Hang Fire

Halt And Catch Fire has ended its four-season run.  The ratings were always low--well under a million for the initial airings--but its fans got to see it grow from a Mad Men knockoff to something much deeper.

It focused on five characters in the computer business, and how they maneuvered through the 80s and 90s. I didn't go for the fourth season as much as the second or third, perhaps because it was a little slower.  Near the end, one of the major characters died, and the last three episodes were essentially about how the others handled it. Still, Halt And Catch Fire was to the end one of TV's best (if least seen) dramas.

It did have one flaw, if that's the word for it, that it could never get around.  The show is set in the real world, and real brand names are mentioned.  The characters are on the cutting edge, always in on a trend just before it would break.  But we know they'll never make it to the top, because we know which firms really did hit it big.

I liked all five leads, so let me list them: Lee Pace, Scoot McNairy, Mackenzie Davis, Kerry Bishe and Toby Huss.  I look forward to seeing them in other projects. (You've probably seen them already and don't know it--an actor like Toby Huss has done tons of TV guest shots.) Maybe they can return in a few years as their characters for an episode set in the present (their future) and we can see how they turned out.