c4countdown

Saw a trailer for the new series which has won awards in the past. Never watched it but keep meaning to, now I will as the trailer indicates that one of the characters (Moss) goes on Countdown. Now whether that is this Friday at 10pm or not I don't know for the real Countdown plot airs in Episode 2 the following Friday entitled The Final Countdown - not too original there! But the synopsis in Radio Times sounds promising.... "Moss goes from loser to schmoozer when a string of victories on TV's Countdown gains him admittance to a secret, exclusive club where men in jam-jar specs... are fawned over by scantily clad women...... the sight of Moss playing the urban "Street Countdown" around burning braziers, a baying mob and wire fencing is a winningly loopy one." Cast lists does not include Jeff or Rachel as guest stars so don't know if they make an appearance or not but during the scene around a burning brazier, it would not surprise me to see Charlie or Kirky pop into view.

Haha, that sounds brilliant - have they had a mole in here or something? The similarities are uncanny.

I watched this Friday's one on 4od I think.. there's no Countdown, but it is funny.

I watched that when it first started, but once I started watching The Big Bang Theory I enjoyed that a lot more. Will give it another go for this episode though.

IT Crowd + Countdown =

The IT Crowd didn't seem to do that well because it was on the heels of Father Ted and Black Books so nothing was really going to look that good in comparison. It's still very funny though I did read a critic ripping into it for pandering to generalisations. The female critic thought the episode about Jen's 'time of the month' was cliché-ridden but then ... she was probably on the rag at the time.

The style of humour is quite similar to Father Ted, with lots of dreams and flashback sequences and exaggerated-reality situations. When you comapre the reactions to the two shows, I can't help thinking people liked Father ted more for its digs at religion than its actual comic style.

Martin Smith wrote:The style of humour is quite similar to Father Ted, with lots of dreams and flashback sequences and exaggerated-reality situations. When you comapre the reactions to the two shows, I can't help thinking people liked Father ted more for its digs at religion than its actual comic style.

I think it was a mixture of things: having a dig at religion; very funny people actually delivering your material; a tendency for the surreal, also; the "sit" in that sitcom was particularly effing hilarious.

It looks like the Countdown episode of The IT Crowd is definitely this Friday.

http://uk-tv-guide.com/programme-detail ... wd/Sitcom/

The advert for it seemed well funny. If you haven't seen it:

The advert starts with the clock just finishing counting down during a letters round. The selection is T N E T E N N B A. The other contestant declares TENNANT, whereas Moss (Richard Ayoade's character) declares the word that is already written out, TNETENNBA. Then Jeff asks him how he'd used that in everyday life. I can't remember what the reply was exactly, but it seemed hilarious.

Does the other contestant score 0 points for his mis-spelling?

Reminder that this episode is tonight. Someone from here had better get namechecked if they're on about the secret away-from-the-TV Countdown scene...

Started to watch the first episode and gave up after ten minutes. If the audience laughter wasn't canned then they were on something...

However, the Countdown episode is a classic so glad I highlighted it last week.

Jeff, Rachel and Gyles B were all in at as themselves. Tried to spot the octochamps amongst you at the club but you were all heavily disguised to look like normal people

Damn!

I missed it, watching now on 4oD.

http://www.apterous.org/lexplorer.php?word=tnetennba

The new GANDISEEG?

Chris Corby wrote:Started to watch the first episode and gave up after ten minutes. If the audience laughter wasn't canned then they were on something...

However, the Countdown episode is a classic so glad I highlighted it last week.

Jeff, Rachel and Gyles B were all in at as themselves. Tried to spot the octochamps amongst you at the club but you were all heavily disguised to look like normal people

It was great. 8+ sounds a bit like apterous too. And the dude in the black was called Prime. I think they did their research well.

I laughed hardest at Moss making no attempt to conceal that he had a niner - they scripted that part of the scene to a tee, right down to the 'arrogant sip of water'!

Street Countdown is the new variant.

