Linehan turns IT Crowd off but NOT on again

Fans of Channel 4 sitcom IT Crowd will be crying into their customised motherboards this morning after the show's mastermind confirmed it won't be returning for a fifth series after all. Graham Linehan had said in May 2010 that he was working on another run of the programme, which brought the ridiculed-but-actually-extremely- …

[Lloyd]

Fair does

The 4th one was a bit week tbh.

[Andrew Moore]

Agreed...

Though I did love Street Countdown.

[Ammaross Danan]

Ah, will be missed.

"What operating system is it running?"

"Um, Vista."

"We're gonna die!"

[Ian K]

"Count Arthur Strong" next?

Well, at least he's picked an area where there's room for improvement. A lot of room, in fact.

[Anonymous Coward]

Quite so

The "o" in "Count" is silent, in this case. Dreary, dismal crap, tried to like it several times and just ended up in a tactical facepalm every time.

[Titus Aduxass]

That video clip of Count Arthur Strong doesn't do him justice he is a LOT funnier than that.

I saw him live last year and i haven't laughed so much for ages.

[Delbert]

On the other hand

I imagine his work with Count AS will not be humour related as I have yet to hear the alleged funny man actually do anything remotely connected with comedy and I include the radio series which inexplicably was given a further season . I rather hear mimes on radio 4

[Anonymous Coward]

Sad, but

If I'm honest the last series wasn't very good. I love the show, but on the strength of the last batch of episodes maybe the time is right to call it a day.

Can't say I see the appeal of Count Arthur Strong though.

[pctechxp]

Last series a bit weak but sad to see it go

Was great in its heyday but yes maybe now the time is right to hit the power button for the last time.

[Winkypop]

Non-System disk or disk error

Show cannot boot

Aww well, I enjoyed it.

[jason 7]

Thanks for the fun.

We loved the show and also agree its good to see someone know when to quit. The last series whilst better than most, was the lesser of the four.

However, I will always be thankful to Mr Linehan for that absolute classic episode with the Gay musical. That episode was the most funny laugh filled 30 minutes I've known in years.

The GF and I were in tears watching it. Doesn't happen often..well not in a comedy way.

[Andrew Moore]

I do think that "Work Outing" was when the show jumped the shark TBH. A bit like Speed 3 in Father Ted and the episode with Manny in the piano on Black Books.

[Richard Taylor 2]

Noooooo

The piano was fantastic

[Andrew Moore]

That's what I meant- I listed the series higpoints that the programs seem to go downhill from; well not downhill from- but they never hit that same high note again. Still, Lineham/Matthews mediocre is 100 times better than the usual trash paraded as comedy these days.

[xlq]

Probably for the best

It's nice that some writers still know when to end. I think it's better to end a series well than to drag it through a slow and painful death. It's nicer to finish a series and to have enjoyed it, rather than wading through dozens of the later, poorer episodes of a series, scavenging the last few laughs.

[Richard Wharram]

Like almost all of Red Dwarf :)

[Anon the mouse]

and 2 pints,

When will that show die

[Andrew Moore]

or worse, the zombie corpse of The Simpsons.

[Yag]

Aaaaand here goes more IT jobs down the drain in UK!

[adaytay]

Actually...

In the same topic on Reddit, he actually says that he WILL be doing a one-off special. He's also confirmed that he'll be doing this via Twitter (@glinner).

[SuperTim]

Maurice Moss.

I have to say, that with the death of the series dies a little bit of the Maurice Moss in all of us.

[Spoonsinger]

IT Crowd Tape-as.

Well sort of good while it lasted.

[Martyn 1]

Probably good to go out before it started getting really poor.

Count Arthur Strong's radio show was bloody brilliant, so hopefully if they get together there should be some comedy gold in it.

[Jeremy 2]

Agreed.

Stopping shows while they're still great is always a better idea than letting them drag out, especially if the writer has lost their enthusiasm.

Remember Red Dwarf???

[jubtastic1]

Somewhere in the last series,

The Magic smoke escaped.

Will skip anything involving CAS thanks.

[Andy Miller]

Complete

On the one hand I'm sorry that there won't be more, on the other hand, my complete box set remains complete !

[Marvin the Martian]

Move with the techie times!

My complete boxset lives on 4oD, so would re-complete itself if there'd be a 5th. Or when there's a one-of special.

[Andrew Moore]

On the plus side, I can now buy the complete box set, I held off after I heard about the possiblity of a 5th series.

Though now they are talking about a one-off special so I might hold off until that.

[Levente Szileszky]

Then why not passing it to someone else?

Seriously, we'd buy the next season... Never liked this type of creator-arrogance.

