🥇 Best IT Comedies. Top 3 Series

Hello, Habr! I'm back!

Many welcomed my previous article about the series 'Mr. Robot'. Thank you so much for that!

As I promised, I have prepared a continuation of the series and hope that the new article will also be to your liking.

Today, I will talk about three of the main comedy series in the IT sphere, in my opinion. Many are currently in quarantine, and many are working. I hope this selection will help you during this difficult time. Some may need a distraction from problems, others may want to relax after work, and some may want to maintain a bit of positivity.

As before, I must warn conservative Habr readers.

Disclaimer

I understand that Habr readers are people working in the IT industry, experienced users, and avid geeks. This article does not carry any important information and is not educational. Here, I would like to share my opinion about the series, but not as a film critic, rather as someone from the IT world. If you agree or disagree with me on any issues, let's discuss them in the comments. I'd love to hear your opinion.

If you find the format worthy of your attention, I promise to write a few more articles about TV series and movies in IT. The upcoming plans include an article on IT philosophy in cinema and an article about the only artistic series in IT based on historical facts from the 80s. Well, enough with the words! Let's get started!

Caution! Spoilers.

Third Place. The Big Bang Theory

'The Big Bang Theory' is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, who, along with Steven Molaro, were the main writers of the show. The series premiered on September 24, 2007, on CBS, and the final season aired its last episode on May 16, 2019.

Plot

Two brilliant physicists, Leonard and Sheldon, are great minds who understand how the universe works. However, their genius does not help them communicate with people, especially women. Everything starts to change when a beautiful woman named Penny moves in across from them. It's also worth mentioning a couple of strange friends of these physicists: Howard Wolowitz, who loves to use phrases in different languages, including Russian, and Rajesh Koothrappali, who literally loses the ability to speak when he sees women.

This raises the question for the reader: "They are physicists. What does IT have to do with this?" The fact is that the premiere of the film took place in 2007, which means that the plot of the first season (or at least the first episodes) was written somewhere around 2005. At that time, IT was not as popular as it is now. A typical IT person seemed to the average person to be a strange, unkempt oddball, always staring at a monitor and disconnected from life. Every self-respecting physicist or mathematician knew at least one programming language to do their job. This is also mentioned in the series. Many characters themselves write applications, programs, and even try to make money from it in several episodes.

Characters

The most well-known character to the audience is Doctor Sheldon Lee Cooper.

Sheldon studies theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology and lives in the same apartment with his colleague and friend Leonard Hofstadter, as well as on the same landing with Penny.

Sheldon's personality is so unusual that he has become one of the most popular television characters. A brilliant scientist, consumed by theoretical physics from an early age, he did not acquire adequate social skills in his development. With his calculating and cynical nature, Sheldon has discrete (digital) thinking and lacks the usual sensitivity, empathy, and a range of other important emotions, which, along with his exaggerated self-esteem, leads to a significant portion of the humorous situations in the series. Nevertheless, in some episodes, his compassionate nature is revealed.

Interesting facts about Sheldon:

Doctor Cooper is played by actor Jim Parsons, who was the oldest actor on set. At the show's premiere, he was 34 years old, while he played a 26-year-old theoretical physicist.
Sheldon's last name coincides with the surname of the famous American physicist Leon Neil Cooper, a 1972 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, and his first name matches that of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics winner, Sheldon Lee Glashow.
Sheldon's mother, Mary, is a devout follower of Evangelical Christianity, and her religious beliefs often conflict with Sheldon's scientific work.
A separate series was made about Sheldon called 'Young Sheldon'. Personally, I didn't like the series at all, but I couldn't not mention it.

Leonard Hofstadter

Leonard is an experimental physicist with an IQ of 173, who earned his doctorate at the age of 24 and shares an apartment with his friend and colleague Sheldon Cooper. Leonard and Sheldon make up the main comedic duo in every episode of the series. Penny, Leonard and Sheldon's neighbor on the landing, represents Leonard's main interest, and their relationship is the driving force of the entire series.

