The IT Crowd goes west Cult geek comedy The IT Crowd, has been sold to a US cable channel and the scripts for the third series have been delivered to producers. Series creator Graham Linehan admitted on his blog that he'd cut the deadline a bit fine and so could do with some help in making the series look and feel sufficiently geeky. He said he …
the best thing they could do to improve 'the IT crowd' [which has actually grown on me of late, after leaving me cold at first] would be to get rid of that fucking annoying woman [who plays their boss] and her crap unfunny, stupid face-pulling, over-acting. she's nearly - but not quite - as irritating as the talentless bint they got in to play the 'new' kachanski and thus hammer the final nail into 'red dwarf's' coffin.
...are we exporting this rubbish? It's not a geek comedy, it's a comedy that ridicules geeks.
I'd be more than happy to see the turgid shit-com that is "The IT Crowd" die a death and fade into well-deserved obscurity.
Paris, 'cause at least she's actually funny, even if she doesn't mean to be.
Does America Dig Subversive Ironic Parody and Parallel Dimension Multi Polar Paranoia.... or is that for A.N.Other Time? .
Actually, that would be a Spooky Hack which the Script Writers could embrace .... with their Programs being XSS attacked by Ethical Terroritorial Advantagists ..... the Holy High Ground UnderGround using Registered Media Outlets to Take Over Critical InfraStructure Systems and ReAlign Output for Virtually SMARTer Being..... who always Get their Oats, John.
Although that would make AIdDArk Humour Beta Film, meThinks, rather than just being for a Comedy of Flash Errors....... but IT could be Alluded to, to tie in with a Games launch and BlockBusterCorporation Move into HyperRadioProActive DNAI Space.
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....the first series was pretty good and even. However, the second series was hamstrung by the fact that the first episode (the gay musical) was one of the most solidly funny half hours ever created and the rest was just pretty so so.
Still far better than most of the output from BBC/ITV.
The only other series that has got me interest is The Inbetweeners. My Gf doesnt get it though as she never went to sixth form.
I wasn't down the the IT Crowd at first...but after a while it grew on me and I really like it now...particularly as I'm a Garth Marenghi fan (shout out to Dean Learner!).
Also, and I hate to admit it but I kind of fancy the annoying bird who plays their boss...I have no idea why!!!
Devil Bill cos wothout him, the good bits wouldn't exist..
So wait...
I'm a yank who has seen the first two seasons and loved it. Are they starting over for the US market (The Office style) or are they simply putting the third season in both markets? If it's new, is Joel Mchale still tapped as a leading role?
Com'on El Reg, we need more info! Seriously though, IFC? Nobody is gonna watch it. I had heard it was coming to NBC as a new show, but as far as the cable stations go, IFC is at the bottom of the list. It's doomed.... This is like trying to watch Trailer Park Boys (a canadian show) on BBC America. 1 out of 1000 people will know what you are talking about.
Regardless of whether it is or is not geeky - IT Crowd IS funny.
Cannot understand how you can't find it amusing.
How many times have you asked somebody if they want you to set up their PC whilst they have pretended to use it? I swear it has occurred to me twice.
"Made in Britain"
"women and shoes" ... your problem being? Like all sit-com's, the situation, in this case a geek enclosure, is but the scenario in which the comedy happens, in this case an exploration of rather strained human relationships. If you are a woman who works in roomful of men who caould have been class definitions for Roy and Moss then the humour is definitely that of recognition. If you are a geek who could be as self-unaware as Roy and Moss, well, I'm sure that I don't need to show you the Powerpoint presentation.
It's discrimination against both girls and transvestites and it's just not on.
I do hope that the new US makers don't do anything to spoil it by adding jokes anywhere. I saw the first season and loved it, but never having worked in IT before at the time I did think "oh, it's just exaggerating". Now I actually do work in IT and it's almost depressingly on the jelly. Only our Batcave isn't as interesting as theirs because we're not allowed to put up posters. :/
...that the americans re-write the thing entirely and actually manage to introduce some humour.
My helpdesk manager got taken in by the hype prior to the first ever episode, and literally spammed the whole IT team for a week, urging us to watch it.
I still remember confronting him the day after the first episode, asking him where the hell I was going to get the utterly wasted hour of my life back from.
It's a bog standard identikit brit tv sit-com, that just happens to be set in an IT office. Unfortunately, like all the other identikit brit tv sit-coms, they forgot to actually use the situation element, and just continue to replay the same gags used by all of the other equally lame sit-coms. (The Office excepted).
There was nothing in that very first episode that showed any great insight into the IT world, beyond the tiredest of cliché. No insight, no impact, they forgot the funny.
There is stuff in the day to day world of IT that could contribute wonderfully to an observational comedy, providing new and unique humour, we've all been blessed on here to be able to read el-reg's own BOFH so regularly, but there's other stuff out there equally as good and insightful. Three Dead Trolls and a Baggie's wonderful "Internet Helpdesk" being a great example.
