Many a time when I was
browsing my streaming services--primarily Netflix--I would stumble across the
title "The IT Crowd" and never clicked the button because I just
didn't think I'd be interested. I've worked in the software industry side-by-side
with the "IT crowd" for over a decade now. Any "in" jokes
about it would just seem stale and lame, I felt, especially since all of the
end-user ignorance bit has been passé for years now.
So it wasn't until my
daughter nudged me that I decided to give "The IT Crowd" a try. After
all, I've been watching a lot British comedy and drama lately and finding it a
good deal more satisfying than most of the American fare I've grown up with.
I was not disappointed.
After the first episode I was hooked. "The IT Crowd" is one of the
most outrageously hilarious comedies I've ever enjoyed. Richard Ayoade is a
treat as the socially inept electronics genius Maurice Moss; Chris O'Dowd is a
perfect fit as the perpetually disgruntled slacker Roy Trenneman; and Katherine
Parkinson creates an empathetic figure in the hapless Jen Barber. They are the
IT department at Reynholm Industries, a family-run business that does who knows
what but seems to be important enough to attract Japanese partners.
The initial shtick is
that Jen is hired to head the IT department though she knows nothing about
computers. Roy and Moss know this and find a way to expose her--well, at least
to themselves--but she continues to represent the ne'er-do-well department to
the rest of the company.
The primary reason I
resisted the show for so long was because I assumed it would be a litany of one
IT or computer-related joke after another. Instead, it's more of the kind of
madcap character comedy you see in programs like "Psych" or perhaps
even "The Catherine Tate Show." Roy and Moss manage to get themselves
into absurd predicaments that require complicated resolutions.
For example, in one
episode Roy decides to use the restroom reserved for handicapped patrons
because the wait was too long for the regular restroom. He gets caught and
resorts to pretending to be disabled while Moss finds himself suddenly tending
bar after he is mistaken for an employee of the establishment. Jen would surely
feel she's the parent to a couple of grown-up ten-year-olds if not for her own
mishaps.
The program is full of
surprises. Just when you think you've seen just about every ludicrous thing
that could happen in Reynholm Industries, the most head-slappingly preposterous
will occur. I don't want to divulge too many details about this, lest you
decide to give it a try, but one example is the discovery Jen makes about what
lies behind a mysterious door in the IT offices. Let's just say there's more
than servers in there.
My favorite episode is
"The Work Outing" in which Jen, Roy and Moss go out to the theater.
It was supposed to be Jen's date with a co-worker whose sexual orientation
remains ambiguous or evasive and is a mystery Jen must solve. I will say no
more about it, but it is decidedly the most hilarious TV I have enjoyed in a
long, long time.
In another episode, Roy
and Moss fall in with the wrong crowd when they decide to fake being sports
fans after Moss finds a web site specifically for geeks that helps them make
conversation with, well, "normal" folk. As you might imagine, it does
not end well. It seldom does in this program.
It doesn't take long to
fall in love with all of the characters in the show, even the unsavory ones
like Douglas Reynholm. He's one of the most enjoyable scalawags ever to grace
the small screen. Roy, Moss and Jen will quickly become like family. You cannot
help but feel for them as the luckless but well-meaning IT department.
The most disappointing
thing about "The IT Crowd" is that it only ran four full seasons. It
came back for a farewell episode later, but that final episode is not yet
available on streaming services--as far as I can tell, anyway, and I've been
searching for it. It's over all too quickly for me. I want more. One day I'll
find that elusive final episode, and that will, sadly, be that. Until then I
may have to watch the whole series all over again. I cannot recommend "The
IT Crowd" highly enough. No matter what kind of show you enjoy, you'll find
"The IT Crowd" a laugh-out-loud experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment