History Trivia / SiliconValley

* ActorLeavesCharacterDies: Subverted as his character isn't actually dead, but has disappeared and is later declared legally dead by a judge for property reasons. The departure of Erlich Bachman was very clearly influenced by TJ Miller burning all bridges with the cast and crew. Erlich goes through much more misfortune than in previous seasons, directly leading to him leaving the company. Despite previously being portrayed as their friend, nobody else involved in Pied Piper cares that he's going away, with the only person making any effort to say goodbye being Jin-Yang, who only does so to be a dick to Erlich one last time. He later joins up with Gavin who quickly abandons him when given the opportunity at a den in Tibet where Erlich is set up to stay for five years, smoking so much opium that he's incoherent and unresponsive. When asked about his whereabouts later, Gavin denies knowing them, and Erlich is never seen again, with the series finale heavily implying [[spoiler:Jian-Yang murdered him to steal his identity]].
* CaliforniaDoubling: Very little of the series was filmed in Silicon Valley or the adjoining San Francisco Bay Area. Interiors were often filmed on soundstages in Los Angeles, while most exteriors were Los Angeles locations, often in Burbank which has a passing resemblance to Silicon Valley. However, some exteriors were shot on location. Most establishing shots were filmed in and around Silicon Valley, and most recognizable real-life locations were filmed on location as well, such as AT&T Park, Oracle Arena, and the Moscone Center.

** Creator/TJMiller said that the reason he left the show was because it had become [[StatusQuoIsGod too cyclical]] and was in danger of wearing thin. Ironically, the producers (including Creator/MikeJudge) give the same reason for their plan to write Erlich off for most of season 5 as was originally planned before Miller outright quit, as they got tired of recycling the same old plots to keep him relevant. Miller did, however, have good things to say about the series's development since leaving it, and complimented the series finale.
** A year later, Creator/AliceWetterlund accused the rest of the cast and crew of being complicit in Miller's antics, which were already at a level that should have been unacceptable even back during her time on the show. She concluded, "They can all fuck off forever." When Thomas Middleditch was accused of sexual harassment a couple years later, she said "I tried to warn you."
* DawsonCasting: the exact age of each of the guys living in Ehrlich’s incubator is never revealed but hinted that each are very young and thus the notion of living rent free in a nice house was very appealing to them. However each actor was in their 30s at the start of the series and likely would’ve long gotten their own places to live.

** The Weissman Score was something created by the writers to try and convey a metric to an audience that might not necessarily be well-versed in computer programming. But the producers had Stanford researchers actually develop a legitimate equation that is slowly gaining traction in the research community.

** Jian Yang's "Not Hotdog" app is available in the App Store, it can be downloaded [[https://itunes.apple.com/app/not-hotdog/id1212457521 here]], and yes, it can actually tell you whether it's a hotdog or not. Unlike in the show, however, it can [[spoiler: tell a dick from a hotdog.]] Jian-Yang also appeared on Bloomberg Tech's [[https://twitter.com/TechAtBloomberg/status/863944535419666432 official Twitter]] to talk about the app, although he quickly switches to [[spoiler: taking advantage of the audience he has to humiliate Erlich for cashing out beforehand]].

* ActorLeavesCharacterDies: Subverted as his character isn't actually dead, but has disappeared and is later declared legally dead by a judge for property reasons. The departure of Erlich Bachman was very clearly influenced by TJ Miller burning all bridges with the cast and crew. Erlich goes through much more misfortune than in previous seasons, directly leading to him leaving the company. Despite previously being portrayed as their friend, nobody else involved in Pied Piper cares that he's going away, with the only person making any effort to say goodbye being Jin-Yang, who only does so to be a dick to Erlich one last time. He later joins up with Gavin who quickly abandons him when given the opportunity at a den in Tibet where Erlich is set up to stay for five years, smoking so much opium that he's incoherent and unresponsive. When asked about his whereabouts later, Gavin denies knowing them, and Erlich is never seen again.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Very little of the series was filmed in Silicon Valley or the adjoining San Francisco Bay Area. Interiors were often filmed on soundstages in Los Angeles, while most exteriors were Los Angeles locations, often in Burbank which has a passing resemblance to Silicon Valley. However some outdoor locations were shot on location. Most establishing shots were filmed on location in and around Silicon Valley, and most real locations were filmed on location as well, such as AT&T Park, Oracle Arena, and the Moscone Center.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Very little of the series was filmed in Silicon Valley or the ajoining areas featured in the show. All interiors are filmed in and around Los Angeles, often in the Burbank area which has a passing resemblance to the Bay Area. However some outdoor locations were shot on location. Most establishing shots were filmed on location in and around Silicon Valley, and most real locations were filmed on location as well, such as AT&T Park, Oracle Arena, and the Moscone Center.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Very little of the series was filmed in Silicon Valley or the ajoining areas featured in the show. All interiors are filmed in and around Los Angeles, often in the Burbank area which has a passing reseqbmalce to the Bay Area. However some outdoor locations were shot on location. Most establishing shots were filmed on location in and around Silicon Valley, and most real locations were filmed on location as well, such as AT&T Park, Oracle Arena, and the Moscone Center.

