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...).
Re:Betas (TV Series 2013– )
by CamperBob2 on Saturday January 25, 2014 @05:00PM
(#7122687)
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.
Re:Betas (TV Series 2013– )
by colinbartlett on Saturday January 25, 2014 @05:00PM
(#7122690)
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.
Re:Betas (TV Series 2013– )
by skywhopper on Saturday January 25, 2014 @06:07PM
(#7122954)
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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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.