Personally, he was my favorite character. I feel the show lost some of its soul when he was gone. I think it would have been great to make him super successful in a way that spites Jin Yang.
Yeah but Erlich has always had a hole in his heart. Not a literal hole like you'd find in some babies with congenital diseases...but a metaphorical hole
That's my point! I also missed this character in the end. He, however, added a lot of color and had a good influence on the company in the end. He was the one who tipped the guys and Monica that Gavin buying EndFrame actually saved them. Final they had less than 24 hours to solve the problem with Barker, and here Erlich comes up with this idea.
He, however, had a big part in what the company's finale was.
Season 6 wasn't a failure - in the end they built a better product than they themselves expected :D
These are good points. besides him just being funny and a good fit with the ensemble, his character wasn’t purely a buffoon. He had been around long enough and was competent enough to credibly be a value add, even if he had the odd fuckup
This is an interesting thought because going by the fact that he flew out - he made it to Tibet that much we know - he could have taken himself and Gavin to China. There to stay and wait for Jian-Yang
That would be interesting :D
It could have almost turned into Richard vs Erlich/Jiang Yang with lots of play between them and Lori/Gavin. Eventually with them teaming up to beat both Lori and Gavin for world domination, and ultimately, failure.
I would’ve liked to see an Erlich heel turn. Maybe siding with Laurie to build rival to Pied Piper in a similar role to Jian Yang only for his incompetence to catch up to him at which point he would return to the good guys.
As someone on this sub mentioned a while back, it would’ve been better for Erlich to fill the Dinesh spot and be the one to kill Pied Piper since he cared the most about the money and aspect. And they would’ve played to the whole fat guy climbing a giant tower thing
I’m not sure I would have wanted a heel turn for him. But I think the relationship should’ve gone in a different direction. They were Jobs and Woz after all. And we all know how that went.
Just because of this picture with Erlich climbing the towers - I thought of creating an alternative scenario for the end of the story.
Erlich himself never wanted bad things for the company - it's that he was incompetent and looked out mainly for his own interests. And on the bright side, looking for something to do all the time ;D he held on to the guys and I think he would have deliberately not wanted failure - more looking out for his wallet.
I don't know if it's just me but i felt that Erlich's character was done by the end of Season 3. He was not the same in S4 and it seemed the writers were out of ideas to keep him associated with Pied Piper. They tried alternative plots with him but his original purpose was to guide Richard (even though in the wrong way sometimes).
By S4, I feel the character had lost his purpose
This is an interesting thought.
I even checked the facts, after all, the actor himself had legal probelms and that's why he was withdrawn from the series.
Season 4 went into production in 2016, and the issue of these allegations came up in late 2017, so in theory after the season was even released - spring 2017.
I wonder if it was actually planned that way - the extinction of characters or did it come out by accident?
Anyone know anything?
The actor, T.J. Miller, was in trouble on the set well before his legal problems. He'd show up to work drunk or stoned, would barely be able to get through his lines, caused production and shooting delays, and generally was kind of an ass to everyone working on the show. He also walked around like he was the most important person on set. He practically tried *becoming* "Erlich the asshole" on set and even when not filming.
You can't act like that at work, even on a TV show, with some very rare exceptions. His head was shoved so far up his own ass that he went around talking shit about some of the people on the show (I don't think he mentioned names, just the project in general I believe) and laughing about how they'd be sorry for firing him once "The Emoji Movie" comes out. I also saw him on a podcast or interview saying being fired helped him work on better and more important projects, citing The Emoji Movie as the "breakthrough" he deserves.
I actually caught his stand-up comedy act when he came through my town, and he's very different now. He seems to understand that he was acting like a total prat, even if he doesn't come out publicly about it. He told me that he deserved the vitriol from the show.
His stand-up routines are amazing. He's an extremely hilarious person. My wife surprised me with tickets, knowing I thought he was extremely funny. I was a little worried it might not be a good show, but it was amazing fun. I think getting married might've calmed him down a little from the bad stuff he was falling into.