* ActorLeavesCharacterDies: Subverted as his character isn't actually dead, but has disappeared and later declared legally dead by a judge for property reasons. The departure of Erlich Bachman was very clearly influenced by TJ Miller burning all bridges with the cast and crew. Erlich goes through much more misfortune than in previous seasons, directly leading to him leaving the company. Despite previously being portrayed as their friend, nobody else involved in Pied Piper cares that he's going away, with the only person making any effort to say goodbye being Jin-Yang, who only does so to be a dick to Erlich one last time. He later joins up with Gavin who quickly abandons him when given the opportunity at a den in Tibet where Erlich is set up to stay for five years, smoking so much opium that he's incoherent and unresponsive. When asked about his whereabouts later, Gavin denies knowing them, and Erlich is never seen again.

* ActorLeavesCharacterDies: Subverted as his character wasn't killed, but the departure of Erlich Bachman was very clearly influenced by TJ Miller burning all bridges with the cast and crew. Erlich goes through much more misfortune than in previous seasons, directly leading to him leaving the company. Despite previously being portrayed as their friend, nobody else involved in Pied Piper cares that he's going away, with the only person making any effort to say goodbye being Jin-Yang, who only does so to be a dick to Erlich one last time. He later joins up with Gavin who quickly abandons him when given the opportunity at a den in Tibet where Erlich is set up to stay for five years, smoking so much opium that he's incoherent and unresponsive. When asked about his whereabouts later, Gavin denies knowing them, and Erlich is never seen again.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Very little of the series films in Silicon Valley or the ajoining areas featured in the show. All interiors are filmed in and around Los Angeles. However some outdoor locations were shot on location. Most establishing shots are however, also filmed on location in and around Silicon Valley, and most real locations were filmed on location as well, such as AT&T Park, Oracle Arena, and Moscone Center.

* ThrowItIn: The cast has a lot of veteran improv comedians who are given a lot of leeway to do their stuff. Most notably, almost all of Jared's DarkAndTroubledPast is made up by Zach Woods on the spot, and he's cautioned fans that he's never tried to make it all fit together so they shouldn't try to build a coherent story out of it.

* McLeaned: Subverted as his character wasn't killed, but the departure of Erlich Bachman was very clearly influenced by TJ Miller burning all bridges with the cast and crew. Erlich goes through much more misfortune than in previous seasons, directly leading to him leaving the company. Despite previously being portrayed as their friend, nobody else involved in Pied Piper cares that he's going away, with the only person making any effort to say goodbye being Jin-Yang, who only does so to be a dick to Erlich one last time. He later joins up with Gavin who quickly abandons him when given the opportunity at a den in Tibet where Erlich is set up to stay for five years, smoking so much opium that he's incoherent and unresponsive. When asked about his whereabouts later, Gavin denies knowing them, and Erlich is never seen again.

** Martin Starr as a wisecracking nerd. Just like in ''Film/{{Adventureland}}'' and ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks''.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The show is a pretty good encapsulation of Silicon Valley culture as TheNewTens went on. In the first couple seasons, it's an optimistic affair, reflecting the starry-eyed perception the public generally had of it at the start of the decade. By its last season, things are much darker, with the show pulling no punches about depicting the dark underbelly of how massive tech corporations operate, and the audience is no longer really expected to root for any of the Pied Piper guys by the end. The fact that the last season even did some RippedFromTheHeadlines by lampooning the Facebook Congressional Hearings adds to this.

** Due to Creator/TJMiller's schedule, as well as his lack of dedication to being on the show, with Miller often being late to shootings, and alleged clashes with co-creator Alec Berg, as well as difficulty by the writers in finding stuff for Erlich to do, the writers only planned for Erlich's bus trip to China to be temporary, with Erlich returning for three episodes in Season 5 before writing him out of the show for good. Miller declined to return at all, making his departure permanent.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Watching the show from beginning to end makes for a pretty interesting illustration of how society increasingly turned against Silicon Valley entrepreneurs as TheNewTens progressed and started seeing them as all being as bad as Gavin, with the audience no longer really being expected to root for any of the Pied Piper guys by the end.

** A year later, Creator/AliceWetterlund accused the rest of the cast and crew of being complicit in Miller's antics, which were already at a level that should have been unacceptable even back during her time on the show. She concluded, "They can all fuck off forever." When Thomas Middleditch was accused of sexual harrassment a couple years later, she said "I tried to warn you."

