Betas (TV Series 2013– )

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3012184/

by NicoJuicy • 12 years ago

41 41 12 years ago

nathos• 12 years ago

There's also going to be a Mike Judge-created HBO series called "Silicon Valley": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley_(TV_series)

ocfx• 12 years ago

I think the Silicon Valley show will do pretty well though, at least in comparison to this show.

dccoolgai• 12 years ago

Yeah, considering that the other movie Judge made was the most insightful w.r.t. software engineering (and hilarious and still relevant to boot) I have high hopes for this one.

colinbartlett2• 12 years ago

It's hard to imagine Mike Judge failing at anything. I'll be anxiously awaiting this.

CamperBob23• 12 years ago

How about failing at producing his content for a company that will make it available to people who use streaming rather than cable?

Aqueous• 12 years ago

Alpha House...Betas....where are we going with this?

xhrpost• 12 years ago

Not to mention there's a show just called "Alphas"

jsilence• 12 years ago

All the way down to the Omega, man!

Oh wait, we've been there...

numlocked• 12 years ago

Most notably, this is an Amazon original show and available for free to Amazon Prime members on their streaming video service.

_zen• 12 years ago

I didn't realize Amazon had exclusives. Is this new that they're getting into their own original series, like Netflix?

aeorgnoieang• 12 years ago

Yup. Their other show, Alpha House, stars John Goodman and Clark Johnson (of The Wire). It's good; not great, but I'm watching it.

tansey• 12 years ago

Note that this show is terrible.

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.

chenster• 12 years ago

I watched the pilot last night. It's terrible. Terrible story, bad acting, and jokes are so not funny.

dilap• 12 years ago

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.

e12e• 12 years ago

Heh, sounds like the (great) movie Primer shows a more accurate view of tech start-ups (and I assume the similarities end there...).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390384/

CamperBob23• 12 years ago

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.

colinbartlett2• 12 years ago

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.

jlees• 12 years ago

Doesn't sound too much worse than The Social Network.

rlu2• 12 years ago

wow.

It's a tv show. Not a reality show.

argonaut• 12 years ago

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.

e40• 12 years ago

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.

skywhopper• 12 years ago

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.

kspiteri• 12 years ago

I usually watch soap operas to learn how different people live. It's a pity they messed up the one about start ups.

JonnieCache2• 12 years ago

Is the title really a reference to that strange psychosexual thing people have about alphas and betas, As and Bs? What is it referring to, in the context of the show?

The_Sponge• 12 years ago

I think it's more an Amazon naming thing. Their other big made-by-amazon show is called Alphas.

panopticon• 12 years ago

Alphas is a SyFy (I can't say that name with a straight face) show. You're thinking of Alpha House.

greenyoda• 12 years ago

It could be a reference to newly-written software in "beta test".

mattgreenrocks• 12 years ago

Is the title really a reference to that strange psychosexual thing people have about alphas and betas

But, wolves do that, so it must be true! I read it on the Internet!

JonnieCache2• 12 years ago

I thought it was gorillas?

Inc82• 12 years ago

People on here seem to think the show is terrible. Is the Big Bang Theory equally terrible? It similarly makes fun of stereotypes and many people love that show and many scientists often think it's atrocious. Maybe the same thing is happening here.. hitting a little to close to home for some people.

k-mcgrady• 12 years ago

> "Is the Big Bang Theory equally terrible?"

I don't know about equally, but it is terrible. Watch a clip with the laugh track off (you can find them on YouTube) and you will realise how unfunny it is.

dwild• 12 years ago

Yeah if they were talking during laugh track it would be so much better... (sarcasm..)

t0mas88• 12 years ago

Big Bang Theory is shot with an actual audience, not a laugh tape.

cdash• 12 years ago

Thats funny because it is the only comedy tv show I like.

tzs• 12 years ago

The funniness diminishes when you do that because that is a live audience, not a laugh track. The actors have to adjust the timing of the dialog to fit around the laughs.

When you watch without the laughs, that leaves gaps that turn into weird pauses, and can destroy the timing of a joke or funny remark. Timing is often a big component to making a joke work.

adamors• 12 years ago

many people love that show and many scientists often think it's atrocious

Most people who don't like everything that's on TV think TBBT is atrocious. Not sure what it has to do with scientists, as it mostly tries to poke fun of nerd culture. And it fails even at that.

davvid• 12 years ago

This show is filled with trite stereotypes. For example: an Indian(?) programmer with terrible social skills has dinner with his parents where they try to arrange a marriage for him. Seriously? The main character is self-obsessed, shallow, and boring, just like this show.

Did Amazon do a bunch of analytics and figure out that this is what people want to watch? (IIRC that's how House of Cards was conceived). It's terrible on so many levels.

Betas (TV Series 2013– )

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