This topic contains 129 replies, has 31 voices, and was last updated by 
John Hoare 4 years, 7 months ago.
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JonsmadFriday June 25th
ChrisM“I came here to drink milk and kick ass* and I’ve finished my milk.”
Heh. Is it sad or cool that I get that reference?
*Or was it the other way around?
performingmonkeyAt this stage it does feel like it could run and run, that tons of potential is still there ready to be mined, so it’s brilliant news that it’s already got a fifth series. Bringing in different writers should keep things fresh and hopefully increase the episode count. 6 episodes is never enough for 22 minute shows. That’s why I’m hoping the new Dwarf is in a 40 minute slot on Dave for around 30 min running time.
It’s interesting how Moss-centric the new series appears to be (yeah I know this is only going off 30 second clips…). I seem to remember Graham saying on the last series commentary (I think) that he realised he’d slipped up in not writing enough for Moss to do. Personally I didn’t mind because, as brilliant as Richard is as Moss, it would be so easy to mess up the character by trying to create too many forced ‘classic’ Moss moments. I think the show really does work with Moss as more of the side character, unless it’s like the theatre episode where Roy, Jen and Moss all have their seperate threads.
RidleySo has anyone watched episode one yet?
I’m waiting on the broadcast but how is IT?
Pete Part ThreeYes, I liked it. If anything it hit home about how good the cast is. It’s not a fantastic opener, but it’s enough to remind you how different this is to every other sitcom on TV.
Chris O’Dowd really is a fantastic actor and plays the dramatic stuff in this episode so well.
hummingbirdI agree: very good, but not one of the best.
Tanya JonesG&T Admin I attended the recordings and can say that there’s quite a few interesting ideas in this series!
Andrew> I attended the recordings and can say that there’s quite a few interesting ideas in this series!
I script edited this series and I can entirely agree.
performingmonkeyLoads of stuff in episode 1 that was almost there but just didn’t make it for me (e.g. the other businessmen acting like Douglas was IMO a bad idea). Graham being a bit lazy as well, I reckon. Roy crying was funny before, let’s do it again. Moss falling over was funny before, let’s do it again… OK that’s a negative way of looking at things but, hey.
I DID love everything to do with D&D and the ‘it’s not for you, Jen…’ repeated gag, so Seinfeld that. ‘Goodbye…’ was a funny moment, though the applause from the audience grated on me a bit. Does a callback to something from 5 minutes ago really deserve a round of applause? Is that how terrible 90% of writing and performing for shows has become, that a decently-delivered callback gag sends the crowd wild?? Whatever, it’s great to hear so much enthusiasm from the audience.
Ben PaddonWow, performingmonkey. That’s a new level of bipolar criticism from you. “THE AUDIENCE REACTION GRATES! I FOUND IT ANNOYING! GREAT TO HEAR SO MUCH ENTHUSIASM FROM THEM!”
What?
Plastic PercyReally enjoyed the episode, favourite line has got to be Moss’s “it’s like somebody split up with Stalin”.
performingmonkey> What?
I meant it’s great to hear the fans having a good time and actually liking the show. The atmosphere is great, even if applauding that moment is cheesy. It reminds me of any applause from VIII…
genericnerdyusernameJust watched it on the telly tonight and absolutely loved it. Pretty much agree with everyone who says it’s not the best but is still bloody marvelous.
hummingbirdDon’t you think that playing D&D is a little OOC for Moss? …. I mean, it involves a degree of social interaction with a group of people, and social interaction is hardly Moss’s forte. D&D seems much more Roy’s kind of game.
Of course, I’m talking bollocks as it doesn’t matter in the slightest. Still a great ep
Plastic PercyI don’t think it’s out of character, Dungeons and Dragons is hardly the epitome of social networking. A group of shy nerds, sitting in a dark room pretending to be over people.
ChrisMI saw it yesterday. I considered watching it on-line but I prefer to see it on the box if I can.
