Silicon Valley Notes and Trivia

All notes and trivia from the hit HBO show "Silicon Valley"

S06E07 - Exit Event (Notes and Trivia)

Series finale.

In the post-failure interview with Dinesh, you can see a framed copy of the selfie his fans took when he was recognized on the street.

HBO also released the "Ten Years Later: The Extended Pied Piper Documentary," separately. It contained many scenes which were seen in the final episode.

Unlike other episodes, the end credits roll over top of the final scene.

In the scene where the gang are visiting the hacker hostel, Jared refers to Big Head as "Big Head," but he corrects Jared by responding, "Nelson."

The "Documentarian" was played by Executive Producer Alec Berg.

TJ Miller did have a part in the final episode as his photo appeared on the ID Jian-Yang handed to the documentarian.

S06E06 - RussFest (Notes and Trivia)

Although Matt Ross (Gavin Belson) is credited for this episode, he did not appear.

When Richard approaches Laurie to accuse her of hacking their system, he has a newer MacBook Pro. When he smashes his laptop on the ground he is holding a an older model MacBook Pro.

S06E05 - Tethics (Notes and Trivia)

Although Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti), Suzanne Cryer (Laurie Bream), and Jimmy O. Yang (Jian Yang) are credited for this episode, they did not appear.

The "Russfest" promotional clip is a sendup to "Mad Max: Fury Road."

In a scene where Gilfoyle and Monica meet with HR, she tells him that his score is 9.9, but before she tells him that screen indicates a score of 8.2, then it switches to 9.9.

S06E04 - Maximizing Alphaness (Notes and Trivia)

Although Jimmy O. Yang (Jian Yang) and Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ Hanneman) are credited for this episode, they did not appear.

In one scene, where Jared and Big Head are talking, Jon Snow's sword, Longclaw, from "Game of Thrones" is visible in the background.

S06E03 - Hooli Smokes (Notes and Trivia)

Although Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ Hanneman) is credited for this episode, he did not appear.

Ron compares Richard turning down a billion dollars to the movie "Thelma and Louise" where they drove a car off a cliff.

S06E02 - Blood Money (Notes and Trivia)

Although Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti) and Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ Hanneman) are credited for this episode, they did not appear.

The conference rooms in the new Pied Piper offices are named for types of wind instruments (pipes) from around the world. Conference room D is named Palendag, which is a type of Philippine flute. Conference room C is called Shakuhachi, after a style of bamboo flute from Japan.

S06E01 - Artificial Lack of Intelligence (Notes and Trivia)

Although Suzanne Cryer (Laurie Bream) and Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ Hanneman) are credited for this episode, they did not appear.

S05E08 - Fifty-One Percent (Notes and Trivia)

Season 5 finale.

This is the second episode where we see Dinesh perform his karaoke version of Crispian St. Peter's "Pied Piper. The first being in S03E08 - Bachman's Earning's Over-Ride.

The bottle of "Pappy Van Winkle" Gilfoyle had in his desk is a callback to a similar bottle he received from a recruiter when EndFrame tried to hire him in S03E03 - Meinertzhagen's Haversack.

According to Zach woods, the line "How would you like to die today, motherfucker?" was improvised. (Huffington Post)

Note when Dinesh and Jared find Colin camping, he has isolated himself inside a motor home playing a video game, but he has a video of nature scenes playing on a separate screen.

S05E07 - Initial Coin Offering (Notes and Trivia)

The "Fortnight" reference in the cold opening seems to have been added as a post-edit.

Although Jimmy O. Yang (Jian Yang) is credited for this episode, he did not appear.

Dinesh: So, there is a mode above Ludicrous Mode. Am I correct?
Stephanie: Yes. It's called Plaid. And it comes standard on the new Tesla Roadster.

When the Tesla saleswoman mentions "Plaid" mode, she is making a reference to the movie "Spaceballs", where the starship goes into "Ludicrous" speed, and then into "Plaid". (Youtube) However, this send-up is not something that "Silicon Valley" invented, as Tesla has actually included "Ludicrous" and "Plaid" modes in their products.

S05E06 - Artificial Emotional Intelligence (Notes and Trivia)

Actor Matt Ross, who plays Gavin Belson, directed this episode.

Note when he is standing in front of Dinesh who was finishing his coding, Gilfoyle's coffee mug says, "Drink Coffee, Hail Satan."

The artwork Monica had the workers remove was the question mark painting (made of human hair harvested from dead people) that was last seen in episode S03E03 - Meinertzhagen's Haversack.

The song the children sang for Gavin was a traditional Chinese children's song named "Buyu Ge" (Fishing Song).

In the scene where Jared and Fiona were talking by the pool, notice the table between them, where it shows how Jared was drinking a glass of wine and Fiona was enjoying a "sip" of power from a power supply.

