'THE IT CROWD' 4.1 – "Jen The Fredo"

[SPOILERS] I'm not down with the outpouring of love for The IT Crowd. It's definitely the third best sitcom the UK's producing right now (behind Peep Show and The Inbetweeners), but I struggle to even think of a fourth now Extras has finished. What keeps me watching boils down to two things: the fact it uses geek culture as a basis (which is a culture I'm not ashamed to admit I'm part of), and my continuing loyalty to creator Graham Linehan.

"Jen The Fredo" wasn't an especially strong start, but it was amusing at times. The premise had Jen (Katherine Parkinson) attracted to the idea of becoming Reynholm Industries' new "entertainments officer", eventually convincing sexist boss Douglas (Matt Berry) to give her the additional responsibility. To Jen's surprise it turned out her main duties involved acting as a "pimp" for three chauvinist executives who expect to be entertained by city strip clubs. The best she could come up with was a theatre trip to see the misleading "Vagina Monologues". Later, the businessmen wound up sat in the IT basement with Moss (Richard Ayoade) and Roy (Chris O'Dowd), introduced to role-playing games and finding themselves oddly charmed by the pleasure of 20-sided dice and simple imagination.

A mildly amusing idea that resulted in a few giggles. The businessmen were the kind of broad caricatures that used to appear in episodes of Father Ted, without the clerical robes, and were fun horrors to watch. The highlight was probably when Moss role-played the part of a girl Roy had recently split up with during their gaming session, helping mend Roy's broken heart and give him closure via the ludicrous situation. And there were a few funny sight gags, like Roy having erased his ex from various photos, meaning he now had a stack of pictures that looked like he's been dating an invisible man.

But it all felt quite contained and lacked the ludicrous heights The IT Crowd can sometimes reach. For me, the show works best when the script is being clever in its plotting (with last-minute pay-offs), or when it manages to manufacture a truly surreal event or moment. I still can't shake the feeling that Graham Linehan (as good as he is) is doomed to be operating at 50% capacity without ex-writing partner Arthur Matthews' involvement. There's just something about The IT Crowd that feels like it's never quite managed to achieve its full potential -- either because whatever ingredient Matthews added to Linehan's writing is absent, or because the characters just aren't as great as people think.

Roy, Moss and Jen don't make me smile to myself just by thinking about them, or imagining what they might get up to in certain situations. They don't "live" in my mind, as all of the sitcom greats do -- from Basil Fawlty to Blackadder, Del Boy to David Brent. The characters in IT Crowd just don't have that spark to them; they're barely above cliché. But even their simplicity isn't as endearing as I expect it to be. Mrs Doyle was hardly a three-dimensional construct in Father Ted, but I smile when I imagine her falling out of that window or insisting on pouring visitors tea. When I think of Moss, I think... weird hair.

Overall, I'm certainly not saying this show is terrible. I've watched every episode and will continue to watch them all. I still like Linehan's writing style, adore the fact he insists on filming with a live studio audience, and there's usually at least two episodes every series that make me reconsider my feelings about The IT Crowd in general. "Jen The Fredo" just wasn't one of them.

WRITER & DIRECTOR: Graham Linehan
GUEST CAST: Charlie Baker & Dolly Wells
TRANSMISSION: 25 June 2010 – Channel 4/HD, 10PM