Great episode! As for the other business men being like Douglas, I was a bit in two minds over that. At first I wasn’t sure it was a good idea but I think it worked in the end. They’re cheesy and stink of caricature but this writer has a history of taking such characters and running with them… and it works. For me anyway.
And the scene between Roy and Moss in ‘Elf Queen’ mode. It kind of made me want to wince and laugh at the same time, which isn’t a bad mix of emotions. Not wincing because I thought it bad, just… it was kind of embarrassing. But worked partly ]because of that. I know that probably comes across contradictory, or I’ve explained it poorly…. but it worked. Especially Moss getting really into character with the Doe eyes. (Capital ‘D’ intentional, if technically incorrect.)
performingmonkeyI think the funniest moment of the episode is Roy’s ‘thanks to a certain Elfen queen…’ or more specifically Moss’s reaction to it. Classic!
Liked it loads more watching it on broadcast. I was probably in too miserable a stupid mood to enjoy it enough first time, I don’t know… Love the applause as well tbh. Hey maybe I really am bipolar…
RidleyI wonder why Jen not knowing her job gets no reaction whatsoever. Same thing happened in Red Dwarf with a gag that completely escapes me at the moment.
The atmosphere is great, even if applauding that moment is cheesy. It reminds me of any applause from VIII…
Better than that damn whooping every Seinfeld episode when Kramer first turns up.
Ben Paddonwonder why Jen not knowing her job gets no reaction whatsoever. Same thing happened in Red Dwarf with a gag that completely escapes me at the moment.
“It’s well naughty. Trouble is you’ve got to eat it before the bread dissolves.”
I’d like to know the same thing, too. It got a little chuckle out of me but the audience do nothing. Katherine Parkinson didn’t leave much of a gap between that joke and the next sentence either, which leaves me to wonder if they’d expected a laugh in earlier takes, didn’t get one, and so they just told her not to leave a pause.
I’m just speculating, obviously.
genericnerdyusernameI just read a few comments on this series by the people over at cookd and bombd.
What a bunch of miserable fucking tossers nearly, if not all of them are.
Plastic PercyAm I the only one who thinks Moss looks like Phil Lynott after a shave and wearing a pair of glasses?
genericnerdyusernameThat joke at the end about windows… made everyone here groan, but in a fantastic way.
I enjoyed tonight’s episode alot, and not just for Douglas’ outfit.
performingmonkey> That joke at the end about windows
You just know that Graham will apologise for it on the commentary. He’ll be like ‘so sorry for this last joke, I know Roy should probably say PC not Windows but…I don’t care!’
Pete Part ThreeBit underwhelmed by that one. The bits in the club were good, but the Fight Club-style Street Countdown reminded me a little too much of Spaced’s Robot Wars pisstake.
The Jen storyline was a bit of a non-event with Matt Berry underused. I think I’d prefer it if they kept it to two main plotlines at the most.
RidleyBenedictWongBenedictWongBenedictWongBenedictWongBenedictWong
Hope Prime resurfaces again one day but Negative One was just annoying, personally.
JamesWasn’t that Andrew out of focus in the background in the Street Countdown scene? The one without glasses, where everyone else did? I still like the style of the watching audience can guess the joke before it’s coming, you know it’s coming and when it does you feel more interactive with the show. It doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. Moss seemed more relaxed in his own geeky environment, but I’m not sure he would have undertaken the one on negative one challenge!
JonsmadYeah it is a bit late to be doing Fight Club Parody now in 2010 but at least the variation of the joke was different to all the other ones ive seen, and it does fit well with countdown, and a nice homage to Richard Whitley.
Best of all I enjoyed the homage to The Young Ones Bambi in the opening set up of Moss not Neil getting onto a TV quiz.
hummingbird> Wasn’t that Andrew out of focus in the background in the Street Countdown scene?
Yeah. Doesn’t he know how distracting that can be? ;-)
ChrisMI actually fell asleep during this latest episode. Not due to boredom. Due to lack of sleep.
