Right now, Hollywood is swamped with tales about failed tech businesses. Every streaming service, from WeWork to Uber, appears to be demonstrating what goes wrong when inexperienced CEOs are given access to billions of dollars. The Dropout seems to be the most popular of these programmes, with Amanda Seyfried’s portrayal of Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes receiving positive reviews. Although the programme is dedicated to period-appropriate technology, eagle-eyed fans may have seen a time-traveling Pixel phone in the most recent episode.
Despite the fact that Theranos was as much a health firm as a tech startup — at least in principle — it is surrounded by the world of consumer technology. In one episode, Holmes attends the unveiling of the first iPhone, which she subsequently smashes out of irritation, resulting in an especially emotional trip to the Genius Bar. It follows the show’s initial several episodes, which use old-school iPods and Blackberries, and spans the late 1990s until Theranos’ demise in the mid-2010s.
“Heroes,” the final episode, is set in 2015, when Wall Street Journal writer John Carreyrou works to complete his exposé against the business. Tyler Schultz, played by Dylan Minnette, receives a call from his grandpa, Theranos investor George Schultz, in this episode. Android aficionados will certainly recognise the distinctive shape and design of the Google Pixel when he takes up his smartphone – a historic Android phone and another intriguing easter egg for technology lovers. The only issue is that the first-generation Pixel was released in the autumn of 2016, a year after the Wall Street Journal published its Theranos exposé.
It’s an amusing mix-up in a programme that, on the whole, has showed a genuine interest in the technology that its characters utilise. A Nexus 5 or Nexus 6 would’ve been a better option for set dressing depending on the precise month this scenario takes place in (Google announced the Nexus 5X and 6P just a couple of weeks before the WSJ report). Of course, it’s conceivable that all of those old LG models booted up and the showrunners were unable to choose the specific gadget they want for the character.
Now, if we’re talking about genuine blunders, there’s one that stands out. The “Really Blue” Pixel model was the one to have, as everyone knew. I’ll be haunted for the rest of my life as to why he — or anybody else — chose the “Very Silver” version.
