Anyway, yeah, I like the show. I think it's funny.
I'm with you, man.
Usually, when I dislike a show, but other people like it, I can understand why. I can see, while it doesn't appeal to me personally, why another person with different tastes might enjoy it. I think Bleach and Naruto are terrible shows, for example, but I can understand the appeal. I can see why people enjoy them, and I respect that taste.
The IT Crowd is a stark exception to this. I literally, honestly can not see the appeal. I can not understand how or why any person would enjoy it. I am genuinely confused. It's probably the only show I've ever disliked where I can not conceive of a single aspect any person would enjoy.
Did anyone watch Garth Marengi's Darkplace or The Mighty Boosh? I think part of the love to The IT Crowd also happens to come from love from those two shows with the actors Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry. They don't really interact with each other in IT Crowd, however they both have excellent delivery and are very talented character actors. Ayoade himself is even becoming a director, directing some episodes of Community and the indie-hit Submarine.
I do get why Rym doesn't like it, because a lot of what makes it works is how much you can tolerate a laugh track and those pauses. Because of shows like Married with Children which really worked with the concept, I can. However, I guess it just pains me (and all of us) that the laziest laughtrack nonsense can still be popular on TV. I mean, there are 3 Chuck Lorre Sitcoms plus about 6 "Friends" rip-offs and they are all complete dogshit. I'm glad NBC (And ABC to an extent) are willing to try more different things. IT Crowd is faaaaaaaaaar from all that.
The IT Crowd is a stark exception to this. I literally, honestly can not see the appeal. I can not understand how or why any person would enjoy it. I am genuinely confused. It's probably the only show I've ever disliked where I can not conceive of a single aspect any person would enjoy.
You don't feel any kinship to the resigned frustration these guys have with their jobs, and the exasperated ways in which they cope (especially Chris O'Dowd)? Having to ask morons who don't understand or value what you do the same base set of questions day in and day out? The microcosm you invent in your workspace to help you get through the day? You don't find Matt Berry's character to be outrageous?
You don't feel any kinship to the resigned frustration these guys have with their jobs
Their portrayal of "IT" (or work in general) is so far from any reality of it that it evokes no kinship. Even if it did, it evokes no laughter.
the exasperated ways in which they cope (especially Chris O'Dowd)?
It's forced and unfunny. If could be funny if they played it straighter, but they react in such stereotypical sitcom ways that it just falls flat as being entirely unoriginal.
Having to ask morons who don't understand or value what you do the same base set of questions day in and day out?
Aside from how unrealistic and stilted said morons appear in the show, that's one "joke." No matter how well executed, it does not the basis for an ongoing show provide.
The microcosm you invent in your workspace to help you get through the day?
Who does that? Granted, I work in a different "IT" environment from most "IT" people in the world. But again, this doesn't seem to get translated in the show into anything actually funny.
You don't find Matt Berry's character to be outrageous?
Only in the sense that he's the "that outrageous character" stereotype.
Seinfeld won the day because the characters were very believable, the scenarios very plausible, and the reactions very straight. This meant that the mildly "zany" but patently plausible things that happened to them were all the more hilarious in contrast to a realistic portrayal of the lives of cynical, selfish people. The IT Crowd is so far from realistic interaction that it ranks equally to Friends in terms of contrived pablum.
I know in Big Bang Theory it's not a laugh track but a live audience.
They record the live audience laughing and purposefully add that audio track (with the laughing done by actors and the creators watching live) to the final version that is broadcast to TV. There is no reason whatsoever to record the laughter, and JUST the laughter, or an audience and then broadcast it along with the show. It is a laugh track. Just because they go through the trouble of making their own laugh track instead of just buying one and pasting it after every joke does not make it not a laugh track, it's still a fucking laugh track.
Just because they go through the trouble of making their own laugh track instead of just buying one and pasting it after every joke does not make it not a laugh track, it's still a fucking laugh track.
WAIT! People actually laughed at all those jokes? Well there goes my faith in humanity...
I know in Big Bang Theory it's not a laugh track but a live audience.
it's still a fucking laugh track.
