HALT AND CATCH THIS SERIES
For those who remember the early 1980s and the personal computer revolution (and for those who were not around then but would like to have been), Halt and Catch Fire is a must-see TV series. This is especially true if some geek blood courses through your veins. Now in its second season, Halt and Catch Fire takes the viewer into that dramatic, disruptive, and geeky world when IBM first took the stage as the only PC manufacturer while would-be competitors also began vying for the limelight.
Although the personal story lines are fictitious, the technology story lines are perfectly on track. This is what makes the series more intensely interesting. Attention to technical detail always enhances the quality of entertainment because it renders it more authentic and believable. Halt and Catch Fire is outstanding in how it portrays the nuances, technical details, problems, and culture of the early PC world. The series delivers similarly to how Mad Men did for advertising and how Breaking Bad did for chemistry. When Wired described season one, the series’ passion for accuracy was clear (May 30, 2014, http://www.wired.com/2014/05/halt-and-catch-fire/):
“ Everybody involved with the series—from the network execs on down—agrees that for Halt itself to succeed, the series has to be as true to the time and place as possible. ‘AMC really wanted us to make sure that all of this felt accurate,’ says executive producer Melissa Bernstein. ‘The best shows and the best stories come from specificity.’ ”
Whether you are looking for a walk down high-tech memory lane, a geeky subculture foray, a game of corporate America thrones, or plenty of drama, you will not be disappointed.
