Silicon Valley

**Silicon Valley** is an American comedy television series created by *Beavis and Butthead* creator and writers Mike Judge, John Altschuler, and Dave Krinsky, respectively, exclusively for the American pay television network, HBO.

The entire series was made available at launch.

## **Premise**

*Silicon Valley*, a parody of the titular Silicon Valley culture, focuses on Richard Hendricks, a programmer who founds a startup company called Pied Piper, and chronicles his struggles trying to maintain his company while facing competition from larger entities.

## **Cast**

### Main

* Thomas Middleditch as Richard Hendricks, a coder and founder/CEO of Pied Piper.
* T.J. Miller as Erlich Bachman (seasons 1–4), an entrepreneur who runs an innovation incubator in his house and owns 10% of Pied Piper.
* Josh Brener as Nelson "Big Head" Bighetti, Richard's best friend who works at Hooli. Despite possessing few skills as a programmer, he often finds himself being promoted and finding success.
* Martin Starr as Bertram Gilfoyle, the network engineer of Pied Piper who is known for his stolid and sardonic personality.
* Kumail Nanjiani as Dinesh Chugtai, a programmer specializing in Java and a member of Pied Piper. He is often the victim of Gilfoyle's ridicule and pranks.
* Christopher Evan Welch as Peter Gregory (season 1), the socially awkward billionaire founder and CEO of Raviga Capital as well as a 5% equity owner of Pied Piper after his $200,000 investment.
* Amanda Crew as Monica Hall, an employee of Raviga Capital and associate partner.
* Zach Woods as Donald "Jared" Dunn, an ex-VP of Hooli who quits the company in order to join the Pied Piper team as its COO and business advisor.
* Matt Ross as Gavin Belson (recurring season 1, starring seasons 2–6), the CEO and founder of Hooli and the series' main antagonist.
* Suzanne Cryer as Laurie Bream (seasons 2–6), the replacement for Peter Gregory as CEO of Raviga Capital, and later co-founder of Bream Hall Capital with Monica. Like her predecessor, she is highly intelligent and socially inept.
* Jimmy O. Yang as Jian-Yang (recurring season 1, starring seasons 2–6), another tenant of Erlich's incubator, but has no involvement with Pied Piper. He and Erlich have frequent disagreements.
* Stephen Tobolowsky as "Action" Jack Barker (recurring season 3, starring season 4), briefly CEO of Pied Piper and later Hooli.
* Chris Diamantopoulos as Russ Hanneman (recurring season 2–3, starring seasons 4 and 6, guest season 5), a brash, the loud and fiery billionaire investor who provides Pied Piper with their Series A.

## **Production**

### Development & Conception

Co-creator and executive producer Mike Judge had worked in a Silicon Valley startup early in his career. In 1987, he was a programmer at Parallax, a company with about 40 employees. Judge disliked the company's culture and his colleagues ("The people I met were like Stepford Wives. They were true believers in something and I don't know what it was") and quit after less than three months, but the experience gave him the background to later create a show about the region's people and companies. He recollects also how startup companies pitched to him to make a Flash-based animation in the past as material for the first episode: "It was one person after another going, 'In two years, you will not own a TV set!' I had a meeting that was like a gathering of acolytes around a cult leader. 'Has he met Bill?' 'Oh, I'm the VP and I only get to see Bill once a month.' And then another guy chimed in, 'For 10 minutes, but the 10 minutes is amazing!'"

Filming for the pilot of *Silicon Valley* began on March 12, 2013, in Palo Alto, California. HBO green-lit the series on May 16, 2013.

## **Reception**

*Silicon Valley* has received critical acclaim since its airing, with praise for its writing and humor. The show has been nominated for numerous accolades, including five consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series.

## **Trivia**

* Co-stars of the series include T.J. Miller, Josh Brener, Martin Starr, Kumail Nanjiani, Zach Woods, Amanda Crew, and Matt Ross.