Silicon Valley season 4

[momatt]

"Oh hey, it's Osama Bin Fuckin'".

Ah yes.  Great line.  Crude, racist and funny.  Good old Goldfoil.

[BeardFaceMan]

I see all the plot resetting as a running joke in the show, it doesn't bother me in the slightest, in fact I enjoy how they're not hanging about and there's always something going on, pretty much the opposite to most tv shows nowadays where character is king and plot doesn't matter because it's all about the characters which is just an excuse to not come up with a plot and have characters bang on about nothing for ages. Fucking love this show.

[momatt]

I see all the plot resetting as a running joke in the show

Interesting way of looking at it.  Like an typical old cartoon 'here we go again' ending.

pretty much the opposite to most tv shows nowadays where character is king and plot doesn't matter

Good point, maybe it being so different is why it jars a bit.  But never enough to spoil it.

Fucking love this show.

I'm totally with you there.

[Small Man Big Horse]

It's just been renewed for another season, but there's bad news as well: http://www.avclub.com/article/tj-miller-leaving-silicon-valley-255928

T.J. Miller is leaving Silicon Valley

Coming only a few hours after HBO announced that it's renewing Silicon Valley for a fifth season, some news that's straight out of a Silicon Valley episode: While the show will be back, co-star T.J. Miller won't. In a statement obtained by BuzzFeed Entertainment, HBO says:

The producers of Silicon Valley and T.J. Miller have mutually agreed that T.J. will not return for season five. In Erlich Bachman, T.J. has brought to life an unforgettable character, and while his presence on the show will be missed, we appreciate his contribution and look forward to future collaborations.

That perfectly diplomatic statement doesn't give us much insight into the circumstances that led to Bachman being kicked out of his own damn house. On the one hand, Miller has been getting a lot of movie work lately, and might simply not have time to shoot the show anymore. Twitter has heard otherwise, though, with one BuzzFeed reporter writing that Miller learned he was being let go when he read the finale script and saw his character had been written out.

[Old Gold Tooth]

Ahhhhhh shit.

[Hat FM]

clearly he asked for too much money and they called his bluff. it ain't over yet.

The show can't carry on without him imo. the beginning of the end if they try.

[up_the_hampipe]

Ah that's a shame. Miller is quite successful outside of the show, often in big movies. Also he's stand up, so he's probably just too damn busy.

That's the worst thing about ensemble sitcoms. Very difficult to keep them all together until the end. I'm sure the show would be quite good without him, but there would be a big fat Erlich-shaped hole.

[olliebean]

I think I've only seen TJ Miller in this and the Pete Holmes thing. He was playing himself in that, and frankly came across as more of a dick than Erlich.

[phantom_power]

Ah that's a shame. Miller is quite successful outside of the show, often in big movies. Also he's stand up, so he's probably just too damn busy.

That's the worst thing about ensemble sitcoms. Very difficult to keep them all together until the end. I'm sure the show would be quite good without him, but there would be a big fat Erlich-shaped hole.

The good thing about ensemble sitcoms though is that there are enough good actors and characters to fill the void

[BeardFaceMan]

I'm not that bothered to be honest. I've never been a fan of Miller, when he's being interviewed or on podcasts he's interminable, just unlistenable, won't shut the fuck up, rarely, funny, one of those always-on comedians who does 'pranks' (I remember seeing him on Colbert's show being interviewed and he ended an anecdote with 'boy was there egg on my face' and he took an egg out of his pocket and smashed it in his face. Which was actually great because it didn't get much of a reaction from Colbert or the audience and he just looked like a twat with raw egg running down his face.) to the point where, like Pete Holmes, if I see his name anywhere near anything then I avoid it. Thankfully this show had such a strong cast and writers that I gave it a go anyway. Although I do find Miller strangely tolerable as an actor, it's when he's being himself there's a problem. But even if every woman I've ever fancied at any point in my life had a cameo in a tv show as a naked pornstar who does nasty, nasty things and that TV show stars Pete Holmes, actually fucking stars, I still couldn't bring myself to watch, not even for a hate wank.

Is it telling that Miller was never on those CBB Sillycon Valley shows, or that just me projecting? Has his exit from the show been on the cards for a while?

[BritishHobo]

I suppose to be fair, his role in the 'story' is basically nil. Since the end of season one it's been about Erlich trying to make himself relevant to business ventures that don't need him. Attaching himself to Pied Piper and then Jian Yang's ventures because he doesn't want to be left behind. Every season he invests money in something only for it to turn out to be a dud or a poorly-timed investment, ready for him to try again the next season. They'll do alright without him.

[hewantstolurkatad]

I was gonna say that TJ Miller is presumably likely to leave after the fifth season (assuming they signed five season contracts), if there have been personal issues with him combined with ego issues from his rising star, I wouldn't be that surprised if they just decided to drop him quicker.

That being said, and even considering his relative redundancy to the core plots, I think the show's fucked without him. He's usually the centre of the secondary story and frequently the best performer, certainly the one who has been weathering the drop in quality best imo.
The show loses a hell of a lot of energy without him, and if Belson has been written out too then... Jesus, I dunno.

Criticising Erlich for being repetitive in his plots is a bit of a weak complaint when the whole show is at that all the time.