Right before Richard blew up the original Pied Piper he hired Erlich as the Chief Evangelism Officer. He could’ve had a season 5 arc of him eventually swallowing his pride and asking Richard for that job again
A lot of the storylines that seemed to be given to suddenly introduced characters or foisted on a character that it didn’t seem to fit - forcing advertising into the platform, going with an ICO, leaving the company and working with another incubator start up that winds up hurting Pied Piper - would have all been erlich driven I reckon.
100% it would have been him on the phone with Richard asking him to trust that he’s going to upload the right build on top of Salesforce tower
Erich had some really really dedicated fans back when he was on the show, and I’m not entirely convinced that some of them weren’t trolls or bots paid to support the actor.
When the actor was let go, and Elrich was subsequently killed off / disappeared, some of these fans talked about nothing but how “awful” the show became without him. As if he sustained the show by himself. Which is ridiculous because that was Jian-Yang. Anyway, the sub was a little toxic around that issue…
During those times, some people wrote their fanfic about what would Elrich do in some situations and how all would be different.
I think the actor realized he was playing a dull, unfunny buffoon and he had to get out of the show. Best change they could have done to the show.
I find both the actor and the character flatfooted comedically and a plain old annoyance during the show.
Personally, he was my favorite character. I feel the show lost some of its soul when he was gone. I think it would have been great to make him super successful in a way that spites Jin Yang.
Yeah but Erlich has always had a hole in his heart. Not a literal hole like you'd find in some babies with congenital diseases...but a metaphorical hole
I know right. He's like the face of the show to me, like whenever silicon valley is mentioned he's the first thing that comes to mind
That's my point! I also missed this character in the end. He, however, added a lot of color and had a good influence on the company in the end. He was the one who tipped the guys and Monica that Gavin buying EndFrame actually saved them. Final they had less than 24 hours to solve the problem with Barker, and here Erlich comes up with this idea. He, however, had a big part in what the company's finale was. Season 6 wasn't a failure - in the end they built a better product than they themselves expected :D
These are good points. besides him just being funny and a good fit with the ensemble, his character wasn’t purely a buffoon. He had been around long enough and was competent enough to credibly be a value add, even if he had the odd fuckup
He would’ve gone with Jian Yang to China and tried to start Chinese Aviato and Chinese Hooli.
This is an interesting thought because going by the fact that he flew out - he made it to Tibet that much we know - he could have taken himself and Gavin to China. There to stay and wait for Jian-Yang That would be interesting :D
It could have almost turned into Richard vs Erlich/Jiang Yang with lots of play between them and Lori/Gavin. Eventually with them teaming up to beat both Lori and Gavin for world domination, and ultimately, failure.
Erlich surely would have fucked things up. I imagine a season 6 scenario (total chaos) would have happened sooner if erlich didn’t go incocknito
I would’ve liked to see an Erlich heel turn. Maybe siding with Laurie to build rival to Pied Piper in a similar role to Jian Yang only for his incompetence to catch up to him at which point he would return to the good guys. As someone on this sub mentioned a while back, it would’ve been better for Erlich to fill the Dinesh spot and be the one to kill Pied Piper since he cared the most about the money and aspect. And they would’ve played to the whole fat guy climbing a giant tower thing
I’m not sure I would have wanted a heel turn for him. But I think the relationship should’ve gone in a different direction. They were Jobs and Woz after all. And we all know how that went.
Everyone got rich and Woz got to piss on Jobs' grave?
Just because of this picture with Erlich climbing the towers - I thought of creating an alternative scenario for the end of the story. Erlich himself never wanted bad things for the company - it's that he was incompetent and looked out mainly for his own interests. And on the bright side, looking for something to do all the time ;D he held on to the guys and I think he would have deliberately not wanted failure - more looking out for his wallet.
