‘Halt and Catch Fire’: AMC puts pilot episode online

Ever since the end of “Breaking Bad,” there has been a sort of “what now?” mentality for many when it comes to AMC. “Mad Men” is ending, and while “The Walking Dead” is a great show, it is not a perennial awards contender and cannot sustain a network on its own. “Hell on Wheels” is strong but fails to get much attention, and “Turn” could be gone by the time next year rolls around.

This is where “Halt and Catch Fire” enters the fray, and from its depiction of the computer world alone in the early 1980s, this has the potential to be the next great TV series on the episode. It already has a lead in Lee Pace who we love from “Pushing Daises,” and early reviews are strong.

Now, AMC has shown yet again how much confidence they have in this series by putting the pilot episode online for early viewing. It’s not derivative of anything else the network is doing, and while there have been series detailing the early days of computers, this is still reasonably unexplored territory.

The biggest thing that we have to hope for right now is that AMC hasn’t overly marketed the show and pulled a “Low Winter Sun,” or that it doesn’t fizzle after a great start. Patience is the key here, especially when it comes to ratings. Around 44 people (exaggeration, we know) watched the first season of “Breaking Bad,” and by the end it was a monster.