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A comment on Forget “Mad Men.” “Halt and Catch Fire” Is AMC’s Greatest Legacy. Parent comment

Re:Forget “Mad Men.” “Halt and Catch Fire” Is AMC’s Greatest... by Apocryphon on Friday July 22, 2022 @12:28AM (#32188530)
Dunno, the first season had a weird mashup of Mad Men and Breaking Bad, a little, with Joe being a slick talker Don Draper and Gordon being frustrated scientific genius Walter White (which was exacerbated when they also gave him a disease). Also Joe wasn't gay, he was bisexual.

The seasons with Mutiny were a real treat, great hacker startup energy and a really fun exploration into the new tech frontiers that were opening up at the time. The overall story did end up weird, but it's one of those shows where you're free to just view the characters as vehicles into a compelling world.

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Re:Forget “Mad Men.” “Halt and Catch Fire” Is AMC’s Greatest... by SideburnsOfDoom on Friday July 22, 2022 @07:43AM (#32190903)
It is true that many shows only "find their feet" and "come into their own" after starting, typically in the second season.

This is IMHO true of H&CF.

It is also true that part of this was the pivot to foreground the female characters (1)

The idea that the show was "ruined" by not portraying them as just "hot chick" and "wife" is a) extremely gross and b) a statement that's really only about the person making it.

1) https://slate.com/culture/2015/05/amcs-halt-and-catch-fire-s...

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Re:Forget “Mad Men.” “Halt and Catch Fire” Is AMC’s Greatest... by yucky on Friday July 22, 2022 @10:01AM (#32191930)
It does a disservice to the people that actually were there at the forefront making shit happen. All so we can "check some boxes".
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Re:Forget “Mad Men.” “Halt and Catch Fire” Is AMC’s Greatest... by Apocryphon on Friday July 22, 2022 @12:04PM (#32193550)
The people at the forefront making it happen weren't really like Joe or Gordon, gender and jobs aside. From the first episode both of them had a lot of dramatized character traits.
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Re:Forget “Mad Men.” “Halt and Catch Fire” Is AMC’s Greatest... by SideburnsOfDoom on Friday July 22, 2022 @12:32PM (#32193920)
Right, it's a TV drama, and should be judged on those terms. And IMHO, succeeds on them, even when it was was a non-obvious turn. The characters are superb.
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Re:Forget “Mad Men.” “Halt and Catch Fire” Is AMC’s Greatest... by yucky on Friday July 22, 2022 @02:00PM (#32195109)
Why do you say "gender aside" though? I suspect if the real players were women, turning them into men for TV might be looked at negatively. How is this different?
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Re:Forget “Mad Men.” “Halt and Catch Fire” Is AMC’s Greatest... by Apocryphon on Friday July 22, 2022 @02:27PM (#32195451)
I suspect the differences between Joe, Gordon, and co., and the actual people behind the PC revolution as captured by Silicon Cowboys, go far beyond differences in demographics or check-box traits, to their fundamental personalities themselves. Focusing on such superficial traits is a red herring.
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Re:Forget “Mad Men.” “Halt and Catch Fire” Is AMC’s Greatest... by yucky on Friday July 22, 2022 @03:02PM (#32195862)
So gender doesn't matter until it does. Got it.
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Re:Forget “Mad Men.” “Halt and Catch Fire” Is AMC’s Greatest... by Apocryphon on Friday July 22, 2022 @03:18PM (#32196024)
Hey, you're the one who brought it up.
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Re:Forget “Mad Men.” “Halt and Catch Fire” Is AMC’s Greatest... by SideburnsOfDoom on Friday July 22, 2022 @03:42PM (#32196267)
It's basically writing prompts for culture-war mad-libs. Ways to start a fight. You should not regard it as serious discourse.
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