Jared. ---spoilers--- First one to say "middle out" while jerking motion, thus giving Richard the idea. His contract with Hooli was void and went against his rights, thus voiding the entire lawsuit. Jared would have closed the door on the back of the uhaul truck. Jared came up with the condor egg plan and also was the one calling that nothing was happening, which caused the injury and trapping of the worker. The list really goes on.
@@trieshardgaming 100% agree. Without Jared the deal with Peter Gregory wouldn’t have happened and Richard would have likely had to sell to Gavin Belson.
For what it’s worth, Mike Judge said the original plan was for Erlich’s character to end his run on the show 3 episodes into season 5. TJ Miller refused to come back for that, according to Judge, which makes sense as his character had run its course. With the plan for Pied Piper to grow into a larger company in the final two seasons, having a character like Erlich around wouldn’t have made much sense. I really liked the final seasons, it didn’t have the same vibe that seasons 1-4 had, but I like that they decided to actually have the company grow instead of constantly fighting to actually become a company like seasons 1-4.
I disagree I feel they needed erlich the whole time cause he’s the other half of Richard’s brain 🧠 that is also a genius in his own right and could handle the things Richard wasn’t used to as we see in the first season episode where they talk about them being two halves of a bigger brain Erlich was my favorite character on the show without him the vibes were indeed off but at least I can always go back and watch the other 4 great seasons
@@rectalimplosion yes the first four seasons comedy wise is gold the other two season story wise is still good comedy is subjective so it may be funny to you I didn’t laugh but I loved the ending to the show
I really enjoyed Silicon Valley but my biggest issue with it is how predictable it got, every season ended with things suddenly going to shit in order to create a cliffhanger no matter how well they might have been going before
Or kinda how in Parks and Rec the characters are constantly getting shit on from every angle. In the last couple seasons it just felt so tiring. Like how everyone around them in an antagonist to their goals
I stopped watching it after S2, which I shouldn't have but I had already gone through that with Modern Family and I didn't want to waste time on something like that again.
It was like that every season, pretty much every episode. The real catch of the show for me was how accurate it was, not to mention prescient. Kind of like Idiocracy keeps becoming more relevant the further away from its release we get.
I actually thought the ending was awesome. I agree that things weren’t the same after Eric left, but they way the story ended was great and the documentary ending was a fantastic wrap up that left little to no questions.
@@georgepolites1996 think we saw it (or one that looks very similar) plugged into Gilfoyle or Dinesh's computers. It's no confirmation but the idea could be that they're still tinkering with the tech...
Although I understand he was crucial to the structure of the show, I never got past how childish and immature he was. I had to stop watching the show because he was too irritating to tolerate.
Not really. I thought the character was a d*ck and wondered why the others associated with him. They would have been more successful had they ditched him when they formed their business. As for TJ Miller himself, evidently he is a d*ck in real life.
I thought they removed Erlich from the show very, very neatly. Like he actually wasn't necessary at all after that point. Seasons 3 and 4 were showing how lost Erlich was and how he drifted away from the main gang because he was just becoming irrelevant. He was great in the show, without a doubt. But because of the way they ended his character, I didn't miss him, because I got everything I could want from him already. Now I just want to see the Pied Piper gang make it big through more trial and error and battle Gavin Belson. Silicon Valley could not have had a better final season. It was frustrating, interesting, thrilling, and fun all at once.
@@WisdomTooth1987exept the show had multiple Cramers. Self important, greedy and delusional foil to the group describes half the cast. He also went from sitcom Kramer to stand up Kramer when he stopped being a foil for Richard and started being an absolute asshole towards Big Head. His routine made sense when it was aimed at a guy who was depicted as being book smart but had no life or business sense. He was a burden but also brought something to the table. Big Head was chill, nice, humble and Eric was just a leech. He became a villain but was never depicted as one and that made me lose interest in the character.
I don't think it was THAT bad without him. Erlich was amazing, obviously, and it wasn't as good without him, but there's a lot of really amazing episodes there without him. He was outstanding but his absence wasn't soulless or stupid.
I would have to re-watch but just from looking at this video and remembering the storyline, i think it became much more woke around the time that Erlich left. Gavin became a joke, the two investor chicks were like a pair of Rachel Starks of tech and $$$ and badass things... and the guys never accomplished anything, it was like everytime they were going to make it, everything came apart.
@@CarsonHunter I wished they lent more into Bachman's character being a great coder who was lazy or possibly making a great CEO, maybe getting closer or learning more from Jared about the business side and growing. In the episode where they keep the live stream going was a great example of them showing some of his coder prowess. I liked his character, I just felt they decided to go too far down the path of insulting the character for cheap laughs and didn't grow him.
Bad character, good performance. I mean, definitely not a terribly written character, but I don't think the show suffered loss of a character as much as it lost presence of a good actor, not implying that other performances were bad. They could've left Erlic in the incubator, doing his own thing, leeching off someone, or whatever the alternative they could've came up with, and I doubt audience would've complained. Really speaks lengths about the quality of the individual performance.
@@technicalthugor turn him into a bad guy. He absolutely crossed the line with Big Head. His antic's weren't funny when he was screwing over a super nice dude for no reason other than he could. He simply wasn't one of the good guys towards the end of his run, but they were still pretending like he was and that just never worked for me
T.J. Miller messed up big time , he was getting movie roles and his star was rising, he had a small part in Deadpool , and ready player one and his last semi big blockbuster was in Underwater. He has load of talent to become a lead in a movie but the combination of rockn roll attitude and not being professional and not keeping his mouth shut is what kills carreers early.
Story wise yes but comedic wise no I don’t remember laughing once at any of the jokes and that’s not saying that Erlich was the primary reasons for my laughter but having him around shaped the vibes of the group even when not being there so we’d get hilarious events
Agreed, though Nerdstalgic’s point is that they didn’t replace him or add anyone new to rebalance the dynamic, partly because they likely didn’t have enough follow through to hewn out another character
Honestly love everything about this show. But honestly have to agree with this. I was wondering what the purpose of keeping his character around was by the time season 3 rolled around
yeah I thought this video was pretty stupid. first of all, nobody ever thought the show didn't work without Erlich, the general opinion is that it worked surprisingly well actually. and people generally liked the ending. and the analogies he is using are off, why the heck would you compare one character leaving with a baseball bat completely destroying your lego construction. did the writers have to destroy the whole plot? rebuild it? change directions? not even friggin' close. It just changed some dynamics with the characters, and the type of humor.