Jeff. Rachel. Even Gyles. But where was Susie?!! And why has this show suddenly become so crap?!

That was awesome. Absolutely excellent - loved every second of it, especially Moss' excitable voice.

Loved it too. Moss' water-sipping moment and the whole Fight Club concept was fucking hilarious.

Steve Durney wrote:Jeff. Rachel. Even Gyles. But where was Susie?!! And why has this show suddenly become so crap?!

I think Countdown is still good.

Steve Durney wrote:Jeff. Rachel. Even Gyles. But where was Susie?!! And why has this show suddenly become so crap?!

Fuck off!

The show is letters, numbers, conundrum.

It's perfect; no-one could make it shit: not even Des O'Connor but God bless him he tried as best he could.

David O'Donnell wrote:

Steve Durney wrote:Jeff. Rachel. Even Gyles. But where was Susie?!! And why has this show suddenly become so crap?!

Fuck off!

The show is letters, numbers, conundrum.

It's perfect; no-one could make it shit: not even Des O'Connor but God bless him he tried as best he could.

Er, this is a thread about The IT Crowd. So I was making the point about why has THE IT CROWD has suddenly become so crap. The IT Crowd.

Steve Durney wrote:

David O'Donnell wrote:

Steve Durney wrote:Jeff. Rachel. Even Gyles. But where was Susie?!! And why has this show suddenly become so crap?!

Fuck off!

The show is letters, numbers, conundrum.

It's perfect; no-one could make it shit: not even Des O'Connor but God bless him he tried as best he could.

Er, this is a thread about The IT Crowd. So I was making the point about why has THE IT CROWD has suddenly become so crap. The IT Crowd.

Okay ah, it was a complete misunderstanding.

My new answer is: fuck off!

The show has got better if anything.

I'm surprised everybody seems to have enjoyed it so much on here. When I wasn't shaking my head (or even getting cross) at the numerous mistakes, I was basically just being offended.

Countdown has unfairly picked up this "nerdy" tag over the years, and I'm surprised that Channel 4 allowed one of its own shows to perpetuate this myth in this ridiculous fashion. Damian has spoken on here before about wanting to steer the show away from robotic nerdy males spouting ridiculous words from the far corners of the dictionary, so to present the show in this light was just staggering. I was also concerned that in the one proper segment of the game we saw, Moss gave an utter nonsense nine-letter word (how difficult would it have been to find an obscure nine to use instead?) Although we weren't explicitly shown the outcome, the implication from this was that the challenger was being destroyed and humiliated. But in fact he had scored the max on that round! What kind of confused message is that to send out to potential contestants? Somebody watching at home may have come up with 'tenant', and been made to feel small for it.

Other blatant mistakes included the ongoing misapprehension that teapots seemed to be awarded only to octochamps, that there was a yearly winner, and then we had Rachel saying how Moss hadn't declared less than 8 - we all know how ridiculously unlikely it is for that to happen (given that we were supposed to think his submissions were all valid).

The idea that there was then this "elite clique" of Countdowners (every one of them a nerdy milk or Ribena drinker in a tank-top) who got together outside of the show to play bizarre variants and partake in petty bickering and displays of one-upmanship is just laughable. As if. Ridiculous, and again offensive.

I'll stop there as I could go on and on but suffice to say I've written a letter of complaint to Channel 4 and strongly urge others to do the same, to try and repair some of the damage caused by this appalling misjudgement.


And where are my fucking groupies? Where's my Ivana?

[/quote]The show has got better if anything.[/quote]

Well, we all have our different opinions! The earlier episodes were much better imo, especially with Chris Morris. The lie detector episode was one of the funniest I've ever seen, of any show. This series of The IT Crowd (not Countdown!!) hasn't been anything great. Moss was good last night, but Roy was just about a successful old friend thinking Roy was a window cleaner, and the Jen and Douglas storyline was just about making you think something dodgy was going on when really it was just aerobics (why the dressing gowns?!). Doesn't compare to the first 3 series for me, but each to their own!

