Hey guys, Jana here,
“Hello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again?” If you recognize that line, you will probably be excited about the idea of a remake. I’m talking about ‘The IT Crowd‘, of course. NBC has given a put pilot commitment to the reimagining of a sitcom that aired for 5 seasons. Technically, the show ran for four series of six episodes each, a fifth series was commissioned it was concluded with a one-off episode that aired last year. For those that are unfamiliar with the term “put pilot”, it is an agreement that the host company, NBC in this instance, will air the pilot episode basically ensuring that the serial will be picked up. If the network declines to air the pilot, they will owe a fairly large amount of money to the studio.
‘The IT Crowd‘ showed us the quintessential office oddballs with Moss and Roy solving the tech problems of the elusive Reynholm Industries, played by Richard Ayoade and Chris O’Dowd, respectively. Leveling off the testosterone, and awkward social interactions, is their head of department Jen played by Katherine Parkinson. Jen balances out the copious amounts of knowledge Moss and Roy have by being utterly clueless to anything more difficult than a shoe sale.
Leave it to Bill Lawrence, creator and writer for some hilarious and entertaining shows from ‘Scrubs‘, ‘Spin City‘ and ‘Cougartown‘. I know there are people that bash ‘Cougartown‘ constantly, I admit it’s soft material, just there for the laughs and to fill a time slot, and I’m OK with that. Sometimes my brain needs to shut off and not think about what I’m watching, this show is perfect fodder for that situation, as are ‘Everybody Loves Raymond‘, ‘Modern Family‘ and ‘Home Improvement‘. I love mindless sit-coms! Lawrence is the man behind the US version of ‘The IT Crowd‘, the UK version was an absolute success with 8 BAFTA wins and 18 nominations. Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan are wordsmithing the series. The writing duo harbors a relationship with Lawrence that went back to ‘Scrubs‘ having worked on the pilot and staying on for the entire run leading to a writing Emmy nomination.