Go back and listen again. 6:06 _"In handling Erlich Bachman's exit from Silicon Valley's story, the writers _*_mulled a few ideas around in their heads,_*_ one of which was alluding to the fact Jin Yang may or may not have murdered Erlich Bachman."_ The video never suggests that the "Jin Yang murdered Bachman" idea was actually the one they used, moreover they go on to explain why that particular idea _wasn't_ used. 6:17 _"This idea, funny as it may have been, was a little darker than the show's creators intended."_ And if there is any doubt remaining... 6:22 _"But at least this _*_imagined_*_ end-off _*_would have_*_ resulted in a satisfying amount of closure for the viewer. _*_Instead,_*_ the writers decided to leave the door open for a potential return..."_
I liked it better without Turdlick Cockman. It also allowed Jian Yang’s character to be the comic relief, and in my opinion, Jimmy O Yang is a lot funnier guy than TJ Miller.
@@Mcnutty924 Actually, no. Jimmy O Yang was always funnier, even his stand up material, and other things he has done separate from SV were far better than Miller’s material. The cast of the show also hated Miller, prior to him getting “cancelled” and mentally braking down. He was always late and just not a good guy to work with.
Really can't agree on this one. I felt the tone wasn't lost at all. Richard was the beating heart. If HE had left, you might have something. I also don't agree that Dinesh and Guilfoyle were at the bottom of some narrative pyramid. I also never felt the show "struggled to get across the finish line", either. I thought the ending was extremely satisfying. Lastly, it would really help to make your case if you had included some "during Bachmann" and "after bachmann" scene comparisons to make your point. Crack open the show to show me! All I heard was how often you kept repeating how different the show was without him...with no examples. You didn't prove your case.
was going to post this exact thing. The show ran out of gas because the narrative loop had run its course (1. Things are going great! 2. Oh no there's a problem! 3. We miraculously solved the problem against all odds! 4. Repeat) I felt there were enough great characters that I didn't miss Bachman, really at all.
I think they replaced erlich in the way that they made jin yang (opportunistic side of erlich) and Russ (crazy selfish psycho) and the traits that make up both of these characters are what make up erlich as a whole
The only choice for how to replace Ehrlich correctly would have been to have the show's other extroverted, vain, selfish character (Russ Hanneman) lose everything and move into the house with them.
I didn't miss Erlich after he excited. It was extremely unfortunate that the actor who played Peter Gregory passed away, though. He was an amazing character played so well. Laurie just felt like a knockoff character. This is still one of my all-time favorite shows. I was so excited each Sunday for new episodes, and while it ended well, I still miss it.
as we got to the final episodes i thought there was no way to wrap up the story with the amount of time left, but i was pleasantly surprised with how they managed to wrap up the loose ends while still leaving a few open questions
TJ Miller's personal life aside he was perfect for that role and really stole every scene he was in. The other characters were great but I agree with this evaluation that he was kind of the perfect 5th point of the star. Those first 4 seasons were pretty great despite the predictable disastrous ending every time. Got a little old. But it also seemed like Richard's character became much more unlikeable with each progressive season and the plots became a little thinner as things went on. Not the best thing for the protagonist of the series. I do like how it ended but Bachman was sorely missed in those last few seasons.
honestly didn't mind bachman leaving, my favorite was always jared. he reminds me of characters like jonah on veep or greg on succession. although that might just be their similar size. anyway, i might have to rewatch silicon vallely now
Jared was always a highlight for myself. I'v heard Zach Woods say in a interview that he has never sat and watched any episodes. out of the anxiety of seeing himself on screen and finding it to cringe for him to watch. From fear that he would rate his own performance as sub-par. Kinda broke my heart hearing him say it, as I always rated him as a top tier character and actor.
Jared really was a gem. Starting out I was like "okay, okay, yeah, okay, this guy is pretty funny". But then once he got into his stride I legit almost died laughing at some of those jokes. The Dinesh choking his mom with the chain one caught me so off guard I actually spit my drink out, can't remember the last time a show evoked a physical reaction like that outta me!
This show was the cornerstone of my favorite trilogy of tech shows that aired in the mid 2010's (Silicon Valley, Mr. Robot, Halt and Catch Fire). Each one filled a perfect niche of comedy, drama, well written characters and story telling, and were able to weave interesting elements of the tech industry into the stories. It sucks that TJ Miller tanked his own career and IMO ruined the 5th season of SV, but I feel like the show was able to finish strong enough in the 6th season to not completely ruin the entire series for me. Sadly, those golden days seem to be over. The closest thing I've found is Mythic Quest, which I had hoped would be a mix of Sunny and Community, with a Silicon Valley feel, but after the first 2 seasons, it just doesn't hit the way any of those other shows did. Hoping they find their niche in season 3.
Fuck, those were some good ass shows. I wish I could find something in the same vein as them, but still haven't found anything that comes close to the quality of those three shows, at least in relation to tech.
Silicon Valley was so accurate. I’ve been thru every situation in the first three seasons in all of the startups I’ve been. The only thing questionable was hooli and Gavin belson, but I had several Gavin belsons in my consulting career, so his character definitely passes.
I always hated the character of Erlich but when he left I understood why he was necessary. You almost need someone like that as a foil to the other characters to make them compelling.
Thank you for saying this. He was the exact reason I couldn't finish Season 1. I understand he was crucial to the structure of the show, but I never got past how childish and immature he was. I had to stop watching it because he was too irritating to tolerate.
Thats funny, he was one of my favorite characters from the start. Such a brilliantly designed parasitic piece of shit narcissist lol. I was howling laughing at the end of season 1 when he looked like a discount Steve Jobs
This is a bad video essay. You state that the show fell apart yet you never show any evidence of it. I agree that it fell apart Erlich, but you didn’t convince me.
@@raph6931that’s kind of a brain dead response to a valid criticism he made. A response to you could be that no one asked for your opinion on his statement
For no reason from me, my feed has been inundated for the past 2 weeks with TJ Miller vids. I think with Deadpool 3 soon approaching that it brought him back to the forefront of people's minds and they've been searching about him.
