Halt and Catch Fire
Depicts the personal computing boom in the 1980s. But instead of being set in all-too-familiar Silicon Valley, the setting is Texas’ “Silicon Prairie” (which generally refers to tech community in the Dallas and Fort Worth suburbs). Characters will include a fictional visionary, an engineer and a prodigy whose “innovations directly confront the corporate behemoths of the time.” The drama is created by Chris Cantwell and Chris Rodgers, with Mark Johnson and Melissa Bernstein (Breaking Bad) as executive producers.
Turn
Revolutionary War drama called Turn that’s based on the book Washington’s Spies by Alexander Rose. It’s set in the summer of 1778 and tells the story of New York farmer, Abe Woodhull, “who bands together with a group of childhood friends to form The Culper Ring, an unlikely group of spies who turn the tide in America’s fight for independence.” Turn is written by showrunner Craig Silverstein (Nikita) and executive produced by Barry Josephson (Bones).
Hm. Turn sounds pretty good, I hope it's as good as Nikita seems to be (just started watching it on Netflix, only on ep 3) and I may have been born in the 80s but god The Americans is already set in the 80s and ugh pop culture was atrocious.
ReplyDeleteOoh, Revolutionary War show! As a history major, I am so in.
ReplyDeleteHalt and Catch Fire has Lee Pace in it, I am already needing it this very moment. Both sound interesting and hopefully better than Hells on Wheels which was really disappointing.
ReplyDeleteTurn seems like a spy period drama, which is something we don't have a lot of to say the least. I mean, AMC did have a spy drama, it's called Rubicon, but I forgot what they did with it (oh, right, they cancelled it, damn them - hopefully Turn's fate will turn out to be different).
ReplyDeleteAnd Halt & Catch Fire delves into a subject rarely tackled into fiction. It doesn't sound appealing on paper, but it's certainly something unusual. And the showrunner is the same guy that ran SouthLAnd !
Overall, two very original projects I'm glad AMC picked. It's the first time ever they pick up two shows from the same development cycle, btw, until this year they had always settled for a single one.
Definitely tuning into Turn!
ReplyDeleteThey had me at "AMC".....
ReplyDelete"Halt and Catch Fire" sounds like an interesting series, but the title of the show confuses me. What does that title have to do with "computing"? I will probably check it out. I'm not convinced on "Turn" yet.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure both are potentially very good but, if AMC couldn't make Rubicon stick, I doubt the network will find a sustainable audience for an 80's period drama about computer nerds.
ReplyDeleteCharacters is all computer-people. You need those kind of people to run a tech-firm. You cant just have code-writers for example. You need someone to do the design, to do the other stuff, to front the company e.t.c.
ReplyDeleteWhat i love about it, FUCKING LEE PACE!
True, but I loved Rubicon despite it not finding an audience on AMC.
ReplyDeleteEven if I do not LOVE every AMC series I do find them all to be well made. Which a step or five above most networks IMO.
I understand that the characters are computer-centered. I know what takes to run a tech-firm, a friend of mine is a leader in one of them. What I don't understand is how the title "Halt and Catch Fire" is relevant to any series that focuses on technology...
ReplyDeleteRubicon was fantastic. It simply didn't have a broad enough appeal. It wasn't flashy like Mad Men or gritty like Breaking Bad. It was subtle, nuanced, and very suspenseful and, unfortunately, you couldn't get people to watch it if you held a gun to their heads.
ReplyDeleteI did not read title title on that line, sorry. I think it has more with greed to do. It`s a part of the show if you read the about the characters.
ReplyDeleteOK just wanted to share this very ironic story...I dictate calls for hard of hearing and I just dictated a call and it was the wife of the one of the producers of the Revolutionary War drama...she was very stoked about the pickup and they were planning to go out to dinner to celebrate. I thought it was cool. :)
ReplyDeleteSo looking forward to Turn! Craig never disappointed me with Nikita, so I have high hopes for Turn.
ReplyDeleteI wanted Line of Sight to happen.
ReplyDeleteTurn sounds more exciting to me than Halt and Catch Fire
ReplyDeleteBoth sound like they could be fun....
ReplyDeleteThey did find a sustainable audience for 60's period drama about advertisers though...
ReplyDeleteThey found a sustainable audience for a salacious primetime soap full of pretty people in great clothes. That's not a herculean task.
ReplyDelete"They found a sustainable audience for a salacious primetime soap full of pretty people in great clothes. That's not a herculean task."
ReplyDeleteI'm far from MM's biggest fan, but I do acknowledge there is more to the show than just that... or at least there used to be...
And what makes you think they won't go the same route HaCF? ;-P
"I'm not sure about Hell on Wheels. I think if that show doesn't improve in the ratings it may be gone after the upcoming season"
*nods* That's a fair assessment, but it has gone on for three seasons now and that's not nothing.... At the very least it indicates that people who watch AMC are interested in the genre. Turn could turn out to be a more "popular" attempt in that field...
"I'm far from MM's biggest fan, but I do acknowledge there is more to the show than just that... or at least there used to be..."
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean to imply that Mad Men was all flashy style and cheap titillation. I just meant that it was savvy of the creators to wrap their dense drama in the standard attractive trappings to lure people to their show. That's something Rubicon didn't have. That show was pure, slow-burning, raw suspense.
Turn could turn out to be a more "popular" attempt in that field...
I can easily envision Turn as a potential replacement for HoW.
"That's something Rubicon didn't have. That show was pure, slow-burning, raw suspense."
ReplyDeleteYes Rubicon didn't have that. But I thought you were talking about the new show, and honestly I can see HaCF maybe being able to work that angle....
Granted the 80s are a little tackier than the 60s.... but the period thing could work to the show's benefit in other ways. Look at the Americans for example... they make the decade look the nice kind of retro. So it think it is doable to possibly attract the MM audience, if the story can also sustain it.
HaCF will have a much more difficult time selling that angle considering the subject matter. I know I'd have a hard time accepting it.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these sound intriguing, Turn the most. However every time I hear Culper Ring and TV, I now think of White Collar's Mozzie and his conspiracy theories.
ReplyDeleteAgreed it will be harder. The time period is not as glamorous, and the environment doesn't offer the for many "pretty people".
ReplyDeleteBut it is doable... wait and see I guess....
I don't think it's a problem of the time period. I think the problem lies more with the specific characters involved and the setting.
ReplyDeleteSeeing as most people associate the 80s with kitsch I think it doesn't make things easy.
ReplyDeleteBut yes the setting and characters will also absolutely prove themselves challenging.
And I can't find anywhere to watch Rubicon. That was a great show.
ReplyDelete