P.S. I know nothing about what Miller himself is actually like, but I can only imagine he's incredibly obnoxious, it's pretty irrelevant to how he balances out the show.

[maett]

Shame he's leaving, but we'll always have this



What are the chances of Russ Hanneman taking on the Erlich role?

[notjosh]

I'm not that bothered to be honest. I've never been a fan of Miller, when he's being interviewed or on podcasts he's interminable, just unlistenable, won't shut the fuck up, rarely, funny, one of those always-on comedians who does 'pranks' (I remember seeing him on Colbert's show being interviewed and he ended an anecdote with 'boy was there egg on my face' and he took an egg out of his pocket and smashed it in his face. Which was actually great because it didn't get much of a reaction from Colbert or the audience and he just looked like a twat with raw egg running down his face.)

Oh god I just watched it. That padding while he's fumbling to get the egg out of his pocket is excruciating.

[up_the_hampipe]

Shame he's leaving, but we'll always have this

I used that GIF in the opening post of this very thread. It's probably my favourite moment of the series.

[momatt]

Oh god I just watched it. That padding while he's fumbling to get the egg out of his pocket is excruciating.

That was terrible.
The skeleton hands thing was awful too.  Is he being terrible on purpose?  Or is he just not that funny on his own?
I'm not impressed with his stand-up I've seen either.

[up_the_hampipe]

Miller did a great improvised set on The Set List. Definitely worth checking out https://youtu.be/qxD6S-nEL_I?t=1m52s

He's also worth checking out on those awful American morning news shows. He always ruins the gentle atmosphere by being weird and difficult, and it works much better than that awkward Colbert appearance.

[Small Man Big Horse]

There's 80 minutes of Miller doing stand up last year here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKk-lPZZVTI

[olliebean]

Thanks, but half a minute or however much it was that I saw of his act on Crashing was enough for me. "Titties" is one of those signal words for me, as soon as I hear a comedian use it I know that I don't share his worldview at all and I'm not going to like his act.

[up_the_hampipe]

Thanks, but half a minute or however much it was that I saw of his act on Crashing was enough for me. "Titties" is one of those signal words for me, as soon as I hear a comedian use it I know that I don't share his worldview at all and I'm not going to like his act.

That's very narrow-minded. But that's the CaB way, I guess.

[olliebean]

That's very narrow-minded. But that's the CaB way, I guess.

It's proved to be an infallible rule over the years. It's a word which a particular type of American comedian (quite a lot of them, actually) is prone to using, and that particular type of comedian is just not my bag.

[up_the_hampipe]

I think I've heard that word used by almost every American comedian at some point or another, good or bad. That rule is very shaky.

[Noodle Lizard]

I'm not too sad about losing TJ Miller, that character really has more or less run its course and there's more interesting stuff going on elsewhere.  It's a kind of one-note role, and I can't think of a way you could add much more depth to him which would be at all plausible.

_{(I would assume that he was asking for more money than the rest of the cast based on his rising profile through things like ... er ... The Emoji Movie, and they probably figured that the character wasn't valuable enough anymore to justify it)}

[funtimefrankie]

Really think it'll miss TJ Miller - while his own stand up seems a bit pish, his work on this show has been excellent. With the best moments in episodes revolving around him.

The others are really good - but he's great. You could make arguments that all the characters have run their course, as they all go round the same circles.

[funtimefrankie]

Well TJ Miller was the best part again this week "Ahh, an adage" and the whole exchange where he was wallowing in self pity at the coffee shop and his abrasive personality worked to his advantage.

I don't think it will quite be the office with Steve Carell, who was far more central, but still he's the stand out here and think the show will suffer for him gone.

The replacement for Peter Gregory ie. a female version of the same character is a bit shit. Don't want a carbon copy Elrich

[phantom_power]

I find myself tiring of Erlich's oafish comandeering of Richard's plans and fucking things up with his vulgarity so I won't be that sad to see him go.

i don't think the replacement for Peter is a female version of him. They share certain socially disfunctional traits but they are different in other ways

[Hemulen]

i don't think the replacement for Peter is a female version of him. They share certain socially disfunctional traits but they are different in other ways

This is very true. One of Laurie's first scenes (quite possibly her introductory one) has her outlining all of the somewhat eccentric and futurist-leaning investments that she was in the process of scrubbing off Raviga's books.

Gregory was a socially inept dreamer with a fierce intellect and no aptitude for day to day existance - Laurie is a sharp and shrewd businesswoman with no time or energy to waste on social niceties when there's work to be done (which is always).

[Twed]

 I feel like the last two episodes of this were gash. Just a bit of mean-spirited stuff,  situations and jokes that are fleeting and unlikely to be included in any collection of classic quotes from the series and in the case of the bad sex just overdone and mean-spirited.

The stuff with the phones and private information was just... who cares? It was a tease, it went nowhere, we're just supposed to enjoy that somebody wouldn't want to have their private stuff visible to others (something that's true of essentially all people). The payoff wasn't enough to justify it all.

[BritishHobo]

I thought it was mean as well. The punching each other and smashing the phones, on top of all the stuff about fucking the guy's every wife. Dunno, just mean-spirited.

[Small Man Big Horse]

They definitely crossed a line when they became violent with Jared. I'm also finding Richard increasingly dickish this year, at this rate there's not going to be many sympathetic characters left at all.