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AMC's 'Halt and Catch Fire' lights up the 'Silicon Prairie' in Texas By Kate O'Hare © Zap2it Created by Chris Cantwell and Chris Rog- ers, with Jonathan Lisco ("Southland") as show runner, AMC's "Halt and Catch Fire," a 10-episode drama premiering Sun- day, June 1, about the early days of the personal computer business in the 1980s, previewed its pilot in March in Austin, Texas, at South by Southwest, a former music festival that's become equally well known as a mecca for the latest in entertainment and especially tech. It was a swing for the fences, and it connected big. None other than Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak moderated the post- screening panel. An article at TheNextWeb.com says he praised the show's ac- curacy and look and said, "I give this show a 10, and that's so rare for me." Says Lisco: "We did nothing that I know of to get the thumbs-up from the Woz. The Woz came in as an invited guest to moderate this panel at South by Southwest. I spent 30 minutes with him behind stage. "Then he came on, and he asked a bunch of great questions. By the time it was over, of his own accord, at least in my perception, he said, 'I love this show.' "We were obviously elated by that. I think he embraces the show, both at the concrete level of plot — because it hear- kens back, for him, to some of his salad days — but I also think he finds the themes authentic and very richly portrayed. "At least that's what I hope it is." Set about one year af- ter IBM introduced its PC (which was in 1981), "Halt and Catch Fire" takes its title a phrase that refers to several machine code instructions that cause computers to shut down; the "catch fire" is meant as a joke. It stars Lee Pace ("The Hobbit: The Desola- tion of Smaug") as Joe MacMillan, an IBM sales executive who pulls a mysterious vanishing act. He pops up at Cardiff Electric in Texas, where he talks his way past boss John Bosworth (Toby Huss) and then enlists the help of frustrated genius engineer Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy) to reverse-engineer IBM's processor and create a PC clone. Caught legally between IBM and a hard place, Bosworth has to back MacMillan's play. MacMil- lan then recruits maverick programming prodigy Cameron Howe (Mack- enzie Davis) to help com- plete the project. Along with his enigmat- ic disappearance, MacMil- was, well, a change of pace. "The PC maker is very different from the pie maker," he says. "I like to be given the opportunity ... to play characters that are very different. Joe could not be more different from Ned. Ned has such a big open heart. Joe does, too, but he's just ... I don't know. "Joe is a mystery to me. After working on him for all these months, I find him to be a pretty mysterious person. He's got dad issues. That's what the whole IBM thing is about, looking at the patriarch, looking at Dad, and having a score to settle." Says Lisco, "We think the show is not just about the computer business of the early '80s, which could seem like it's about, but it's really about people fighting for competitive advantage in the marketplace. But it's not just that; it's about people at war with themselves as they search for something bigger. "And when I say 'something bigger,' I mean capital S, capital B." Says Pace, "He's moving at a speed that other people aren't moving at, and he's got a manner that rubs other people the wrong way." To Pace, Joe is a natural winner, but no superman. "He's that guy in the real world. He does take risks, but he fails, too. He makes mistakes, misjudgments. Things happen to him that he is unprepared to deal with. He's not that powerful guy. He's just a hustler. He's not the visionary, really, because the visionary is a title you give after the fact, like to Steve Jobs. "In this moment, Joe's no visionary. He's just a pain in the neck. ... He's making these people do things that they do not want to do." Scoot McNairy, Mackenzie Davis and Lee Pace (from left) star in "Halt and Catch Fire," premiering Sunday on AMC. lan also has a fierce inter- nal drive, combined with a certain amount of cha- risma, but less than his share of personal charm. According to Lisco, re- semblances to Steve Jobs are mostly coincidental. "Chris Cantwell's father," he says, "was a salesman related to this business. (Cantwell and Rogers) both had a very organic interest in doing some- thing set during this time, which would in some way be a fictionalized account of the genesis of the per- sonal computing business. "We didn't choose to biographize a specific character. Actually it's kind of wonderful, because that way we get to use fiction to illuminate, we hope, a deeper truth and create very specific characters, which allows us to have a lot of fun." For Pace, last seen on TV playing gentle pie maker Ned in the whimsi- cal fantasy series "Push- ing Daisies," playing Joe 2 The Goshen News • TV Spotlight • May 26 - June 1, 2014 C C O O M M S S I I C C B B w w L L N N I I G G 1300 W. PIKE ST. • GOSHEN, IN 46526 574-533-8564 www.MapleCityBowl.com Maple City Bowl at … BUY ONE GAME GET ONE FREE EXPIRES 1-31-2014 COSMIC BOWLING HOURS … FRI. 9:30 PM-12:30 AM; SAT. 1:00-3:00 PM & 8:00 PM-MIDNIGHT 5-31-2014 Over 3,500 resumes are posted on monster.com in The Goshen News readership areas. 574-533-2151 ext. 398 goshennews.com / Place Your Employment Ad Today!

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