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IT Crowd (UK) Coming Back For Season 4
sammyF70 writes "Every geek's favourite non-sci-fi show (the original UK one, not the abysmally bad German and US remakes) is coming back for a fourth season! According to the IMDB's message board, it should be on the air 'Juneish.' While you wait, you can check out what kind of vintage hardware will be on the show this time, and remember: if you illegally download movies, you will face the consequences!"
By which I mean the RSS'd BitTorrent client, and the batch script that passes its products to Handbrake, then loads the transcoded files into iTunes.
Also, the batch script that restarts iTunes at 5am to force it sync with the iPad and hacked iPod touch attached.
I was part of the audience the other week for the filming of the last episode for this season. The laughing? It's real, and this season round some of it will be from me.
Though obviously it takes a long time to film and so things don't flow as seamlessly as the TV episode itself, and perhaps they reuse laughs from one take over the top of acting from another take...it's still actually real. The writer came out to the audience and specifically talked about laugh tracks - he said he filmed in front of a live audience so that a) he was sure enough things were funny and b) because the actors could spark off the reactions.
I'm not going to give anything away about it, but we saw two episodes - one already filmed and edited, the other was being filmed on the night. They are both great, so tune in and have a watch this time.
Cheers,
Ian
I can confirm that this was (is? Jesus - let it go) a crap comedy, and yes I'm talking about the UK version. Cheap, lazy, easy jokes, of the sort that plagued my childhood every saturday evening.
At least it's funnier than The Big Bang Theory.
Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
That so many people seem to think there's some sort of objective measure for what is and isn't funny.
Some people like it. Some people don't.
I watched one episode of this garbage when it first came out. A few weeks later I accidentally watched a small portion of another episode. Never again. The first one was dire and the second was just as bad.
One-dimensional, cliched characters that portray IT people as social inadequates. Tacky sets and embarrasingly bad plots (well from a sample size of 2) and utterly forgettable dialog. No thanks.
They should cut out the jokes and content and just make it a long list of references to things that make the viewers feel intelligent. They could call it "xkcd: The TV Show".
9:30pm xkcd: The TV Show
Ep. 4 "More White Knightin'"
Jen says something intelligent and profound so that
the female viewers will want to have sex with the
writer. Moss mentions Maxwell's equation.
Writer: Randall Munroe Subtitles 888
I found it quite funny, but have the same objection. I wonder if the presence of laugh tracks is a preemptive move; later, they can offer a "regular" version for download, or, for twice the price, one with the laughtrack stripped out. My hopes on that front have dried up, though. I actually like certain sit-coms, but unfortunately for sit-coms they generally include it by default. (Arrested Development in one exception, but not the only one.)
Related aside: I used to watch the show MASH a lot -- it was my favorite show from a young age (I remember seeing it when the re-runs weren't yet re-runs ...), but seeing the movie on which the TV show is based unfortunately ruined it for me. Not just because I liked the movie's cast better (the show's cast is still well-suited), but because the notably absent laugh track suits the actual mood of the film; the TV version suddenly felt tacky and cheap.
Now, the IT Crowd is not a socially ponderous, lessons-of-life type show, as MASH tried to be (and, despite it all, succeeded) -- it's a light-hearted farce, comedy of errors and lack of manners, etc. But even so -- no laugh-track should be an option, just like "laugh track" should *not* be an option on The Godfather, Schindler's List, Black Beauty ...
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
a) Though it's case-by-case, I've liked more sit-coms than it's smart to admit. British ones, esp.
b) As I just wrote in another comment, laugh tracks are obnoxious, but eh, I overlook them generally. When I was small, I thought that they were all recorded from the "live studio audience," but that's just what they *want* you to think.
c) There's a lot of workplace humor in The IT Crowd that rings true (slightly exaggerated if at all - like managers who don't actually understand the thing they're supposed to "manage," and huge, often willful communication gaps between departments), but I also like the more over-the-top absurdities, like the soul-searching goth (Mason? might have the name wrong) who lives in the back room.
d) All that said, I wish they worked in more wacky sketch-like stuff like the piracy ad linked in the post.
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Of course the characters are one-dimensional and cliched. IT Crowd pokes fun at the stereotypes (and not just at the ones about the computer nerds either.) So you don't like over the top British humor. I feel sorry for you.
Forgettable dialog? Have you tried turning it off and on again? You wouldn't steal a car! Peter File. There are some police men here, they say they need to speak to you about irregularities in the pension fund. Memory IS RAM! I have it on good authority: Never ever type Google into Google! This, Jen, is the internet.
There was "Das iTeam - Die Jungs an der Maus", which was a crappy shot-by-shot remake. It was really bad.
Here is a sample.