What I saw seemed pretty good though. Loved (what I saw of) the silliness of Street Countdown complete with a bunch of people doing the sound transitions themselves. Heh.
(And yeah, I wasn’t keen on the Fight Club joke either, although I probably would have liked it better if I hadn’t seen Spaced’s version.)I’ll catch it again later now I’ve had my weekend lie in.
(Edit- I realise that looks like I’ve just got up. Not true. Honest.)
genericnerdyusernameMy favourite line was the response to Moss asking what are the rules of street countdown; “The same as normal countdown but on the street.@
Andrew> Yeah. Doesn’t he know how distracting that can be? ;-)
Steady ladies.
> The one without glasses, where everyone else did?
Had my glasses on the entire time. I guess they’re harder to see when out of focus, since they’re rimless…
performingmonkey> Best of all I enjoyed the homage to The Young Ones Bambi in the opening set up of Moss not Neil getting onto a TV quiz.
Yeah, smiled at that. I still reckon ‘Bambi’ is one of the greatest episodes of television ever made. ‘Cash’ too. Utter class.
Danny StephensonG&T Admin For me it’s ‘Sick’ and ‘Summer Holiday’ For the simple reason that they were my first episodes I saw as a child, and just hold sentimental value. I did see the scene on IT Crowd and thought it was a parallel, he should have tripped over a bin to verify it. Maybe Graham will mention it on the commentaries…
I liked the episode, I do think the Jen/Douglas thing did seem like filler, but the banter between her and Roy not caring about the other’s problem was funny.
Street Countdown is a brilliant idea, though. I’d do that!
performingmonkeyDid anyone else think of the Ted ep ‘Song For Europe’ with the window cleaner who you can’t understand? Yeah it’s not really the same gag but it’s close…
Btw does anyone know if there were any real Countdown winners in it? And also, we mustn’t let the little factoid of the hottest woman on television appearing in this episode slip through the net! She will bear my children one day while others weep…
Nick RThe bits in the club were good, but the Fight Club-style Street Countdown reminded me a little too much of Spaced’s Robot Wars pisstake.
The idea of a spelling competition being taken outside reminded me of the ending of the spelling bee episode of Frasier:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yucudEjrqEI didn’t think it was as good as that Frasier episode, or as good as the first episode of this series. It had its moments though, such as the reveal of what was really going on in those meetings (but did the camera really need to linger that long on Douglas’ lycra-clad body?)
genericnerdyusernameYes. Yes it did. I assume so, anyway; why else would it?
performingmonkeyGraham has tweeted about the latest (dire) episode. Apparently he abandoned a lot of the story at the studio stage because they felt it didn’t work (Roy was gonna go mad on pain killers for his back after the ass-kissing incident, also Moss became the band’s manager). They shot the location stuff for those scenes but then scrapped it. You can so tell it was dragged out with little material.
Definitely the worst episode of all 4 series’. A shame really…
genericnerdyusernameHmmmm. I enjoyed it, though I do have to agree.
Nick RI loved the subplot about Moss and Douglas’ rivalry to acquire a robot hand. And Moss’ insistence that no-one except Jen could possibly find being kissed on the bottom funny (and then being proved right). And “Jen’s going out with a geek!” And the technical term “cleftal horizon”. And the keyboardist’s static poses in the romantic spinning-round-in-the-playground shots. And the quoting of “Did you see that ludicrous display last night?”
And even though Scientology parodies have been a dime a dozen online since South Park’s Trapped in the Closet/Return of Chef and the Project Chanology protests, Douglas’ infomercial the start of this episode was a pretty fun one. (It was only after the episode aired that I was told that it was more of a spoof of “cosmic ordering” than Scientology – something that, luckily, I’d never heard of before.)
So for me individual gags like those made up for any problems with the plot. Not the best episode, but far from performingmonkey’s description of it as “dire”!
RidleyI do wonder if seeing Douglas’ robot hand in action is a Brittas Empire alien plant moment.
Though the declaration he was actually getting one was great.
