
Betas (TV Series 2013– ) - NicoJuicy
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3012184/
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tansey
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.

~~~
e12e
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/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390384/)

~~~
CamperBob2
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.

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

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

~~~
CamperBob2
How about failing at producing his content for a company that will make it
available to people who use streaming rather than cable?

~~~
untog
Well I don't see any evidence that he's tried to do that so he hasn't exactly
failed at it, has he?

~~~
CamperBob2
Good point. If someone wants to start a symphony orchestra for the deaf, who
am I to criticize?

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Inc82
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
>> "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.

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

~~~
NicoJuicy
And you all know the IT crowd?

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JonnieCache
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?

~~~
mattgreenrocks
> 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!

~~~
JonnieCache
I thought it was gorillas?

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

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davvid
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.

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

~~~
aeorgnoieang
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.

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

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