For now, I'm going to continue to use the IT crowd as a personal barometer for a person's intellect . Anyone that tells me that they actually find the thing funny is immediately identified as a potential candidate for my shit list, and is also to be avoided in anything approaching a conversation on technical matters. People that actually express an appreciation for the BBC's Little Miss Jocelyn also fall into the same category.
Mate of mine showed me a couple of episodes (hello Ian) but I couldn't get into it. Seemed that the laughs were at the geeks, not with them. Though I liked the various props & decorations littered round The Batcave. Will try give it another chance - god knows what the American version will be like, though!
I'll take a t-shirt too, thanks.
"The IT Crowd" (along with "Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps" and "My Family") is one of those series that inexplicably lives on despite being painfully un-funny...
Although the American version of The Office was pretty good, so maybe there's hope for it...
If you liked "The IT Crowd" and "Dweebs" (damn, where can I get a copy of that series?!) then go and get the Canadian TV show "jPod" from your local friendly torrent tracker - only one series as the bloody executives cancelled it but well worth a watch.
So pleased "The Big Bang Theory" is back for a 2nd season, some of the material in that literally had me in stitches, seriously loved the deep geekiness of the jokes & subject matter.
As for America re-doing "The IT Crowd", you HAVE seen the American "Red Dwarf" pilot?
Too bloody right... Seriously.. how is that comedy? Take away the actors and replace with Mr. Brittas and co.. Job done - same show.
Been there, seen it.. got really really tired, so went on to better things. And why is it always the case that if someone doesn't like The IT Crowd, people who do like it HAVE to jam it down our necks that it is comic genius.
Nope. Not at all. It's just drivel and an embarrasment to Graham Lineham's talent.. (this is my opinion and is in no way an attempt to jam it down the neck)
"If you liked "The IT Crowd" and "Dweebs" (damn, where can I get a copy of that series?!) then go and get the Canadian TV show "jPod" from your local friendly torrent tracker"
Please Ghod let it be better than the book, although I fail to see how it could be much worse.
Mine's the one with the battered copy of 'Microserfs' in the pocket.
I've been working on and off on a set of BOFH scripts over the last few months, drawing on all the BOFH stories I've collected over the years. Purely for my own interest though - Simon owns the copyright and I'd never seek to profit by plagiarism. I just want to see how the thing will turn out.
And you know what? It's bloody difficult. Not so much writing the script but doing it in a way that the mainstream TV viewer would find funny.
Most of BOFH these days is predicated on a dramatic irony that you need a good understanding both of technology and the IT industry to fully appreciate. Some of the BOFHs I've found funniest have involved concepts that Joe Average wouldn't begin to understand without such a big build-up that the impact would be lost. You can't squeeze too many of those into a 30 minute TV programme even if you could get it past a technologically clueless commissioning editor.
It would be easy to take the easy way out and just regurgitate some mainstream crap. But there is a lot of potential. The female interest needs to be a modern Lucretia Borgia, who can take on the BOFH and draw, if not win the battle. Think of someone like Servalan from Blake's 7.
I've worked out how to end the series and roughed out the stories. Might send them Simon's way if I ever get them finished.
Being a huge Father Ted fan I was really looking forward to the IT Crowd when it first premiered but was sorely disappointed with it first time round. Then it was repeated on E4 and I loved it so went out and bought the DVDs. I definitely think it gets better with subsequent viewings.
The Haunting of Bill Crouse and Aunt Irma Visits are firm favourites ("and in Munich, a group of IT Consultants shouted at a dog"). And Jen is hot!
As for decoration of the 'Bat Cave', doesn't Roy wear shirts from 'Think Geek' anyway? I have one; it reads "I never finish anyth..."
I quote : "You wouldn't steal a handbag. You wouldn't steal a car. You wouldn't steal a baby. You wouldn't shoot a policeman. And then steal his helmet. You wouldn't shit in his helmet. And then send it to the policeman's grieving widow. And then steal it again! Downloading films is stealing. If you do it, you will face the consequences. "
LMAO :)
What would happen to the 0118 999 881 999 119 725... 3 joke?
The US hasn't done the 118-xxx thing, and in their case, 911 *is* the emergency number.
I find the series kind of fun, but I prefer BOFH-like humor (IT guys exacting revenge on lusers) instead of humor based on taking potshots at geeks.
I am in Indiana,USA and I really enjoyed this show. I think they did a decent job. It reminds me of the young ones at times, which I enjoyed as well. Of course I have to wade through all the reality shit here in the USA.
As for the "Big Bang Theory" It is not the same as this. It is a good show in it's own right and worth the watch.