That gig Moss couldn’t find was at the same place as Gay! right?
ChrisM>That gig Moss couldn’t find was at the same place as Gay! right?
It certainly looked the same to me.
Pete Part ThreeTBH, that episode was so mediocre I can’t remember much about it, 24 hours after watching it.
Ben PaddonAye. There were some good ingredients in there, but t’weren’t no cake.
MANI506I thought the robot hand was going to be revealed during the hand clap in court. I laughed a lot (as I have the last two) and I still have a lot of goodwill for the show. Nothing to rival last series ‘Are We Not Men’ so far. Nice to have it referenced here!
MuzzyThe series so far certainly isn’t as strong as previous material but to class it as ‘dire’ is unbelievably harsh.
performingmonkeyI loved the Countdown episode but I was watching this one and hardly laughing at all. Maybe two or three laughs, Moss getting the popcorn out, starting the slow handclap (and even that wasn’t played as funny as it should have been) and then the only real good bit of the ep which was Douglas with his hand at the end. I absolutely love stuff getting smashed in sitcoms. Complete with big smash sound effects too!
I know I’m a miserable fucker but watching it I just couldn’t help feeling this is a bad episode of television. Is all. How I can think that when the main stories in it were pretty much just plays on Seinfeld ideas (one of my favourite shows ever) I don’t know. Maybe because Elaine…I mean Jen and the ‘geeky’ boyfriend was really really unfunny and out of character for her, reminding me too much of the worse episodes of Seinfeld when they gave Jen…er, Elaine ‘wacky’ boyfriends that she would never look twice at just to get one gag out of it. I’m babbling…I promise it will stop lol I just hate it when I don’t like an ep.
genericnerdyusernameI know I may be contradicting what I said before, but I didn’t hate this episode at all. If it had been the first or last episode I would’ve probably hated it, but in the middle of a series it passed by me quite fine. I found plenty of bits to laugh at, especially Roy’s storyline (his face when the guy kisses him on the bum in particular).
genericnerdyusernameWow the pace of that episode was SO fast!
Kris CarterBest ep of the series so far!
performingmonkeyThis week’s episode of The IT Crowd was brought to you by Steve Jobs :P
ChrisMThat bit with the telephone in the shirt pocket (and the loo) has happened to me before. (Not the arcade bit afterwards, although that would have been entertaining.) The phone survived too.
A good episode. I thought the Italian translation joke was a bit predictable I mean, if you have a handy thing to translate for you (a computer program and voice recognition software in this case, but it could have just as easily been a bloke and an earpiece.) it makes sense that help going to be taken away- cue a bit of creative bum-fluff from Jen. It still worked very well though, didn’t it?
performingmonkey> It still worked very well though, didn’t it?
Yeah, somehow it did, despite being the most predictable thing ever. It’s setups like that where the performances have to be great or else…boredom ensues.
Oh and who the hell WAS the beautiful girl in this episode??
RidleyOh and who the hell WAS the beautiful girl in this episode??
That would be Roy in a jacket.
genericnerdyusernameI reeeeally enjoyed that episode. That is all.
ChrisMHeh, heh, yeah. Bad boy Mos.
performingmonkeyVery weak Jen and Douglas parts I thought. And why the hell didn’t we get a proper balloon payoff with Roy? Instead we got it explained with a title…not remotely funny. There should have been a balloon there and that’s why he froze. Lots of potential situations for Roy and Moss bunking off but we hardly got anything. Moss turning into a comedy ‘badboy’…meh.
PhilAny idea where I can watch this online? Youtubers used to upload episodes, but I haven’t seen them for this series.
Granted, if the weekly consensus seems to be orbiting the word “meh” I’m probably not missing too much, but I’d still like to give it a shot before buying another DVD.
