Over the last week I’ve binged on The IT Crowd. Having watched the entirety of the show, all four seasons, I’m, well… ?
I liked the way the series starts. I’m a Chris Morris fan, so his presence was immediately appreciated. The opening scenario sets things up nicely; Reynholm Industries boss Denholm Reynholm (Morris) appoints Jen head of IT. She clearly knows nothing about IT, just as Denholm knows nothing about, well… anything, his business least of all.
The core trio of Roy, Moss and Jen, played by Chris O’Dowd, Richard Ayoade and Katherine Parkinson, are great. And the subterranean mise en scene , the IT dungeon, is terrific. But, like the whole show, it’s a peculiar collision of fantasy and reality in that absurdist vein Graham Linehan found fame with, via Father Ted.
Father Ted is, or was, properly bonkers. Who’d have thought a show about the insane antics in a remote Godforsaken parochial house could make such great and successful TV comedy? By comparison The IT Crowd, like its subject, is a bit more obvious, mundane, humdrum… all that kind of stuff. But, in a funny old way, that’s a strength of the show; it’s more immediately relatable.
This isn’t going to be a full synopsis of the entire show. Far from it! I’m just registering my enjoyment.
I have to say I preferred Chris Morris, as Reynholm Sr, to Matt Berry, as Reynholm Jr. And I was sorry – although I laughed lustily – to see Denholm taking that infamous executive leap. Both Morris and Berry are portraying ludicrous caricature characters. But Berry seems to always be exactly the same, whatever I see him in, from Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place to Toast. Morris has more range, and is just funnier.
Down in the IT dungeon, Roy is almost the straight guy. Although, having said that, Jen is also almost the straight gal. Although they both goof aplenty, there’s something almost distressingly ‘normal’ about them. The character that really makes the show work, when it does work (and it doesn’t always), for me at any rate, is Ayaode’s Maurice.
And yet I think Moss is flawed. And I’m not meaning just in the obvious ways in which his character is supposed to be flawed. Perhaps the entire show is? It’s often funny, sometimes very funny. But it’s also a bit rote. And Richard Ayaode, as much as I love his whole style, is nearer Matt Berry than Chris Morris, in terms of range. Nonetheless, in Moss The IT Crowd has a character I can love, albeit in a muted slightly awkward manner.
I wonder if the Linehan factor has anything to do with the ‘great but also slightly disappointing’ feeling I’m trying to get at? Whilst I love Father Ted, I think he was totally the wrong guy for Count Arthur Strong (the radio and stage versions of Strong are so much better!).
Anyway, it’s nice to find relatively recent TV that I can bear to watch (there’s so little of it!). Especially so when it can supply much needed chuckles in what are, in many respects – Covid, Brexit, never-ending Tory misrule, the ‘cost of living crisis’, etc. – very trying times.
Some time later… Well, I’m nearing the end of a second run through the entire series, and, whilst I think it started out pretty strong, towards the end it was fizzling. Father Ted is Linehan’s best work, as far as I’m aware/concerned. The IT Crowd has its moments, but ultimately is too weak and inconsistent.
Diverting contemporary tech-nerd fluff. Mildly amusing.