First Impressions of The IT Crowd (Spoilers)

In lieu of my standard Buffy watching on Fridays, I've switched to Scrubs, both pre-recorded fifth season eps and second season DVDs I now own (thanks, Secret Santa!).

Fridays have become a sort of TV potluck. Maybe I'll watch a Firefly audio commentary. I made the mistake of starting with "War Stories", which I'm told is the best one. I believe it: Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk basically just shoot the breeze for 44 minutes and comment upon the not-disputed hotness of costar Gina Torres. A+

This morning I decided to take a chunk out of my ./vids directory, starting with the two free web-released episodes of The IT Crowd. The IT Crowd isn't even on the air yet. You Brits out there will have to be sure to tune in to Channel 4 if you want to catch the TV premiere tonight.

My thoughts on the first two episodes of this series are as follows. Be warned. There are plenty of spoilers.

• I think the thirty-second opening credits sequence is amazing. It's fantastic. Love it, love it, love it.
  
  
• This show is proof that there is no such thing as a good laugh track. I wish there was a chance in hell it would go away, but it looks like I'll just have to try my best to ignore it. Dear television executives everywhere: laugh tracks suck. Please stop using them.
  
  
• I can tell the show hasn't figured out what it wants to be yet. Is it looking to be a by-the-book sitcom? It certainly seems to have that "three cameras and one set" feel to it. But then it shifts gears and has camera effects, sound effects, and in other ways tries to be a "live-action cartoon". Much like the first season of Scrubs was heavy on gimmicks like the "rush of wind" sound whenever anyone whipped their head around, The IT Crowd is still trying to determine the way their world works. It's a new show, so they haven't worked out the "physics" yet.
  
  
• I have a new PIN number. It's 0118 999 881 999 119 7253.
  
  
• I like zany, and I like runners. This show has both. Zany is when a hungry character will look longingly at a chicken leg sitting on a table on the other side of the room and in the very next shot will be eating it without any noticeable movement to go get said chicken leg.
  
  
• Runners are jokes that occur repeatedly through a single episode that only tangentially tie into the rest of the action, if they relate at all. For instance, the idea that any device bearing a "Made in Britain" sticker will not work correctly.
  
  
• If you think that comedies don't need any drama, you're wrong. Right now the series has caricatures, not characters. They lack the depth necessary to create a bond with viewers. I cannot tell you what a single character on The IT Crowd is afraid of, or what their aspirations are. Their personalities are perfectly flat, and if the show is going to continue, they need to become much more personable and developed.
  
  
• The set design and costuming teams know their stuff. Everything from the RTFM shirt to the "Fair Use Has a Posse" stickers suggest real experience working around computer nerds. Is that a Perl camel I spy behind Moss's desk? Is that Slashdot on Roy's monitor? It is. It is.
  
  
• Did I mention I love the opening credits?
  
  
• The jokes are really hit or miss. The first two episodes are a blend of:
  1. punchlines ("Don't worry. That's why I always make two cups of tea.")
  2. uninspiring situation comedy (When the boss goes on a "no-stress" crusade, anybody who's still stressed by the end of the day gets fired.)
  3. physical comedy (People falling, people bleeding, people falling and then bleeding.)
  4. irreverence ("You probably think this picture is a picture of my family. It's not! It's The A-Team!")
  The series needs to pick a direction and stay with it. Failing to specialize is going to create a mish-mash of jokes that, in trying to appeal to every demographic, miss every demographic entirely.
  
  
• This isn't really a comedy about IT. They spend as much time doing programming and tech support as hospital show Green Wing does actually healing the sick, and that ain't much. While the nerdly touches are everywhere, this is a not a show that's going to teach you PHP. Still, it's quite entertaining to watch the aggressive tech support guy get battered by every user he meets.

In all, I think that The IT Crowd is either completely uninspired or still working on finding its niche. It's from the same guy who did Black Books and Father Ted, so I've got my fingers crossed it's the latter. I give it an enthusiastic "meh". Love those opening credits, though.