RidleyPossibly because Channel 4 is giving them out on their youtube 4 on Demand service:
http://www.youtube.com/show/theitcrowd?pl=9EAD9638207596A5
Though I assume you have to convince the internet you’re British somehow…
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This week’s episode missed a trick with Roy’s phone in the office not ringing when Jen dialed. Maybe an obvious one but I would have appreciated it.
genericnerdyusernameNaw, it was good imo. :)
Pete Part ThreeDefinitely up there with Episode 2 of this run; better than last week and leaps and bounds above the week before. Liked the caption at the end, particularly The Simpsons-esque resolution of dangling plot lines. Loved Moss stealing DVDs. Loved the Vista joke. Nice to see the actor Kevin Eldon, although his bit may have been a bit *too* broad.
Nick RAnd why the hell didn’t we get a proper balloon payoff with Roy? Instead we got it explained with a title…not remotely funny.
“Gave Roy a little fright” was an amusing phrase!
I thought that was a great episode. It also contained at least the second reference to “Are We Not Men?” this series.
I did guess the reveal of who Bad Boy Moss would be talking to right at the start of the episode. Lots of comedies have featured “Scared Straight” scenes were kids get shouted at by a prisoner/cop/soldier, and I’m sure at least one of them has done the same gag where the kids turn out to be toddlers, and I spent ages after the episode trying to remember which. (Simpsons? Malcolm in the Middle? Maybe I’m getting mixed up with the school assembly scene in Hot Fuzz…)
PhilAwesome Ridley, thank you. But sure enough…
“This video contains content from Channel 4, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.”
I’ll figure out some way to trick it. Thanks for the link!
performingmonkeyYou could easily guess ‘Vista’ was coming but it was still hilarious. Also, seeing someone run up a downwards elevator is never not funny.
genericnerdyusernameEdit: Shit misread your comment.
Danny StephensonG&T Admin This week’s episode missed a trick with Roy’s phone in the office not ringing when Jen dialed.
I was thinking that as well, but having Kevin Eldon was awesome…
performingmonkey> but having Kevin Eldon was awesome…
Apart from the fact that it’s the worst thing he’s ever done. Just cause he’s in it doesn’t make it good. Look at Hyperdrive.
RadHow do we view Graham Linehan’s writing?
We all deeply respect him and The IT Crowd certainly has a lot of great comic moments but a lot of episodes don’t pay off the way they should or have some structural problems. Is that something we just accept as part of his writing that is cancelled out completely by the good parts or is there is a certain messiness to his writing that is The Graham Linehan style?
Example: Series 2 Episode 2
Douglas appears almost completely out of the blue, plot with Roy just ends, GL admits on commentary ‘it’s a bit of a deus ex machina’.Now I was really annoyed when that happened but I know people on here thought it was a really good episode. Having watched it since on DVD I now love that scene especially the wink to Jen after he promises no more sexual harassment cases.
This week’s episode had a really dodgy suplot with Jen that just ended with no real resolution but because GL so readily admits to problems with the episodes, the ‘Douglas forgot to fire Jen and that whole thing went nowhere’ (or whatever it actually was) line looks like an in-joke to his problems writing episodes.
My problem is when I watch ‘The Work Outing’ which I think is a classic sitcom episode I think he can do so much better. But then maybe ‘The Work Outing’ was just one of the standout moments you get in a series. For as we all know Thanks for the Memory > Parallel Universe.
What do you guys think?
JonsmadWell that episode was way out ham even by Graham’s standards!
ChrisMIt had it’s funny moments and it was highly watchable, but it wasn’t as good as the previous episodes. I don’t mind following more minor characters now and again, (it can be an interesting change in fact) but the boss character (who’s name I forget) just lacks the dimensionality for that to work properly. I don’t think this should have been the last episode in the series anyway. (I’m slightly shocked how quickly that series flew past, by the way!)
The Star Trek sex tape was amusing though. And it was cool to see Richmond again… although I didn’t find that sequence as funny as it could have been. He was so much funnier in his original role.
Pete Part ThreeFantastic to see Richmond again, but shame it was at the end of an episode that could be summed up as “meandering shite”. The wildly varying standards of quality this series has been incredible, but this was at the bottom of the pile with episode 3.