[joshimitsu]

End it on a high

The last series did have some great moments (my favourite was Moss giving evidence in court)

[Anonymous Coward]

I must be on a different wavelength

The IT Crowd is/was a laughter free zone for me. The great Count Aurthur Strong on the other hand is comedy gold. Viz., "My Mother sent me to electrocution lessons so that I could speak with other people's plumbs in my mouth".

[NoneSuch]

The departure of Ash Atalla as producer at the end of series three really seems to have hurt the franchise badly. That was the only real change to the show before series 4. Series 4 was not weak, it was horrible with only one decent line from the six episodes. The scripts were dismal, the storylines forced and in the end actually uncomfortable to watch.

Series 1-3 will end up on my shelf in DVD format as a true classic. Series 4 will not even be considered.

Good luck to Mr. Linehan in all future endeavours.

[calagan]

Chris O'Dowd taking a shot at Hollywood

I think this probably has to do with the fact that Roy (Chris O'Dowd) is trying to make himself a name in Hollywood. We've seen him in quite a few comedies in the last 2 years, Bridesmaids, with Kristen Wiig, being actually quite fun and commercially successful.

[Sartori]

It wasn't anything to do with Chris, Graham has already said on his Twitter that Chris and everyone were up for it, just he wasn't, but promised to make the one of special 'very special'.

[Anonymous Coward]

Moss too

He's been directing music videos for a while, and recently made his first feature film, "Submarine", which he wrote and directed - critically acclaimed too.

As for series 4 I thought the "Countdown" episode was the strongest but still not great, and the others were extremely patchy and felt very forced. I think I actually switched channels during the last episode such was my disappointment. Still haven't seen the ending.

[Jock in a Frock]

Just as I started watching it...

I never caught The IT Crowd while it was running, but just this weekend sat down and watched the first two episodes of Series 1 on 4oD. Really enjoyed it and look forward to seeing the rest.

Ironic that just as I start watching it, Mr Linehan pulls the plug.

Oh well, back to the basement for me.....

[Patrick R]

well don't stop yet,

Series 2, Episode 1 is by far the best of all.

[Anonymous Coward]

Best Episode

Series 2, episode 1 was incredibly funny, but "The Haunting of Bill Crouse" (Series 1, Episode 5) makes me laugh even more. The floating head along the hallway, the voice mail from the recently dead, and the final scene in the rain never gets old.

Thanks Mr Linehan. I will continue to enjoy watching all four series again and again.

[Pete 2]

Sounds more like a hobby than a job

> I just wasn't looking forward to it the way I used to.

Oh the poor dear, diddums! Having to work on things he doesn't want to. It must be such an imposition to get paid for doing things you "have run out of enthusiasm" for. If the show is still making money and people are prepared to finance future series, anyone with any professional integrity would feel honour bound to give it their best shot, not say "but I'm bored .... I wanna do something else" <sound of rattle being banged on high-chair's tray>

That does seem to be an issue with the television industry and particularly british TV production. The creative types don't seem to have the discipline to approach things as if they were a job: do work, get paid. Instead, it all seems to have to be "fun".

Bloody artists.

[Markie Dussard]

???

Overblown sense of entitlement, much?

[Pete 2]

Re: Overblown sense of entitlement, much?

Au contraire

I watched an episode once and didn't care for it - though I appreciate other people do like it. My beef is not with that particular show coming to an end - I don't care one way or another. It just bugs me that writers like this can turn away work that affects not only themselves, but fans, actors and all the other people involved in making the show. Even stranger, that the production company doesn't just say "OK, cheerio then. *Ding* will the next writer please assume the position and carry on where the last one *(what was his name?) left off."

Apropos creativity: Hmmm, *if* each episode was new, original, thoughtful and/or funny I may well have become a fan. As it is, there didn't seem like much creativity needed, just the ability to knock out a screenplay at roughly one page per minute of run-time. The guy's not exactly Douglas Adams, is he?

[Anonymous Coward]

Still missing the point

Creative writing just happens to require a writer who feels like writing just that creative thing. If he doesn't, he turns out crap and he knows it. If he continues regardless, he'll turn fans into former fans in a hurry, maybe even create a hatedom, start to hate himself, and quite possibly kill off his career.

From that it should be easy to see that it's both in his and in the series' fans interest to quit while ahead. Apparently the series was going downhill already, so it's past time he quit. I call that a correct decision. Better to keep what you got and not destroy it with afwul stuff afterwards.

Just like it's the right decision to quit before burning out from a shitty job, and find another. Just with slightly different parameters and possibly a greater impact. And, well, I think you're wrong about how lightly an author takes that decision to stop with this project and move on. If you created it and it's been successful, it is in fact quite hard to call it quits in a timely fashion.

[Alexis Vallance]

24 episodes? That's like a WHOLE SERIES in America!

