HBO's Silicon Valley made its bow on April 6th in the States and a few months later the 8 episode first season was shown on Sky Atlantic in the UK. Given that HBO are known for being purveyors of some of the highest quality television, well, ever, it should have come as no surprise that this followed suit. Created by Mike Judge, of Beavis And Butthead and King Of The Hill fame, along with John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky, the show chronicles the fortunes of a group of young tech whizzes who found a start-up company in 'Silicon Valley', in the San Francisco Bay Area. The show is part sitcom and part satire of the computer and technology industry but crucially, it is very, very funny. The group, led by Thomas Middleditch as the constantly nervous and horrifyingly out of his depth Richard Hendricks, all bring something different to the table. T.J. Miller as Erlich Bachman stands out as leaning closest to caricature, but he is talented enough to tread the fine line very carefully, making Bachman's overblown and clueless bravado consistently hilarious. However, the best just might be Zach Woods as Jared, who brings an odd, disarmingly earnest and yet simultaneously ridiculous energy all his own to the character.
