Silicon valley s5

Out 3 september / CERT 15 / tbc mins

Erlich Bachman was my favourite. As pretentious as he was clueless, clumsily coasting on a single past triumph, he always earned the most laughs. So when tj Miller ungracefully quit Mike Judge, John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky’s savvy start-up sit-com after Season 4, there was a worry it might not recover. Fortunately, the fifth season proved Silicon Valley can run perfectly well without him (and is indeed better off, given Miller himself has become such a problematic figure offscreen) and highlights the show’s many other strengths. Like the offhand way Zach Woods drops clues to the ever-deferential Jared’s ultra-dark past; or Martin Starr’s deader-thandeadpan delivery as Satanist coder Guilfoyle; or Matt Ross’ so-corporate-he’s-psychotic Hooli boss Gavin Belson. Or, of course, the way the show continues twisting the ‘be careful what you wish for’ maxim in such inventive, comedy-ofdiscomfort ways.