Well let’s start with the jokes. They are just subjectively funnier, with many tie-backs and connections (Seinfeld/CYE long running set ups).
TITC is laughing at the normies and celebrating the geeks. TITC isn’t afraid to be really funny, which means recognising the human condition and laughing with it. The characters aren’t “good people who fail”, they are “humans who fail”, which mean we recognise them and empathise with them. Who hasn’t wanted to give a really impressive speech and said some bullshit.
BBT is bland. The characters are bland, with only external failures. The jokes dare not really poke fun at anyone and the jokes are sentence-long. Finally the actors and the script just aren’t as out there, so it all just feels dull as dishwater.
the one scene that really got me to pause was when moss laughs at a circuit board. i’ve been that guy. i’ve laughed with colleagues about bad hardware design. but… the audience is not consisting solely of electronics engineers. they’re laughing at him. more exactly, they identify with jen in that scene, and joins her in thinking moss is weird.
But I think you need to see it in the larger context. Episode 1, and much of season 1 (series 1 as we would call it here in the UK), is about moving into their world so we get to known them and appreciate them. Jen is the viewers’ guide into this world and her journey towards becoming one of them is the viewer’s journey. So what starts as a laugh at geeks ends up sympathising with the geeks (“but we did all the work!!”) and becoming the geeks (observe how Jen’s office starts as a managers office but slowly ends up with Manga artwork).
So her laughing at the geeks, and her inability to understand them (white noise), is crucial because it takes the viewer’s hand and leads them into the basement.
The most powerful example of this journey is when Jen becomes entertainment manager (“It’s not for you!”) and we have one of the show’s genuinely touching moments , whwn Roy grapples with his breakup and finds release in a session of tabletop RPG. This moment works so well because of the strength of the actors, the script and the fact that it has brought the viewer into the circle; the normies are now loud, obnoxious “business men” who are set free by adopting geekiness.
idk man. s3e2 (the “ludicrous display” ep) has an extended bit about moss being anal about staples. it’s still laughing at him. and there’s no foil for him there, the gag is just that he wants to know how many staples have been used.
Yes I actually agree. Moss is definitely the butt of some jokes, but he gets so much love in other places that I can stomach it, despite feeling like the show isn’t always completely kind to him.
yeah i also find him lovable, but the point is it’s the same sort of gag ttat tbbt does. and they’re all over the show. so why do we feel so differently about them?
Comparing The IT Crowd to The Big Bang Theory is like comparing Pavarotti to a braying lamb.
BBT is the braying lamb, for the avoidance of doubt.
i agree, but why?
Well let’s start with the jokes. They are just subjectively funnier, with many tie-backs and connections (Seinfeld/CYE long running set ups).
TITC is laughing at the normies and celebrating the geeks. TITC isn’t afraid to be really funny, which means recognising the human condition and laughing with it. The characters aren’t “good people who fail”, they are “humans who fail”, which mean we recognise them and empathise with them. Who hasn’t wanted to give a really impressive speech and said some bullshit.
BBT is bland. The characters are bland, with only external failures. The jokes dare not really poke fun at anyone and the jokes are sentence-long. Finally the actors and the script just aren’t as out there, so it all just feels dull as dishwater.
the one scene that really got me to pause was when moss laughs at a circuit board. i’ve been that guy. i’ve laughed with colleagues about bad hardware design. but… the audience is not consisting solely of electronics engineers. they’re laughing at him. more exactly, they identify with jen in that scene, and joins her in thinking moss is weird.
Yes, I agree.
But I think you need to see it in the larger context. Episode 1, and much of season 1 (series 1 as we would call it here in the UK), is about moving into their world so we get to known them and appreciate them. Jen is the viewers’ guide into this world and her journey towards becoming one of them is the viewer’s journey. So what starts as a laugh at geeks ends up sympathising with the geeks (“but we did all the work!!”) and becoming the geeks (observe how Jen’s office starts as a managers office but slowly ends up with Manga artwork).
So her laughing at the geeks, and her inability to understand them (white noise), is crucial because it takes the viewer’s hand and leads them into the basement.
The most powerful example of this journey is when Jen becomes entertainment manager (“It’s not for you!”) and we have one of the show’s genuinely touching moments , whwn Roy grapples with his breakup and finds release in a session of tabletop RPG. This moment works so well because of the strength of the actors, the script and the fact that it has brought the viewer into the circle; the normies are now loud, obnoxious “business men” who are set free by adopting geekiness.
idk man. s3e2 (the “ludicrous display” ep) has an extended bit about moss being anal about staples. it’s still laughing at him. and there’s no foil for him there, the gag is just that he wants to know how many staples have been used.
Yes I actually agree. Moss is definitely the butt of some jokes, but he gets so much love in other places that I can stomach it, despite feeling like the show isn’t always completely kind to him.
yeah i also find him lovable, but the point is it’s the same sort of gag ttat tbbt does. and they’re all over the show. so why do we feel so differently about them?