If Paul Allen, Mark Zuckerberg, or these type of people had been born 100 years ago, or even 80 years ago, I don’t think they’d be the richest people in the world. They would probably be well-paid somewhere, but … the type of people who became the richest people in the world in the past have been like Rockefeller, Carnegie… captains of industry. These kind of alpha-male types, not these introverted programmers. That’s what makes it just perfect for comedy, is seeing that these guys that got bullied in high school are now the richest people.
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— Mike Judge |
The first season of the television comedy series Silicon Valley originally aired from April 6, 2014, on HBO to June 1, 2014, in the United States. The show focuses on engineer Richard Hendricks and his attempts to grow Pied Piper.
Cast[]
Starring
- Thomas Middleditch as Richard Hendricks
- T.J. Miller as Erlich Bachman
- Josh Brener as Nelson Bighetti
- Martin Starr as Bertram Gilfoyle
- Kumail Nanjiani as Dinesh Chugtai
- Christopher Evan Welch as Peter Gregory
- Amanda Crew as Monica Hall
- Zach Woods as Jared Dunn
Recurring
- Matt Ross as Gavin Belson
- Jimmy Yang as Jian-Yang
- Ben Feldman as Ron LaFlamme
- Bernard White as Denpok
- Andy Daly as The doctor
- Aly Mawji as Aly Dutta
- Scott Prendergast as Scott
- Jill E. Alexander as Patrice
- Brian Tichnell as Jason
Reception[]
Critical Reception[]
The show's general reviews have been very positive, scoring a 84 out of 100 with critics on Metacritic. Clifford Wheatley of IGN gave the first season a 8.5, saying, "Silicon Valley kicked off its run with a strong debut season that brought plenty of perverse humor, satire, and character dynamics that laid the groundwork for what could become one of HBO’s best comedies to date."
Awards and Nominations[]
- The show received a nomination for "Best Comedy Series" at the 4th Critics' Choice Television Awards. Additionally, Middleditch was nominated for "Best Actor in a Comedy Series", and Evan Welch was nominated for "Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series".
- Mike Judge won an audience award for "Episodic" at the SXSW Audience Awards.
- Nielsen Ratings: The first season averaged 1.72 million viewers with a 0.95 rating in the 18–49 demographic.
Gallery[]
Promotional photos[]
Episodes[]
"Minimum Viable Product" | April 6, 2014 | ||
Directed by: Mike Judge - Written by: Mike Judge, John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky
Richard Hendricks' compression algorithm ignites a bidding war between mega-rich tech funding giants Gavin Belson and Peter Gregory. |
"The Cap Table" | April 13, 2014 | ||
Directed by: Mike Judge - Written by: Carson Mell
Richard hires Jared Dunn to help him create a business plan. Hooli steals the Pied Piper algorithm and calls it "Nucleus". |
"Articles of Incorporation" | April 20, 2014 | ||
Directed by: Tricia Brock - Written by: Matteo Borghese and Rob Turbovsky
The guys find themselves in trouble when they find out that the "Pied Piper" name is already registered. |
"Fiduciary Duties" | April 27, 2014 | ||
Directed by: Maggie Carey - Written by: Ron Weiner
Richard drunkenly promises to make Erlich a board member on Pied Piper, which he immediately regrets the next morning. |
"Signaling Risk" | May 4, 2014 | ||
Directed by: Alec Berg - Written by: Jessica Gao
Erlich hires a graffiti artist to create a new logo for Pied Piper and to paint it on the incubator's garage. |
"Third Party Insourcing" | May 11, 2014 | ||
Directed by: Alec Berg - Written by: Dan O'Keefe
The gang hires a young computer hacker known as "The Carver" to improve their cloud-based modules, but he ends up destroying the entire code. |
"Proof of Concept" | May 18, 2014 | ||
Directed by: Mike Judge - Written by: Clay Tarver
Pied Piper arrives at TechCrunch Disrupt, where Richard gets distracted by an ex-girlfriend, and Erlich has sex with a judge's wife. |
"Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency" | June 1, 2014 | ||
Directed by: Mike Judge - Written by: Alec Berg
Pied Piper wins at TechCrunch Disrupt and the guys calculate how long it would take for Erlich to jerk off every male in the audience. |