They had such a strong cast and writing, I didn't miss Bachman. The writers and cast all stepped up to fill the gap. Season 6 was excellent. Fantastic show.
There was only one time I thought they needed him in a scene after he was gone. When Dinesh tried to inspire Richard w/ the Macho video to pump him up.
Erlich isn't critical to the show. The character played a role in the show's formula-- a role quickly filled by jian yang (and worthily so, might I add?)
All of the characters continued to play off each other and they managed to shoot themselves in the foot time and time again. I see Erlich as the Dionysian character that no one else was, reveling in the energy of Silicon Valley’s tech culture. He was missed but the show continued to be hilarious and wrapped up beautifully and in a timely way. After six seasons watching them fail over and over, I was happy to see a conclusion to their plight. I thought it was very fitting.
He was funny, but far from one of my favorite characters. Probably a personal thing, it's just that those "crude/asshole/idiot" archetypes are rarely the most memorable to me. I'm not saying the show was better for losing him, but it wasn't a huge deal for me and I definitely enjoyed the last two seasons. Maybe not quite as much as the early seasons, but I don't really think that was due to the lack of Erlich so much as the show just didn't feel quite as fresh as it used to. The only area I really felt his absence was when it came to Jian-Yang's character. I'd also say the ending was pretty good, the story being told was properly concluded in the second to last episode while the finale served as an "epilogue" to show where everyone ended up, and for the most part the time jump and "missing information" was actually pretty funny. Probably just a matter of personal taste here. Still a great video, but I don't really agree with it as much as I typically do with videos from this channel.
I'm so glad that this video exists, just a few days ago I was watching video essays and I realized that virtually no video essayist talks about Silicon Valley. To see this appear in my recommendations a few days later, in fact _posted_ on the day when I had that realization, I feel much better knowing my favourite show is getting some recognition :)
LOVE Silicon Valley so much ❤️ It always surprised me and the humor was so weird, funny, and outrageous. I loved the character dynamics and the strange scenarios that popped up every season. I like everything I've seen with T.J. Miller (Cloverfield, Office Christmas Party, Underwater, etc.) so I hope he is doing better.
Kinda disagree with the Michael Scott comment; on paper The Office was an ensemble cast show, in reality it was the Michael Scott show; when he left that thing was done; producers knew it, they simply milked it as much as they could but were very aware it was all downhill from there.
It fell off a little bit, and Richard became what his nickname would be, but I still respect the ending so much. I miss this show, and I hope it can come back 😭
The finale was both inventive and satisfying. It was a bold move and was an absolute win-win. It showed the middle-out algorithm has become too intelligent for its own good and it was time to pull the plug.
Silicon valley is one of those series which you can watch many times and still find it entertaining.... Who's with me? I personally think ending was done good, tht said Erlic Bachmann was a great character
I loved the first few seasons of Silicon Valley. Jared is one of my favorite TV characters ever. I always hated Erlich, but you're right, the show changed in a negative way after he left.
Not sure I agree that The Office ran so smoothly. They shoved Andy into the Michael Scott role and he did basically the same thing but was infinitely more annoying. It never recovered after Steve Carell left. It was already getting a bit long in the tooth and probably should've been cancelled at the end of season 7 but it limped along for those last two seasons.
This is really interesting to hear your perspective, because I really didn’t even notice that he was gone the last season it seemed natural that they moved beyond the incubator at this point
Agree to disagree. 5th and 6th season were pretty good IMO. If anything the 6th season seems like 2 seasons mashed together, but it's a great last season
4:00 TJ Miller had a brain aneurysm and had a fight with some after effects mentally and spiritually afterwards. I think that was some of it. I always thought his jokes and work was pretty good.
Well written! And I tend to agree. I think I know why the writers left Erlich's character kinda open...just in case TJ Miller got his shit together, he would have been welcome back. Unfortunately that never happened. But kudos to the writers and producers for at least attempting it.
There are just some shows that were perfectly cast and can't survive without a critical cast member. Another show where this happened was Shameless. Emmy Rossum was the centerpiece of that show, and while the rest of the cast was also very important and had good story arcs in their own right, I watched Shameless from the perspective of Fiona's "try-fail-try" arc while she tries to break free of the shackles of poverty and a dead end existence, always hitting the ground running, but then getting in her own way and spiraling out of control (something I can identify with in my younger years). As a character, I think it can be presumed that she did escape Chicago and must have landed on her feet somewhere, but from a show quality perspective, after she left it felt like Shameless was a parody of its original self in the last two seasons, made even worse by shoe horning in an insane plot for Deb as the show came to a close (sex offender? Really?). With Rossum's departure, I feel like the writers decided to turn every other character up to eleven, making their character traits cartoonish and over the top at times. They also seem to have tried to introduce a new "Fiona" in Tami, but without much of the baggage and trauma that Fiona had to deal with while she tried to make something of herself other than just being a Gallagher (Plus Tami was insufferably annoying and stubborn).
I think you're overstating his importance to the show TBH. The show didn't really suffer from his absence, even if it wasn't as consistent. The finale definitely wouldn't have been better if Erlich had been there.
My take was apparently in the minority. Erlich's story felt essentially done once the Piper crew left the incubator house. Sure, as a 10% owner, he would have always been on the board of directors, but boards of companies the size Pied Piper eventually grew into have a way of marginalizing board members who are essentially boat anchors for the company. It didn't help that Erlich never personally worked for me as the Dot Boomer character who basically just got lucky once, which was echoed, only much louder with Russ Hanneman.
Sad that he wasn't at least in the final episode, I wanted to see what had happened to him. Similar to how Eric in That 70's Show came back for the final episode, just gives much needed closure. Also, Jared is the best character in the show, don't even try to change my mind.
Same thoughts here. Erlich wasn't missed that much later and it wouldn't make sense to keep him but I was kinda hoping to see him for the last time in final episode.
Thank you! Erlich was the reason i watched the show to begin with. im a tech head and an engineer but i didnt find the other characters funny without him.
