Halt and Catch Fire

:

Season 1
  • Network: AMC
  • Series Premiere Date: Jun 1, 2014
Season #: 4, 3, 2, 1
User Score
8.4

Universal acclaim- based on 219 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 193 out of 219
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 219
  3. Negative: 8 out of 219
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User Reviews

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  1. tvnewsguido
    Aug 22, 2014
    3
    Heartless and dull.

    You keep waiting for the characters to do something meaningful, anything that matters really, and they never do.

    I watched the entire season and don't care to have any of those people back in my home ever again.
  2. dlchambers
    Jun 21, 2014
    3
    I really wanted to like this show. I was a part of the period it depicts and it was a fun, crazy time when technology - especially hardware - was exploding. Everywhere you looked (in Silicon Valley) someone was doing something really, really cool.
    The 1st episode was decent, though the characters were WAAAAY too cliche, so I was wary. But it wasn't so bad I'd stop watching, so I kept on    I really wanted to like this show. I was a part of the period it depicts and it was a fun, crazy time when technology - especially hardware - was exploding. Everywhere you looked (in Silicon Valley) someone was doing something really, really cool.
    The 1st episode was decent, though the characters were WAAAAY too cliche, so I was wary. But it wasn't so bad I'd stop watching, so I kept on with it.
    Then, in episode 2, when the hacker chick rants about a 16 bit bus and a photo-realistic screen, I turned it off, and I'm done.
    I get it that this is TV, and it's a fictionalized version of things. I get it that it's targeted toward today's audience. But the writing is horrible:
    1) In the early '80s, there were no female programmers, let alone homeless ones who were as hot as Mary Stuart Masterson in "Some Kind of Wonderful".
    2) No one hooked up the way she and "Steve Jobs" did.
    3) No one demanded 16 bits. We were all too busy trying to get 8 bit to work.
    4) No one used the term "photo-realistic". Character-based screens were the norm, CGA was cutting edge, and the original Mac's graphical UI was mind-blowing.
    So, by dropping a 2014 femaie-cliche into a 1984 period piece, they've made it simply unwatchable. Very sad.    … Expand
  3. colossalcarl
    Jul 8, 2014
    1
    Show was hanging by a thread in the first three episodes. The baffling events of episode 3 made me literally turn it off 3/4 of the way into it. Boring, uninteresting characters with almost no resemblance to reality. A shame considering how much I really wanted to like this show.

Awards & Rankings

74
#74 Best TV Season of 2014
38
#38 Most Discussed TV Season of 2014
23
#23 Most Shared TV Season of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
69

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. Los Angeles Daily News
    Reviewed by: Rob Lowman
    Aug 22, 2016
    80
    During the first two years, Halt and Catch Fire has smoldered, sometimes frustratingly so, but has always been engaging, often thanks to the performances of Bishé and Davis. Judging by five episodes of season three, it looks like the show is finally catching fire.
    Read full review
  2. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Chris Cabin
    Jun 23, 2014
    63
    With little exception, MacMillan is the sole character given scenes that seek to bring out his antic inner life, the most memorable of which being his meltdown in an electronics store, where he tries to find a hold of his ambition in a torrent of comingled rhythms emanating from various speakers.
    Read full review
  3. The Lincoln Journal Star
    Reviewed by: Jeff Korbelik
    Jun 2, 2014
    83
    The thrill comes not from the actual computer building, but the people doing the building. These characters are complex and well-developed, especially Pace’s fiery exec, who is a mesmerizing manipulator.
    Read full review
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