Didn't BBC2 do a sitcom-of-sorts set in an IT department? It was probably about four years or so ago now, and I think it was little fiteen minute blips rather than full programmes.
The idea of showing the first two episodes back-to-back reminded me instantly of the way they premiered THE MIGHTY BOOSH: they showed the best episodes in one burst, probably out of order with the rest of the series, and then hoped that you didn't notice that the rest weren't entirely as good.
That's not to say that The Boosh wasn't ace, because it was, but there was an obvious drop-off in...aceness between show 2 and the rest of the series.
I found the IT Crowd not entirely bad. I suspect it'll get better, as well. The ginj is playing her part as a kind of grotesque impression of Davina McCall, which makes me smile.
I do love the idea of watching these things online, though. That's how I watched Tittybangbang. Hurrah for the broad band.
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Can I recommend the last episode of The Mighty Boosh series 2, "The Ballad Of Milky Joe" as one of the highlights of this comedy decade. A very stupid idea, utterly and convincingly thought through...
Hmmm, I'm quite liking this show but for mostly the exact opposite reasons to you Paul, for me Moss is the better out of the two men, partly because of the style of delivery but because he's obviously Linehan reusing any spare ideas he had lying around for Dougal, it's Jen's character that's more troubling, three episodes in and I've still got no real clue about what she's like. In episode three she tells Moss that she's always lying but that's (ha ha!) not true, her getting the question wrong on Millionaire isn't because she's a liar because she never made any great claims to knowledge, she just bluffed when the security guard asked her those questions and was lucky. To then go on a date with him after loosing him that money suggests that even Linehan realised this episode was a mess and decided to get it out of the way as quickly as possible.
Jen lied to get the job in the first place, by claiming that she knew something about computers. Plus, I think the idea is that she cost the security guard guy money by answering the question rather than admitting she didn't know - although that didn't come across at all well.
Jen's central character trait is "bluffer", but I freely admit you'd struggle to get that point from the episodes alone without reading interviews.
Huh. Will you look at that.
The episodes are downloadable.
I doubt it's going to cut into the DVD sales, mind.
Rich: Boosh series 2 is, again, all about the first two episodes, for me. Something about an ANIMAL CRACKERS-esque Odyssey where Roger Daltrey hoovers the mesa that really gets me.
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Eh. Saw the first ep on the Web, and fortunately due to multitasking I figure it's only about 12 minutes of my life I can't get back. They apparently hired a geek to do the office decoration, then fired them without getting any understanding of geek personality traits. The writers should be locked in a room with a DVD of Real Genius on perpetual play for a week to try to get an understanding of how to write geek humor and/or humorous geeks.
I agree with most of your comments regarding the IT crowd and Graham Linehans work in general.
There does seem to be a recurrence of the 3 oddball characters being put together in a potenitally interesting situation and the inevitable hi-jinks that ensue. And obviously the best sitcoms are based around this sort of premise; a small cast forced together in a purposefully limited location. I think that as you've pointed out the characters in the IT crowd haven't really shone as individuals yet. In Father Ted, even from the first episode you could tell it was something special as all the main characters were fairly clearly defined and the cast all worked well together. I reckon the IT crowd has at least got it right so far to the extent that all the actors seem to work together and are all fairly likeable and endearing respectively. I'm hoping that the series and the characters will grow on me as it progresses.
On a more spoddy note, as far as I'm aware this is the first sitcom Graham Linehan has written on his own. While he was the co creator of Hippies, which was often very funny but veered too much towards the silly and the surreal for the sake of it at times, I think it was actually written by Arthur Mathews on his own. Similarly, Black Books was originally written by Linehan and Dylan Moran, series 2 and 3 have been written solely by Moran. I think it's worth noting that series 1 is easily the funniest of the 3 and just feels generally more coherent.
I'm beginning to get the impression that Lienhan just works better with a partner or as a contributer. Father Ted was as good as it was because of the partnership of Mathews and Linehan, neither of their solo work has reached it's heights yet. I have to wonder if it's because they both need someone to tell them whether any given idea is funny or not at the time of writing.
Still, that bit with the shit on his face was quite funny. We've all been there.
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