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From The Hollywood Reporter: NBC might be pulling the plug on the midseason comedy “The IT Crowd.” The network made headlines in May by not putting a single new comedy series on its fall schedule for the first time in 30 years and by ordering only one new half-hour series, “IT,” for midseason. The hybrid multi-/single-camera “IT,” from Universal Media Studios and “American Idol” producer FremantleMedia North America, is an ensemble comedy set in an IT department that stars Joel McHale and Rocky Carroll. Despite being based on a British format, which is the forte of new NBC chief Ben Silverman and his top lieutenant Teri Weinberg — who, as producers at Reveille, developed a string of British comedy format adaptations, including NBC’s Emmy-winning “The Office” — they didn’t quite spark to “IT,” sources said. The series hasn’t gone into production, though a couple of scripts have been written.
A memo saying “geek chic is going mainstream” must have circulated among network TV execs as they concocted this fall’s prime-time lineup.
Hoping to woo coveted geek eyeballs, they’ve put their money on nine new shows focusing on — or catering to — nerds, freaks and outsiders of every type.
“Geeks are the new cool,” said Teri Weinberg, NBC Entertainment’s executive vice president. “We are all gravitating towards the underdog.”
Geek TV shows like The Big Bang Theory, The Sarah Connor Chronicles and a retooled Bionic Woman make up roughly 20 percent of the major networks’ new prime-time programming for the 2007-08 season. They join returning geek favorites that include ABC’s Ugly Betty, NBC’s Heroes and the SciFi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica, which blasts back with a two-hour made-for-TV movie later in the year and a fourth season beginning in ‘08. (more…)
The IT Crowd (UK) is set in the offices of Reynholm Industries, a fictitious British corporation in central London. It focuses on the shenanigans of the three-strong IT support team located in a dingy, untidy and unkempt basement - a stark contrast to the shining modern architecture and stunning London views enjoyed by the rest of the organisation.Moss and Roy, the two technicians, are portrayed as socially inept geeks or “standard nerds”. Despite the company’s utter dependence on their services, they are despised by the rest of the staff. Roy’s exasperation is reflected in his support techniques of ignoring the phone in the hope it will stop ringing, and using reel-to-reel tape recordings of stock IT suggestions (”Have you tried turning it off and on again?” and “Are you sure it’s plugged in?”). Moss’s wide and intricate knowledge of all things technical is reflected in his extremely accurate yet utterly indecipherable suggestions, while demonstrating a complete inability to deal with practical problems like extinguishing fires and removing spiders, as well as his being socially inept.
Jen, the newest member of the team, is hopelessly non-technical, despite claiming on her CV that she has “a lot of experience with computers”. As Denholm, the company boss, is equally tech-illiterate, he’s convinced by Jen’s interview bluffing and appoints her head of the I.T. department. Her official title is “relationship manager”, yet her attempts at bridging the gulf between the technicians and the business generally have the opposite effect, landing Jen in situations just as ludicrous as those of her team-mates.
This fall, the IT Crowd (featuring the Soup’s Joel McHale, will be imported as a midseason replacement on NBC.