When some of the Chinese written post-it notes on Jian Yang's whiteboard are translated, they say, "Copy Jinri Toutiao (Today's Headline)", which is a popular Chinese online news platform, "Richard only has an attack stat of 5", which is a reference to Dragonball and a Chinese meme created to say someone was weak, "Ban ads of the Putian Medical Group", which is a company known for misleading ads (and bad medical treatment) on Baidu, references to "stupid Americans", and random notes describing methods of getting around China's Firewall.

S05E05 - Facial Recognition (Notes and Trivia)

Although Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti) and Jimmy O. Yang (Jian Yang) were credited for this episode, they did not appear.

There was a funny moment where Richard was frightened to find a switchblade knife in Jared's desk.

Did you notice that Richard's orange CEO chair, last seen in S05E04-Tech Evangelist as the only piece of furniture left in the hacker hostel, is now in his CEO office at Pied Piper.

When Gavin gave his presentation, the same binary code was shown behind Gavin as when was practicing the presentation. When the code is decoded, it reads, "find a hobby for God's sake."

S05E04 - Tech Evangelist (Notes and Trivia)

When the binary code shown behind Gavin as he was practicing his presentation is decoded, it reads, "find a hobby for God's sake."

The video game shown during the meeting at K-Hole Games was actually "Dying Light", an open world first person survival horror action-adventure video game developed by Techland and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

In reference to Colin's video game company "K-Hole Games", "k-hole" is an euphemism for having used too much of the drug ketamine, and have lost sense of space and time, balance, and verbal skills.

S05E03 - Chief Operating Officer (Notes and Trivia)

Although Amanda Crew (Monica Hall), Suzanne Cryer (Laurie Bream) and Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti) are credited for this episode, they did not appear.

"You Suffer" by Napalm Death, the 1.316 second song used by Gilfoyle as Bitcoin mining rig alert, is certified as the world's shortest song by The Guinness Book of World Records.

When Jian Yang called Jared, his phone number was revealed to be (650) 933-5102. When people have called this number a recorded message is heard: "Hello, this is voicemail for Jian-Yang. I did not pick up your phone. If you are a friend, or a friend of a friend, leave a message. If you are Eric, you are dead. You are dead, sad, fat ghost. I prove this to government when I show them your ashes. You are alone in hell, but still fat. Bye. I love you." (Youtube)

S05E02 - Reorientation (Notes and Trivia)

Although Amanda Crew (Monica Hall), Suzanne Cryer (Laurie Bream) and Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti) are credited for this episode, they did not appear.

Note that Dinesh crashed his Tesla into a "JuicerY" truck. (Probably a sendup to "Juicero")

One of the programmers shown in the Pied Piper offices is well-known extra Jesse Heiman, an American actor best known for his uncredited work as an extra in a wide variety of films and television shows. (Youtube)

S05E01 - Grow Fast or Die Slow (Notes and Trivia)

In the opening title sequence, note that the letters in the Facebook logo change to Cyrillic script.

This is the first episode without T.J. Miller (Erlich Bachman).

Although Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti) is credited for this episode, he did not appear.

Carson Mell, who co-stars as a newly hired Hooli coder, is also credited as a "Consulting Producer" for this episode, and as part of the writing staff of previous episodes.

S04E10 - Server Error (Notes and Trivia)

Note on the chalkboard in Big Head's classroom is a tallied comparison that rates "Old Tron" at 16 and "New Tron" at 2.

Although Amanda Crew (Monica Hall), Suzanne Cryer (Laurie Bream), Jimmy O. Yang (Jian Yang) and Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ Hanneman) are credited for this episode they did not appear.

This episode marks the final appearance of T.J. Miller (Erlich Bachman).

S04E09 - Hooli-Con (Notes and Trivia)

Although Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti), Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ Hanneman), Amanda Crew (Monica Hall) and Suzanne Cryer (Laurie Bream) are credited for this episode they did not appear.

S04E08 - The Keenan Vortex (Notes and Trivia)

Although Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti), Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ Hanneman) and Jimmy O. Yang (Jian-Yang) are credited for this episode they did not appear.

S04E07 - The Patent Troll (Notes and Trivia)

The "Ed Chambers" plot line is similiar to a deleted plot line revealed in the DVD commentary for S02E08 (White Hat/Black Hat) where Jared pretended to be fictional employee on the phone.

When a closeup of Gilfoyle's code is shown, there is reference to a YouTube video which is a "rickroll". (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ)

Although Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti), Matt Ross (Gavin Belson), Stephen Tobolowsky (Jack Barker) and Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ Hanneman) are credited for this episode they did not appear.