I'm binging the show and I just got to season 5 and I was wondering... when is Erlich coming back... oh no... he might not come back. I had to Google it and now I know not to expect him to come back :^\ his boastful extroverted personality was such a huge contrast to the quiet introverted characters. I'm a little bored watching season 5, but I agree with a lot of people that they seemed to be running out of ideas what to do with him.
it's not that nobody noticed, it's that at least for me I appreciated that the writers knew the show had to end and gave it a good send off. It could've been worse.. I do agree the last 2 seasons weren't as good as the first 4 but they were nowhere near bad. How many time's have we seen a show go to shit because the writers want to keep milking it for as long as possible. I'm sure HBO didn't mind having it go into a season 7 and 8. I'm glad they didn't try to replace him that would've been a dumb decision and if they had gone in that direction this video would've been titled "why erlich's replacement didn't work"
He wouldn't show up on time or at all to table readings. Called in a bomb threat when he had a psychotic break down and the show wrote him as a main character. Long story short.
Erlich was an integral part of the show but TJ Miller apparently thought that meant they couldn't do the show without him until they showed him otherwise. I agree losing the Erlich character was a blow but the biggest downfall was how it seemed like everyone was over it by the end. They just kept using the same plot devices over and over again. They were seemingly dead until some miracle gave them hope again.
The first 2 seasons are up there are some of the funniest episodes of TV ever! I have rewatched them both so many times. I've never rewatched the seasons without TJ Miller, who I hate
main thing that bothered me is how everyone just disregarded his absence and acted like they ain't cared that he was gone like they wasn't close shit felt empty but i still adore every season ofc sv a classic
I honestly didn't even realize that TJ Miller was written off, I thought he was going to come back! (Probably doesn't help that I never finished season 5 😅)
Good video but I have to disagree. Erlich was useless by the time they wrote him off. Think about how little effect he had on Pied Piper or the main story arch in his final season. He was so useless, he voluntarily went to Tibet! Now, if JARED had been written off the show...
Silicon valley's structure pairs up one character with another. While the characters do interact with everyone, they are often paired together. Richard has Jared, Danesh has Gilfoyle and Erlich has Jinyang. The only character without a buddy was Big Head, who spent his screen time wandering around the set mindlessly. Erlich was a sad character to lose but Jinyang was the only person TRULY affected by it
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Who is the most important character on Silicon Valley?
All of them together TBH
If someone can choose, props
Basically me with this question 7:33
Obviously jian-yang
Jared.
---spoilers---
First one to say "middle out" while jerking motion, thus giving Richard the idea.
His contract with Hooli was void and went against his rights, thus voiding the entire lawsuit.
Jared would have closed the door on the back of the uhaul truck.
Jared came up with the condor egg plan and also was the one calling that nothing was happening, which caused the injury and trapping of the worker.
The list really goes on.
@@trieshardgaming 100% agree. Without Jared the deal with Peter Gregory wouldn’t have happened and Richard would have likely had to sell to Gavin Belson.
For what it’s worth, Mike Judge said the original plan was for Erlich’s character to end his run on the show 3 episodes into season 5. TJ Miller refused to come back for that, according to Judge, which makes sense as his character had run its course. With the plan for Pied Piper to grow into a larger company in the final two seasons, having a character like Erlich around wouldn’t have made much sense. I really liked the final seasons, it didn’t have the same vibe that seasons 1-4 had, but I like that they decided to actually have the company grow instead of constantly fighting to actually become a company like seasons 1-4.
Tbh last 2 seasons are the worst of the series. I couldn't even finish watching the fifth season because of how repellent it was
I disagree I feel they needed erlich the whole time cause he’s the other half of Richard’s brain 🧠 that is also a genius in his own right and could handle the things Richard wasn’t used to as we see in the first season episode where they talk about them being two halves of a bigger brain Erlich was my favorite character on the show without him the vibes were indeed off but at least I can always go back and watch the other 4 great seasons
Going in blind. Is this thing worth absorbing?!
@@rectalimplosion yes the first four seasons comedy wise is gold the other two season story wise is still good comedy is subjective so it may be funny to you I didn’t laugh but I loved the ending to the show
There was plenty to do with Bachman. Every company has some annoying early stakeholder. And the show did fall apart after he left.
I really enjoyed Silicon Valley but my biggest issue with it is how predictable it got, every season ended with things suddenly going to shit in order to create a cliffhanger no matter how well they might have been going before
Yeah it reminded me of Brooklyn 99 in that regard
Or kinda how in Parks and Rec the characters are constantly getting shit on from every angle. In the last couple seasons it just felt so tiring. Like how everyone around them in an antagonist to their goals
I stopped watching it after S2, which I shouldn't have but I had already gone through that with Modern Family and I didn't want to waste time on something like that again.
i blame the richard hendricks character for that, he kept constantly making bad choices, it was stressing me out
It was like that every season, pretty much every episode. The real catch of the show for me was how accurate it was, not to mention prescient. Kind of like Idiocracy keeps becoming more relevant the further away from its release we get.
I actually thought the ending was awesome. I agree that things weren’t the same after Eric left, but they way the story ended was great and the documentary ending was a fantastic wrap up that left little to no questions.
Same here
Yeah, wtf kind of person mourns the loss of this character
Where's that Flashdrive though
@@sewerface people who enjoy the Character? Tf kind of question is that.
@@georgepolites1996 think we saw it (or one that looks very similar) plugged into Gilfoyle or Dinesh's computers. It's no confirmation but the idea could be that they're still tinkering with the tech...
ErLich was the man who pushed everyone’s buttons. So critical to have him there as a foil to everyone
Although I understand he was crucial to the structure of the show, I never got past how childish and immature he was. I had to stop watching the show because he was too irritating to tolerate.
He was barely onscreen with any of the main cast after a while. Gilfoyle, Dinesh, Russ, and far more did more than enough button pushing.
Not really. I thought the character was a d*ck and wondered why the others associated with him. They would have been more successful had they ditched him when they formed their business. As for TJ Miller himself, evidently he is a d*ck in real life.
It would of been like writing Jim Parsons off of big bang theory.
100%
I thought they removed Erlich from the show very, very neatly. Like he actually wasn't necessary at all after that point. Seasons 3 and 4 were showing how lost Erlich was and how he drifted away from the main gang because he was just becoming irrelevant.