I think Matt Berry has the uncanny ability to make a half-funny line very amusing, and I’d love for him to get more recognition. But his character in The IT Crowd should only ever be supporting. Roy and Moss had very little to do here, which is never a good thing.
I’d forgive this episode if there was slightly more of a story to it, but it just went nowhere.
I can’t say that the prospect of bringing in new writers fills me with much hope for this. The show treads a fine line in broad comedy, which even Linehan occasionally seems to misjudge.
Ben PaddonI have to say, I think this series has probably been the weakest one so far.
Jonsmadhttp://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2010/08/02/11483/america_has_another_bash_at_the_it_crowd
IT Crowd USA Pilot here.
I’m getting deja vu of Robert being in the USA Red Dwarf Pilot and everything else being different around him and the script being same but different and some of the jokes working and some of it being shit.
Ben PaddonThere are a lot of changes in the American pilot for no real reason, like Denham’s “Team, team, team!” moment apparently being a ruse to keep the IT department in check. The loss of Moss’s “slightly larger gladsses” for the “in Britain, a plan…” would’ve been okay if the joke had worked.
Really didn’t like the American Jen, either. Can’t quite put my finger on why. She’s too enthusiastic about… well, everything.
DanodinWow no wonder it never got greenlit, everything bar Richard being hella awful. Neither Roy or Jen work for me. Their characters need to be more different to the originals and, for the love of the gods, recast! I mean, the woman playing Jen isn’t even nice-looking, let alone funny enough to make it work.
RidleyWow no wonder it never got greenlit, everything bar Richard being hella awful.
They did the angle on Reynholm at the start better.
I mean, the woman playing Jen isn’t even nice-looking
Gwah..?
DanodinThey did the angle on Reynholm at the start better.
Right, I’ll give them that. But because it’s not Chris Morris it’s not funny!
cliffYeah I think a Mr Reynholm back from the dead would be a nice twist but I do love Douglas..
FATHEEEERRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!
si
DanodinWow!
Ben PaddonI’ve just cacked me pants.
PhilThat box is better than half the episodes it contains.
hummingbirdHell, yes. Gotta have that.
John HoareG&T Admin The inclusion of the green door is brilliant.
RidleyThe inclusion of the green door is brilliant.
That box is better than half the episodes it contains.
You know you’re both mentioned on the DVD, right?
John HoareG&T Admin Bloody hell.
You know, I haven’t got the DVD yet – I was not buying DVDs as part of an extensive cost-cutting exercise across all departments – but I shall now have to order it immediately. (Also, I did just order The Camomile Lawn in order to see Jennifer Ehle’s tits, anyway.)
Ridley11:47 into Bad Boys on my Xbox’s clock.
The Guide to Sitcom Writing is worth the price alone. If only to know how you can blame Mr. Ellard (and NTS by extension) if you don’t like series 4. :p
Phil>You know you’re both mentioned on the DVD, right?
wat
Jonathan CappsG&T Admin transripz plz
RidleyIt’s one line!
“But Andrew’s, uh, reviews were different. Andrew… and his frie- uhh and the other people who were writing about the show at uh, at uh, Signal To Noise they- they- he- he obviously had such affection for the show but when we had screwed up and when we weren’t doing something right he, he let us know in the most, um, polite and well-argued and, um, insightful way possible.”
siAs a result of watching the DVD Menu documentary, I’ve been playing Windosill all evening.
Nick RGraham Linehan did a Reddit Q&A the other day. He says there won’t be a fifth series, but there will be a special next year. (And “mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmaybe a film”, a line I couldn’t read without thinking of this.)
Here’s the specific thread where he explains why it’s ending, and describes the “virtual writers’ room” method that he was attempting to use for series 5 (alongside Ellard and the Burnistoun guys, as far as I know… I don’t know if any other co-writers had previously been announced).