Leonard also had relationships with his friend and colleague Leslie Winkle, surgeon Stephanie Barnett, North Korean spy Joyce Kim, and Raj's sister Priya Koothrappali.

Interesting facts about Leonard:

His mother, Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, is a psychiatrist with a doctoral degree. In the series, Leonard's mother has a separate storyline due to their strong disagreements and misunderstandings.
Leonard wears glasses, suffers from asthma, and is lactose intolerant.
He drives a Saab 9-5, presumably from 2003.
The main characters of the series are named Sheldon and Leonard in honor of the famous actor and television producer Sheldon Leonard.

Sweet Penny

Penny is one of the main characters of the series, a young and attractive girl who is Leonard and Sheldon's neighbor on the landing. From the first days of her moving in, she represents a romantic and sexual interest for Leonard. She possesses attractive looks and personal qualities that strongly differentiate her from Leonard's other friends, who are serious scientists.

Penny works as a waitress at The Cheesecake Factory, a place where her friends often visit. However, Penny dreams of a career as an actress. She regularly attends acting classes. Penny's financial situation is usually dire (she often struggles to pay her bills for utilities, television, and is forced to buy insurance "from a scam company in the Cayman Islands"; she dines on Leonard and Sheldon’s dime, and uses their internet connection, which annoys Sheldon—he creates passwords like "Penny is a freeloader" or "PennyGetYourOwnWiFi" (without spaces). In one episode, he lends Penny a large sum of money with the phrase "you’ll pay me back as soon as you can"). Penny is kind but assertive, which creates a stark contrast to the personalities of the guys.

Howard Wolowitz

Wolowitz has a unique sense of style: he wears t-shirts over a mock turtleneck, skinny jeans, and slip-ons. Additionally, he can almost always be seen with a pin attached to his clothing. In his casual wear, the pin (often shaped like a UFO) adorns the collar of his turtleneck or mock turtleneck on the left side.

One of Howard's weaknesses is his belt buckles. According to costume designer Mary Quigley, Wolowitz chooses his belt buckles based on the episode's storyline or simply "by mood". Simon Helberg has a vast collection of buckles (whole shelves in the costume department are filled only with Wolowitz's buckles), and Mary constantly searches for additions to this collection or creates new designs for upcoming episodes. The mutual fascination of the actor and his character with this clothing detail is reminiscent of Jim Parsons’ fondness for shirts featuring the Flash, worn by his character Sheldon Cooper. According to Helberg, the tight costumes and wild accessory choices (including an eye patch in one episode) are linked to Howard's hope of attracting the attention of girls.

Rajesh Koothrappali

The main feature of Raj is his pathological fear of women and, as a result, his inability to talk to them. Moreover, he cannot speak to people in the presence of women or effeminate men. However, Raj can talk to women under the following circumstances: when under the influence of alcohol, under the influence of medication, or if he has a familial bond with the woman.

What I liked about the show

Good humor. Simple, yet without crass jokes
Relatable characters and problems. The show addresses the well-known issue from school days — nerds versus cool kids
Positive attitude. A happy ending is a good thing

What I didn't like

Too long. A common ailment of all sitcoms
Distance from IT. One way or another, there are very few jokes specifically about IT

For me, "The Big Bang Theory" is the best comfort show. You can have it playing in the background while you work remotely from home without having to pay attention to any plot twists, or you can turn it on after a tough day to "unwind your brain" with a pleasant company. Again, it’s not a problem if a child is nearby and watches the show with you.

Second place. The IT Crowd

Have you tried turning it off and on again? If you have ever heard this question, you surely know that it originated from this show. The British comedy series "The IT Crowd", which aired from 2006 to 2010 and had a special final episode in 2013, became a cult comedy series about IT infrastructure.

Plot

The action of "The IT Crowd" takes place in the offices of a fictional British corporation in central London. The plot revolves around the antics of a three-person IT support team working in a dirty, neglected basement, which starkly contrasts with the sleek modern architecture and magnificent views of London available to the rest of the organization’s employees.