He was great in the show, without a doubt. But because of the way they ended his character, I didn't miss him, because I got everything I could want from him already. Now I just want to see the Pied Piper gang make it big through more trial and error and battle Gavin Belson. Silicon Valley could not have had a better final season. It was frustrating, interesting, thrilling, and fun all at once.
The 5 years in Tibet 😆
i disagree. He was the Kramer of the show. Seinfeld would have been bad without him. SV lost their Kramer.
@@WisdomTooth1987exept the show had multiple Cramers. Self important, greedy and delusional foil to the group describes half the cast.
He also went from sitcom Kramer to stand up Kramer when he stopped being a foil for Richard and started being an absolute asshole towards Big Head.
His routine made sense when it was aimed at a guy who was depicted as being book smart but had no life or business sense. He was a burden but also brought something to the table.
Big Head was chill, nice, humble and Eric was just a leech. He became a villain but was never depicted as one and that made me lose interest in the character.
I don't think it was THAT bad without him. Erlich was amazing, obviously, and it wasn't as good without him, but there's a lot of really amazing episodes there without him. He was outstanding but his absence wasn't soulless or stupid.
It def wasnt the same it went from 8 to a 4
@@Juan_deep More like from a 9.5 to an 8.
I would have to re-watch but just from looking at this video and remembering the storyline, i think it became much more woke around the time that Erlich left. Gavin became a joke, the two investor chicks were like a pair of Rachel Starks of tech and $$$ and badass things... and the guys never accomplished anything, it was like everytime they were going to make it, everything came apart.
@@keepcalmandenjoythedecline sounds like you’re using the term “woke” very loosely 😂
I think it got better.
Honestly, I didn't notice any huge difference in the show after Bachman left. The show still worked and funny to me
Agreed, I thought Bachman was one of the weaker characters on the show and was actually relieved to see him written off.
@@CarsonHunter I wished they lent more into Bachman's character being a great coder who was lazy or possibly making a great CEO, maybe getting closer or learning more from Jared about the business side and growing. In the episode where they keep the live stream going was a great example of them showing some of his coder prowess. I liked his character, I just felt they decided to go too far down the path of insulting the character for cheap laughs and didn't grow him.
@@technicalthug that's a solid point. He did have some moments but you're right, almost little to none character growth.
Bad character, good performance.
I mean, definitely not a terribly written character, but I don't think the show suffered loss of a character as much as it lost presence of a good actor, not implying that other performances were bad.
They could've left Erlic in the incubator, doing his own thing, leeching off someone, or whatever the alternative they could've came up with, and I doubt audience would've complained. Really speaks lengths about the quality of the individual performance.
@@technicalthugor turn him into a bad guy. He absolutely crossed the line with Big Head. His antic's weren't funny when he was screwing over a super nice dude for no reason other than he could.
He simply wasn't one of the good guys towards the end of his run, but they were still pretending like he was and that just never worked for me
He was missed but it wasn’t a huge ‘miss’. Show was still great without him.
T.J. Miller messed up big time , he was getting movie roles and his star was rising, he had a small part in Deadpool , and ready player one and his last semi big blockbuster was in Underwater. He has load of talent to become a lead in a movie but the combination of rockn roll attitude and not being professional and not keeping his mouth shut is what kills carreers early.
Story wise yes but comedic wise no I don’t remember laughing once at any of the jokes and that’s not saying that Erlich was the primary reasons for my laughter but having him around shaped the vibes of the group even when not being there so we’d get hilarious events
That's a debatable opinion
@@mechajay3358 ok
Hard disagree
Honestly I thought it was time for him to go story wise. Felt like they were trying to come up with reasons for his character to still be around.
FACTS. He didn't add much to the story any more
For real, he is a good character, but I disagree with the quality of the show declining , because of his departure. Lol
Agreed, though Nerdstalgic’s point is that they didn’t replace him or add anyone new to rebalance the dynamic, partly because they likely didn’t have enough follow through to hewn out another character
Honestly love everything about this show. But honestly have to agree with this. I was wondering what the purpose of keeping his character around was by the time season 3 rolled around
Totally disagree. He was the best character in the show and it felt lonely once he disappeared...
Is it me or did this guy just repeat the problem like 50 times
yeah I thought this video was pretty stupid. first of all, nobody ever thought the show didn't work without Erlich, the general opinion is that it worked surprisingly well actually. and people generally liked the ending. and the analogies he is using are off, why the heck would you compare one character leaving with a baseball bat completely destroying your lego construction. did the writers have to destroy the whole plot? rebuild it? change directions? not even friggin' close. It just changed some dynamics with the characters, and the type of humor.
100%
It was never implied that Jin Yiang murdered Erlich, it was obvious he was faking Erlich’s death to seize his assets
Go back and listen again.
6:06 _"In handling Erlich Bachman's exit from Silicon Valley's story, the writers _*_mulled a few ideas around in their heads,_*_ one of which was alluding to the fact Jin Yang may or may not have murdered Erlich Bachman."_
The video never suggests that the "Jin Yang murdered Bachman" idea was actually the one they used, moreover they go on to explain why that particular idea _wasn't_ used.
6:17 _"This idea, funny as it may have been, was a little darker than the show's creators intended."_
And if there is any doubt remaining...
6:22 _"But at least this _*_imagined_*_ end-off _*_would have_*_ resulted in a satisfying amount of closure for the viewer. _*_Instead,_*_ the writers decided to leave the door open for a potential return..."_
Yes it was. Jin Yang heard from Richard Elrich was last seen in Tibet. JY wanted the 10% share. Then later JY has his license.
@@ajhiebis that you, Erlich?
I liked the last season a lot and I didn’t mind the absence of TJ
Yep, as a matter of fact, all the most contrived story lines in the show were center around Bachman.
I liked it better without Turdlick Cockman. It also allowed Jian Yang’s character to be the comic relief, and in my opinion, Jimmy O Yang is a lot funnier guy than TJ Miller.
@@5urg3x You just say that because of his personal life. Once again the people who enjoy art can't decipher between fiction and reality.
