Amazing news. Four seasons will be perfect for this show. Thank you, AMC.
Called it - the twist for this episode, that is, not that it was the series finale. Thank goodness.
Glad it’s getting one more season, both because it left us in an unresolved state and I want to see what happens but also because frankly I wasn’t fond of the whole World Wide Web meeting - the question vets like that would have at that point would not be whether it’s a stadium or a rock band or whatever the hell they were talking about, but rather, “What’s our business model and how do we make money off of it, especially given that we’re early?”
All the Comdex stuff was gold though, and gave me flashbacks.
I guess that conversation about camping was a whooooole lot more important than I initially thought.
Great episodes tonight. So psyched that there’s a final season on the way.
My that was a lot of plot twists for a season finale. I have always thought that acting and writing for HCF were below par for the best AMC shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and even Walking Dead. But tonight I thought they were excellent.
I have to say I cringed more than a little watching Gordon video dating profile that was totally me.
On the other hand I remember having networking discussion filled with strange analogies, and huge amounts of discussion about gaining access the paid island of content, like Compuserve and AOL, in 92 and 93.
I like this show, and it’s a goldmine of mid-80s computing nostalgia, worth watching just for that IMO.
However, the “explosion at the plot factory” approach to story themes is a bit tiring. Clone PCs are revolutionary! Time-sharing mainframes is revolutionary! Online gaming is revolutionary! No wait online chat is revolutionary! No wait online first person shooter is revolutionary!
Oh god and now broadband cable. And the Dell PC building model. Jesus.
But that’s how the tech industry talks and acts. People who say things like, “This will yield a modest but reliable rate of return,” are inevitably drowned out by the “This is revolutionary!” people, because everyone’s looking for the next big score, not pocket change.
One of the things I enjoy about the show is that while it focuses on revolutionary! tech, our heroes never turn out to be the ones who actually succeed in bringing it to the mainstream (well, except for Joe, briefly.) They’re always too early, or too late, or only doing it on the Commodore, etc. etc. Which is a far more nuanced look at tech industries than you usually get in fiction.
Season 3 was much more emotionally dense than any other season. Can’t say I am a fan of the post IPO rapid pivot to the early web in the last two episodes, but there were some surprising turns in season 3.
Spoiler, but this little monologue was a high point of season 3 for me.
Great clip. Also, Kerry Bishé…be still, my foolish heart.
I’ve never seen her before on anything else. She is a great actress and I found her to be on the upper limits of attractiveness for female programmer in the 80s. (Cameron is way too hot) But after Googling her, I see she actually has movie star looks, but they’ve tone them down for the show.
Anyone know when/if this comes back?
Tony
I think I saw an ad for it coming back for the final season about a month from now.
Nobody commented on the premiere? Guys, disappoint
Fingers crossed that my TiVo remembered to record it. Haven’t watched it yet, though.
I saw it popped up last night, looking forward to watching it tonight.
Man, the Cambridge coffeepot cam - now that takes me back. The 90s-style cinematography was also quite entertaining.
So Donna’s rich and unlikeable at the moment and Joe and Cameron are happy and in love. But of course it’s just the first episode. No doubt it will all change shortly.
Watching this now, about 15 minutes into the first hour. So was Donna surreptitiously recording that meeting with the rival to Mosaic people? Remind me, Mosaic was the one that became Netscape Navigator, right?
About what year is supposed to be at this point? 92 or 93? I spotted a Zima at Gordon’s 40th birthday party.
EDIT: It would have to be 1993 at least, because the SNES didn’t come out till the 1992 Holiday Season.
The other thing I wanted to comment on was the way the Tanya Reese character is stuck being Donna’s assistant having an MBA from UPenn (and remains so because all the white guys at the VC firm keep throwing up impediments to the idea of a black woman getting on the career track).
I still haven’t finished the first episode, but is that what the watch does? I was thinking it was a timer, but maybe a recording device instead?
Kind of. Many of the original developers left the University of Illinois-Urbana after making Mosaic to create Mosaic Netscape which uh didn’t go down well with the University so they changed the name to Netscape Navigator.
It’s either 1993 or 1994. (If we get obsessive about the music it’s 1994 because that’s when “Doll Parts” by Hole came out.)
You’re probably right that it was just a fancy watch that engaged some kind of timer when you flipped it like that. The recaps I’ve read suggest that.
Wow, 1994 even. “The Internet” broke out into the general public consciousness in the States in 1995, at least that’s my memory of it. Didn’t that Sandra Bullock movie called The Net come out that year?