[Hollerith 1]

Ceativity is not an industry

Pete 2, you apparently don't do much creative (paitning, composing, writing, whatever) in your life. The creative process takes a different mind-set to churning out accounts or pushing groceries over a scanner or driving a bus or piloting an oil tanker. Every job requires its skill, and creative writing needs an internal 'buzz', comedy especially relying on being 'up'. A professional can indeed buckle down and do a job for some time -- that's how series are sustained -- but finally every joke or situation becomes stale and the way a writer knows this is when he or she feels 'stale' and unhappy.

Every job should be done by people who look forward to it and enjoy it. Some jobs simply cannot be done unless you look forward to it and enjoy it. I want a happy comedy writer, I want a happy eye surgeon, and i want a happy airline pilot. If any of them feel bored and lacking in enthusiasm, well, please, not in my direction.

[snowlight]

Maybe you are some sort of weird sadist who prefers work to feel more like punishment and pain but I'd hazard a guess that most people prefer a job where they have fun and enjoy doing it. I know I've always tried to apply for jobs where I knew I would enjoy the work in addition to getting paid, of course I've worked jobs which I loathed but had to do purely for the money but then I generally left them for one that I would enjoy as fast as I possibly could.

Given his job allows him to move onto something more interesting when he is becoming bored and jaded with writing one series then why the hell shouldn't he.

In summary, you are a plonker.

[snowlight]

Oh balls. Swap masochist in for sadist when reading.

[Anonymous Coward]

I find CAS about as funny as root canal work without anaesthetic, but each to his own. The IT Crowd went downhill once Chris Morris left - the matter-of-fact way he jumped out of the window was a classic moment - so I think leaving it now was a good move by Graham Linehan.

[DragonKin37]

Bullocks!

Nuff Said...ill miss the gang especially Maurice Moss!

[Bunker_Monkey]

Ah no!

So no ipad, android, apple, winphon7 or windows 7 jokes will see the light of day...

At least a christmas special sending respect out to Steve Jobs?

Didnt think so.....

[Lloyd]

Leg disabled

Acid

Memory is RAM!

I am the head of IT and I have it on good authority that if you type "Google" into Google, you can break the Internet

The Elders of the Internet know who I am!?

Four!!! I mean FIVE!!! I mean...FIRE!!

We don't need no education.

Yes you do. You've just used a double negative.

[Graham Marsden]

Fortunately...

... The Big Bang Theory is still going strong.

Probably something to do with it actually being funny...

[Anonymous Coward]

You must have a different series with that name in your country, because in my country we have some horrible US series with that name.

[Christian Berger]

I would have liked it to go out with some sort of big finale. The fourth season had it's great moments, but overall wasn't that good.

[Anonymous Coward]

boo

Shame. The US have cranked out approx a 1000 big bank theory's since last week. Why cant we do it. The characters are all established and fun.

[Graham Lockley]

>The Big Bang Theory is still going strong.

Probably something to do with it actually being funny...

Shows how tastes differ, I tried hard to like TBBT but found it dull and predictable, OTOH a mate raves about it constantly. IT Crowd was far funnier and closer to reality (I know these guys) but I'm glad they didnt do the USA thing and pull in a team of writers. Sometimes less is more, Shameless springs to mind here, it should never have been dragged out beyond 4 series. Try watching 'Early Doors', a show that only ran for two series and is a jewel that leaves you wanting more.

[json]

RIP Roy, Ross and Jen.. it was fun while it lasted say hi to your old boss for me in virtual heaven (or wherever shuttered TV shows go).

[spankywetfish]

"Roy, Ross and Jen ?"

Big fan then.

[Goat Jam]

Noooooooooooooooooo

Bastards!

That was *literally* the only show I would sit down to watch on the telly.

[John Sanders]

I'm...

Disabled...

[Christian Berger]

There are different standards in television

While TBBT might be considered bland in the UK, Germany actually has a special version with added blandness to not disturb the viewers to much. It, for example, removes Sheldon's intonation.

Same goes for "The IT Crowd" which, to be honest I haven't seen much of the modified German version. (There also used to be a re-created German version which was only unintentionally funny.)

So while you might find shows like TBBT bland, the few Germans who can get Channel 4 find it a revelation. Same goes for experimental programmes like "Pages from Ceefax" which just feels like the deliberately pissing on every rule of television.

[Levente Szileszky]

RE: There are different standards in television

"Germany actually has a special version with added blandness to not disturb the viewers to much. It, for example, removes Sheldon's intonation."

Aye, you have to be careful with those poor, sensitive Germans...

...because, as history taught us, they clearly cannot tolerate any foreign voice and we really don't want to them to get regularly upset and start beating all those immigrants who do their dirty laundry or as the highly educated would put it: Kriminelle Ausländer raus!

[Anonymous Coward]

Series 1-3 were excellent. Series 4 was shit

That's all I have.