@@Mcnutty924 Actually, no. Jimmy O Yang was always funnier, even his stand up material, and other things he has done separate from SV were far better than Miller’s material. The cast of the show also hated Miller, prior to him getting “cancelled” and mentally braking down. He was always late and just not a good guy to work with.
@@5urg3x what'd he get cancelled for?
Erlich leaving is when I started to tune out of the show. He was my favorite character and bounced off perfectly with the others.
Gonna have to disagree. Erlich was there to cause problems essentially, after he left they just allowed the problems to come from other sources.
Really can't agree on this one. I felt the tone wasn't lost at all. Richard was the beating heart. If HE had left, you might have something. I also don't agree that Dinesh and Guilfoyle were at the bottom of some narrative pyramid. I also never felt the show "struggled to get across the finish line", either. I thought the ending was extremely satisfying. Lastly, it would really help to make your case if you had included some "during Bachmann" and "after bachmann" scene comparisons to make your point. Crack open the show to show me! All I heard was how often you kept repeating how different the show was without him...with no examples. You didn't prove your case.
I disagree something was lost. And it basically destroyed Jin yangs storyline.
How did you get in my head? 100% agree.
was going to post this exact thing. The show ran out of gas because the narrative loop had run its course (1. Things are going great! 2. Oh no there's a problem! 3. We miraculously solved the problem against all odds! 4. Repeat)
I felt there were enough great characters that I didn't miss Bachman, really at all.
I think they replaced erlich in the way that they made jin yang (opportunistic side of erlich) and Russ (crazy selfish psycho) and the traits that make up both of these characters are what make up erlich as a whole
Bachman was missed in the last seasons.
Thank goodness Jared (Donald) Dunn was basically the only reason pied piper succeeded.
Show also came up with one of the best insults ever. Kiss my piss. 💁♂️🤷♂️💁♂️🤷♂️💁♂️🤷♂️
Pied Piper was saved countless times from the hero that is Donald "Jared" Dunn.
The only choice for how to replace Ehrlich correctly would have been to have the show's other extroverted, vain, selfish character (Russ Hanneman) lose everything and move into the house with them.
This never occurred to me, but now I wish they *had* gone this route, because I think it would have actually made things a lot more entertaining
@@Hakumeiun S5E1: "No Commas"
AHAHAHAHHAHh this would have been fucking awesome hahahhahahh
@@madprophetus AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH
This guy fucks! I thoroughly agree.
I loved Silicon Valley so much. It was one of those shows I was really sad about when it went off air.
I didn't miss Erlich after he excited. It was extremely unfortunate that the actor who played Peter Gregory passed away, though. He was an amazing character played so well. Laurie just felt like a knockoff character.
This is still one of my all-time favorite shows. I was so excited each Sunday for new episodes, and while it ended well, I still miss it.
as we got to the final episodes i thought there was no way to wrap up the story with the amount of time left, but i was pleasantly surprised with how they managed to wrap up the loose ends while still leaving a few open questions
TJ Miller's personal life aside he was perfect for that role and really stole every scene he was in. The other characters were great but I agree with this evaluation that he was kind of the perfect 5th point of the star. Those first 4 seasons were pretty great despite the predictable disastrous ending every time. Got a little old. But it also seemed like Richard's character became much more unlikeable with each progressive season and the plots became a little thinner as things went on. Not the best thing for the protagonist of the series. I do like how it ended but Bachman was sorely missed in those last few seasons.
Richard was a selfish-little whiney bitch. Snot nosed nerd, with no people skills or management abilities.
honestly didn't mind bachman leaving, my favorite was always jared. he reminds me of characters like jonah on veep or greg on succession. although that might just be their similar size. anyway, i might have to rewatch silicon vallely now
Jared was always a highlight for myself.
I'v heard Zach Woods say in a interview that he has never sat and watched any episodes. out of the anxiety of seeing himself on screen and finding it to cringe for him to watch. From fear that he would rate his own performance as sub-par. Kinda broke my heart hearing him say it, as I always rated him as a top tier character and actor.
Jared really was a gem. Starting out I was like "okay, okay, yeah, okay, this guy is pretty funny". But then once he got into his stride I legit almost died laughing at some of those jokes. The Dinesh choking his mom with the chain one caught me so off guard I actually spit my drink out, can't remember the last time a show evoked a physical reaction like that outta me!
This show was the cornerstone of my favorite trilogy of tech shows that aired in the mid 2010's (Silicon Valley, Mr. Robot, Halt and Catch Fire). Each one filled a perfect niche of comedy, drama, well written characters and story telling, and were able to weave interesting elements of the tech industry into the stories. It sucks that TJ Miller tanked his own career and IMO ruined the 5th season of SV, but I feel like the show was able to finish strong enough in the 6th season to not completely ruin the entire series for me.
Sadly, those golden days seem to be over. The closest thing I've found is Mythic Quest, which I had hoped would be a mix of Sunny and Community, with a Silicon Valley feel, but after the first 2 seasons, it just doesn't hit the way any of those other shows did. Hoping they find their niche in season 3.
I couldn't stand how generic Mythic Quest felt right from then start.
Fuck, those were some good ass shows. I wish I could find something in the same vein as them, but still haven't found anything that comes close to the quality of those three shows, at least in relation to tech.
@@vomo8322 check out severance!!
This was already put the best way, by Erlich himself. "You need an asshole. When there's no asshole, it creates a kind of asshole vacuum"
Gilfoil was an asshole tho
Silicon Valley was so accurate. I’ve been thru every situation in the first three seasons in all of the startups I’ve been. The only thing questionable was hooli and Gavin belson, but I had several Gavin belsons in my consulting career, so his character definitely passes.
I always hated the character of Erlich but when he left I understood why he was necessary. You almost need someone like that as a foil to the other characters to make them compelling.
You're heartless and inhumane
Thank you for saying this. He was the exact reason I couldn't finish Season 1. I understand he was crucial to the structure of the show, but I never got past how childish and immature he was. I had to stop watching it because he was too irritating to tolerate.
Thats funny, he was one of my favorite characters from the start. Such a brilliantly designed parasitic piece of shit narcissist lol. I was howling laughing at the end of season 1 when he looked like a discount Steve Jobs
Contrarian writing to keep viewers subverted past stagnation; "oh, of course...he's dumb..."