And on audience filming:
i love shooting in front of an audience. Gives it a special magic when it works. But it’s so bloody hard, so much harder than doing single camera, and at the end of it everyone complains that it’s too quiet/loud/fake, so part of me doesn’t wasn’t to go through the stress.
That said, I can’t see Count Arthur working quite as well without an audience.
Pete Part ThreeFor the best, I think.
I found series 4 so inconsistent and it seemed that Linehan was stretching himself with 6 episodes. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the idea of farming out scripts as it never seems to work well for UK sitcoms. It sounds like he was aiming for the sort of thing Trey Parker does with South Park, but that would always struggle to work on UK telly where scripts are only ready when they’re ready.
Some specials to wrap things up would be nice.
performingmonkeyIt’s a shame it’s over (bar the special) and that things, again, more or less boil down to money, but Graham’s definitely making the right choice in not going ahead and producing a crap 5th series just for the sake of it.
Tbh when I saw Chris O’Dowd on Rob Brydon a few weeks ago talking about the films he’s doing I thought then ‘oh, there won’t be another series’ even though he said it was still happening. The way things are going they would be lucky to get Chris and Richard Ayoade back for 6 weeks. Weren’t they already struggling with Richard’s time in series 4?
PhilSeries 3 mainly coasted on my goodwill (excellent “The Speech” aside), and series 4 killed it dead.
I definitely think the show has at least one full series’ worth of material left in it, but if Graham is having trouble finding that material then I absolutely think it’s best to cap it off and move on.
CarlitoI generally find one episode per series which I love, a couple I like and about half I could take or leave. It seems unlikely to ever top The Work Outing or Are We Not Men? so why keep trying? Peaked too soon. Or maybe just right, ultimately.
performingmonkey> and series 4 killed it dead.
‘A fire…at Sea Parks??’
RidleySame thing happened in Red Dwarf with a gag that completely escapes me at the moment.
It was Kryten’s “I’d better get out of here!” after forgetting his legs have been crushed.
…
*starts shoveling soil back onto thread*
ConnellAbsolutely agree with that review. The quality of the writing, and the show in it’s entirety waned severely in the later series’, a terrible shame as it was one of the most fresh and innovate comedys to come out of England in recent years.
I hear they’re planning a film version of the show, anyone heard that either?
Pete Part ThreeI think there’s an even split in series 4:
Good : Bad Boys, The Final Countdown
Reasonable : Jen The Fredo, Italian for Beginners
Awful : Something Happened, Reynholm vs. ReynholmNice article, Phil.
AlexIt has always worried me that Linehan thinks series 4 is the strongest. It makes me a little concerned for the upcoming Count Arthur Strong collaboration.
Phil>Good : Bad Boys, The Final Countdown
I’m a little less charitable toward the ones you listed as “reasonable,” but I agree without reservation that these were the two best in the series. They both had issues that held them back from being great (IMHO, of course), but there’s no shame in being only very good. Honestly, Bad Boys would probably rank among my favorite episodes if not for the stretched-way-too-fucking-long tech support garbage. Most of what that episode does it gets right…but shit are those tech support sequences tedious.
Interesting that both of the best episodes in this series are Moss heavy. Or not interesting…that other thing.
>It has always worried me that Linehan thinks series 4 is the strongest.
Now I’m terrified too.
Pete Part Three>I’m a little less charitable toward the ones you listed as “reasonable,”
Italian for Beginners makes it just for the seaparks stuff, to be honest.
MANI506Best episodes are The Red Door, The Work Outing, Are We Not Men and The Final Countdown.
I often do a Matt Berry impression when there’s somebody at the door.
Can’t wait to see this! Anyone on G&T blagging tickets to the recording?
siI often do a Matt Berry impression when there’s somebody at the door.
So glad that I’m not the only one.
Alex>Anyone on G&T blagging tickets to the recording?
If I see them up for grabs in time then I’ll be applying.
MANI506I tried to get tickets for series 4 but failed, I’ll try harder this time!
JoeyThis the best news of today!
Pete Part ThreeTHEN SEE IT NOW.