Steve Durney wrote: (why the dressing gowns?!)

Cos if they just had aerobics gear on then we wouldn't have thought they were having an orgy! Also, I thought the window cleaner stuff, especially when he was on the lift, was the funniest thing about the show! We'd called the closing gag half way through the show though.

Jon Corby wrote: The idea that there was then this "elite clique" of Countdowners who got together outside of the show to play bizarre variants and partake in petty bickering and displays of one-upmanship is just laughable. As if. Ridiculous, and again offensive.

Nice ad for the show though right? I would assume that they were only delighted to have the show lampooned just as they were to have the big brother thingy happen. Nothing wrong with a 30 minute ad going out at 10pm on a Friday night I suppose.

Andy Wilson wrote:I thought the window cleaner stuff, especially when he was on the lift, was the funniest thing about the show!

Window cleaner decides to wheel bike, complete with huge ladder, into strangers house and leave it there.
Roy lets him. For some reason.
Roy bumps into old friend who is successful. Friend talks about himself but doesn't ask Roy what he does.
Roy decides to dump bike (arf).
Friend sees Roy on window cleaners bike.
Friend sees Roy in Window cleaners lift on side of building.
Roy shouts out that he's not a window cleaner, with window cleaner standing right next to him.
Window cleaner looks pissed off.
Roy looks awkward.

Top notch comedy, that!

Steve Durney wrote:

Andy Wilson wrote:I thought the window cleaner stuff, especially when he was on the lift, was the funniest thing about the show!

Window cleaner decides to wheel bike, complete with huge ladder, into strangers house and leave it there.
Roy lets him. For some reason.
Roy bumps into old friend who is successful. Friend talks about himself but doesn't ask Roy what he does.
Roy decides to dump bike (arf).
Friend sees Roy on window cleaners bike.
Friend sees Roy in Window cleaners lift on side of building.
Roy shouts out that he's not a window cleaner, with window cleaner standing right next to him.
Window cleaner looks pissed off.
Roy looks awkward.

Top notch comedy, that!

Steve Durney wrote: Friend sees Roy in Window cleaners lift on side of building.

I thought it was Roy who noticed Alistair on the street and started shouting at him (as he couldn't find him on friend face or jitter) forgetting he was on the lift! Anyway, that was the moment where i laughed the most!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-dWr1Dy_Ik

Jon Corby wrote:The idea that there was then this "elite clique" of Countdowners (every one of them a nerdy milk or Ribena drinker in a tank-top) who got together outside of the show to play bizarre variants and partake in petty bickering and displays of one-upmanship is just laughable. As if. Ridiculous, and again offensive.

Quite right. I don't think I've ever seen an apterite in a tank top.

Hugh Binnie wrote:Quite right. I don't think I've ever seen an apterite in a tank top.

What we need is a thread of people playing apterous in tank tops.

(In fact, then we could make a calendar out of them.)

Michael Wallace wrote:

Hugh Binnie wrote:Quite right. I don't think I've ever seen an apterite in a tank top.

What we need is a thread of people playing apterous in tank tops.

(In fact, then we could make a calendar out of them.)

Uploading now...

Jon Corby wrote:I'm surprised everybody seems to have enjoyed it so much on here. When I wasn't shaking my head (or even getting cross) at the numerous mistakes, I was basically just being offended.

Countdown has unfairly picked up this "nerdy" tag over the years, and I'm surprised that Channel 4 allowed one of its own shows to perpetuate this myth in this ridiculous fashion. Damian has spoken on here before about wanting to steer the show away from robotic nerdy males spouting ridiculous words from the far corners of the dictionary, so to present the show in this light was just staggering. I was also concerned that in the one proper segment of the game we saw, Moss gave an utter nonsense nine-letter word (how difficult would it have been to find an obscure nine to use instead?) Although we weren't explicitly shown the outcome, the implication from this was that the challenger was being destroyed and humiliated. But in fact he had scored the max on that round! What kind of confused message is that to send out to potential contestants? Somebody watching at home may have come up with 'tenant', and been made to feel small for it.

