The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#181

Post by Accacin » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 9:15 AM UTC

mejutoco wrote: post #153

LAC-Tech wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think my issue with the UK office is that it was just too bleak and dull to be funny. I got the jokes, but it didn't make laugh, just made me kind of feel worse about life. This is not a "UK comedy is has more flawed characters" thing either, IT Crowd, Peep Show were full of terrible, flawed, miserable human beings but there were still some drama & larger than life aspects to those shows that gave it some element o…

I feel exactly the same way. Shows like Black Books or In betweeners I find funny with a dark humour, but there is a kind of uk comedy show (Staht lets flats, Peep show, Friday night dinner) that I just find depressing. The usually involve some "loser" character getting hit with unfortunate circumstances over and over.

Holy shit I haven't watched Black Books in years, I absolutely loved that show. Hard disagree on the Peep Show, it's one of the greatest shows ever but I will admit I couldn't get through the first series for the longest time before it clicked and I binged the whole lot :)

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#182

Post by forinti » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 9:30 AM UTC

One of the worst cultural crimes the US has committed (hyperbole for comic effect but a touch serious) is to remake Nueve Reinas, the wonderful argentine movie.

Certain things just have to be left as they are.

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#183

Post by mjhagen » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 9:32 AM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #178

u02sgb wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, have used a similar technique of putting the drive in the freezer. Didn't believe it would work, surprised when it did.

I was watching Fringe at the time. I felt a bit like Walter interrogating a corpse while doing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99Sk2ZnjGQA

“I need the body” is still a running gag between me and my partner.

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#184

Post by drcongo » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 9:33 AM UTC

rwmj wrote: post #134

Longlius wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of it is simply different television formats. The Office UK specifically aired on BBC One without commercials which meant that it had to be cut down to fit on a major network's timeslot of 20-24 min. Shows like that typically have to go to special TV stations like PBS or BBC America in order to get a commercial-free timeslot or (in BBC America's case) finagled into a less common time slot with weird commercial b…

I learned this is why David Attenborough's nature documentaries now have the obligatory 10 minute "making of" featurette at the end. The first 50 minutes is sold overseas as an hour long documentary (with ad breaks), and the last 10 minutes is for the BBC audience in the UK to fill it up to an hour.

Interesting! That's usually my favourite bit.

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#185

Post by ck425 » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 9:34 AM UTC

ImpressiveWebs wrote: post #90

radley wrote: post #77

I feel like I'm watching a Community dream sequence (with Ayoade as guest star) in which Jeff Winger has to take a computer class to graduate, so he's freaking out.

I thought it was good, but Joel McHale as Roy doesn’t work. Dude is too chiseled for that role, even though he does a decent job with the acting.

It's funny you say that because since The IT Crowd ended Chris O'Dowd has been cast multiple times as the relatable normal but still handsome hunk in comedies.

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#186

Post by thefz » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 9:34 AM UTC

thewileyone wrote: post #140

thefz wrote: post #106

The same thing for Whose Line Is It Anyway?. UK version was hilarious, and every host fit in perfectly, while the US version was atrocious.

I don't know if it was atrocious ... Richard Simmons with Colin, Ryan and Wayne is TV gold.

Drew Carey missing for example, as he was a magnificent host and the show rested on his shoulders.

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#187

Post by rsynnott » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 9:36 AM UTC

Longlius wrote: post #20

dotBen wrote: post #8

I'm pretty sure this pilot is the same script as episode 1 of the original UK series. Clearly someone felt the need to recast and reshoot the series with US actors (plus Richard Ayoade), like they did the US Office. I wonder if that's old thinking (or wasn't actually needed) - the amount of UK TV that's now on Netflix and other OTT platforms seems to suggest that US audiences are open to enjoying original UK series w…

Part of it is simply different television formats. The Office UK specifically aired on BBC One without commercials which meant that it had to be cut down to fit on a major network's timeslot of 20-24 min. Shows like that typically have to go to special TV stations like PBS or BBC America in order to get a commercial-free timeslot or (in BBC America's case) finagled into a less common time slot with weird commercial b…

Another issue, which we tend to forget about in this age of 4K and so on, was that a lot of these shows were filmed on digital betamax or similar (and before that on analog magnetic formats). For a British show, that would typically mean 576i 50Hz PAL, and it would just not look great on most equipment when transmitted as 480i 60Hz NTSC. Some shows were filmed on film (I think this was more common in the US) and those were easier to deal with, but horrible picture quality would have been a concern.

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#188

Post by HPsquared » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 9:38 AM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #96

Too bad they didn't make it to episode 2. I feel like "they're not just THE emergency services, they're YOUR emergency services" is one of the most British things I can imagine. (I say that as an American, though, so I don't really know what I'm talking about.) The IT Crowd always impressed me with their set design. I was working as "IT" at the time, and our office was nearly identical to the one in Season 1. We had…

On the hard drive thing, I had an old HDD which (after years in a drawer) would not start up (wouldn't start spinning).

After trying it in a couple of different computers I accidentally dropped the drive and it hit a metal table leg.

After dropping it, the HDD started up and worked fine, and I could copy the contents off.

Maybe the liquid nitrogen worked the same way (thermal shock in place of mechanical shock).

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#189

Post by pndy » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 9:38 AM UTC

quietbritishjim wrote: post #6

That wasn't nearly as atrocious as I was expecting. Partly because the script is almost the same as the UK first episode, of course, but even putting that aside it was OK. Richard Ayoade is still great but also Joel McHale is a pretty decent choice as Roy. Even the actress playing Jen, although a bit annoying, wasn't too bad. And the twist that the boss actually isn't crazy is interesting. Not like the US Red Dwarf p…

> the US Red Dwarf pilot

Terry Farrell got role of Cat in the 2nd attempt for pilot, a year before arriving in Deep Space Nine as Jadzia Dax

Re: The IT Crowd US Pilot (2007) [video]

#190

Post by tumetab1 » Thu, Sep 22, 2022, 9:38 AM UTC

Aissen wrote: post #139

I just started a rewatch recently, and it seems it's not an exact copy of the original show's script. For example, in the US version, Denom makes a second call to "disregard" firing the entire floor that doesn't work as a team; and the joke about the voice-activated computer is gone.

> Denom makes a second call to "disregard" firing the entire floor that doesn't work as a team

Yeah, that part was weird because Denom in the US remake is portrayed as a manipulative manager instead of a crazy manager. Maybe the writers had a different character in mind.