How many of you have seen Mike Judge’s Silicon Valley? Judge is best known for his other, hugely successful animated shows, “Beavis and Butthead” and “Office Space.” Expectations are running high, but can Judge really capture the culture and ‘reality’ of what it’s like to work in Silicon Valley?

In case you’re wondering, Silicon Valley follows the lives of five software developers who are trying to build a new software platform that will change the world, all while residing in Silicon Valley.

At Fueled, we all loved Office Space, who wouldn’t, but the jury is still out as to whether Silicon Valley is going to match the chops of what Office Space provided. It was a no holds barred, non-PC dialogue based jokes with a hint of reality thrown in for good measure.

Check out some critics and what they have to say below!

Metacritic

Of the critic reviews on Metacritic, 33 are positive so far, with only two being mixed. But of the user reviews provided, eight are positive, three mixed, and three negative. Of the negative reviews, most feel that the show isn’t really depicting the average Silicon Valley worker, and is overrated, claiming that HBO is just banking on their marketing to get people to watch it.

The show is said to be set in the present, but one user points out that it’s out of touch and quite homophobic, which would be more relevant if it was set in the 1980s or 90s.

Of the positive reviews, most mentioned how funny the show was, noting that it is “quite charming, satirical comedy about the geeks…” The show is already drawing comparisons to Office Space, heavily revolving around one central character and his friends, which seems to be the recipe for a good, satirical show.

The Verge

The Verge review is positive, noting that the satire comedy “is aimed at the tech elite.” With the low-hanging fruit being picked right off the bat, the show clearly depicts societies view of what a ‘geek’ is like and not necessarily the reality. They can’t talk to girls, get picked on by fellow brogrammers (amazing term), namecheck popular apps like Instagram, and use apps of a sexual content for joke material. It’s all about taking the absurd situations that startups find themselves in and escalating them into hyper reality, but it’s still funny because there’s a large truth in it.

Overall, The Verge thinks it has “a mix of insider jokes and broad comic appeal.”

It appears to be getting better with each episode, so if you are looking for some light, comic relief you might like to check it out according to this reviewer.

Slate

Writer David Auerbach opens up his review of Silicon Valley on Slate with the title “Let me count all the ways I hate Silicon Valley.”

In his rant about how the show “wield a butter knife instead of a scalpel…” Auerbach feels that Silicon Valley is just an upscale Big Bang Theory, getting most of its laughs from a Pakistani guy. As others have mentioned in their negative reviews, Auerback also feels that it lacks present day context, with no mention of Google Plus jokes, virtually no texting or even tweeting!

Auerback basically states that the new show lacks any real ‘balls’ and it’s too soft, that it’s just going to follow the typical HBO paint-by-numbers style of comedy.

While we don’t necessarily agree with all of the negative reviews, there are a few good points made, in particular about the present day context, or lack there of. Perhaps once the writers and show’s producers read some of these reviews, they will adjust accordingly.

Overall though, here at Fueled, we think it’s a funny, light show worth adding to the Netflix.com cue!