S04E06 - Customer Service (Notes and Trivia)

Although Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti), Stephen Tobolowsky (Jack Barker) and Matt Ross (Gavin Belson) are credited for this episode they did not appear. Additionally, Jimmy O. Yang (Jian Yang) appears in the episode, but he has no lines.

S04E05 - The Blood Boy (Notes and Trivia)

The items in Gavin's garage have been identifed as (clockwise from bottom left): Honda Asimo robot (on its side with soccer ball), Penny Farthing bicycle, Cray supercomputer, silver Fisker Karma, garage, various kayaks and bicycles on the back wall, bronze statue of Gavin with animals, a Segway, 2nd Cray supercomputer (in back corner), silver Mercedes 300Sl, martial arts posters of Gavin, a series of 5 guitars (on back wall), Terrafugia Trans flying car, golf cart, SpaceX Dragon capsule, Volocopter, Triton Sub, silver Austin Healey. (Image)

Although Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti), Stephen Tobolowsky (Jack Barker) and Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ Hanneman) are credited for this episode they did not appear.

S04E04 - Teambuilding Exercise (Notes and Trivia)

As the episode aired an App called "Not Hotdog" by SeeFood Technologies Inc. was made available in the iTunes App Store.

Although Stephen Tobolowsky (Jack Barker) and Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ Hanneman) are credited for this episode they did not appear.

S04E03 - Intellectual Property (Notes and Trivia)

When Jared mentions seeing Gavin Belson throwing a sloth down a flight of stairs, the writers may be making a veiled reference to the event where Digg co-founder Kevin Rose came to the aid of his dog by throwing a raccoon down a flight of stairs.

Not only was Peter Gregory's self-driving car (S01E06) in his storage room, his really narrow car (S01E01) was also there. Richard even found a container of sesame seeds, which was a plot point in (S01E03)

The Chinese titled book Gilfoyle was reading was "Mathematical fundamentals of fuzzy information processing" by Ren Ping and Yu Dong. (Google Books)

Note that Big Head's "Double Big Gulp" now features a "Slurpee" top.

Although Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ Hanneman) is credited for this episode he did not appear.

S04E02 - Terms of Service (Notes and Trivia)

Note when Jared used his phone to calculate 51,000 estimated underage users, multiplied by 25.6 average chat sessions per user, multiplied by $16,000 per violation, he had to rotate his phone to see the full number.

Although Amanda Crew (Monica), Suzanne Cryer (Laurie Bream) and Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ Hanneman) are credited for this episode, they did not appear. Although Henry Phillips (John) is credited for the episode he only appears briefly in the background of Jack's recorded PiperChat.

S04E01 - Success Failure (Notes and Trivia)

Although Jimmy O. Yang (Jian Yang) and Suzanne Cryer (Laurie Bream) are credited for this episode, they did not appear.

In the opening sequence, where Erlich, Jared, Gilfoyle and Dinesh are on video chat, Dinesh drops his phone revealing that he was in the washroom on the toilet.

Coincidentally, the very first scene of "Season 4" featured a "Four Seasons" hotel.

The round pizza boxes Erlich carries away to "continue the party outside" are from a Silicon Valley startup "Zume Pizza" which features robot-made pizzas delivered in specially designed round boxes.

Jack Barker's new office is Aisle 15, Office 429, in Sub-Basement D.

S03E10 - The Uptick (Notes and Trivia)

The elephant's name was Maurice.

When Erlich refers to "McNamee", he is talking about Roger McNamee, a founding partner of the venture capital firm Elevation Partners.

If you look carefully, you can see that the Code/Rag "Have Tech Dirt to Spill?" graphic on the security desk's computer screen was in a limited browser window, just like a pop-up ad.

In this episode you can finally see the full damage caused to driver-side front of the Aviato vehicle, caused when Richard slammed into the "BamBot" in S03E01. In previous Season 3 episodes you could only see that the hood no longer closed properly.

The end of this episode marks the third season where the guys play the "Always blue! Always blue!" game. Incidentally, the toy ball they use is a "Hoberman Switch Pitch Throwing Ball".

When Erlich says "Big! Head!" at the end of this episode it is a repeat of when he said the same thing to Big Head at the end of S01E01.

The writer of this episode, Alec Berg, was nominated for an Emmy award for "Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series".

S03E09 - Daily Active Users (Notes and Trivia)

In reference to the episode title, daily active users (DAU) is a standard metric used to measure the success of an internet product.

The Pied Piper "Tables" ad is a direct parody of an ad produced by Facebook titled "Chairs".

At Laurie's party, did you notice how the sign that says "Shoes will be taken off" is written in Laurie's style of speech.

Aside from the dog picture that Erlich comments on, there are at least three other random dog pictures seen at Laurie's place.

The woman Dinesh is speaking to at Laurie's party is actually "Silicon Valley" writer and producer Carrie Kemper, who is the sister to actress Ellie Kemper.