Moss and Roy, two tech specialists, are portrayed as absurd nerds or, as Denholm describes them, "ordinary geeks." Despite the company's heavy reliance on their services, the other employees despise them. Roy's irritation is evident in his reluctance to answer support calls, hoping the phone will stop ringing, and in his use of recorded messages with standard advice: "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" and "Is it definitely plugged into the socket?" Moss's broad and convoluted knowledge of technical fields is reflected in his incredibly precise yet utterly incomprehensible statements. However, Moss shows a complete inability to solve practical problems: to extinguish a fire or remove a spider.

Characters

Roy Trenneman

Roy is a lazy engineer who tries to avoid his responsibilities by any means necessary. He constantly consumes unhealthy food and despises his own position, even though he possesses all the knowledge needed to perform his job properly. Also, Roy is a big comic book fan and often reads them instead of working. In each subsequent episode, he appears in a new t-shirt featuring logos of various video games, software, famous quotes, etc. Prior to joining "Reynholm Industries" (the very company where the IT guys work), Roy was a waiter and if he was treated rudely, he would stash customers' orders in his pants before serving them.

Maurice Moss

Maurice is the typical computer geek as he is often depicted. He possesses encyclopedic knowledge about computers but is completely unable to solve basic everyday problems. His overly specific statements come off as comical. He lives with his mom and often hangs out on dating sites. Both Maurice and Roy believe they deserve more than what the company has to offer.

Jen Barber

Jen, the new team member, is hopelessly lacking in technical skills, despite her resume claiming to have 'extensive experience with computers.' Since Denholm, the company's head, is also technically illiterate, Jen's bluffs during the interview convince him, and he appoints her as head of the IT department. Later, her official job title is changed to 'relationship manager,' but despite this, her attempts to foster understanding between technical specialists and the rest of the staff mostly have the opposite effect, putting Jen in situations as ridiculous as her department colleagues.

What I liked about the show

Simple and clear humor
A niche series (5 seasons). Due to its short duration, the series doesn't wear out its welcome.

What I didn't like

British humor. Some may like it, some may not, but for a wider audience, that's more of a downside than an upside.
Repetitiveness. The series starts and ends on the same note. The plot here feels somewhat like a checkbox exercise. Although fans 'twisted' the final episode out of the creators, the lingering bitterness remains.
Stereotypes. In this series, unlike any other, the characters are like those in a comic book. It's all very formulaic.

Personally, I didn't like the series at all. I'm not a fan of British humor, and jokes about PMS and stuffing a sandwich in your pants are not my cup of tea. However, many readers on Habr enjoy this series. It's understandable, after all, it was the only comedic series about IT (and indeed, the only series directly about our work).

A film worth mentioning. Pictures (The Internship)

One of the few (if not the only) comedy films about IT. In brief, the movie's plot is as follows: two friends, in their fifties and recently laid off, become interns at a successful internet corporation. Not only do they, having spent their lives in sales, know little about high technology, but their bosses are also half their age and just as inscrutable. But endurance and some experience can help, even in the most complicated situations. Or maybe not. Or maybe it will help, but not them...

First place. Silicon Valley

"Silicon Valley" is an American comedy series created by Dave Krinsky, John Altschuler, and Mike Judge about business in Silicon Valley. The series premiered on April 6, 2014, on HBO. The sixth season premiered on October 27, 2019, and the series concluded on December 8, 2019.

Our City

Russia acquired the rights to broadcast the series through Amediateka. Due to the fact that the translation done by 'Amediateka' was not well received by the audience, the studio 'Kubik v Kube' took on localization. Yes, the translation contained vulgar language (which is quite acceptable since the series has an 18+ rating). Yes, the translation is amateur. And yes, the localization by 'Kubik' is significantly better than that of 'Amediateka'.

'Kubiks' successfully translated the series up to the third episode of the fifth season. At that point, 'Amediateka' officially banned external studios from translating the series.

