Halt and Catch Fire is not your typical techie show. This audacious series was created by Christopher Cantwell and Christopher C. Rogers. The pair met while working at the Walt Disney Company, and after spending a lot of their personal money developing the show, AMC eventually ordered the pilot.

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Airing between 2014 and 2017, Halt and Catch Fire lasted four seasons – each one receiving more critical acclaim than its predecessor. The plot follows a group of people involved in the development of both personal computers and the Internet, choosing to focus more on the characters than the action. Starring Lee Pace, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Kerry Bishé, and Toby Huss, Halt and Catch Fire is considered one of the best series of the 2010s.

It Is A Period Drama Spanning A Decade

Halt and Catch Fire begins in the early '80s and ends in the early '90s. The series is noted for its superior, time-appropriate set design and costuming. Instead of focusing on the neon lights and geometric furniture of the mid-80s, sets were originally made to look like the late '70s and early '80s.

Set designers studied old department store catalogs to capture the look of the time. As the seasons progress through the '80s and into the '90s, the fashions and interior designs change.

It Traces The Development Of Personal Computers And The Internet

Considering Halt and Catch Fire is a series about technology, one of the biggest challenges faced by production designers was finding computer props for each appropriate era. Crew members scoured eBay and Craigslist for vintage computers. Finding an original Apple Macintosh was especially difficult.

Numerous props were also borrowed from computer museums around the United States. All of the hard work paid off, though. The series nails the look and feel of the tech industry's earliest days.

The Series Begins In Dallas's Silicon Prairie

While much of the attention for tech development falls on California's Silicon Valley, the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas was also the site of a tech boom in the '80s. The first two seasons of Halt and Catch Fire focus on Texas's Silicon Prairie, particularly a fictional company called Cardiff Electric.

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When the series begins, Toby Huss's character Bos is the senior VP of Cardiff Electric. He hires Lee Pace's ambitious entrepreneur character Joe MacMillan, a former IBM employee who decides to reverse engineer an IBM PC. MacMillan is assisted by Scoot McNairy's character Gordon Clark and Mackenzie Davis's character Cameron Howe.

It Then Travels To Northern California's Silicon Valley

Makenzie Davis's character Cameron ventures into the startup world, starting an online community known as Mutiny. Kerry Bishé's character Donna Clark – Gordon Clark's wife – a talented computer engineer who joins Mutiny, co-managing the company with Cameron.

At the end of the second season, the Mutiny gang decides to move to California in order to try their luck in Silicon Valley. Joe MacMillan also resurfaces there, and the second half of the seasons traces the development of the Internet.

It Was Filmed In Atlanta

Despite being set in Texas and California, Halt and Catch Fire was actually shot in Atlanta, Georgia. AMC's other popular series, The Walking Dead, was being shot in Atlanta at the same time, allowing the company to save money on crew and infrastructure.

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Crew members scouted locations all over the city that would fit into the show's timeline and mood. Stores and restaurants from the '70s and '80s were difficult to find, especially since many parts of Atlanta were renovated in the '90s and early '00s.

Its Focuses On Five People Involved In The Tech Startup World

Halt and Catch Fire provides both a macro and micro view of early tech startups, computer innovations, and the development of the Internet. It traces the evolution of technology through the main characters.

What makes Halt and Catch Fire such a compelling series is how the characters change alongside the technologies they're so connected to. The series highlights the complex personalities involved in the industry, as well as the bonds they form with other people.

These Deep Character Studies Propel The Narrative

While it's premise focuses on the tech world, Halt and Catch Fire is a character study at heart. It explores themes of family, personal development, failure, and success.

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Without the stellar performances from Lee Pace, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Kerry Bishé, and Toby Huss, Halt and Catch Fire wouldn't be such a feat. The close connections developed between the characters also propel the narrative. Pace, Davis, and McNairy shared a home together in Atlanta while filming the third season to strengthen their bond. Huss joined them for the fourth season.

Feminism And Queer Identity Are Explored

Without being overly didactic, Halt and Catch Fire incorporates queer characters and feminist ideas into its narrative flawlessly. Lee Pace handles Joe's queerness as just another aspect of his personality.

Similarly, Mackenzie Davis and Kerry Bishé tackle sexism through their characters' struggles to make a name for themselves in a male-dominated field. The series focuses on their personal lives as much as their professional lives, showcasing how difficult it is for them to forge genuine, meaningful paths for themselves.

The Series Is Included On Multiple Best Of Lists For The 2010s

Despite receiving rave reviews, the viewership for Halt and Catch Fire remained low for most of its run. That being said, multiple critics look back upon the series as one of the best to come out of the 2010s.

Critics hail Halt and Catch Fire as an excellent character study. Instead of a flashy narrative style, the series focuses on the humanness of each character, making their experiences both relatable and engrossing.

It Is Available For Streaming On Netflix

If you haven't watched this now classic series yet, there's good news: You can catch all four seasons on Netflix. Thanks to the streaming service, what was once an underappreciated drama now has time to shine.

Be warned, though. Once you start, you won't be able to stop until the series is over. You might want to clear your schedule for a few weeks.

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