The I.T. Crowd

The I.T. Crowd (2006-2010) is a goofy BBC comedy examining the wacky work lives and friendships of the kooky nerds in the I.T. department. Computer-illiterate Jen (Katherine Parkinson) falls into the job of I.T. manager after lying on her resume, but quickly proves herself to serve an important function: normal-nerd translator between the rest of the world and her employees, slacker Roy (Chris O'Dowd) and high nerd Moss (Richard Ayoade). That's the premise, anyway. Delightfully, Jen quickly turns just as bizarre as anyone else on the show.

I recently rewatched this whole series, which isn't hard, since it's only four seasons of six half-hour episodes each. In my opinion, this is an extremely uneven show--the parts about Jen, Roy, and Moss are great, but the parts about some of the other wackier characters, particularly the season 2+ boss Douglas Reynholm (Matt Berry), are sort of repellent. Unevenness is exactly what makes a show a good candidate for "Key Episodes" treatment. When it's good, it's very very good, and when it's bad, well, don't watch those episodes.

Top 3 Key Episodes

1.1 "Yesterday's Jam": This show has kind of an exemplary pilot--it's tight and does a good job of introducing the characters and their relationships and quickly allying them together on the same side. It also features some of my favorite jokes, including Moss getting a "hot ear" and putting on various-sized glasses (trust me).

1.2 "Calamity Jen": Despite its reliance on a somewhat tired "women love shoes" observation, this episode is I.T. Crowd at its best, including several classic sequences: Roy and Moss being childish jerks at a stress demonstration; Jen getting as much goofy physical comedy as any of the boys; Moss doing mumbletypeg to benchmark a stress tester ("The needle is freaking out!"); a hilarious climactic sequence where everything is on fire including the fire extinguisher ("I'll just put that with the rest of the fire") and Moss writes an email to the fire department.

2.4 "The Dinner Party": In order to keep the gender balance at her dinner party after male cancellations, Jen is forced to invite Roy, Moss, and Richmond (the creepy goth who takes care of the servers, played by Noel Fielding from The Mighty Boosh). This is mostly a bottle episode about the party, and the nerds' antics attempting to "be normal" are hilarious.

Bonus Episodes

1.3 "The Red Door": This is the episode that introduces Richmond. It was hard for me not to put this in the top five, because I love Noel Fielding, and I love the premise that there's a goth hidden away taking care of the servers, but really it's not a very important episode for the show as a whole, since it's basically just wall to wall Fielding antics and very little of anyone else.

1.6 "Aunt Irma Visits": Roy and Moss begin suffering from PMS when Jen does. Another somewhat misogynist premise, but it's cutely done and the chemistry between all three leads is delightful.

2.1 "The Work Outng": Roy and Moss invite themselves along on Jen's ambiguous date with a maybe-gay guy to a musical called "Gay!" The whole thing spirals out of control quickly with Roy and Moss's inability to pee when there's a bathroom attendant leads them to fall into complex double lives. The I.T. Crowd on top of its game, increasing-craziness-wise. Contains my favorite Richmond speech.

2.5 "Smoke and Mirrors": Moss designs the perfect bra. Features one of my favorite scenes in which Roy criticizes Moss's idea for a ladder to help moths get out of the bath.

3.2 "Are We Not Men?": Moss discovers a website that lets him fake his way through conversations about football and Roy becomes obsessed with passing as a "proper man," leading him to increasingly testosterone-filled situations, culminating in a bank robbery.

3.5 "Friendface": A satire about Facebook turns into a classic episode when each character has to deal with someone from their past and all the threads come together at Jen's school reunion.

4.1 "Jen the Fredo": Jen pushes for a job "entertaining foreign businessmen," but unwilling to perform the usual pimp-like duties, she arranges for Moss to DM them through a game of Dungeons and Dragons. I'm a sucker for a D&D episode, and this one is improved by a surprisingly tender Roy story.