* McLeaned: Subverted as his character wasn't killed, but the departure of Erlich Bachman was very clearly influenced by TJ Miller burning all bridges with the cast and crew. Erlich goes through a much more misfortune than in previous seasons, directly leading to him leaving the company. Despite previously being portrayed as their friend, nobody else involved in Pied Piper cares that he's going away, with the only person making any effort to say goodbye being Jin-Yang, who only does so to be a dick to Erlich one last time. Then in his final episode, after joining up with Gavin, who quickly abandons him when given the opportunity at a den in Tibet where Erlich is set up to stay for five years, smoking so much opium that he's incoherent and unresponsive. When asked about his whereabouts later, Gavin denies knowing them, and Erlich is never seen again.

* HostilityOnTheSet: On July 18, 2018, Creator/AliceWetterlund took to Twitter to accuse Creator/TJMiller of inappropriate, unprofessional behavior on set, writing:

** Creator/KumailNanjiani suggested mining his changing physique for comedy in the final season (he'd been getting into shape for ''Film/TheEternals''), but the writers decided not to draw attention to his changed appearance.

** A year later, Alice Wetterlund accused the rest of the cast and crew of being complicit in Miller's antics, which were already at a level that should have been unacceptable even back during her time on the show. She concluded, "They can all fuck off forever." When Thomas Middleditch was accused of sexual harrassment a couple years later, she said "I tried to warn you."

* HostilityOnTheSet: On July 18, 2018, Alice Wetterlund took to Twitter to accuse Creator/TJMiller of inappropriate, unprofessional behavior on set, writing:

** A year later, Alice Wetterlund accused the rest of the cast and crew of being complicit in Miller's antics, which were already at a level that should have been unacceptable even back during her time on the show. She concluded, "They can all fuck off forever."

** And the equation for jerking off a roomful of dicks is the subject of a genuine 12-page scientific article that's been published.
** Jian Yang's "Not Hotdog" app is available in the App Store, it can be downloaded [[https://itunes.apple.com/app/not-hotdog/id1212457521 here]]. And yes, it can actually tell you whether it's a hotdog or not. Unlike in the show, however, it can [[spoiler: tell a dick from a hotdog.]] Jian-Yang also appeared on Bloomberg Tech's [[https://twitter.com/TechAtBloomberg/status/863944535419666432 official Twitter]] to talk about the app, although he quickly switches to [[spoiler: taking advantage of the audience he has to humiliate Erlich for cashing out beforehand]].

-->“I hope to not ruin it for you, but Creator/TJMiller was a bully and petulant brat."

** Pied Piper’s Skunkworks was planned as a multi-episode arc spanning most of season 3, it was abandoned, after it was believed it would be funnier to have the plan immediately blow up in their face.
** Due to Creator/TJMiller's schedule, as well as his lack of dedication to being on the show, with Miller often being late to shootings, and alleged clashes with co-creator Alec Berg, as well as difficulty by the writers in finding stuff for Erlich to do, the writers only planned for Erlich’s bus trip to China to be temporary, with Erlich returning for three episodes in Season 5 before writing him out of the show for good. Miller declined to return at all, making his departure permanent.

** Creator/TJMiller said that the reason he left the show was because it had become [[StatusQuoIsGod too cyclical]] and was in danger of wearing thin. Ironically, the producers (including Creator/MikeJudge) give the same reason for their plan to write Erlich off for most of season 5 as was originally planned before Miller outright quit, as they got tired recycling the same old plots to keep him relevant. Miller did, however, have good things to say about the series's development since leaving it, and complimented the series finale.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Watching the show from beginning to end makes for a pretty interesting illustration of how society turned against Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and started seeing them as all being as bad as Gavin, with our no longer really being expected to root for any of Pied Piper by the end.

* TheCharacterDiedWithHim: Christopher Evan Welch (Peter Gregory) died partway through filming season 1. The character was PutOnABus for the final three episodes, and died in the first episode of season 2.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Very little of the series films in Silicon Valley or the ajoining areas featured in the show. All interiors are filmed in and around Los Angeles. Most establishing shots are however, filmed on location in and around Silicon Valley, and most real locations were filmed on location as well, such as AT&T Park, Oracle Arena, and Moscone Center.

** Creator/KuamilNanjiani suggested mining his changing physique for comedy in the final season (he'd been getting into shape for ''Film/TheEternals''), but the writers decided not to draw attention to his changed appearance.

** Creator/MikeJudge and Alec Berg claim they came "very close" to having the series finale explicitly reveal that [[spoiler:Jian-Yang murdered Erlich [[DeadPersonImpersonation to steal his identity]]]] but then decided to leave it ambiguous.