Did you notice Gilfoyle was the only person to keep his shoes on at Laurie's party?

"Pipey" the Pied Piper Piper was voiced by Bill Hader.

When they show the click farm guy creating a fake account, he uses the name "Jacklyn Hauser". The same name is credited as the "Assistant Art Director" for this episode. Coincidence? We think not.

This was the first episode where there was no actual end-credits music.

Although Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti) and Jimmy O. Yang (Jian Yang) are credited for this episode, they did not appear.

The director of this episode, Alec Berg, was nominated for an Emmy award for "Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series".

S03E08 - Bachman's Earning's Over-Ride (Notes and Trivia)

The episode title, "Bachman's Earning's Over-Ride", is an homage to Bachman-Turner Overdrive, a Canadian rock group who produced 1970 era hits such as "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" and "Takin' Care of Business".

The Pied Piper jacket was inspired by a cheesy bright purple jacket that show's stars had made and wore on the lot.

You might notice that the house is now full of mysterious employees, including the anonymous guy sitting between Dinesh and Gilfolyle. Originally, there was a scene that explained how they had hired a bunch of new employees, such as extra coders and customer service representatives, however this scene had to be cut due to time constraints.

Although Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti) and Jimmy O. Yang (Jian Yang) are credited for this episode, they did not appear.

S03E07 - To Build a Better Beta (Notes and Trivia)

In the scene where Gavin (Matt Ross) says "Cut the power to the building" the second time, notice how he sprays spit on Jason (Brian Tichnell). Also, notice Jason's reaction.

In the scene where Gilfoyle is video chatting with Tara, there is a "Vansterdam" poster on the wall behind his workstation. Vansterdam is a nickname for Vancouver, Canada, which is known for its loose marijuana laws.

S03E06 - Bachmanity Insanity (Notes and Trivia)

At the beginning of the episode Richard brings an extra large virgin margarita to the table and Erlich makes individual drinks spiked with Russ Hanneman's "Tres Commas" tequila, obviously leftover from S02E08.

Fictional Winnie has a real Github page at https://github.com/stitchpunk

Bridey Lee Elliot, who plays Richard's girlfriend Winnie, is the daughter of comedian Chris Elliott and the sister of SNL alum Abby Elliott.

Some of the slogans on the protest signs outside Gavin's office were "Heil Gavin", "Hooli" (with the O's replaced by an angry face), "It takes change erase change", "Hooli can't scrub of bad ethics", "Don't scrub my search", "Hooli needs a bath" and "Hooli Search - lies lies lies...".

Although Jimmy O. Yang (Jian Yang), Amanda Crew (Monica) and Suzanne Cryer (Laurie Bream) are credited for this episode, they did not appear.

S03E05 - The Empty Chair (Notes and Trivia)

When Jared says, "O Captain! My Captain! Rise up and hear the bells. Rise up, for you the flag is flung. For you the bugle trills," he is quoting the Walt Whitman poem "O Captain! My Captain!". The piece is considered to be a mourning poem, and was written to honor Abraham Lincoln after his death. The poem was referred to in the Robin Williams movie "Dead Poet's Society" in a scene where the students stand on their desks and recite the poem, a scene which was coincidentally spoofed on Saturday Night Live less than 24 hours prior to this episode airing.

There is a deleted scene from S02E09 "Binding Arbitration" where Richard and Erlich met Pete Monahan (Matt McCoy) after he got off the bus in front of the offices where the arbitration was to take place. In that scene Erlich commented how Richard, wearing a suit, looked like a "ventriloquist dummy". In this episode Erlich (T.J. Miller) makes the exact same joke, however this time it made it in the final cut.

In the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards Thomas Middleditch was nominated for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" for the episode "The Empty Chair".

S03E04 - Maleant Data Systems Solutions (Notes and Trivia)

The name of the server farm company, and the title of this episode, is "Maleant Data Systems Solutions". A "Male Ant" is also called a "Drone" which is likely a reference to how the workers at this company are seen.

A link to the fictitious "Endframe" (www.endframesystems.com) appeared at the end of the episode.

In the live-stream of the 15 June 2016 SpaceX rocket launch, a narrator used the term "conjoined triangles of success" to descibe the "grid fins" on the rocket booster. (youtube.com)

The effect of a sprawling server storage facility was created by setting up three fully outfitted server rows, spanning right and left, in a warehouse space. Afterward, special effects duplicated the image, providing the appearance of the servers extending into infinity. (Reference)

S03E03 - Meinertzhagen's Haversack (Notes and Trivia)

In reference to the episode title: "Meinertzhagen's Haversack" refers to Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen who was famous for his "Haversack Ruse", where he purposely let a haversack (military backpack) containing false British battle plans fall into Turkish military hands, which resulted in British victory at the Battle of Beersheba.