Other blatant mistakes included the ongoing misapprehension that teapots seemed to be awarded only to octochamps, that there was a yearly winner, and then we had Rachel saying how Moss hadn't declared less than 8 - we all know how ridiculously unlikely it is for that to happen (given that we were supposed to think his submissions were all valid).

The idea that there was then this "elite clique" of Countdowners (every one of them a nerdy milk or Ribena drinker in a tank-top) who got together outside of the show to play bizarre variants and partake in petty bickering and displays of one-upmanship is just laughable. As if. Ridiculous, and again offensive.

I'll stop there as I could go on and on but suffice to say I've written a letter of complaint to Channel 4 and strongly urge others to do the same, to try and repair some of the damage caused by this appalling misjudgement.


And where are my fucking groupies? Where's my Ivana?

Top post (I think).

I bow to Jon's greater understanding of what Countdown's executive producer wants from the show, and if indeed the steer is supposed to be away from nerdiness, then this is another in a long sequence of poor showcases.

We always look forward to awareness being generated - best recent examples are children or footballers going on and winning, leading to reports on local news segments - but we seem to have difficulty shaking off this image of being hardcore, nerdy and uninviting.

Bus enthusiasts have also had the same treatment. Particularly memorable was a piece John Sargeant did for The One Show on whyever people would be interested in buses and coaches, focussing on two chaps in West Yorkshire. The flavour they relayed was along the lines of "like how Jeremy Clarkson looks at cars, but buses", which is fair enough. But then after interviewing the wife of one of the guys, the piece had the couple sit together in their dining room table whilst he played with his collectable-limited-edition-don't-take-them-out-the-box model buses across the table like a toddler. Totally. Effing. Owned.

Seems like Countdown sold out cheap here aswell. Yet the group of 30-odd people who turned up at a pub in north London one Saturday in May were pretty normal, and Leicester at the end of the month will be a good shindig aswell.


Jeff

Gavin Chipper wrote:Top post (I think).

I assumed he was just stirring. Offensive? Hardly.

David Williams wrote:

Gavin Chipper wrote:Top post (I think).

I assumed he was just stirring. Offensive? Hardly.

I thought it was a piss take and found it funny from that perspective.

Jeff Clayton wrote:Yet the group of 30-odd people who turned up at a pub in north London one Saturday in May were pretty normal

Which event were you at!? I think you've got a biased perspective; one of the only few 'normals' who saw what was going on was the girl at the bar, who called us "the board games group" whilst sniggering.

Matt Morrison wrote:Which event were you at!? I think you've got a biased perspective; one of the only few 'normals' who saw what was going on was the girl at the bar, who called us "the board games group" whilst sniggering.

To be fair, when I booked the room I told them we were going to play board games, because that was a) technically true, and ii) seemed easier than trying to explain how we were going to play Countdown in a pub.

Michael Wallace wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:Which event were you at!? I think you've got a biased perspective; one of the only few 'normals' who saw what was going on was the girl at the bar, who called us "the board games group" whilst sniggering.

To be fair, when I booked the room I told them we were going to play board games, because that was a) technically true, and ii) seemed easier than trying to explain how we were going to play Countdown in a pub.

Yeah, just having a laugh I just disagree with Jeff's assertion that Countdown people are normal. Not that there's anything wrong with that, and I think most of us embrace being proud members of "the board games group" anyway. But yeah, I still don't think Countdown people are normal, whatever normal is, and whether or not it's a good thing to be if it exists. Just sayin'

Matt Morrison wrote:Yeah, just having a laugh I just disagree with Jeff's assertion that Countdown people are normal. Not that there's anything wrong with that, and I think most of us embrace being proud members of "the board games group" anyway. But yeah, I still don't think Countdown people are normal, whatever normal is, and whether or not it's a good thing to be if it exists. Just sayin'

Yeah, totally. (That previous post was just in case anyone was wondering why they thought we were the 'board games group'.)