Same with Chevy Chase as Pierce on Community
Once he left the show, I couldn't want it anymore and this is one of my all-time favorite comedies on TV.
You're really doing yourself a disservice if you haven't seen it through. I think it's hands down the best TV series ending I've ever seen.
Bruh, the show has so much rewatch value start to finish.
This is a bad video essay. You state that the show fell apart yet you never show any evidence of it. I agree that it fell apart Erlich, but you didn’t convince me.
That's some great stuff, Sam! Unfortunately, nobody asked!! Hope this helps
@@raph6931 it helped greatly!
@@samuelwerner-wilson1162 good to hear
@@raph6931 so what’s your mothers maiden name?
@@raph6931that’s kind of a brain dead response to a valid criticism he made. A response to you could be that no one asked for your opinion on his statement
For no reason from me, my feed has been inundated for the past 2 weeks with TJ Miller vids. I think with Deadpool 3 soon approaching that it brought him back to the forefront of people's minds and they've been searching about him.
They had such a strong cast and writing, I didn't miss Bachman. The writers and cast all stepped up to fill the gap. Season 6 was excellent. Fantastic show.
Homeboy actually arguing that Silicon Valley missed Miller more than The Office missed Carrel? Come on, man.
There was only one time I thought they needed him in a scene after he was gone. When Dinesh tried to inspire Richard w/ the Macho video to pump him up.
Erlich isn't critical to the show. The character played a role in the show's formula-- a role quickly filled by jian yang (and worthily so, might I add?)
Each character kind of saves the day in their own way at different points in time. Literally, everybody has their moment even Urlich.
All of the characters continued to play off each other and they managed to shoot themselves in the foot time and time again. I see Erlich as the Dionysian character that no one else was, reveling in the energy of Silicon Valley’s tech culture. He was missed but the show continued to be hilarious and wrapped up beautifully and in a timely way. After six seasons watching them fail over and over, I was happy to see a conclusion to their plight. I thought it was very fitting.
He was funny, but far from one of my favorite characters. Probably a personal thing, it's just that those "crude/asshole/idiot" archetypes are rarely the most memorable to me. I'm not saying the show was better for losing him, but it wasn't a huge deal for me and I definitely enjoyed the last two seasons. Maybe not quite as much as the early seasons, but I don't really think that was due to the lack of Erlich so much as the show just didn't feel quite as fresh as it used to. The only area I really felt his absence was when it came to Jian-Yang's character. I'd also say the ending was pretty good, the story being told was properly concluded in the second to last episode while the finale served as an "epilogue" to show where everyone ended up, and for the most part the time jump and "missing information" was actually pretty funny.
Probably just a matter of personal taste here. Still a great video, but I don't really agree with it as much as I typically do with videos from this channel.
PERFECT TIMING, I just finished rewatching it (first time seeing last season) a couple days ago and was wondering about it lmfao
Rewatching now as we speak. Haven’t watched this show since it ending love this show
I'm so glad that this video exists, just a few days ago I was watching video essays and I realized that virtually no video essayist talks about Silicon Valley. To see this appear in my recommendations a few days later, in fact _posted_ on the day when I had that realization, I feel much better knowing my favourite show is getting some recognition :)
"Erlich Bachmann, this is you as a old man. I'm ugly...dead...alone..."
1:16 - There was never enough Russ Hanneman.😆
LOVE Silicon Valley so much ❤️ It always surprised me and the humor was so weird, funny, and outrageous. I loved the character dynamics and the strange scenarios that popped up every season.
I like everything I've seen with T.J. Miller (Cloverfield, Office Christmas Party, Underwater, etc.) so I hope he is doing better.
Don't forget the emoji movie (or maybe do...)
Jared's character development made the final seasons! It was nice to see him be a bad ass
"You think I'm afraid to catch a case, on some bullshit??"
Kinda disagree with the Michael Scott comment; on paper The Office was an ensemble cast show, in reality it was the Michael Scott show; when he left that thing was done; producers knew it, they simply milked it as much as they could but were very aware it was all downhill from there.
It fell off a little bit, and Richard became what his nickname would be, but I still respect the ending so much. I miss this show, and I hope it can come back 😭
The finale was both inventive and satisfying. It was a bold move and was an absolute win-win. It showed the middle-out algorithm has become too intelligent for its own good and it was time to pull the plug.
He was the "regular guy" who the audience could relate with
A fantastic show. But so disappointing that they didn't bring him back in that final episode 😔
This is easily one of my favourite shows :D
Totally fine with his exit. Took a while to realize he was gone.
As Much As I Love Tj Miller On Screen.....it Would Make Sense Someone That Fun Couldn't Possibly Be Professional .
Silicon valley is one of those series which you can watch many times and still find it entertaining.... Who's with me?
I personally think ending was done good, tht said Erlic Bachmann was a great character
I loved the first few seasons of Silicon Valley. Jared is one of my favorite TV characters ever. I always hated Erlich, but you're right, the show changed in a negative way after he left.
Erlich was the guy who was wrong about a a lot of things but when he was right he was right and they needed his help
Not sure I agree that The Office ran so smoothly. They shoved Andy into the Michael Scott role and he did basically the same thing but was infinitely more annoying. It never recovered after Steve Carell left. It was already getting a bit long in the tooth and probably should've been cancelled at the end of season 7 but it limped along for those last two seasons.
This is really interesting to hear your perspective, because I really didn’t even notice that he was gone the last season it seemed natural that they moved beyond the incubator at this point
Agree to disagree. 5th and 6th season were pretty good IMO. If anything the 6th season seems like 2 seasons mashed together, but it's a great last season
Great video. Very intriguing.
Erlich Bachman was my favourite character on the show. It wasn't the same after his departure.
All right. Hold up pal. His behaviour wasn't 'unprofessional'. He was just being Erlich. He was living his character's life
Oh yeah I'm rewatching the show. Thanks for this great analysis :)
I feel like Jin Yang held it down for Erlich 😂😂😂
4:00 TJ Miller had a brain aneurysm and had a fight with some after effects mentally and spiritually afterwards. I think that was some of it. I always thought his jokes and work was pretty good.