This. Also, I'm not sure if this is hindsight effect (or nostalgia, I get those mixed up), but I really found the first 8 episodes (made before the WGA strike) to be quite funny, and that the series went downhill as it progressed (basically there's only so many jokes you can tell in a setting, and the mine has been dry for years now).
WAIT! People actually laughed at all those jokes? Well there goes my faith in humanity...
Hey, Two and a half men was one of the most popular sitcoms around in the US before Charlie sheen had an ego fit, and if anything, that's WORSE than big bang theory.
Hey, Two and a half men was one of the most popular sitcoms around in the US before Charlie sheen had an ego fit, and if anything, that's WORSE than big bang theory.
My dad just started watching that, my mom (and me when I'm home) just sigh and leave the room.
WAIT! People actually laughed at all those jokes? Well there goes my faith in humanity...
Having been to a taping of a sitcom once, I can tell you that yes, people laughed at those jokes -- but they laughed at those jokes when the "laugh" light went on, after being repeatedly instructed on how important it is to laugh when the laugh light goes on.
I started watching that Star Wars cartoon with the viciously angular-faced CG characters a while ago, and its been surprisingly enjoyable. Definitely something worth watching while I'm eating. Out of the 60 or so episodes I've seen so far, the quality has been fairly consistent, save for a single three-episode arc that has supplanted "midichlorians" as "the worst Star Wars related thing I've ever seen".
I wam watching The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. It is a pretty good show, kind of makes me remember of the old X-Men and Spiderman cartoons from the 90s. Also, Annie's boobs is as adorable as Annie is hot!
Holy shit, Game of Thrones is good. I really love the locations they chose. I have never read the books but they are going to the top of the list. I can tell I'm already missing out on a lot of small details, but from what I've seen so far it's good and done well. I already foresee so many sinister things in the future.
No matter how seriously it takes itself I can never take it seriously. The comedy bits were really entertaining, though. If the same people did a Cheers reboot I would watch it.
I've been loving the hell out of Wilfred. It's definitely a show that depends on how well the actors play off each other, and everyone in the show is totally solid. I didn't think I would enjoy watching a guy in a dog suit so much.
Bit late to the game with laugh tracks, but one of my favorite comedies as a teen "Sledge Hammer" used a laugh track. I watched it but couldn't tolerate the track. When the series came out on DVD, the track was removed and it actually made the show better. This is one reason I dislike a lot of comedies. In fact, the only comedy I watch is CSI:Miami.
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Anyway, yeah, I like the show. I think it's funny.
The IT Crowd is a stark exception to this. I literally, honestly can not see the appeal. I can not understand how or why any person would enjoy it. I am genuinely confused. It's probably the only show I've ever disliked where I can not conceive of a single aspect any person would enjoy.
I do get why Rym doesn't like it, because a lot of what makes it works is how much you can tolerate a laugh track and those pauses. Because of shows like Married with Children which really worked with the concept, I can. However, I guess it just pains me (and all of us) that the laziest laughtrack nonsense can still be popular on TV. I mean, there are 3 Chuck Lorre Sitcoms plus about 6 "Friends" rip-offs and they are all complete dogshit. I'm glad NBC (And ABC to an extent) are willing to try more different things. IT Crowd is faaaaaaaaaar from all that.
Seinfeld won the day because the characters were very believable, the scenarios very plausible, and the reactions very straight. This meant that the mildly "zany" but patently plausible things that happened to them were all the more hilarious in contrast to a realistic portrayal of the lives of cynical, selfish people. The IT Crowd is so far from realistic interaction that it ranks equally to Friends in terms of contrived pablum.
Also, I'm not sure if this is hindsight effect (or nostalgia, I get those mixed up), but I really found the first 8 episodes (made before the WGA strike) to be quite funny, and that the series went downhill as it progressed (basically there's only so many jokes you can tell in a setting, and the mine has been dry for years now).
Those reasons are boobs. So, by leaving the room, you are probably doing him a favor.
Also, Annie's Boobs still makes me laugh. People who watch the show will understand the joke.
Also, Annie's boobs is as adorable as Annie is hot!
Viserys is a bastard.
Also, bubba vampires still equates to a comedy goldmine for me.