Proposal to run CoWor in our local multi-storey (braziers provided FoC).

When discussing my mate Mick's introduction to apterous, Matt actually said, 'It's hard to get normals to play' or something like that.

Anyway, It was funny and it was brilliant to have a whole episode based around countdown! Graham Linehan for dictionary corner!

Also it seemed the troublemaker-in-chief of this "clique" (I can barely type this without shaking my head at the ludicrous idea!) was basically as nerdy as the rest, but seemed determined to put on this front of being a bit more "cool" and "street" than the others. Total un-thought-out nonsense.

Jon Corby wrote: I was also concerned that in the one proper segment of the game we saw, Moss gave an utter nonsense nine-letter word (how difficult would it have been to find an obscure nine to use instead?) Although we weren't explicitly shown the outcome, the implication from this was that the challenger was being destroyed and humiliated. But in fact he had scored the max on that round! What kind of confused message is that to send out to potential contestants? Somebody watching at home may have come up with 'tenant', and been made to feel small for it.

Other blatant mistakes included the ongoing misapprehension that teapots seemed to be awarded only to octochamps, that there was a yearly winner, and then we had Rachel saying how Moss hadn't declared less than 8 - we all know how ridiculously unlikely it is for that to happen (given that we were supposed to think his submissions were all valid).

I don't think anyone was meant to believe that TNETENNBA was a real word, or that the scene was anything more than a surreal (and hilarious) fantasy sequence. I missed the bit about the yearly champion (maybe Moss had won a Bevins-Davies type special?), but am pretty certain that the leader of 8+ referred to himself as the 16th champion, rather than by a year. The only vexing error was the teapot thing, but in the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal.

I loved the first two series of the IT Crowd, but the third didn't quite live up to those standards. This fourth one is looking very good thus far. The fantasy roleplay episode was fantastic and I loved the bawdy business men, "Phil and two men called John". I didn't enjoy the countdown one quite as much, partly because being so close to the subject matter, I'd thought of some of those jokes before. Before Co:Lon, I'd jokingly told friends that I was going to an "underground countdown tournament".

I think its a shame that the IT Crowd is consistently underestimated, because it is filmed in a studio, where you can hear laughter (I don't think it's canned). No one complains about Father Ted, Blackadder or Fawlty Towers having laughter on them.

Martin Bishop wrote:because it is filmed in a studio, where you can hear laughter

Meant to make this point earlier, which i'm pretty sure is the case.

Can't believe I got some bites.

Still got it

Jon Corby wrote:Can't believe I got some bites.

I can...

Martin Bishop wrote:No one complains about Father Ted, Blackadder or Fawlty Towers having laughter on them.

I do. Canned laughter has no place in a civilized society!

Matt Morrison wrote:

Jeff Clayton wrote:Yet the group of 30-odd people who turned up at a pub in north London one Saturday in May were pretty normal

Which event were you at!? I think you've got a biased perspective; one of the only few 'normals' who saw what was going on was the girl at the bar, who called us "the board games group" whilst sniggering.

She wasn't sniggering when Kirk put his cock in her mouth

Ryan Taylor wrote:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=3 ... 330&v=wall

Awesome. And this is a good read.

Jeff Clayton wrote:Bus enthusiasts have also had the same treatment.

Risen to the bait. What a fucking star you are.

Jeff Clayton wrote:Risen to the bait. What a fucking star you are.

Sorry Jeff, I think you rose to the bait. Corby is obviously taking the piss from post 1.

Sorry DOD, gallows humour. Comes from working in the industry. Don't read too deeply into internet posts.

Jeff Clayton wrote:Sorry DOD, gallows humour. Comes from working in the industry. Don't read too deeply into internet posts.

You're in the Gallows' industry? With the government cuts at the moment, prepare yourself for a P45 any day now.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news

Chris Corby wrote:With the government cuts at the moment

They're bringing back the guillotine?

Edit: Wait, that was the joke. I see now.

Bump.

I thought this was great.