I am surprised that this show does not have a thread about it yet! Season 3 has been going strong for weeks now, and I just had to post to see if anyone else has been watching the show.
After seeing season 1, I never though they could top it… then I saw season 2…and I never thought they could top it…
Season 3 has been just stellar so far, especially the “Real Men” episode.
I would have to say that this and Always Sunny in Philadelphia are the best Comedy shows on the air today. (The Office U.S. is a close third)
The Anti-Piracy clip is amazing, but I find the show pretty much mediocre with a few really good highlights scattered throughout. It would be better if it actually dwelled on the premise a little bit more, but instead of actually having it be about IT guys, it sets up as a show about IT guys and then it’s like “IT guys go on blind dates!” and “IT guys go to the theater!” and other pretty standard sitcom episodes.
Richard Ayoade is easily the best thing about that show, but generally I agree with extarbags here. If it actually centered on geek stuff more, it would be funnier. It’s like Black Books in that regard - a show which by all rights I should love, but don’t.
That said, apparently the second season of IT Crowd had Noel Fielding in it? I should probably watch those.
I thought season 1 was pretty slack and mediocre, but seasons 2 and 3 have been markedly better, boosting it into “good show” range. Matt Berry has been an especially good addition.
I don’t think it’s anywhere near “best comedy on TV” or whatever though. For that I’d say 30 Rock, How I Met Your Mother, and It’s Always Sunny, with Flight of the Conchords just a hair behind.
Also, I’ll mention that whatever the BBC classifies it as, Top Gear is often the funniest thing I see that week, and Big Bang Theory, after an abysmal start, has actually become pretty solid.
I tried the first series, but it didn’t really gel with me, probably because my expectation were too high. I loved Richard Ayoade’s previous show, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, and Graham Linehan’s Black Books, but it didn’t amuse me half as much as either of those two.
I am just utterly flabbergasted at how nobody on Qt3 likes the show other than I! So many of my friends watch this show and love it, I am suprised that the qt3 hivemind hasn’t churned out another fan yet.
My girlfriend, who knows nothing of technology, (and after season 2 episode 3 she asked me what IT stood for) loves the show. (Though she was a huge fan of “Dark Place” beforehand)
I guess fans of an IT-crowd tend to be lurkers, or something.
I also think the theatre episode is stand-out funny. I lolled mao at the wheelchair loading sequence. It ain’t no Father Ted, and maybe by not really mining the comedy potential of the actual job*, it’s weakened slightly. Like extarbags said, it’s barely IT-related. It doesn’t even do a good job of poking fun at corporate life as those sequences are OTT (Chris Morris goodness aside).
*is there actually any that would be funny to non-IT people?
Not at all, the generally nerdiness and inability to act like “normal” people is the whole hook with the show. The show is broad to pull non IT people into it. It has a lot to do with IT, season 2 gets away from IT a lot, but seasons one and three are extremely nerdy.
I think that everyone gets in the same genuinely funny situations no matter what job they work. This show just happens to take a techie perspective, which hasn’t ever really happened.
You could rebrand almost any comedy show by your logic. “The Office” could become “The Factory” or “The Pizza Place” Flight of the conchords could be about two New Zealanders that are trying to break into the Def Poetry Jam circuit, or two New Zealanders trying to break into the comedy scene.
I am not saying that the show is about IT, the show is about IT people interacting with everyday funny situations. And… I think it is something that hasn’t been done before.
I don’t even notice the laughtrack at all, but… now that you mention it… I will, and I am sure it will piss me off as it usually does. But this is a studio comedy, and laugh tracks usually come along with that.
I think the show is great. Not quite to the standard of Father Ted and Black Books, but not that far behind. There are some absolutely sublime moments. Third season has fizzled a little bit so far, IMO, although the most recent episode about the perils of Facebook was pretty funny. Generally the boss played by Matt Berry is great - “Damn these electric sex pants!” - and Moss is always a joy to watch.
It’s worth getting the DVDs just for the menus, which are all based around classic computer games - Knight Lore, Manic Miner, etc.
