The IT Crowd

News

[ 22 December 2021 ] The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent: The most Nicolas Cage movie ever?
[ 22 November 2021 ] Unexpectedly, there’s a Russian Film Festival and no one told me
[ 22 October 2021 ] December 2021 at the BFI, including Jack Clayton and Dirk Bogarde at 100
[ 5 October 2021 ] BFI Japan comes to big screens UK-wide this Autumn

Tuesday’s eh-oh news

4 September 2007 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

Doctor Who

BBC now saying it’s ‘too early‘ to tell if DT will be back in 2010, but the general expectation is that he’ll be back
Enough people voted Torchwood ‘best new drama‘ at the TV Quick awards for it to win. Really
Another Hugo for Steven Moffat

Film

Brian Dennehy and John Leguizamo join de Niro and Pacino in Righteous Kill
The French honour George Clooney‘s ‘irresistible charm’
Cusack’s Stopping Power stopped

Art

Francis Bacon’s rent painting up for sale

British TV

CGI Magic Roundabout ready to launch
Dara O’Brien a replacement for Parkie?
IT Crowd gets a million more viewers thanks to Big Brother
BSkyB avoided phone-ins because they ‘felt grubby’
The Teletubbies are ten. Shouldn’t they be speaking properly by now?

US TV

David Schwimmer says no Friends reunion
Sara Gilbert to guest on The Big Bang Theory

Review: The IT Crowd 2.1

26 August 2007 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

In the UK: Fridays, C4, 9.30pm. Repeated on C4+1 an hour later. Obviously.

In the US: Being remade by NBC as we speak.

Characters re-cast: 0

Major characters gotten rid of: 1 (next episode)

Major new characters: 1 (next episode)

Format change percentage: 0%

When you think about it, a big chunk of classic – and not so classic – British sitcoms are set in an office of sorts. For example, On the Buses, Are You Being Served, even Dad’s Army are all work-based sitcoms. However, The Office, for obvious reasons and not just its name, has occluded these in most people’s minds and prevented any subsequent office-based sitcoms from emerging (the reverse is true in the US). Indeed, The Office has started a whole number of trends, including a veering towards cringe-comedy rather than joke-based comedy.

However, it’s fitting that The IT Crowd has been trying its best to buck that trend, since it has The Office‘s producer Ash Atalla at the helm. The IT Crowd is sort of the flipside of The Office. It’s traditionally filmed, with traditional characters, traditional jokes and traditional plots.

It’s also funny. At least, I think so.

Continue reading “Review: The IT Crowd 2.1”

Friday’s lovely, lovely news

25 May 2007 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Doctor Who

Maybe Kylie after all…
Gareth McLean interviews Jessica ex-Stevenson [free registration required]
Plus Freema Agyeman – aka Sweet FA – is on Jonathan Ross tonight. Sorry on Jonathan Ross tonight.

Books

Borat’s travel guide

Film

So many spoilers for Indy 4, including the villains
There might be an Ocean’s 14, but not a Bourne Legacy
A movie based on The Sims?!

Music

Kajagoogoo are back

British TV

Noel Edmonds to host the badly re-titled Sky version of Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
Kirsty Young‘s leaving Five News
Anyone who thought Xena: Warrior Princess was in any way about female empowerment, think again – or at least send Universal Playback a rude message. Mud-wrestling glamour models to launch a DVD?
What happened to some of the former contestants of The Apprentice and Dragons’ Den [free registration required]
Celebrity Big Brother was more racist than anyone suspected. Full transcript here. Which is handy because it’s clear some celebrities haven’t read it

Australian TV

It could be worse: the father of one of the contestants has died in the Australian version of Big Brother and no one’s told her

US TV

CBS’s Moonlight gets recast, while Prison Break looks for some more inmates
And The IT Crowd needs a new Jen while Heroes needs some more heroes
Footage from the new Babylon 5 DVDs

And a great big shout-out to The Stage’s TV Today blog which is now one year’s old. Happy Birthday guys!

Thursday’s news. Just one more day

18 January 2007 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Curses. I thought they were going to let me go, yesterday, but now they’ve promised me a potential “quick one- or two-day” trial. Anyway, here’s the news.

