Looking through my archives I’m shocked to realize that I haven’t told you people about my newest British comedy series obsession: The IT Crowd. Aired in England on Channel 4 and watched by your truly thanks to the wonders that is BitTorrent, this is the show I’ve been waiting all my life for as it’s a comedy about my people. Namely, professional geeks. Instead of explaining why it’s so great just watch this 9.5 minute clip from the first episode:
I’ve been sitting on that secret since last summer. Though lots of other people have written about it so it’s not really that much of a secret, but still I’m shocked that I didn’t geek about it on here sooner. To give you an idea of just how much Geek Cred this series has it turns out the producers of the show have included on the upcoming DVD set (which will be released in North America I’m told) an option to watch the show subtitled in ”Leet." There’s a thread in the Something Awful forums that has screen shots of the show’s leet subtitles and I can’t wait to get my hands on the DVDs.
So it was with some shock and horror that I learned that NBC has picked up the rights to the show with the aim of doing an American version of it:
Finally, the Channel 4 series The IT Crowd is being re-developed by writer and executive producers David Guarascio and Moses Port (Just Shoot Me, Mad About You); and Joe Port and Joe Wiseman (Son of the Beach, Dilbert).
It’s hard to imagine how they could find a suitable replacement for Richard Ayoade who plays Moss, my favorite character from the show, let alone Chris O’Dowd who plays Roy. I’m told that the American adaptation of The Office wasn’t too horrible, but then I wasn’t a fan of the original show so I haven’t a clue, but I’m a big fan of this show and am eagerly awaiting it’s second season. It’s one of those odd shows like Red Dwarf where they only do 6 shows or so a season. If NBC is smart they’ll pay Richard and Chris a ridiculous amount of money to come over and reprise their rolls here in the U.S. the same way they did with Robert Llewellyn (Kryten in Red Dwarf) for their abortive attempt at doing an American version of that popular show.
Com’on North American DVD release, get out there already!! Not that I have any money to buy it with at the moment, but still!
It’s a pity that it hasn’t had a second season yet. I hope it does.
That show has to be the funniest show I have seen in quite some time.
I love all the EFF, Pastafarian, O,Reilly books, etc… in the set. Very well written and acted.
So they want to make an American version huh. Hmm, they haven’t proved to me that they are capable of converting a British comedy into an American one yet. Sure, there is The Office. I personally didn’t like the British version so I never watched the American version. I did try the American version of Coupling. That was truly awful!
An American version of The IT Croud could be a blast. Let’s hope that it is. I really want more comedy like that. It really hits home.