The scene where the group is sitting in a circle and going over the plan was an homage to the movie "Ocean's Eleven" and its sequels.

At the beginning of the episode, when the guys are getting the tour of "Maleant", notice that their tour guide's name badge photo shows him as a young-looking version of himself.

On 10 May 16, Kumail Nanjiani tweeted that the chain story from this episode was actually taken from his real life. He added, "In HS I got a silver chain. It went worse than it does in the show."

When Carla mentions, "damages from when Jared sexually harassed me into being friends with that Monica chick," she is referring to Season 2 where Jared repeatedly attempted to force a friendship between Carla and Monica.

Although Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti) and Matt Ross (Gavin Belson) are credited for this episode, they did not appear. In fact, this is first episode where Matt Ross did not appear.

S03E02 - Two in the Box (Notes and Trivia)

In reference to the episode title: "Two in the Box" is a corporate management style where there are two equal managers.

Product placement? When Jian is telling Erlich he plans to stay in the house, he is holding food items such as Cap'n Crunch cereal and a box Snyders pretzels... and for some reason he is also holding an open box of baking soda.

According to Mike Judge, the horse sex scene was real, however they had to do some editing and compositing for the final cut as the horses finished their business very quickly.

In an interview, Thomas Middleditch divulged that he didn't witness the horses first hand as the horse scene was filmed in front of a green screen.

Although Josh Brener (Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti), Amanda Crew (Monica) and Suzanne Cryer (Laurie Bream) are credited for this episode, they did not appear.

S03E01 - Founder Friendly (Notes and Trivia)

RIGBY stands for "Richard is great, but y'know".

Ficitious "Action" Jack Barker actually has a web site: http://coderag-dev.weareglow.com/looking-back-at-action-jack/

The code Gilfolyle and Dinesh have up on the screen is a real program. When compiled it outputs the text "DREAM_ON_ASSHOLES".

Changes to the title animation for this episode were the addition of car service Lyft, Alphabet now hovers atop the Google logo, Amazon drones can be seen flying overhead making deliveries, car company Tesla was added and Soylent trucks can be seen moving through the city.

Each of the mustache variants had a corresponding sound effect:
Tom Selleck - "Aloha"
Fu Manchu - A gong
John Waters - ??
Alex Trebek - "What is a mustache"
Hitler - "Achtung"
Sam Elliot - "Howdy"

Although Jimmy O. Yang (Jian Yang) is credited for this episode, he did not appear.

The writer of this episode, Dan O'Keefe, was nominated for an Emmy award for "Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series".

The director of this episode, Mike Judge, was nominated for an Emmy award for "Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series".

S02E10 - Two Days of the Condor (Notes and Trivia)

The episode's title is a reference to the film "Three Days of the Condor", a 1975 political thriller.

The interior of the "Hacker Hostel" is shot in studio. The exterior is shot on the site of the real house. In the scene where the real estate agent is at the door speaking to Erlich, every shot looking out the door was shot at the actual house. Every shot looking into the house was shot in studio. It took two days to shoot the entire sequence.

Gilfoyle named the servers "Anton" after Anton LaVey, a well-known satanist.

The street scene where Richard loses his keys, and then later begs a stranger to use his cell phone was shot on South San Fernando Blvd, just east of E. Olive Avenue, in Burbank, CA. In fact, the sign for the Burbank Bar and Grill can be seen in the background, however the word "Burbank" was removed digitally.

In the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards (2015) Silicon Valley was nominated for "Outstanding Comedy Series".

In the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards (2015), Alec Berg was nominated for "Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series" for the episode "Two Days of the Condor".

In the 73rd Golden Globe Awards (2016), SIlicon Valley was nomimated for "Best Television Series

S02E09 - Binding Arbitration (Notes and Trivia)

Matt McCoy who plays arbitrator "Pete Monahan" once played "Lloyd Braun" on the "Seinfeld" series, which is where Executive Producer Alec Berg began his career.

S02E08 - White Hat/Black Hat (Notes and Trivia)

There is a deleted plot line in this episode where Jared is having difficulty with Pied Piper's broadband supplier, and tries to make the company seem larger by inventing fictional employees and an aggressive supervisor. Everything comes to a head when he has to pretend he is his own supervisor on the phone.

S02E07 - Adult Content (Notes and Trivia)

When the guys confront Dinesh about the other jobs he was looking into one of the companies mentioned in Yoyodyne. 'Yoyodyne' is a catch all name in the sci-fi fantasy world for tech companies, being used in movies like 'The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai' and TV shows like 'Angel' and 'Star Trek'.

