So far season 5 of Silicon Valley post T.J. Miller has people stating that they really don’t care that he’s not there. That was blunt, yes it was, but it was said for a reason. The main reason that T.J. Miller isn’t there depends on if you talk to the producers of the show or if you talk to Miller. In different lights it seems to favor one side or the other as you’d expect. On the side of the show it would appear that Miller was kind of problematic and had issues with alcohol and drugs from time to time. Also, the allegations that he had abused a woman in college, whether they were true or false, brought to the show a level of negative attention that some felt wasn’t needed. So it was considered time for him to go. And that’s not even to mention the rumors that he was late to table reads and had a rather poor work ethic.
Now to hear Miller say it he was thinking of checking out anyway to focus on his movie career. He’s been in a few different films as a supporting character and, while you can guess that this kept him busy, it still doesn’t seem like he should have been kept so busy that he couldn’t honor a commitment. T.J. however counters the producer’s argument by stating that his supposed fatigue on the set has more to do with the fact that he does too much and doesn’t always have the energy to keep going full tilt as they needed him to. He was performing stand-up, he was working on his movie career, and thus he didn’t have the energy to stay awake all the time in between takes. Honestly it sounds like he was doing just way too much and not focusing on the show, so perhaps he was ready to go.
But when it came to the allegations of being high all the time when doing table reads he denies them completely. He claimed that doing the table reads stoned would have upset his concentration and made the process entirely unbearable. Unfortunately the rest of the cast and crew felt it already was. So far no one has really missed Miller’s character as the show has continued to roll on with those that are left in a manner that is insanely funny and continues the tradition of more employees equaling more problems. If Miller is missed at all it seems like it would be by very few that might not want to speak up for fear of being ostracized by everyone else. Miller is a funny comedian and a decent actor but the idea that he might have been causing problems is not beyond the realm of feasibility.
Hopefully wherever he goes from here, like to Deadpool 2, he’ll be able to find some measure of success as he did with Silicon Valley. As to the show, the cast knows that the popularity of Silicon Valley has had its ups and downs, but T.J. Miller was apparently not the linchpin that kept it together, as people barely seem to miss him at all.
