Television has a rocky relationship with technology. Because lazy writers use it to plug plot holes. For every believable portrayal of tech, there are dozens of cringe-worthy moments where Hollywood gets it hilariously wrong. Notably, I recall an episode of 24 where they “hacked into the trunk line” by attaching an alligator clip to the outside of an insulated Cat5 cable. Also several episodes of CSI and other shows where they take a single pixel from a frame of a CCTV recording and ENHANCE it into a reflection of someone’s face on the glass of a wristwatch. These moments make us groan, but they also make us appreciate the rare ones that get IT and tech culture right.

This is a list of six shows we can celebrate because they don’t just entertain – they capture the complexity, absurdity, and humanity in our relationship with technology.

1. Halt and Catch Fire

Streaming on: AMC+, Amazon Prime Video
This is the story of people who looked at beige boxes full of wires and thought, This will change the world. Then, in fits of genius and madness, they made it happen. Halt and Catch Fire is the Mad Men of tech, portraying the grit, the caffeine and cocaine fueled brainstorms, and the breathtaking dreams forged in garages and BBS chat rooms. While fictionalized, it portrays the meteoric rise and fall of Compaq Computers, then the dark tale of John McAfee, who realized the greatest virus was human fear as he sold the antidote for billions. The characters build machines and tear themselves apart in the process. It’s a story about innovation, scrawled in the margins of history, smudged with sweat and blood. An incredibly ambitious show that inspires as it mostly succeeds.

2. The IT Crowd

Streaming on: Netflix, BritBox
Every big company has an IT department – a mythical underworld where wires snake across desks like vines, monitors flicker with cryptic error codes, and the air is thick with resigned exasperation. The IT Crowd takes this world and turns it into a playground for British absurdity. Moss and Roy are our guides: one a walking encyclopedia of useless facts, the other an unshaven beacon of cynicism. “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” is both mantra and curse, an incantation that every technician finds themselves repeating, and it started here.

3. Silicon Valley

Streaming on: HBO Max
Silicon Valley is about the contemporary gold rush. Billion-dollar ideas born in dorm rooms and garages. But for every success, there are a hundred failures—and Silicon Valley captures them with humor and perspicacity. Richard Hendricks’ middle-out compression might save the company, but not without a few spectacularly awkward detours. An almost billionaire  embarrassed to sell “Tres Comas” tequila when his net worth sinks to just two commas, Jin Yang’s “Not Hotdog” app, and the entire subplot about Dinesh’s Tesla are ridiculous standout moments. The genius of Silicon Valley is its veracity: the most absurd stories it tells are things that have actually happened. I bet Marissa Mayer hates this show.

4. Mr. Robot

Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video, USA Network
If Mr. Robot feels like a fever dream, that’s because it is. Elliot Alderson is a man unraveling, caught between his job at Allsafe, his vendetta against E(vil) Corp, and his increasingly tenuous grasp on reality. The show immerses you in his paranoia, his brilliance, and his pain, blending digital-age conspiracies with the surrealism of a Dali painting. But the technology is credible. The hacking is rooted in real events like the infamous breach of Target Corp through an improperly subnetted IoT thermostat. You’ll never look at your smart fridge the same way again. At its core, Mr. Robot is about control: who has it, how it is lost, and how technology untethered from purpose can make us feel like strangers in our own lives.

5. Black Mirror

Streaming on: Netflix
Every episode of Black Mirror feels like a cautionary tale whispered by the ghost of future technology. It’s a kaleidoscope of dystopias, each one more unsettling than the last, but what makes the show great is its believability. The tech is always almost here: AI relationships that outlive love, brain implants that let you rewind memories, social credit systems that turn politeness into currency. It’s the best kind of horror because it doesn’t hide under the bed; it’s in your pocket, waiting to ping you with a notification. Watching Black Mirror feels like being handed a roadmap to the future and realizing every road ends in a cliff.

6. Knight Rider

Streaming on: Peacock, Amazon Prime Video
OK, yes, they used radio waves to open deadbolts, which almost disqualifies this, but I can’t leave it off the list, for philosophical and sentimental reasons. Before Teslas could drive themselves, there was KITT – the Knight Industries Two Thousand. A car with the voice of a sarcastic butler, the wit of a chess master, and the tech savvy to outmaneuver villains and hackers. Knight Rider wasn’t just a show about a man and his car; it was a love letter to the dream of technology as a force multiplier for good. Michael Knight, with his questionable taste in music, feathered hair, and leather jacket, partnered with KITT to take down evil-doers armed with less advanced technology. The show’s brilliance lies in its optimism: With technology, “one man can make a difference.” I’ll drink to that.