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Television Media IT

'The IT Crowd' UK Sit-com 219

Posted by CmdrTaco from the waiting-for-the-torrent dept.
Nigsy writes "The Register reports that "A new sitcom - set among IT workers in the dingy basement of a glamorous company - is due to arrive on the UK's Channel 4 next month. The IT Crowd, written by Graham Linehan (the scribe behind Father Ted, Black Books), will debut on the internet on 27 January, a week before its terrestrial broadcast on Friday, 3 February at 9.30pm."" Here's hoping that they have a consultant on the show to make it technically accurate.
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'The IT Crowd' UK Sit-com More

'The IT Crowd' UK Sit-com

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  • BOFH (Score:5, Funny)

    by alanw ( 1822 ) * <alan@wylie.me.uk> on Thursday January 12, 2006 @02:22PM (#14456246) Homepage
    Here's hoping that they have a consultant on the show to make it technically accurate.
    Who else but Simon Travaglia [ntk.net]

  • Simon won't like this. Not one bit. (Score:5, Funny)

    by TripMaster Monkey ( 862126 ) * on Thursday January 12, 2006 @02:22PM (#14456255)

    The high-rise towers of Renham Industries are full of go-getters, success stories, and winners... apart from in the basement. While their beautiful colleagues work upstairs in fantastic surroundings, the I.T. department - Jen, Roy and Moss - lurk below ground, scorned by their co-workers as geeky losers.

    "Geeky losers"? Oh dear...

    <clickety clickety>

    Let's just see how geeky you think the IT department is after I format your drive, toss the backup, and submit your 'candid holiday snaps' to a few dozen gay singles websites, along with your name, address, work number, and personal cell number, shall we?

    Oh, hold on...

    <clickety clickety>

    Now the Boss' home page has been set to one of the raunchier gay singles websites, proudly displaying your picture as 'twink of the week', and stating that your interests include latex, flash photography, and small mammals. That ought to spice up the water-cooler gossip.

  • Basement? (Score:2, Funny)

    by winkydink ( 650484 ) *
    As in one of the characters' mom's basement?
  • Black Books and Father Ted are the funniest sitcoms in recent memory...dunno if BB has had any airings in the US yet but if not, go to your favourite torrent site^H^H online DVD store and watch some. I promise it will be the funniest thing you'll ever watch. Father Ted is equally funny.

    Hopefully this will be just as good.
  • "There was a name we had for users... what was it again?"

    "A shower of bastards!"

  • Don't Worry (Score:5, Funny)

    by faqmaster ( 172770 ) <jones.tm@NOSPAM.gmail.com> on Thursday January 12, 2006 @02:24PM (#14456278) Homepage Journal
    If past performance is any indication, it should be spot on. Father Ted was the most accurate depiction to date of the priest's life.

  • IT via Father Ted (Score:4, Funny)

    by gowen ( 141411 ) <gwowen@gmail.com> on Thursday January 12, 2006 @02:25PM (#14456281) Homepage Journal
    Drink! Feck! Arse! Girls... sorry, no girls allowed.

  • Accurate? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by flanksteak ( 69032 ) * on Thursday January 12, 2006 @02:25PM (#14456282) Homepage
    Here's hoping that they have a consultant on the show to make it technically accurate.

    Why does it have to be techically accurate? If that's their only goal, it probably won't be very funny. I'd rather that it have accurate insights into the way the two distinct mindsets (tech and non-tech) perceive and interact with one another in the workplace. Now that's a potential comedy goldmine.

    • Re:Accurate? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Yeah, I found that comment to be kind of depressing, too. It's like people who read sci-fi just to point out the science errors.
    • Why does it have to be techically accurate? If that's their only goal, it probably won't be very funny. I'd rather that it have accurate insights into the way the two distinct mindsets (tech and non-tech) perceive and interact with one another in the workplace. Now that's a potential comedy goldmine.

      Well, if it was technically accurate, they couldn't have management in the show, and we all know that's where the real comedy is.
    • If I see one more 9 track tape in a movie involving computers, I'm gonna puke.
      -russ
    • "Why does it have to be techically accurate?"

      I don't know if it does per say, but if it is blantantly innaccurate, I won't be able to watch it. Let me give youu a non-IT example I saw on TV the other day.

      A father and daughter were having a heart to heart while the father worked on the car. He asked her to hand him a half inch wrench. She asked "Crescent or socket?" He replied "Socket." She handed him a box end wrench. At that moment I wondered if every mechanic in America was changing channels just

      • Re:Accurate? (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        That reminds me of that time in that movie where they were defusing the nuclear bomb, and they cut the blue wire instead of the green one. I hate it when they make obvious mistakes like that...

  • Stay tuned for next weeks episode (Score:5, Funny)

    by dr_dank ( 472072 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @02:26PM (#14456301) Homepage Journal
    It's a recipe for wackyness when a linux vs. bsd flamewar breaks out and the flamboyantly gay sidekick has a date with two men on the same night at the same time! Bronson Pinchot guest stars.