Some of the names of the porn sites printed onto tent cards and propped up in front of normal looking middle-aged people at the "Adult 2.0" convention were: "Non-Consensual Santa", "Porn Hospice", "Poop on My Wife", "Fingered Teen", "My Dirty Vagina", "Blackmailed into Gay" and "Let's try Fisting".

S02E06 - Homicide (Notes and Trivia)

"The Simpsons" episode "The Girl Code" (2016) contained many "Silicon Valley" references including a SWOT board with a note card saying "Blaine Might Die" in the "Opportunities" section.

Under "Weaknesses" on Dinesh and Gilfoyle's SWOT board is a card stating, "Blaine's funeral televised preempts Star Trek TNG Marathon".

S02E05 - Server Space (Notes and Trivia)

This episode name may be a reference to series creator Mike Judge's cult classic "Office Space". FYI, Mike Judge directed this episode.

At the beginning of the episode, when Richard wakes up soaked in sweat, notice the shadow on the wall behind Richard makes him look like the "Pied Piper" guy in the company logo.

The actual house they shoot at doesn't have a garage, so a fake garage was built on the site of the real house and used for shots where the garage door is open. Also, a replica of the garage interior was produced in studio, and used for any shots where the garage door is closed.

S02E04 - The Lady (Notes and Trivia)

Charlie Saxton, who plays the "Crushing Applicant," played a member of a small tech startup on "Betas," one of the first Amazon Prime original programs.

A website for the fictitious "Hooli XYZ" actually exists on the web. (www.hooli.xyz) It features an image of Bighead. Also, in a weird twist, when Google released their web page for the "Alphabet" initiative (abc.xyz), they also included a hidden link to the Hooli page, causing people to feel that Google was admitting that they were actually "Hooli".

S02E03 - Bad Money (Notes and Trivia)

When Thomas Middleditch (Richard) is shown approaching the Hooli building and looking up at the Hooli sign, he is looking at nothing. The Hooli sign was actually added digitally in post-production.

At the Gavin Belson interview. The actual audience was much smaller, but digitally enhanced to be larger in post-production.

When Chris Diamantopoulos (Russ Hanneman) jumps into the orange McLaren he smashes his ankle and almost breaks it. Also, when the McLaren wouldn't go, this was because Chris was not familiar with the transmission. The difficulty was left in the final cut.

The Pied Piper billboards that appear in the episode were all added digitally in post-production. However, the week that the episode aired HBO actually put up real versions of the billboards.

The (fake) address of Erlich's house is 5230 Newell Road.

S02E02 - Runaway Devaluation (Notes and Trivia)

In the opening scene they almost filmed the laid back lawyer Ron LaFlamme wearing a beanie. At the last minute, Mike Judge decided not to do it.

Actor Kumail Nanjiani (Dinesh) actually does know how to speak Urdu. Also, he adlibbed most of his lines when he was saying negative things about the "Bro" app.

This is the first episode where the closing credits roll over top of live action.

S02E01 - Sand Hill Shuffle (Notes and Trivia)

The actor who played Peter Gregory, Christopher Evan Welch, actually passed away from cancer halfway through the production of the first season. His death wasn't originally intended to be announced until the actor passed. Later, Mike Judge decided they would write it into the story.

The epsiode title, "Sand Hill Shuffle", is a reference to Sand Hill Road, an arterial road in Menlo Park, California, notable for its concentration of venture capital companies.

According to DVD commentary, Thomas Middleditch improvised the line, "I was gonna say if you had, you'd have to show me yours, too." (His reaction to Monica seeing him going to the bathroom, and saying she never saw anything.)

According to Mike Judge, when they were brainstorming for the term "Datageddon", another option on the table was "Judgement Da-ta" .

Suzanne Cryer who plays "Laurie Bream", the new CEO of Raviga, played "Marcy" in the the "Seinfeld" episode "The Yada Yada". Seinfeld is also where Executive Producer Alec Berg began his career.

There was a deleted plot-point after the scene where Richard meets Javeed for drinks, where Richard calls an Uber and it turns out that Javeed is the driver.

On the DVD commentary, Mike Judge explained that Christopher Even Welch's mother had asked that they try to make Peter Gregory's death humorous.

The opening scene was shot in ATT Park, the actual San Francisco Giants stadium, marking only the second scene in the series that was actually shot in the San Francisco Bay area. The day they shot there was a deluge of rain and rain puddles on the field were removed digitally.

The scene where Monica explains Peter's death to Erlich and Richard was the first scene shot in season two.

As well as in the opening scene, Tyler Winklevoss can also be seen as a mourner at the wake.

Thomas Middleditch improvised his lines when Richard returned to Stern Taylor and gave the angry speech. Also, T.J. Miller improvised most of his lines when he was "negging" the venture capital firms.

Ehrlich's shirt says 01000010011010010111010001100011011011110110100101101110. This is "Bitcoin" in binary.