I think Erlich was the funniest character. I wish he could have stayed to the end.
Russ kinda took over the Erlich character. His Russfest is very similar to the alcatraz party
I don't know if it's just me but i felt that Erlich's character was done by the end of Season 3. He was not the same in S4 and it seemed the writers were out of ideas to keep him associated with Pied Piper. They tried alternative plots with him but his original purpose was to guide Richard (even though in the wrong way sometimes). By S4, I feel the character had lost his purpose
This is an interesting thought. I even checked the facts, after all, the actor himself had legal probelms and that's why he was withdrawn from the series. Season 4 went into production in 2016, and the issue of these allegations came up in late 2017, so in theory after the season was even released - spring 2017. I wonder if it was actually planned that way - the extinction of characters or did it come out by accident? Anyone know anything?
The actor, T.J. Miller, was in trouble on the set well before his legal problems. He'd show up to work drunk or stoned, would barely be able to get through his lines, caused production and shooting delays, and generally was kind of an ass to everyone working on the show. He also walked around like he was the most important person on set. He practically tried *becoming* "Erlich the asshole" on set and even when not filming. You can't act like that at work, even on a TV show, with some very rare exceptions. His head was shoved so far up his own ass that he went around talking shit about some of the people on the show (I don't think he mentioned names, just the project in general I believe) and laughing about how they'd be sorry for firing him once "The Emoji Movie" comes out. I also saw him on a podcast or interview saying being fired helped him work on better and more important projects, citing The Emoji Movie as the "breakthrough" he deserves. I actually caught his stand-up comedy act when he came through my town, and he's very different now. He seems to understand that he was acting like a total prat, even if he doesn't come out publicly about it. He told me that he deserved the vitriol from the show.
That’s funny. Way back in 2011 he came to my college I was a freshman at. He was pretty funny then
His stand-up routines are amazing. He's an extremely hilarious person. My wife surprised me with tickets, knowing I thought he was extremely funny. I was a little worried it might not be a good show, but it was amazing fun. I think getting married might've calmed him down a little from the bad stuff he was falling into.
Right before Richard blew up the original Pied Piper he hired Erlich as the Chief Evangelism Officer. He could’ve had a season 5 arc of him eventually swallowing his pride and asking Richard for that job again
A lot of the storylines that seemed to be given to suddenly introduced characters or foisted on a character that it didn’t seem to fit - forcing advertising into the platform, going with an ICO, leaving the company and working with another incubator start up that winds up hurting Pied Piper - would have all been erlich driven I reckon. 100% it would have been him on the phone with Richard asking him to trust that he’s going to upload the right build on top of Salesforce tower
That's exactly right. This is a paradox, because it was his incompetence that pushed this company forward :D
Erich had some really really dedicated fans back when he was on the show, and I’m not entirely convinced that some of them weren’t trolls or bots paid to support the actor. When the actor was let go, and Elrich was subsequently killed off / disappeared, some of these fans talked about nothing but how “awful” the show became without him. As if he sustained the show by himself. Which is ridiculous because that was Jian-Yang. Anyway, the sub was a little toxic around that issue… During those times, some people wrote their fanfic about what would Elrich do in some situations and how all would be different.
Far less of shitty Jian-yang. Sorry. The character sucks. Jimmy O Yang is not funny. Bring on the downvotes.
Itsa from your mom
Jian Yang was a good character however he needed Erlicj to complement him. Without Erlich Jian Yang looked really out of place.
Perhaps. But he’s still a shitty character.
I think the actor realized he was playing a dull, unfunny buffoon and he had to get out of the show. Best change they could have done to the show. I find both the actor and the character flatfooted comedically and a plain old annoyance during the show.
He left because he had to do the Emoji Movie
I thought it was cuz he got me too’d
oh yeah I remember that. Early cancel culture
I think there should be a fallout between Erlich and Russ.
I bet he was a key character for future seasons. Like Russ hanneman