After The Office and Extras revitalised British comedy, and after the success of disturbing Chris Morris works; BrassEye and Jam, The I.T. Crowd is a lofty step backwards for all involved. Morris, Noel Fielding, Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry have all been far better elsewhere. And while Graham Linehan's sentimental sitcom leanings roped in his surrealist writing partner, Arthur Mathews, to make Father Ted a genuine classic, without Mathews, Linehan is free to indulge in the sub-FRIENDS/Seinfeld sitcom he was always in danger of making. It fact, writing is so hackneyed and predictable that the series feels like a real life version of When The Whistle Blows.<br /><br />Graham Linehan said that I.T. was fertile comedy ground that no one else had cottoned on to. He used the analogy of a bag of money sitting in the center of the room which nobody had noticed and picked up. It never occurred to him that smarter minds than his had passed on the opportunity for a reason. Several in fact. Computers aren't interesting, office based comedy is obsolete after The Office, sitcoms are dead, everyone hates audience laughter (he insists that it is filmed in front of a live studio audience, but really, who cares! It's awful!) etc etc. Characters are broad and one dimensional, you can see the jokes coming, and there are only two standing sets. The majority of on screen antics take place in a grotty basement set, decorated to resemble a teenager's bedroom. Roy (the obligatory Irishman, certainly no Dylan Moran or Dermot Morgan) and his cohort Moss are played as children as adults. The 'catchphrase' "Are you 'aving a laug..." I mean, "Have you tried turning it off and on?" is about as far as the show delves into Information Technology. Jen the arbitrary female, and broad failed professional woman stereotype (obsessed with shoes, long suffering in a quest to find a man) is proof (if any were needed) that Graham can't write female parts. Expect many scenes where Jen laments her life while Roy plays video games.<br /><br />There are a few episodes that exceed the suffocating s(h)itcom format, and are funny, even quotable. But as the characters are stock, there is no room for any development or investment. Being British means that it is able to push things further than the American dross it apes, at times excel past it, but that really isn't saying much. The cast are more than competent, and do their best with what little they are given. It's a crying shame that Linehan didn't apply these scenarios and actors to another series of Big Train. And that Chris Morris didn't pen Nathan Barley earlier.