IT Crowd, The (UK TV Series) (DVD)

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Something else that's worth mentioning about this sitcom is that unexpected things turn up to connect some of the episodes. A man who jumps out of a top-story board room window in the first episode this season plummets past surprised people in a lower window in the second episode. That's the kind of stuff that the old Warner Brothers animation department used to do in Bugs Bunny cartoons, and it works well in a sitcom like this that feeds off of irreverence and depends upon surprise.

Here's a rundown on the episodes, which are contained on a single, single-sided disc and housed in a keep-case with slipcase:

1) "The Work Outing." A trip to the theater results in chaos and a man questioning his sexuality.

2) "Return of the Golden Child." With the big boss jumping out the window, the staff join other mourners at the funeral with comic results. And Denholm's son, Douglas (Matt Berry) turns up to complicate everyone's lives.

3) "Moss and the German." Moss takes a German cookery course and Jen falls into the bad habit of smoking again, which makes her realize how pathetic a crowd smokers are these days.

4) "The Dinner Party." Jen is forced to invite Moss, Roy, and Richmond the Goth to dinner when three male escorts cancel.

5) "Smoke and Mirrors." Jen has a disastrous board meeting, and all because of a bra that lets her down. That prompts Moss to confront his fear of ladies underwear and invent something that will get him out of the basement of Reynholm Industries.

6) Men without Women." When Douglas promotes Jen to be his assistant, that leaves Moss and Roy free again to be the goof-offs they were before she became their supervisor.

All of the episodes are laugh-out-loud funny, and since British TV gets away with more, you'll hear a lot more language than you would on American commercial television-things like "willies," "titties," "bastard," and . . . well, you know.

Video:
The production values are pretty standard for "The IT Crowd." The color palette runs slightly drab for the basement scenes, but there's only the slightest bit of grain and there's no blurring on the edges of vibrant colors like red or orange. "The IT Crowd" is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen.

Audio:
The soundtrack is a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo that's mostly dialogue and audience laughter, neither of which sounds particularly rich. It's a fairly flat audio, for the most part, but a functional one.

Extras:
Linehan offers a nonstop, intelligent and honest commentary for each of the episodes, telling how he really hasn't watched this "series" enough with other people to know if he was successful in what he attempted. It's probably one of the more thoughtful commentaries I've listened to, and would-be writers will learn a lot. It's interesting to hear, for example, that when Linehan finds himself hurting for ideas, his default is surrealism. Other than a few outtakes, the only other bonus feature is "Recording 'The IT Crowd,'" which is a day in the life of filming the show. Audience members are interviewed, we crew at their monitors, cast in make-up, and everything that goes on behind the scenes in a typical day in which an episode is filmed.

Bottom Line:
There may only be six episodes, for a total of 144 minutes, but "The IT Crowd" Season Two is worth buying and watching--especially if you know (or ARE) one of those basement dwellers! The show is hilarious, and Linehan and O'Dowd are comic geniuses.

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