Silicon Valley is so realistic that I stopped watching a few episodes into the first season. I was going through a rough and very stressful time at work, and the show was reminding me too much of that rather than being an escape (as I usually want TV to be).
Thankfully I'm in a better place professionally now, and I recently came back to the show. Now I enjoy it a lot, even though it can hit very close to home.
For some reason that is the main reason why I watch the show somewhat religiously (and I don't even live in the US).
When suffering through push-backs, broken software, and no's frequently, sharing the pain with the Pied Piper team is my quiet way of balancing my mind.
Same reaction, although I have kept up watching it. It's too damn real and too close to what I deal with haha. My partner will refuse to watch it after first seasonal, same reason. It's brutal when you have lived through that before haha.
I don't quite have that feeling watching this show (I can relate to it, but I'm not in the Valley; the show is hilarious), but shows like Catastrophe or movies like This is 40 hit _very_ close to home for the same reason. Funny, but in an almost painful way.
So I get how you might feel that way if you're in similar straits as the show.
Thankfully I'm in a better place professionally now, and I recently came back to the show. Now I enjoy it a lot, even though it can hit very close to home.