ChrisMJust…. one… more?
Okay, I guess I’m being a glass-half-empty kinda guy.
So from different stance:
Great! Another episode!
takerdemonI can’t wait to hear Douglas banging on about sexy sex again. Perhaps another Chris Morris cameo from beyond the grave too?
Phil
Jonsmadhttp://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/the-it-crowd-will-return-for-one-off-final-episode/320925
Next Friday 40 minute episode special.
performingmonkeyApparently Roy wins a Golden Techie award and makes a speech about all the people who’ve fecked him over down the years…
SoundableObjectI enjoyed it.
Felt like The IT Crowd’s Series VIII.
Ridley‘Twas enjoyable.
performingmonkeyLump in throat time as Moss stood there at the end…
siI laughed like an idiot.
Nothing new there, of course, but just thought I’d say.
Didn’t get to watch it til this morning, but, as always, some inspired, hilariously embarrassing lunacy. It was almost like a Greatest Hits tour. :)
Ben PaddonIt ended rather abruptly, I think. Not sure how I feel about that. And doing the “flicking off the light switch” ending so soon after Community made fun of exactly that trope is, perhaps, misguided. But as a whole, I loved it.
genericnerdyusernameI thought the flicking off fit with how the characters are realising that their lives aren’t very realistic. Not an original idea, granted, but done better than when that other sitcom did it recently(ish).
PhilThat was the best episode since series 2.
RidleyI hope you don’t blog about it on Breaking Bad Chatter, your Breaking Bad blog for Breaking Bad episodes.
PhilYou know, I thought about writing a review, but yeah, with the final Breaking Bad airing tomorrow I didn’t think tonight would be a good time to post it. It’d just be shoved down too quickly.
Having said that, I’m considering reviewing all of the IT Crowd episodes next. No promises…maybe I’ll open it up to a vote or something, or otherwise end up picking a different show…but The IT Crowd would be a great one to do episode by episode. For a lot of reasons. Which I won’t list now, because then there’d be no reason to do it. :(
ConnellI personally really enjoyed it. It was a very self-aware episode but it felt like it was allowed to be, had trademark I.T Crowd gags and memorable lines I’ll be chirping out for days.
Personal highlights: Small-person racist, and when Douglas smashes the window in on his own car.
NoFroI thought this was brilliantly funny. The IT Crowd has never been the most consistent show, with the last two series in particular having some absolutely inspired stuff and then some pretty abysmal stuff, but in terms of laughs this show definitely ended on a high.
Pete Part ThreeI wasn’t that keen. Some really great moments of visual humour, but the dialogue was a little lacking. It suffered from the extra length as the story couldn’t sustain it. But, despite having that extra time, the conclusion seemed rushed and under-developed.
JonsmadI like that they ended up above ground so to speak and a fitting last line for Roy. But the “ah lets just stop” line from Graham on the voice over at the end sort of sum it up better that they couldn’t find enough more in the show to really do a series 5 so crammed the not so strong final ideas remaining into this last episode with a bit more time to throw in some final callbacks. Jen is looking a little more like she shouldn’t be trapped with the rest of them any-more anyway, and Moss, Roy, and Douglas story lines werent as good as some of the better episodes. Got Richmond back but i wonder if that scene was last minute with only one of them there with him and hardly any point to his being there.
John HoareG&T Admin Douglas shouting “Check your privilege!” made me laugh A LOT. Series 2 seems so far away – these days, Matt Berry is my favourite part of the show, and he never used to be even close to that. That’s as much to do with me clicking with Matt Berry as much as anything else, though. (Can’t wait for the series of Toast of London later this month – I thought the pilot was great, and I’m hard to please with new comedy, especially single-camera.)
Anyway, with The IT Crowd, I was very drunk whilst watching it, so can’t give a proper well-considered opinion – but on first watch, it felt like it was cut extremely fast. I would have liked it to slow down occasionally. Especially with it being a final episode. The final revelation about the fate of our heroes seemed to finish before it had even been started.
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