According to Mike Judge, the doves released at Peter Gregory's funeral were actually white homing pigeons, which are used in television/movies because they tend to return.

In the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards (2015), Mike Judge was nominated for "Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series" for the episode "Sand Hill Shuffle".

S01E08 - Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency (Notes and Trivia)

This episode was dedicated to the memory of Christopher Evan Welch.

Shakira doesn't actually appear in the episode, just her song.

At TechCrunch, Gavin Belson demonstrated the Nucleus compression with the same photo of "Playboy" model Lena Soderberg that was on Richard's wall.

When Gilfoyle and Dinesh are saying they're "not dickheads", Martin Starr improvved the line "my dick and my head are totally separate".

The Weissman Score is a fictional performance score for lossless data compression. It was invented by Tsachy Weissman and Vinith Misra at Stanford University specifically for use in the Silicon Valley series.

The concept of "Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency" was actually written up as a 12-page paper that became the foundation for the dialogue the guys deliver during the hotel room scene. Following the episode, the paper was put online to prove its plausibility.

There was a scene written for the very end of this episode where Peter Gregory and Gavin Belson have a conversation, but it couldn't be filmed because of Christopher Evan Welch's untimely death.

In the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards (2014), Silicon Valley was nominated for "Outstanding Comedy Series", "Outstanding Art Direction for a Contemporary Program (Half-Hour or Less)" and "Outstanding Main Title Design". It did not win any of the awards.

In the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards (2014) Alec Berg was nominated for "Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series" for the episode "Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency".

In the 72rd Golden Globe Awards (2015), SIlicon Valley was nomimated for "Best Television Series

S01E07 - Proof of Concept (Notes and Trivia)

According to actor Zach Woods (Jared) the writers planned to have Jared stranded on Peter's automated island for several days and he would be forced to kill a seagull for food. In this episode, the seagull would become a recurring joke as Jared would be haunted by the seagull's face.

Recreating TechCrunch Disrupt involved using both actual footage of the real event and the same printers who do the real event's banners, signage and credentials. It also meant that the producers had to clear every single fictional tech company name they concocted just in case it had been taken by a real company. One such name that didn't clear was "Co-Techs," picked due to its phonetic similarity to the feminine hygiene product Kotex.

The scene with Richard vomiting out the window of the Aviato van was actually shot in San Francisco, and it's the real Thomas Middleditch fake-vomiting out the window of a moving van on a real freeway.

The "Human Heater" startup was based on a real invention by a colleague of Alec Berg's father, a biophysics professor.

According to Mike Judge, in the scene where Erlich was tackled on the stage, stunt doubles were standing by but never used. It was the actual actors fighting.

S01E06 - Third Party Insourcing (Notes and Trivia)

According to the DVD commentary, there was an alternate story line where Jared was trying to get Peter Gregory's signature, followed him on a plane, and wound up in Siberia. The scenes were cancelled when Peter Gregory passed away. It was replaced by the story line where Jared gets trapped in the self-driving car and shipped to the island.

The self-driving car was being driven by a crew who controlled the car from another vehicle that remained nearby.

The actress who played the nude woman with the papier mache goat head won the part mainly because she had done the exact same part for a Rob Zombie video.

S01E05 - Signaling Risk (Notes and Trivia)

This is the last episode featuring Christopher Evan Welch (d.2 Dec 13). He remains listed in the credits of the remaining three episodes of the first season, and the show's first season finale is dedicated to his memory.

The storyline where Erlich enlists a street artist to paint a mural is taken from the real-life story of David Choe, a street artist who painted murals inside Facebook's offices in exchange for stock.

When Jared introduces the "SCRUM" board, there is one post-it note under "Emergency". It reads "Kush for Erlich".

According to the DVD commentary, the tele-human tube was computer generated. Apparently, if a real glass tube was used it would have been difficult to hide the reflections of production lights and cameras. Incidentally, the original plan was to use a Segway with a screen, however after "The Big Bang Theory" did something similar with the "Shelbot" they changed the plan.

The line Peter Gregory uses when the waiter asks him about the asparagus, "I was never enjoying it. I was only eating it for the nutrients," is something series creator Mike Judge once said to a waiter.

Watch Peter Gregory's wave goodbye after he meets Gavin Belson at the restaurant. It's hilarious.

In the scene where Erlich returns the door to Chuy, the extras in the background are the son and friends of the actor Anthony 'Citric' Campos (Chuy).

According to the DVD commentary, the two versions of the garage door were given to actors Kumail Nanjiani and T.J. Miller.

S01E04 - Fiduciary Duties (Notes and Trivia)

The scene where Erlich tells Jian about the fish was based on a story told by writer Dan O'Keefe about himself and a college roommate.