"DRM is like the Ford Pinto: it's a smooth ride, right up the point at which it explodes and ruins your day."-C.Doctorow
Brilliant. If I had to guess, I'd say you were offended by the programme's portrayal of "IT people as social inadequates", which perhaps means you missed the point a little
So they tried turning the show off and then on again?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
As I understand it, MASH was broadcast in the UK without a laughter track. I vaguely remember there being complaints when they accidentally showed it with one.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
good god mash had a laugh track? i only ever saw it without. I imagine the whole thing seems a lot more undignified and lowbrow with a laugh track - like watching "happy days goes to vietnam" or something. On the other hand, the bbc once aired the addams family without the laugh track and every single joke hung in the air like a bad fart. It was extremely uncomfortable to watch.
(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
I watched one episode of this garbage when it first came out. A few weeks later I accidentally watched a small portion of another episode. Never again.
If you have no sense of humor, why were you watching a comedy? I mean, how can anybody not enjoy the character Moss? Forgettable dialog? Yeah right. "You there, computer man. Fix My Pants." is not forgettable dialog.
... and then they built the supercollider.
One-dimensional, cliched characters that portray IT people as social inadequates.
I'd say The IT Crowd takes these cliches to absurd levels, which actually makes them less cliche and more just parody. I believe that if you see through it, they actually make fun of the cliches you mention it, instead of embracing them.
Now, if you want to see real cliched characters (and storylines), try watching an episode of The Big Bang Theory.
As an IT worker, I found the show more depressing than funny. Too many similarities with my life and theirs.
Although satirising the socially inept seems a bit like priding yourself on your skill at boxing against quadriplegics.
I've demonstrated social ineptitude in the past and I think one of the healthiest things to do about it is to laugh at myself and not take my fuck-up so seriously. Consider social anxiety: this is often caused by people being told that they should behave in a certain way and take trivial social rituals as of high importance, when in fact there's always the option to play along and not really care - or even not play along and not care.
As long as you've played fair and tried your best, who cares how you come across? Laugh at the guys who talk the bullshit talk, and laugh at yourself when you try and fail at it - you're fine and those worth being around will not judge you!
Assuming we're talking about comedies that are somehow geek related and aren't sci-fi, would be Spaced.
Is that a WHOOSHing sound that i hear?
Why yes, yes it is.
The whole point of the show is to poke fun at clichés and 1D character personae.
Surely you weren't offended by the portrayal of IT types as idiots?
Tacky sets? That was only the basement set, which was a mess on purpose due to being built around the personality of the characters.
It showed other IT people as perfectly normal people going about their day as well, in perfectly decent sets in office buildings.
You can't form a solid opinion on something with such a short exposure time to it, which you admitted.
All shows also have their "bad" episodes too. Of course, the level of badness is defined by the viewer.
People like some humor, some hate it, blah blah etc.
There was "Das iTeam - Die Jungs an der Maus", which was a crappy shot-by-shot remake. It was really bad.
I don't know why, the Germans normally have an excellent sense of humour ;-)
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There was a german remake? Never heard of it. I guess it was really bad.
Yeah, it focuses on an IBM support team in WWII Germany.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Call the whambulance: 0118 999 881 999 119 725 3
Not if he's watching Big Bang Theory.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
What I am starting to notice is that when I talk about IT, I am talking about programmers, developers.
That's interesting, because the very last thing I would think of when confronted with "IT" is programmers and developers. When I hear "IT" I think of mindless middle-management and bureaucracy. It's such a meaningless term. It could mean anything from an abacus lubricator to a librarian.
Why would a programmer want to be associated with such a term? Programming has much more in common with mathematics and writing. After all, it is the mastery of languages and numbers. It deserves a much higher station than "IT."
IT is basic janitorial work.
... and then they built the supercollider.
The presenter certainly didn't convey the context in which those quotes are memorable.
However, based on your responses I'm not sure what you would find humorous.
We'll look into finding some of the comic strips from the free prizes in cracker jack boxes.
It's good to start slow and gradually work up to substance.
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
As Mr. Linehan has stated, "This is a British Sitcom. It has nothing whatsoever to do with reality, for example, Goths actually can't cling to the ceiling."
I suppose you found "Office Space" and "Real Genius" equally unrealistic and unfunny.
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
If you watched a small portion, then that explains it. It's a sitcom, a situation comedy. The cheap-shot jokes are there to keep things moving while the situation is being set-up. It's meant to converge in a catastrophic or embarrassing situation. Maybe it's not your thing, but it's the same sort of thing as Fawlty Towers which had silly lines but a great comic climax.
I haven't seen the show
Perhaps you should change that and come back later, then.
What do you want me to do? Shall I recite whole dialogs, for example the one about the internet (the WHOLE internet), which is a small, light, wireless black box with a blinking LED, sits on top of Big Ben (because that's where you get the best reception) and has been demagnetized by Stephen "The Hawk" Hawking himself in preparation for Jen's speech, where she will - with the approval of the Elders of the Internet - present it to the higher-ups of the company? That wouldn't even begin to describe the humor though, because it's just the setup of the prank. You'll have to watch it yourself.
Yes, someone could make a logical analysis of why IT Crowd is funny, but why kill a perfectly good comedy just to know what you've missed out on?
Thank god they didn't air the American version of the show.