Well written! And I tend to agree. I think I know why the writers left Erlich's character kinda open...just in case TJ Miller got his shit together, he would have been welcome back. Unfortunately that never happened. But kudos to the writers and producers for at least attempting it.
How you not gonna mention the late Christopher Evan Welch as Peter Gregory when you bring up the great acting performances from this show?
There are just some shows that were perfectly cast and can't survive without a critical cast member. Another show where this happened was Shameless. Emmy Rossum was the centerpiece of that show, and while the rest of the cast was also very important and had good story arcs in their own right, I watched Shameless from the perspective of Fiona's "try-fail-try" arc while she tries to break free of the shackles of poverty and a dead end existence, always hitting the ground running, but then getting in her own way and spiraling out of control (something I can identify with in my younger years). As a character, I think it can be presumed that she did escape Chicago and must have landed on her feet somewhere, but from a show quality perspective, after she left it felt like Shameless was a parody of its original self in the last two seasons, made even worse by shoe horning in an insane plot for Deb as the show came to a close (sex offender? Really?). With Rossum's departure, I feel like the writers decided to turn every other character up to eleven, making their character traits cartoonish and over the top at times. They also seem to have tried to introduce a new "Fiona" in Tami, but without much of the baggage and trauma that Fiona had to deal with while she tried to make something of herself other than just being a Gallagher (Plus Tami was insufferably annoying and stubborn).
All shows need a wildcard. Erlich is the wrecking ball that can make transitions without it seeming jarring.
I think you're overstating his importance to the show TBH. The show didn't really suffer from his absence, even if it wasn't as consistent. The finale definitely wouldn't have been better if Erlich had been there.
one more thing, he's no fucking Steve Carrell, that's a horrible comparison
It's almost as if good writing could make a character extremely central and enjoyable, or totally useless overnight if needed.
God I love Silicon Valley. Thank you for reminded me of it so I can go back and watch it all over again.
My take was apparently in the minority. Erlich's story felt essentially done once the Piper crew left the incubator house. Sure, as a 10% owner, he would have always been on the board of directors, but boards of companies the size Pied Piper eventually grew into have a way of marginalizing board members who are essentially boat anchors for the company.
It didn't help that Erlich never personally worked for me as the Dot Boomer character who basically just got lucky once, which was echoed, only much louder with Russ Hanneman.
I didn't even know about the whole skirmish with the actor. This was my first time hearing about it.
one of the best series i had ever watched!!!!
Sad that he wasn't at least in the final episode, I wanted to see what had happened to him. Similar to how Eric in That 70's Show came back for the final episode, just gives much needed closure. Also, Jared is the best character in the show, don't even try to change my mind.
Same thoughts here. Erlich wasn't missed that much later and it wouldn't make sense to keep him but I was kinda hoping to see him for the last time in final episode.
Thank you! Erlich was the reason i watched the show to begin with. im a tech head and an engineer but i didnt find the other characters funny without him.
Here's a fun game: write quotes from the show and see how long you can go without getting banned
ErLich Bachman and Gavin Belson were carrying the show
Erlich was hilarious but the show did just fine without him. His absence wasn't even that noticeable to me 🤷🏻♀️
I'm binging the show and I just got to season 5 and I was wondering... when is Erlich coming back... oh no... he might not come back. I had to Google it and now I know not to expect him to come back :^\ his boastful extroverted personality was such a huge contrast to the quiet introverted characters. I'm a little bored watching season 5, but I agree with a lot of people that they seemed to be running out of ideas what to do with him.
Wow I couldn't disagree more. This show is so good you forget Ehrlich isn't there after the first episode of S5
Hugely disagree, it felt like a different show entirely
@@tc2241in a good way
it's not that nobody noticed, it's that at least for me I appreciated that the writers knew the show had to end and gave it a good send off. It could've been worse.. I do agree the last 2 seasons weren't as good as the first 4 but they were nowhere near bad. How many time's have we seen a show go to shit because the writers want to keep milking it for as long as possible. I'm sure HBO didn't mind having it go into a season 7 and 8. I'm glad they didn't try to replace him that would've been a dumb decision and if they had gone in that direction this video would've been titled "why erlich's replacement didn't work"
Far out I forgot how stacked this show was. Not just the main guys, but Gavin, Ross, etc. Like 10 main characters.
He wouldn't show up on time or at all to table readings. Called in a bomb threat when he had a psychotic break down and the show wrote him as a main character. Long story short.
"You just brought piss to a shit fight" will forever remain an iconic line
Erlich was an integral part of the show but TJ Miller apparently thought that meant they couldn't do the show without him until they showed him otherwise. I agree losing the Erlich character was a blow but the biggest downfall was how it seemed like everyone was over it by the end. They just kept using the same plot devices over and over again. They were seemingly dead until some miracle gave them hope again.
Thanks to this video I just binged Silicon Valley, he’s right great shoe
The first 2 seasons are up there are some of the funniest episodes of TV ever! I have rewatched them both so many times. I've never rewatched the seasons without TJ Miller, who I hate
main thing that bothered me is how everyone just disregarded his absence and acted like they ain't cared that he was gone like they wasn't close shit felt empty but i still adore every season ofc sv a classic
Great video
I honestly didn't even realize that TJ Miller was written off, I thought he was going to come back! (Probably doesn't help that I never finished season 5 😅)
I'd love to see you cover how a show ends perfectly like The Marvelous Mrs Maisel
The tone of the show completely changed without Erlich and all the funniest plot devices revolved around him
silicon valley is one of the best sitcoms ever.
Good video but I have to disagree. Erlich was useless by the time they wrote him off. Think about how little effect he had on Pied Piper or the main story arch in his final season. He was so useless, he voluntarily went to Tibet!
Now, if JARED had been written off the show...
Silicon valley's structure pairs up one character with another. While the characters do interact with everyone, they are often paired together. Richard has Jared, Danesh has Gilfoyle and Erlich has Jinyang. The only character without a buddy was Big Head, who spent his screen time wandering around the set mindlessly. Erlich was a sad character to lose but Jinyang was the only person TRULY affected by it
4:20 Based Bachman looking out for the crew's bottom line, getting them extra money by pulling a Diesel.
Finally a nerdstalgic silicon valley episode
Every character in silicon valley unique
Him smacking the kid was so cathartic.