Notice that Richard woke up in his bed with no sheets, because he is wearing his sheet as a toga.

Harrison Thomas, the young man Big Head hands the hacky sack to on the roof, is actor Dave Thomas' son.

Richard vomiting on Erlich at the end of the episode was simulated with an air cannon.

S01E03 - Articles of Incorporation (Notes and Trivia)

When the "Burger King" scenes were filmed the prop team had to make several trips to Burger King as the day went on, just so everything continued to look fresh. Apparently, the food dries out quickly, and then it doesn't look right.

When Peter Gregory decides he is going to invest in sesame seeds, the writers are likely making a reference to a real-world situation involving Bill Gates and peas.

Writer Dan O'Keefe had originally come up with the line about the logo looking like a guy "sucking a dick". However, it was Kumail Nanjiani who improvved the part about the "snack dick".

According to the DVD commentary, the Burger King plotline was based on a "very prominent Hollywood director" who had asked everyone if they'd ever eaten Burger King, and then had his assistant go out and buy one of each item on the menu.

According to the DVD commentary, when Richard and Erlich are speaking on the phone, Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) and Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) are actually playing a real game of "Call of Duty" in the background.

According to Mike Judge, the Burger King plotline was not a case of product placement.

To prepare for the scene where they are brainstorming names, production forced Zach Woods to write the entire list of names on the whiteboard in his own handwriting for continuity.

The writers got the idea of the characters repeatedly saying their names from "Silence of the Lambs", where the mother purposefully repeats her daughter's name in an attempt to humanize her in the eyes of the kidnapper.

When Erlich is brainstorming new names for the company he mentions "Infotrode". Many fans of Mike Judge's work have pointed out that this name is very similar to the name "Initrode", which was a rival company to "Initech", the company featured in the Mike Judge movie "Office Space".

S01E02 - The Cap Table (Notes and Trivia)

Referring to the episode title, a Cap Table (Capitalization Table) is a table that provides an analysis of the founders' and investors' percentage of ownership, equity dilution, and value of equity in each round of investment.

Zach Woods improvised the line "My uncle used to say, you look like someone starved a virgin to death."

When Richard is in his room googling "business plan" notice the photos on his wall. One is of David Huffman, a pioneer in data compression theory, and known for his Huffman coding. The woman's photo is that of Lena Soderberg, a "Playboy" model whose photo was historically used as a sample for JPEG compression testing.

Notice how Erlich is eating two pop tarts at once. According to the DVD commentary, T.J. Miller did this on purpose in an attempt to act quirky, however he was disappointed because it is hardly noticeable.

The sunrise scene where Richard and Big Head walk away from Mochachino's apartment was actually shot at sunset.

S01E01 - Minimum Viable Product (Notes and Trivia)

When "Salon" initially reviewed the series, they reported, "Kumail Nanjiani, who plays Dinesh, is in fact a regular on 'The Big Bang Theory'." Of course they were mistaking Kumail Nanjiani (who plays Dinesh) with Kunal Nayyar, who plays Raj on "The Big Bang Theory".

After viewing the first episode, Elon Musk said, "None of those characters were software engineers. Software engineers are more helpful, thoughtful, and smarter. They're weird, but not in the same way."

Kid Rock, who appeared at the beginning of this episode, is a friend and neighbor to series co-creator Mike Judge.

When the opening scene, featuring the party with Kid Rock, was filmed it was surprisingly cold. You can see fog emanating from many of the actors mouths.

According to Mike Judge, the house that doubles as the "Hacker Hostel" actually belongs to Los Angeles sports announcer Roy Firestone. The real interior of the house was used to film the pilot, however a complete replica was built in a studio, and used for the remainder of the series.

According to the DVD commentary, T.J. Miller adlibbed the line, "They're all a bunch of assholes, especially Radiohead."

When Richard is being badgered by the Hooli engineers, note the large man in the background preparing himself for the climbing wall.

T.J. Miller originally improvved a line in which he stated he "owned 10 percent of Grindr." However, once they checked the value of Grindr it was realized that this would make Erlich a multi-millionaire. Therefore, they had T.J. redo the line to say he owned a "small percentage" of Grindr.

When Erlich does hexadecimal math and comes up with an answer of "fleventy-five", this is simply a joke. Even though plenty of web nerds have claimed Erlich's math is incorrect, there really is no such term as "fleventy-five".

Check out Erlich's green t-shirt near the beginning of the episode. It says "I Know H.T.M.L. (How To Meet Ladies)".

Thomas Middleditch, T.J. Miller, Kumail Nanjiani and Josh Brener were familiar with each other in real life as they often worked together at various stand-up comedy venues.

In the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards (2014) Mike Judge was nominated for "Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series" for the episode "Minimum Viable Product".