I thought a comedy was a program that made you laugh. The IT Crowd is the most unfunny show EVER!!! Even Eastenders can produce more humourous moments. The only decent comedy since Red Dwarf has been My Family. For anyone thinking i've forgotten The Office, i'll just point out that it was just Rick "god i'm so untalented" Gervais being a complete prick which seems to be what passes for humour nowadays. I thought people wanted less crap on TV, obviously there are still a few people with the brain capacity of a dead flea who will laugh at anything
As a New England Yankee that has the first two seasons of Look Around You on DVD (yes, I imported the Region 2 DVDs from BBC Video... I love my region-free DVD player), let me say that I found the first season to be the some of the funniest television I had seen in ages. The dry-as-toast delivery and the absurd takes on the subject matter were absolutely fecking brilliant.
Sadly, my biggest fear is that the American producers of the show will be convinced that the average American will be totally unable to "get" the jokes and dumb them down, or worse, include a LAUGH TRACK (*cringe*), obliterating any semblance of fine humour... making it "yet another British television import that mysteriously flopped once it got to American telelvision, why-can't-we-get-another-Monty-Python-damnit."
No, I don't hold much for American television, and if you lived here, you'd understand why. Please, God, don't let them make a mockery of "Look Around You."
"I am writing to inform you of a fire which has broken out on the premises of..." no, that's too formal.
Jeez, if you don't find it funny, don't watch it. I don't watch Big Brother, but don't bang on about how much a waste of airtime it is.
Nobody mentioned a dangerous Transformers t-shirt yet?
> ....but not so much they decide to remake it, and kill it in the process as has happened with other great british comedies.
Rest assured, us American geeks have already seen the first two seasons, and we enjoyed it a lot, thank you very much. (You actually believe a geek would wait until a local station picked it up??) My 14 year old daughter (also a geek) has memorized the dialog to most of the episodes.
According to The IT Crowd Wiki, there *was* an attempt to remake it over here in America, with only Richard Ayoade reprising his roll. (You can just hear the Hollywood execs saying "I don't understand that joke. Take it out and put in more slapstick. And make people speak slower.") Thank the gods, plans appear to have fallen through. If American television wasn't mostly shite, (with a few notable exceptions, like The Big Bang) we wouldn't be scouring the internet for British shows. Speaking of which, Pegg is a rat bastard for not making a third season of Spaced. I just had to get that off my chest.
I did find the second season only okay. Some bits were really funny, then others were poor. Hopefully season 3 will get its act together. Maybe Graham needs to hang out in more it departments. I never really found the new boss that hilarious. Okay, but not amazing.
Jen is well horny though.....
Do the BOFH thing; I think it could work as electrocution and other forms of death of various members of staff (pretty much every episode) could work visually. People got to like Dexter, so the BOFH could even become an anti-hero.
I like the idea of a fembot female BOFH villain as well!
So don't just think about it; do it & try a pitch to Simon.
Simon has never been the same since working at Waikato; Hamilton has that effect. Perhaps it could be set (or at least start) in a provincial North Island town in New Zealand?
Love the idea, shoe horning the tehcnical stuff into the format of the show would be tough, but I just look at how well they did that for House and the medical content. If push comes to shove (as it should with a BOFH) fall back on the Hollywood old faithful add more violence or sex. Considering it BOFH more violence should always be the first option
...that the article is about RE-MAKING the IT Crowd in the USA please go back to the article and read it again with your fucking glasses on? Christ on a Raleigh Grifter!
It's a great show, Ayoade is simply a fantastic performer (his best episode is the one where he invents the bra and goes on Dragon's Den - masterful), Morris like some kind of terrifying comedy T-Rex prowling the set and Linehan's script fabulous. It's even got Noel Fielding in a minor role for God's sake, what more do you want? I hope the yanks like it, I'm sure a good few of them will.
...nearly at the station...
"It's discrimination against both girls and transvestites and it's just not on."
Just as a matter of interest, which one are you?
(not wishing to pry, tolerant of all lifestyles, try to be a 'modern man' etc.......)
(P.S. is sparkly finish foundation really good for the dark circles under the eyes or was somebody trying to play a trick on me?)
I bet the Transformers Tshirt will make an appearance in V3.0 (thats what they should be calling the Seasons, right?)
America does already have a comedy about Geeks, but what I've watched was VERY hit and miss, for every genius gag, there was something cringeworthingly tiresome. Same seems to be the case for Lab Rats from what little I have seen of this.
Geekier quality gags have been used in The Simpsons and Futurama than you get in Big Bang Theory.
IT crowd V1.0 was awesome, but V2.0 was still good, and I can see why they tried to move away from the geeky gags to stuff the proles could understand.
...I've worked and visited a lot of IT departments, not one of them looked like a comic shop or a batcave or any permutation of the two! Of course every geek who ever worked in any IT department certainly wanted such a set up, but with the exception of the BOFH, not one of them had power to make it happen.
If the 3rd season of "The IT Crowd" featured an office that resembled a comic fans batcave, it would cease to be a comedy, it would be the new ISO guide to IT.
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