  • Or not... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by gowen ( 141411 )
    Here's hoping that they have a consultant on the show to make it technically accurate.
    Hmm, a program that gets humour out of the common conception and this twat is only interested in whether its technically accurate. The irony is almost overpowering.

    Just out of interest, did you complain that Father Ted didn't accurately reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church?
  • ...with IT teams in dingy basements (statistically speaking) have 10-15% greater incidences of PC failure due to the volatile combination of environmental hazards and embittered technical support.

  • Suggestion (Score:5, Funny)

    by Billosaur ( 927319 ) * <wgrotherNO@SPAMoptonline.net> on Thursday January 12, 2006 @02:32PM (#14456361) Journal

    Show nothing but the tops of the character's heads as they sit in their cubicles. That would be technically accurate.

  • Too bad we'll never see such a show in the US. As soon as the IT basement geeks start surfing pr0n *BAM* FCC fine: $1,000,000... *BAM* FCC fine: 2,000,000...

  • The Boss sez: "You're fired!."

    The Constable sez: "What's all this then."

    The Geek sez: Stay Tuned!
  • It's not realated to the OP but if you like UK comedy that's related to technology, check out LUGRadio, they have a really amusing linux-focused show at lugradio [lugradio.org]. Let me know if you have any others like that.
  • With the natural quirkiness of geeks, the vast world of technology, and a good mix of pop culture a good writer could put together a very entertaining show. I hope we'll get to see it here in the States.

  • Could be good! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by codeTurtle ( 942468 )
    Father Ted is a classic. Black Books is a classic.

    Neither really conform to stereotypes of what priests or bookshop workers are like; in fact, the character's job is often a little bit at odds with what they're like. If this is carried over to this show, maybe we'll get a comedy that features some highly eccentric geeks whose actual paid work is secondary to their real love. This is kinda true for many geeks I know; their off-duty coding is far more important to them than their on-duty coding.
    • Right, but will it be on BBC America immediately? I can foresee myself actually arranging my schedule around a show for the first time in...wait, I don't care to make myself feel that old...

  • I agree. (Score:3, Funny)

    by mmell ( 832646 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @02:48PM (#14456542)
    Just like the movie "Hackers". Oh, wait . . .

  • My guess (Score:3, Insightful)

    by NitsujTPU ( 19263 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @02:49PM (#14456554)
    If it's accurate, it probably won't be funny to the vast majority of people, and it will tank. We'll see. Perhaps it'll be great, and accurate.

    On a side note, at my old company, the IT-ish guys were treated pretty well, and were the "social elite." Of course, we are comparing IT guys vs programmers here.

    • I'd watch it (if I could get it here in Canada). I think many other, non-IT people would find it interesting as well.

      Why? Because the IT universe is somewhat alien to most people, and getting an inside look will likely amuse and (hopefully subtly) educate average people.

      If it's done well there'll be 4 American clones for the 2007 TV season. This could be the next "All in the Family".

    • Re:My guess (Score:3, Interesting)

      by shut_up_man ( 450725 )
      I agree, this concept doesn't really fill my trousers with steam. Accurate portrayal of an IT shop sounds like really terrible television, and the way they are marketing it ("geeky losers") sounds about as compelling as watching paint dry. The BOFH had it right - I want to see beautiful, arrogant, clueless managers come downstairs and treat the IT people like crap, and the IT people to destroy their lives utterly. I want to see forged emails, lost project files, kiddie porn, corrupt backups, missing laptops
  • I remember a CBS sitcom with a bunch of geeks in an office. They wren't IT people, but they were geeks by far. I think a few has-beens were on it. Anyone know what show I was thinking of? They had transitions between scenes consisting of a computer's desktop.

    The less-popular half of Bosom Buddies was on it, and I think maybe Patrick Dempsey.
  • Sign on a nuclear containment building:
    WARNING: Radiation area. Prefaded genes only.

    Said the sweet young lady, "Oh, I see how astronomers figure out the distance of the stars and their sizes and temperatures and all that. What really gets me is how they find out what their names are."

    Make it possible for programmers to write programs in English, and you will find that programmers cannot write in English.

    The First Rule of System Programing:

    Never test for an error condition you don't know how to handle.
    --- Co
    • I found theese here:
      http://ma.tthew-cox.us/jokes/top_geek_breakup.php [tthew-cox.us]

      Top 11 Geek Breakup Lines
      11.
      (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail?
      (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail? R
      (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail? F
      Relationship failed.

