Yep, too little of Moss. I quite honestly speaking spent more time cringing than laughing. Rather disappointing.
The IT Crowd 3.0 Page 29
Quote: sanniberry @ December 27 2008, 9:51 AM GMTYep, too little of Moss.
Definitely. I think they might have realised that themselves with the 'been on holiday' gag.
In my opinion, I think the word to sum up this series of The IT Crowd is "inconsistent". There was some brilliant bits of comedy, but also some real boring moments too.
Quote: Mark @ December 27 2008, 4:55 PM GMTDefinitely. I think they might have realised that themselves with the 'been on holiday' gag.
In my opinion, I think the word to sum up this series of The IT Crowd is "inconsistent". There was some brilliant bits of comedy, but also some real boring moments too.
It was certainly a little uneven at times this year, though I like the characters so much I never found it boring. I don't think he quite balanced the characters right this year; a character like Matt Berry's would explode in an episode or two, then dissapear, or only have a line or two; and the absence of Moss in the finale was more than a little baffling. I don't think there were any bad episodes, I enjoyed all six, though this last one was noticably weaker. And I think the boss-eyed thing was poor, he could have come up with something really funny and absurd, rather than a not all that funny condition that some people actually do have!
Favourites for me were the first episode and the one with Roy losing his top and becoming homeless for two hours!
So, very good, brilliant at times, but not quite as consistent, or as good, as I think it could and should be. Hopefully there will be a fourth series, though he has never gone beyond a third before!
As loathe as I am to dis The IT Crowd, being one of the few domestic sitcoms I actually look forward to watching, I must admit that the last episode's ending was Epic Fail Super Weak.
When Roy finally got it on with the chickadee from the 7th floor and couldn't go through with it, I thought I'd seen that bit somewhere else before and then I realised Frasier did that skit like twelves times and it was also in Friends.
On a plus note, I have been going around screaming 'Cavort!' in an Irish accent all day today. Every cloud, etc.
Still, I'd rather watch a comedy retread on The IT Crowd than 5 seconds of Clone...the show that makes My Hero look like cutting edge satire.
I really hope that wasn't the last ever epiosode of The IT Crowd because it would be a disappointing way for the series to end. It was a funny episode, but as people have pointed out, there was not enough Moss or Douglas. I hope we see a fourth series with Richmond coming back!
I found the last episode a bit disappointing too. (Apart from the way Matt Berry said 'charity work', which just cracked me up!) However, overall it's been a great series. Never failed to make me giggle every Friday night.
I agree, crappy finale... It almost seemed like Richard Ayoade was ill or something and so they had find ways to write him out of the episode mostly. Either way, not enough Moss. The whole episode was rather blah with a lot of cheesy cliche sitcom jokes.
However, the one before that, "friendface", was absolutely bang on. My favourite to date and likely the best episode, along with the work outing one, and maybe the dinner party. Moss playing Jen's husband was hilarious, as well as the whole love triangle which was beautifully done, the "Joker" gag was great, and of course the social commentary on Facebook which I entirely agree with. Shame these two episodes couldn't have switched places so they ended it on a high note, but oh well.
I'm wondering if the lack of Moss was due to other work commitments - like filming the American version of The IT Crowd?
If it transpires that the episode had to be re-written to accommodate Ayoade's schedule, then I can forgive the lacklustre ending, as taking out one of your most important characters at the last minute would be a nightmare to write.
One thing is for sure, Ayoade's star is in the ascendency and British comedy stars are having a bit of a Hollywood revival at the moment thanks to Gervais and Brand. So I imagine that we could be seeing less of Moss in the future or even The IT Crowd itself. (This is pure speculation on my part and is in no way related to any research or factual truth.)
Calendar Geek was dreadful. I'm afraid that Linehan deserves a good kicking for what he has done to this show. And certainly a re-boot.
Douglas says to Jen that he's going to make her responsible if the calendar doesn't sell, so she then switches the subject from grannies to naked geeks. Did anyone notice the massive writing error here? It is immediately obvious that a calendar full of skinny geeks with their shirts off will not sell. Even more importantly, Douglas will obviously hate it. Jen would have filled the calendar with tits and arse. No question.
As for Roy being 'put off' shagging the girl from 7th by his memories of the shoot - Jesus that's lame. A character being put off something they want very much is hard to pull off effectively, but Linehan's got no chance with that one. The show didn't even end on a funny line, it just sort of faded away.
Considering the fact that the cast is rock solid and contains some of the funniest actors in Britain and the set-up is so strong, to produce such a lame series is a rare feat. Four episodes out of the first series were outstanding, one was good and one was poor. Only one episode was outstanding in series two (E1). Series three? Only two contained greatness, and they both had their problems - E1 and the original E1, the one where Roy lost his shirt. Significant I think that the best episodes were both in the running for series opener.
Linehan talks about writing 8 epsiodes for series 2 on his series 1 DVD commentary, and when it came there were 6. He also mentions getting other writers in, but that didn't happen either. The conclusion seems to be that he is more interested in the money than the show working because the barrel could double as a lampshade it has been scraped so thin. Series 4 should not happen without two more writers. Scale back his contribution to maybe two episodes and he can probably give us the inventiveness and pure comedy we associate with him, rather than the piss-weak underwriten garbage he's churning out at the moment.
All in all I thought it was a great series, my favourite so far. However I think one thing that let it down was the ordering of episodes. I think that the opening and closing episodes were good but perhaps two of the weakest. I think it would have been good to open with the Roy losing his shirt episode and end with either the friendface episode or the internet box one. I actually liked the last episode but thought that the ending was a bit naff. Though through my own experience of trying to write a sitcom I think that writing the ending is probably the hardest part.
I found myself laughing VERY much at Calendar Geek. Roy was hysterical, and well played, considering the gradual mood changes during: 1) the initial idea with the girls on 7: 2)In Jen's office when they change to Grannies: 3) when he's photographing the geeks. that one was killing me, as he looked like he was actually going through pain, haha! Then, when they are opening the boxes, he's just sitting there like he has post-traumatic-stress-disorder... Good stuff, IMHO.
"Cavort! Cavort!" 
Not sure if it is a criticism of Linehan or not, but he is not writing funny scripts now, he is writing to the comic strengths of his cast and letting them carry the series.
I agree that it was a disappointing ending to the series. I thought they could have done with a B storyline, rather than just concentrating on the calender one. That said, I enjoyed the hot women at the start.
I have slowly warmed to The IT Crowd mainly because of Matt Berry but that last episode was absolutely awful.
You can get away with the obvious and logical errors already mentioned (why would Jen order Roy to shoot photos of geeks if her job was on the line) if there are loads of good gags.
Unfortunately there were no jokes in it at all.
The IT Crowd is the definition of hit and miss.
Yus, The IT Crowd certainly dipped after a few good episodes. Maybe Mr Linehan needs a co-writer again to buck his friggin ideas up.