Betas vs. Silicon Valley

Over the past couple weeks I watched the full series of Betas on Amazon Instant Video and found it pretty funny so last night despite my hatred of corduroy, weird facial hair, and sandals on men I decided to give Silicon Valley, from HBO, a try.

Wow, the two series could not be more different despite dealing with the same basic subject, youngish adults trying to make it in a tech startup.

 Both are ensemble casts of relative unknowns, both use a startup incubator as their jumping off point and both are driven by kind of a cynical humor, but that is where the similarity ends.  Betas is far more driven by situational humor while Silicon Valley draws much more on the characters quirks.  At first viewing Silicon Valley seems to be the "meaner" show, but when I watched again I changed my mind.  I think Mike Judge really does like the people he is lampooning but is doing his best to capture their flaws.  On the other hand there is no indication that the makers of Betas have any sympathy at all towards the characters.  Both shows made me laugh but I have to give the edge to Silicon Valley at this point because I cans see people that I know in the characters.

End of review - BTW the picture is not associated wit either show in any way.  I am just trying to cover up my profile picture with something that won't make people want to gouge their eyes out.