      10. Now that Half Life 2 is out, I need to refocus my priorities.

      09. You have been unsubscribed from my dating list. Please click this link to confirm.

      08. I need a lover who understands that 20 hours a day on the Internet is normal.

      07. I don't think we should date any more, but we can still be on each other's b

  • Wonder Whatever Became of Me Dept (Score:3, Interesting)

    by DannyO152 ( 544940 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @03:10PM (#14456772)
    I remember how WKRP in Cincinnati was a favorite tv sit-com in the late 70s and early 80s among those of us working in radio because it had good characters and funny situations. We could overlook that none of the djs ever used headphones, their casual approach to cueing up the next record, the unrealistic l'aissez faire style of the program director, the occasional lack of music director, an AM station looking to rock music as a viable format change (pop music's move to FM was well established at that point), the station's too much wattage for its position on the dial, there never being any powering down and up at sunset and sunrise, that the news announcer and dj shared the same microphone and studio, that full-time operation of the station was possible with an air staff of two, that Les Nessman wasn't jettisoned along with the elevator music recordings, and other compromises of authenticity or verisimilitude.
    • Me too. I worked at a small-town radio station in the early 70's and we had more staff and better equipment (except for Jennifer...) than WKRP. But I still loved it. Characters and their interactions always sell the show.

      I hope this show will have two geeks just like the ones Matthew Broderick consulted with in Wargames. The geeky glasses-wearing social outcast and bearded t-shirted fat guy with a beard are ubiquitous in IT. They nailed it.

  • "technically accurate" (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dystopian Rebel ( 714995 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @03:18PM (#14456883) Journal
    Here's hoping that they have a consultant on the show to make it technically accurate.


    If technically accurate, the characters will be males reading Slashdot, downloading pr0n, virus-scanning Windows boxes, eating pizza, and quarrelling intensely about Perl and Python.

    I predict low ratings.
    • If technically accurate, the characters will be males reading Slashdot, downloading pr0n, virus-scanning Windows boxes, eating pizza, and quarrelling intensely about Perl and Python.

      RUBY!

  • Technically Accurate? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Canonical AC ( 884705 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @03:20PM (#14456904)
    Yes, because technical accuracy is what makes comedy funny. I find the technical accuracy of Dilbert hilarious. Oh wait, there is nothing technical in Dilbert at all, and yet it's still funny. I wonder how he manages that?
  • aired last night: Hyperspace.

    Trying to be a new 'Red Dwarf'.

    Painfully funny, and very geeky.

    After accidentlly re-booting the ship and setting it back to defaults, they cut to a guy trying to get into the toilet

    "Please enter the 3rd, 5th, and 87th letters of your password" says the door. Nice.

    Rather english though, probably wont travel well.
  • Channel 4 ? - Check !
    Broadcast after 9pm ? - Check !

    Full Frontal Nudidy probability = 97.34132%

  • From the writer of Father Ted (Score:5, Funny)

    by ettlz ( 639203 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @03:52PM (#14457270) Journal
    grep! as! link! perl!
  • You dont need to make it as technically accurate as emotionally accurate. The movie Office Space was about some software developers with problems about their jobs and love lives. Though they did banter around tech and biz jargon, it wasnt precisely accurate. However, their emotional travials were.

  • Does the show get sent to India in case of low... (Score:3, Funny)

    by OneInEveryCrowd ( 62120 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @04:17PM (#14457515)
    ratings ?

    Just curious ;-)

  • Black Books was written by Dylan Moran (ie, the book shop owner from the series).

  • Teaser (Score:2)

    by JJC ( 96049 ) *
    In the teaser trailer that's currently on TV one of the characters is wearing the great 256th Level of Pac Man T-Shirt [errorwear.com] from errorwear [errorwear.com], which I think bodes well for the show.

  • Yes, they had consultants. I was one of them. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by yoz ( 3735 ) on Thursday January 12, 2006 @06:01PM (#14458539) Homepage
    I first got a mail from Graham Linehan back in August of last year (he'd been given my details by Cory Doctorow [craphound.com] - okay, not much more namedropping, I promise) and I jumped at the chance to help out - Father Ted and Big Train are two of my favourite-ever TV comedies.

    He sent the scripts and I eventually sent a couple of notes back with a couple of minor corrections, but I really didn't need to do much at all; the humour in the show comes from really good character comedy, and the IT aspect is (quite rightly, IMHO) just a sideline thing. Roy and Moss bear slightly more resemblance to real-world sysadmins than Ted and Dougal do to real-world priests, but only slightly. As with Ted, the joy is in exggerating the silliness of the situations.

    It was in building the set that the fun really started, and I need to get Sean [solle.net] to participate in the thread here as I recommended him for the job of gathering as much fun techie crap as possible as well as looking after the on-set PCs. Having visited the set once, I can tell you he did a fantastic job. There are so many wonderful little references and rare bits of kit lurking in the messes (British geeks in particular are in for a treat). Plus, thanks to Danny [oblomovka.com], there are EFF stickers everywhere.

    Make sure to tape/TiVo/torrent it - it's a great show, fun and silly, with lots of easter-egg treats for geeks.
  • Fawlty Towers, The Office (UK version) and Blackadder >>> Father Ted and Black Books... :)

    personally I think an IT version of The Office would be far better...

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