The Vibe Check
If you thought network TV was allergic to good tech storytelling, Cupertino is here to prove you wrong. Created by Robert and Michelle King—the duo behind The Good Fight—this show trades the usual stale tropes for a chaotic, peppy, and slightly paranoid look at the Silicon Valley ecosystem. It follows a boutique law firm, Price Siffre (pronounced "cipher"), formed by three ex-employees of a sketchy AI company who decide to spend their days suing Big Tech.
The Plot Thickens
The show doesn't shy away from our current digital reality. It’s essentially a collage of our daily doomscrolling: it features fictionalized versions of Polymarket, the "looksmaxxing" obsession, AI guardrail battles, and voice-stealing controversies. While the first episode is admittedly a bit mid, once the ensemble clicks, it becomes an absolute W. You’ve got Mike Colter and Rachel Keller anchoring the firm, plus a surprise Girls5eva reunion with Renée Elise Goldsberry and Busy Philipps.
What makes it stand out from the endless flood of "tech backlash" content is the format. Because it’s a classic 20-episode network run, the show actually has room to breathe. It builds a world populated by underpaid AI trainers, petty billionaires, and software devs hiding jokes in their code. It’s less "preaching to the choir" and more about capturing the specific, deranging paranoia of living in 2026, where you never quite know if the device in your pocket is listening or if that video you just watched is a deepfake.
Why it matters
We’re currently living in a post-paranoid era where tech skepticism is just common sense. Cupertino succeeds because it avoids being preachy or hammy. It treats AI with a healthy dose of fear but keeps the storytelling nuanced enough to remain fun. For an audience that might not be terminally online following every single GitHub hack, it’s a surprisingly sharp way to digest the tech madness we’re all navigating.
