Those of you who have thus far been unsuccessful in scrubbing it from your memories will remember that a few years ago an attempt was made to make a US version of the much beloved British series The IT Crowd. This was done on the back of the successful importation of The Office; at the time US TV executives had assumed that because lightning had managed to strike in the same place twice, that it’d then do the same thing several other times. A pilot was made, which was a shot-for-shot remake of the original British pilot episode, with a pre-Community Joel McHale filling the role previously held by Chris O’Dowd and Richard Ayoade making his first attempt at leaping across the pond.
The result was a goddamned disaster. Partly because the fact that McHale is ripped as shit made it hard for him to come across as believably frumpy, and partly because it somehow managed to lose all the comedic timing and nous that the British version had – a great script isn’t always everything.
Fast forward to the year of our lord, 2014. Word is now emerging that NBC – much like that one pizza joint near your house that gave you the runs one time that you go back to because it’s six months later and, like… it can’t possibly be as bad as you remember it, right? – is heading back to a well that was boarded up, sealed off, and placed in a storage warehouse by TOP. MEN.
Bill Lawrence – who you might recognise as the man behind shows like
Spin City,
Scrubs and
Cougar Town – is getting extremely busy. Not only has he partnered with
Brett Ratner to try and bring a TV adaptation of the
Rush Hour films to life, but he’s also having another crack at everyone’s favourite
Tnetennba‘s. This,
according to Deadline:
“Bill Lawrence already is shepherding a series adaptation of a hit feature comedy, Rush Hour. Now the prolific producer is looking to do the same for one of the most popular British comedy series of the past decade, TheIT Crowd. In a competitive situation, a multi-camera U.S. version of Channel 4’s The IT Crowd from Lawrence, Community alums Neil Goldman & Garrett Donovan and Warner Bros. TV has landed at NBC with a put pilot commitment.“
Even though Lawrence’s work is traditionally solid, and the addition of Goldman and Donovan from Community rounds out an extremely impressive and capable crew of producers, you can’t help but approach this in the brace position.
It’s just… I mean… The original was so gosh darned good that… Why would you… Oh, hell.
It’s probably gonna happen one way or the other eventually. So until then let’s just think about Bluffball or something until the bad thoughts go away.