Film

Doug Coupland’s jPod has been turned into a short film which you can view online.
There’s a not-great trailer for Highlander: The Source on YouTube. Well, more like a rough-cut of the first two minutes. Doesn’t look promising though.

British TV

Even Gordon Brown is weighing in on the Celebrity Big Brother turmoil. A Big Brother effigy was burnt in Patna. Carphone Warehouse is thinking about withdrawing sponsorship. It’s all got a bit serious. Still, it looks like this week’s eviction is going to be Jade v Shilpa, so guess who’s going to get kicked out.
What’s going to happen to the British The IT Crowd? The second season has been filmed and is ready for transmission in the next few months. But now Richard Ayoade has joined the cast of the American version of the show to reprise the role of Moss. Will he have time for a third British series if the US version goes ahead?
BBC4 will show another one-off special of The Thick Of It in the summer.

US TV

Keith Olbermann’s lost perspective and started to have a go at 24 instead of Bill O’Reilly.
Tricia Helfer gives minor spoilers about the rest of the season on BSG.
NBC has ordered new seasons of Heroes, My Name is Earl, The Office and 30 Rock, as well as a few other shows. It’s also picked up an Australian improv comedy format.
Juliet’s going to get another flashback in Lost.
Some of the cast of the now-cancelled Stargate SG-1 are going to start appearing in Stargate Atlantis. In particular, Amanda Tapping is going to be in 14 episodes.
Richard Dean Anderson’s been approached to appear in the forthcoming Stargate SG-1 movies
There’s going to be a six-episode animated series of Smallville for mobile phones. Yahoo is also going to have a four minute clip from the forthcoming episode Justice.
Aaron Sorkin’s hacked off about criticism of Studio 60. He also provides some spoilers for the rest of the season.
Fox has commissioned another rubbish sitcom called Playing Chicken.

Catch up with the weekend’s news

15 January 2007 Rob Buckley 13 Comments

The trials continue, but here’s the latest news all the same. And there’s plenty of it.

Doctor Who

My old mag Dreamwatch is to stop publishing a print edition, but will continue online from the 25th.

Film

William Shatner leaks some details of the next Star Trek movie
Someone’s come up with a list of the novels that are the hardest to film.
The Lost Boys is getting a sequel.
An interview with Steven Segal, in which he explains his hatred for his own movies.

British TV

Leo Sayer has quit the Big Brother house. Carole Malone got evicted later on Friday.
Want to know when a US TV show is starting on British TV? Digital Spy has the list. It also includes details of British TV premieres, such as Skins and Peep Show.
How Ricky Gervais got Robert de Niro to appear on Extras.

US TV

The creators of Scrubs and House discuss their feelings about Scrubs’ parody episode, My House.
The US version of The IT Crowd now has a full pilot ordered.
Alan Cumming is to appear in SciFi’s updating of The Wizard of Oz
SciFi’s Flash Gordon TV series has been given the go-ahead.
George Clooney is working on a mini-series for SciFi, too. It’s one of many shows in development there.
Bravo has cancelled Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz is launching a company with Two and a Half Men exec producers Eric and Kim Tannenbaum.
There’s a clip from the next episode of Heroes at Access Hollywood.
Ain’t It Cool has a rumour about the subject for the proposed Battlestar Galactica movie.
NBC are annoyed that Friday Night Lights isn’t doing better.
TV Squad’s nicked my Jack Bauer picture. I can’t complain: I nick so many myself.
A movie of Deadwood might still get the go-ahead.
Charlie Rose interviews Kiefer Sutherland about 24 on Google Video.
Screen shots from the next episode of Lost.
Idris Elba talks about The Wire and hip hop.
The remaining episodes of Day Break are finally going online by the end of February.
Lots of stuff about Lost from Sunday’s press panel, including the glorious fact the producers are going to announce an end date for the show.

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The Medium is Not Enough

Reviewing the best and worst media from around the world for 17 years

Tuesday’s eh-oh news

Review: The IT Crowd 2.1

Friday’s lovely, lovely news

Thursday’s news. Just one more day

Catch up with the weekend’s news

The Umbrella Academy and The Terminal List

Please watch I Walk Through Moscow – and I’m quoted!

Ms Marvel, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Time Traveler's Wife and The Old Man

Life and Beth and Night Sky

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and The Essex Serpent