3 out of 5

Created by: Christopher Cantwell and Christopher C. Rogers

In hoping for a replacement for Breaking Bad and the (as of now) soon-to-be-ending Mad Men, it made sense for AMC to grab at the modern, savvy audience who had turned BB into a sensation and to mash their interests with a period piece – preferably a period not yet covered by current TV drama.  Hence: a tech-focused 80s show.  Score.  And the show gets off to a fairly promising start, with a convincing patter – tip-toeing into overkill – of geek-speak, and a Mad Men-esque pitch that finds renegade programmer Cameron (Mackenzie Davis), engineer Gordon (Scoot McNairy) and loud-mouthed hustler Joe (Lee Pace) trying to turn fictional parts manufacturer Cardiff Electronics into a PC-making biz on par with the king of the time, IBM.  That first episode is all bravado and momentum, with vague sentiments of computing being the wave of the future ushering us along on our lead’s quest to write their own notable BIOS… which lands them in hot water since doing so involves reverse-engineering an IBM BIOS, which is sorta illegal.  You’ve heard of BIOS, right?  You know this is illegal, right?  …The show is somewhat counting on our internet awareness (and unwillingness to admit when we’re confused) to carry us through some gray plotting areas, which works pretty well until the show slams into its second or third episode and runs out of steam.  So out come the really, really unnecessary character dramatics.  Joe is a liar with a mysterious past; Cameron takes a left turn whenever authority demands a right; Gordon doesn’t appreciate his wife and has a drinking problem.  Had the show worked on selling these characters to us first, these subplots could have very effectively melded with the crazy era of tech into which we’re immersed; instead, it’s all just shoveled on top really quickly and rather sloppily, making it hard to build up much interest in anyone.  But then the show gets back to the business side of things… and then, little by little, they calm down, and pieces start to fall more calmly into place…  This doesn’t prevent some reaching to still happen, all the way through near the end of the season, but it gets a bit more tolerable as the writers seem to realize were the story’s strengths and weaknesses are.  ‘Halt and Catch Fire’ has a really talented cast that deserves more time to show us what their characters are about.  The show lurches about for a focus, but finds a synergy slightly more often than not.  But no, it’s not as promising as Breaking Bad, and not as instantly romantic as Mad Men.