Roy (Chris O'Dowd) and Moss (Richard Ayoade) are the downtrodden and underappreciated IT department at Denholm Industries. Much to their disappointment, they are allocated Jen (Katherine Parkinson) as new team leader. Jen doesn't know a thing about I.T (even what the letters stand for ) but they do share all share a healthy distaste for actual work and their basement becomes a refuge from the increasing absurdity of corporate culture.
I didn't watch "The IT Crowd" when it initially aired on Chanel 4, but I have recently watched through all the episodes on Netflix. I found it amusing, rather than hilarious. The characters are excellent but the writing is sometimes a bit heavy handed, which is a contrast to the subtlety of "Father Ted" and "Black Books". It's a shame that Noel Fielding wasn't able to contribute more to the series than he did, but given that he was away working on "The Mighty Boosh" it's understandable.
As some others have said, the first episode isn't the best, so you'll have to watch a few before deciding if it's for you - the second and third seasons are the highlights, but the dip in quality as it winds down isn't particularly pronounced, though the finale special is somewhat a "Greatest Hits" retread. Some of it hasn't aged well, both in terms of contemporary references from the time and jokes about for example, predatory male bosses, but there's always at least one delivery or moment that makes me laugh, and the "Countdown" episode is phenomenal. As the run continues the show moves away from making fun of the office environment to tackle bigger and more obvious targets like Scientology or viral Videos, which again isn't really to the shows improvement.
It's not top drawer comedy, like "Spaced" or "Father Ted" but it's a decent enough way to spend a few hours.
I didn't watch "The IT Crowd" when it initially aired on Chanel 4, but I have recently watched through all the episodes on Netflix. I found it amusing, rather than hilarious. The characters are excellent but the writing is sometimes a bit heavy handed, which is a contrast to the subtlety of "Father Ted" and "Black Books". It's a shame that Noel Fielding wasn't able to contribute more to the series than he did, but given that he was away working on "The Mighty Boosh" it's understandable.
As some others have said, the first episode isn't the best, so you'll have to watch a few before deciding if it's for you - the second and third seasons are the highlights, but the dip in quality as it winds down isn't particularly pronounced, though the finale special is somewhat a "Greatest Hits" retread. Some of it hasn't aged well, both in terms of contemporary references from the time and jokes about for example, predatory male bosses, but there's always at least one delivery or moment that makes me laugh, and the "Countdown" episode is phenomenal. As the run continues the show moves away from making fun of the office environment to tackle bigger and more obvious targets like Scientology or viral Videos, which again isn't really to the shows improvement.
It's not top drawer comedy, like "Spaced" or "Father Ted" but it's a decent enough way to spend a few hours.