameron, but she's got the excuse of youth; and she's at least trying to spread her wings and organize a new company rather than just run away). I'm not sure that Cardiff and Gordon can produce anything great without Joe, or someone like him with creative vision and energy.


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