2015 has been a weird year for TV. Empire was the hottest show in the beginning of the year and Game of Thrones is currently the biggest show every time of the year. The irony is that these two popular shows are treated differently. GOT is proclaimed as a prestige show by TV critics. But some would ask why? It seems like every week there is a new controversy. There is an explicit and unnecessary rape scene. There is an unnecessary nude scene or sex position. The writing and dialogue fluctuates drastically from season to season and episode to episode. Personally, the fourth season was the best of the show and the fifth lacks a good villain. So clearly GOT has some issues, but it remains one of the most popular shows on TV.
Empire, however, is not a prestige show. The story of a street hustler becoming a rap mogul and the internal conflict in his family and business is front and center. This show was a national sensation pulling in tens of millions each week and dominating Wednesday night. But will it win awards and will it become a prestige show? Maybe, but more likely no.
What is and isn’t a prestige TV show is extremely random. A show can be seen by everyone and get nominated for a few Emmys and still be prestige. At the same time a show can be seen by no one and get overlooked by the Emmys, but as long as critics adore it the show is prestige TV. To be quite honest there are only five American TV shows that aired in 2014 that is prestigious: The Americans, The Knick, True Detective, Halt and Catch Fire, and Mad Men.
All of the shows listed had great performances, great directing and cinematography, and fantastic writing. There is a consistency between each episode that other shows lack. Out of all of the shows, Halt and Catch Fire is probably the best and most under-appreciated.
This show is like Mad Men and the first two seasons of House of Cards had a baby and allowed Tywin Lannister to raise it. Halt and Catch Fire is a show about the early days of computing in Dallas AKA the silicon prairie. Three people will lie, steal, and destroy everything in order to build a portable computer that will change everything.
Lee Pace is Joe McMillan. A man who is a 1980s version of Don Draper with a splash of the scheming- Machiavellian- masterminds Francis Underwood and Lord Baelish AKA Little Finger. Mackenzie Davis is Cameron Howe the brilliant software engineer and outcast who does what she wants and don’t care. The last piece of the trio is the brains and designer of the computer Gordon Clark played by Scoot McNairy. The show focuses on the David and Goliath struggles of a small company competing with the likes of IBM.
Watching this show on Netflix made me wonder why I didn’t see it in the first place and the answer is simple, the name is …different or just bad. However, I thought about it and as I watched the show the title began to make sense. It is a command that takes over the computer and makes it pretty much useless. This show plays out the idea of tech taking over people’s lives for the better and for the not so good. Cameron drops out of college and loses a friend/mentor over hacking and building the PC. Joe actively destroyed peoples’ lives because he wanted to beat his dad at IBM and prove that he can succeed without him. And Gordon almost lost his family and his talented wife, Donna, because of the need to build a machine and feel accomplished.
Simply put, Halt and Catch Fire is the best show on TV. Watch the season two premiere tonight on AMC.