God bless nerds, those hopeless sad sacks that we can both laugh at and identify with because, face it, (we’re kinda nerdy too!). Shh. It’s better just to point and snicker at stereotypes on TV.
The Local TV Nerd Union #145 must’ve gotten itself some good representatives, because over the past few years nerdom has been on the rise in television, far past anything Urkel and Brainy Smurf could’ve dreamed of. Nerds dominate shows like Big Bang Theory and are idolized for their smarts and love of geek culture. The word “nerd” isn’t the swear word that Ogre shouted in Revenge of the Nerds anymore; it’s a label of pride and distinction.
Two shows that I’ve been enjoying over the past year celebrate nerds in all their awkward glory, and I thought it was high time to give them a high give. In one corner is the canceled-before-its-time Better off Ted, and in the other is the British sitcom hit The IT Crowd. Both feature a pair of nerds in a corporate setting who have a singular relationship with each other, with the local cutie, and with their various coworkers. Also, both are funny as all get out.
The Show: Better Off Ted (2009-2010, 26 episodes)
The Nerds: Phil (Jonathan Slavin) and Lem (Malcolm Barrett)
The Concept: Better Off Ted is set in the offices and laboratories of Veridian Dynamics, a massive corporation that is unabashedly evil. But while the corporation and higher-ups lack a soul and conscience, the employees are downright nice and cheery, even as they design death rays and octochickens. It’s here that the company’s most brilliant scientists work, the nerd duo of Lem and Phil. Both are insecure, childish, and in awe of their boss Ted, and both are easily the spotlight of the show.
Ever since seeing this massively underappreciated sitcom, I’ve considered Better Off Ted the spiritual successor to the great Arrested Development — high praise indeed. It’s not that both shows have Portia de Rossi or are single-camera shows (which they do), but that both have a snappy, quirky style of delivery that plays extremely well in repeats. In satirizing the nastier aspects of corporations by having nice people work at a wretched place, it keeps the tone light while giving the actors something different to work off of.
And nobody gets better material than Phil and Lem, the two supposedly best scientists the company has to offer who are also the most dumped upon and childlike in nature. Phil may be a tad bit more streetsmart, but their level of nerdery comes straight from the “all nerds are extremely sheltered” textbook and runs with it. They don’t care about the moral implications of their work, they’re just giddy when they solve a tricky scientific problem.
From a viewer’s perspective, I find the two extremely endearing (while not particularly relatable). They’re basically smart kids in a grownup world, and many of their actions would be much more recognizable coming from a pre-teen than two adult men. For example, one episode has them fighting over who’s in charge of the department, which leads to them trading “boss” positions every few minutes. Another episode has them fighting over a mysterious red lab coat that appears one night (the company figured it could get more focus by providing an unexplained element into the workplace).
Probably the best part of the pair is that they have a serious bromance going on that recalls the best kind of childhood friends you or I may have had. You get the feeling that either one would be completely lost without the other, so it’s good that they have each other to navigate life and the octochickens.
The Show: The IT Crowd (2006-present)
The Nerds: Roy (Chris O’Dowd) and Moss (Richard Ayoade)
The IT Crowd mostly takes place in the basement office of Reynholm Industries, where put-upon IT workers Roy and Moss waste time between inane calls for support by the workers above. In the first episode, their world is shattered (for the better) when the company hires a female named Jen to head the department. Since Jen has no clue when it comes to technology, she instead dubs herself “relationship manager” to shepherd the boys out of sticky situations. Fortunately for the stereotype of nerds needing one sexy nerd-loving girl to make them popular, Jen is equally prone to the same types of mistakes the boys make, just in different fields of interest.
Unlike the similarities that Lem and Phil from Better Off Ted share, Roy and Moss are quite different types of nerds who have come to appreciate this lifestyle. The Irish Roy, who you might recognize as O’Dowd starred in this past summer’s Bridesmaids, is far more akin to a geek than a nerd, preferring a laid-back attitude, a disrespect toward the employees upstairs, and a decent (if not great) love life.
Moss, on the other hand, is one of the most fascinating nerds I’ve ever seen on screen. At first I thought his nasally, sometimes high-monotone voice would drive me nuts, but I quickly found him to be absolutely hilarious. Moss is quite smart, technology-wise, but he’s lacking a lot of common sense and social skills as well. The best part about him is that he’s quite single-minded and very intense, which leads to fantastic exchanges between him and the often-exasperated Roy.
Instead of lording their nerd powers over the world, the two usually either get into extremely complicated mishaps or have fun pranking others (such as giving Jen a box with a blinking light for a presentation and telling her that it contains the “internet” — which she believes). Because nothing about Moss is predictable and because Roy is way too easy to take advantage of, their combined vulnerability has driven them together to become best mates. Also, they end up getting involved with bomb scares, robberies, dinner parties gone askew, and shams involving the handicapped and gay.
What I like about this show is that, also unlike Better Off Ted, Roy and Moss aren’t looked down on by the show itself as losers. If anything, they’re portrayed as misunderstood heroes who are probably smarter than the cubicle monkeys upstairs, but have the bad fortune of being sent to the hole where nerds are supposed to go.
Interestingly enough, I think I much prefer the nerdery of these four to the foursome in The Big Bang Theory, as Phil, Lem, Roy and Moss feel much more like interesting, fleshed-out characters than TBBT’s funny if one-note personas.
Mutant Reviewers 
Better Off Ted was definitely a gem. As an ensemble show, I wonder if it was a really great idea to focus on just two of the ensemble.
The IT Crowd won’t be coming back; creator and writer Graham Lineham says he’s written himself into a hole with the basement setting. Katherine Parkinson was in she short-lived comedy Whites, btw. Richard Ayoade, who plays Moss, is actually really… bizarre… in real life as well. I mean, awesomely unusual. He wrote and directed the indie film Submarine last year.
I absolutely love both of these shows. It’s sad that there won’t be new episodes of either, but at least they’re extremely re-watchable.
Great article. I’m glad you gave IT crowd some love because I’ve never heard anyone else talk about this show (outside of one thread in our forum).
I’ve seen some of IT Crowd. I certainly got a few laughs out of it, although I wouldn’t exactly count it among my favorites – but then, modern comedy in general tends to leave me a bit cold, so make of that what you will.
The reel to reel tape machine which answers IT support calls with “Turn it off and on again” is genius. Graham Lineham has had the Woke Crowd cancellation treatment and is no longer welcome in the Woke mainstream media. He was not even permitted at the Edinburgh Fringe last year.
I thought I saw Moss make a walk by appearance in a Better Off Ted episode, hence why I ended up here.
Better Off Ted is comedy gold, it holds it’s value. Over a decade later the jokes are more relevant now than ever. Like when they changed the sensors to save energy but they could not see black people. Solution hire white people to follow around the black people, to keep the lights on. It was the way the corporation were sensitive to this sort of thing only with respect to profits and being seen to do the right thing whilst completely misunderstanding the human aspect.
A decade later we witnessed the ‘can’t see black people’ corporate problem for real with the facial recognition tech that was required as ID.
The writer captured this perfectly whilst driving it to absurdity to make it hilarious. He only just stayed ahead of present day tech absurdities though.