The Kids in the Cellar: 'The IT Crowd'

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IF GEEKS ARE the new cool crowd, don't tell that to the producers of "The IT Crowd," a ridiculously funny British sitcom whose second season has just been released on DVD.

The show was produced, not surprisingly, with the help of British "The Office" alumnus Ash Atalla, and it shows in the series' tone and tempo, as well as its taste for the occasional mind-boggling quirk, tossed off so casually you'd think — well, many people do anway — the British Isle are populated by only weirdos and perverts. But the basic parameters of a low-key Britcom are all in place: Soul-crushing, pass-the-time work environment; eccentricities bristling from behind every desk; absurd bureaucracy hampering our heroes' every move - check, check, check.

In a forgotten basement of Reynholm Industries, a huge corporation of unspecific purpose, biracial, literal-minded ubergeek Moss (Richard Ayoade) and Roy (Chris O'Dowd), a rumpled slacker cutie with low self-esteem and a bitter sense of humor, toil under the none-too-focused supervision of Jen (Katherine Parkinson) a technical naif who tries to keep the boys in line but is just as happy to play "Guitar Hero" with them in slow times. Soon after her introduction to the basement office — that's how the first episode of the series kicks off; the Season One DVD is an amusing, but not necessary adjunct to the recent release — Jen's own facade begins to crack, and hilariously. She's the "normal one," but only when thrown into contrast with these two losers (and with Richmond, the sweet-souled Goth even the geeks find off-puttingly weird; they keep him locked in a little room behind a red door.)

They are outcasts, but largely by choice. Contemptuous of the slicker employees on the upper floors, they pick up ringing phones with the greeting, "IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again?" Their indolence leaves them plenty of time to harbor crushes, get in scrapes, attend the gayest musical that ever gayed and watch the company's rule pass from a grand old man to his useless lout of a son (hilariousy played by Matt Berry), a serial sexual harasser with won't-take-no designs on Jen. (He's basically a rich, indolent version of David Brent in his ghastly music video in the finale of "The Office.") Throughout, the deadpan style is hipster-perfect, but much of the show's comedy depends on priceless sight gags and physical slapstick.

Surrealism isn't out of the question, either, as in a subplot in which Jen finds herself in a tragic Soviet-era melodrama, the result of being forced to smoke in the cold outdoors with other dreary office untouchables, or when Moss and Roy volunteer themselves as victims to a cello-playing German cannibal for reasons that half make sense at the time. The gorgeous and weirdly touching denouement comes during the closing credits, as the cannibal plays the show's video-gamey theme song on his cello to the applause of the taping audience.

But it's the characters that drive the show, and even these stock types reveal layers as the season wears on. It's a shame "The IT Crowd" can't be found on American TV; it's just the antidote we need to yet another season of "Two and a Half Men."

Photo courtesy J. Goldstien PR