Never let it be said that NBC gives up easily. After two previous failed attempts, the network is once again trying to remake the British comedy series The IT Crowd for American audiences. The IT Crowd follows the exploits of the IT department of a major corporation and ran for four seasons (or series) on Britain's Channel 4. NBC has tried and failed to get two previous remakes off the ground, but now the Peacock has the original series creator on board to serve as a writer and executive producer.
According to Variety, original series creator Graham Linehan is set to write and executive produce a reimagining of The IT Crowd, although no plot or character details were given. The original The IT Crowd began in 2006 and aired a special one-hour finale in 2013. The series starred Chris O'Dowd as Roy, a lazy IT technician desperate to not do any work; Richard Ayoade as Moss, a brilliant IT technician lacking social skills; and Katherine Parkinson as Jen Barber, the head of the IT department who knows very little about computers. The IT Crowd became a critical success and is considered a cult TV series.
NBC has been trying to turn The IT Crowd into its next The Office for a few years now. The network first began its troubled love affair when it produced a pilot in 2007, one year after The IT Crowd originally aired. The pilot starred Joel McHale (two years before he starred on Community) and Jessica St. Clair, with Richard Ayoade reprising his role as Moss from the British series. It never made it much farther than that. Then NBC gave a put pilot commitment to a new version in 2014 that came from Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Clone High), but that too didn't come to fruition.
Now, NBC is trying once again, but this time it has the backing of the series original creator, which is usually a nice way to get the fans on board and give the project some momentum. Graham Linehan is guiding the latest version of The IT Crowd, which he promised on Twitter would be different from the British series.
Time will tell if NBC manages to finally move past the pilot stage with their own The IT Crowd. They have a pretty solid comedy lineup right now (Superstore and The Good Place are, ironically, no joke), so we'll see if they can keep the trend going. In the meantime, there's plenty of other shows on the way, so make sure to keep track of everything coming and going with our midseason premiere and cancellation guides.
