Betas

It helps enormously that Dinicol and Soni find the right mix of vulnerability and awkwardness in the leading roles. The show also captures a general atmosphere of Silicon Valley as a youthful place not far removed from absorbing the Harry Potter books.

It's a little wild and woolly and more serialized; it's also more addictive [than "Alpha House"].

It's full to overflowing with clever and sometimes very funny geek-speak.

Betas’ aspirational spirit can be invigorating, but it’s yet to find a unique perspective on the setting that was the winningest part of its pilot.

If Betas keeps up with millennial cleverness, it's also sometimes a little too on-the-nose.

The show crackles with witty (and jargony) banter and mostly succeeds at making its tech world fun and engaging -- something Randi Zuckerberg's "Start-Up: Silicon Valley" reality series too often failed to do. But the problem with Betas is that it's an uneven endeavor that's just good enough to make you wish it were better.

Betas brims with raunch, perhaps in the belief that it is key to hooking younger viewers.­