Angry fans wrote petitions for two years and ultimately succeeded. 'Silicon Valley' was translated by the studio 'Kubik v Kube' from start to finish and was distributed through the 'Amediateka' service.

This is what means a cool community!

Plot

Quirky entrepreneur Erlich Bachman made his fortune with the airfare search app 'Aviato'. He opens a startup incubator in his home, gathering IT specialists with interesting ideas. Thus, his home hosts programmer 'nerd' Richard Hendricks, Pakistani Dinesh, Canadian Gilfoyle, and Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti.

Working at the internet corporation Hooli (similar to Google), Richard simultaneously developed and began promoting the media player Pied Piper. The application, initially intended to help identify copyright infringements, attracted no interest. However, it turned out to be based on a revolutionary data compression algorithm, which Richard later called 'Middle-Out', combining popular lossless data compression methods that still exist today, but there is still no existing implementation of the middle-out algorithm. Richard leaves Hooli and accepts an invitation from the venture company Raviga, which is ready to finance the project. The office of the future company becomes Erlich's home, where he proposes to organize a startup called 'Pied Piper'.

Bachman's friends form the core of the project and begin to refine it towards commercial viability. During a presentation of ideas at the TechCrunch forum, the algorithm demonstrates outstanding compression efficiency without quality loss in video, attracting interest from several investors. Hooli, particularly the unscrupulous billionaire Russ Hanneman, shows special interest in the algorithm. Erlich and Richard refuse to sell the algorithm to Hooli and decide to establish their own platform to sell cloud storage services. The company gradually expands, hires staff, and experiences all the growing pains of a young project. Richard's former colleagues at Hooli also do not waste time and attempt to hack his code and figure out how it works.

Pied Piper 'takes off' not immediately, but eventually, the new service begins to see widespread use among customers.

Characters

Richard Hendricks

Richard invented and created the 'Pied Piper' program, designed to find musical matches, while living in Erlich's incubator with his best friend 'Big Head' and fellow geeks such as Dinesh and Gilfoyle. The Pied Piper compression algorithm sparked a bidding war and eventually received funding from Peter Gregory’s Raviga. After winning TechCrunch Disrupt and receiving $50,000, Richard and Pied Piper find themselves in the spotlight more than ever, which means non-stop thrills for Richard.

Jared Dunn

Donald "Jared" Dunn was the head of Hooli and the right-hand man to CEO Gavin Belson. However, after developing a keen interest in Richard's algorithm, he left his job at Hooli to work for Pied Piper.

Jared was raised by a series of foster parents, but despite this tough early childhood, he went on to attend Vassar College and earned a bachelor's degree.

Although his real name is Donald, Gavin Belson started calling him "Jared" on his first day at Hooli, and the name stuck.

Dinesh Chugtai

Dinesh lives and works in the incubator with Richard, "Big Head," and Gilfoyle. He has a cool demeanor and coding skills (especially in Java). Dinesh often clashes with Gilfoyle.

He is originally from Pakistan, but unlike Gilfoyle, he is a U.S. citizen.
He claims it took him five years to gain U.S. citizenship.

Bertram Gilfoyle

Gilfoyle lives and works in the incubator with the guys. He is pompous and claims to have a deep understanding of system architecture, networking, and security. Gilfoyle often argues with Dinesh over issues such as their work efficiency, Dinesh's Pakistani ethnicity, Gilfoyle's religion, and other minor matters.

Gilfoyle often wins these arguments or reaches a stalemate with Dinesh. He is a self-proclaimed lapsed satanist, and has a tattoo of an inverted cross on his right hand. His persona is that of an indifferent programmer with libertarian tendencies. To call him strange would be an understatement.

Gilfoyle is originally from Canada and was an illegal immigrant until the charter that granted him a visa after pressure from Dinesh.

Gilfoyle earned his degree from McGill University and MIT, in a subject that remains unknown (likely Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering due to his crazy hardware skills).

Gilfoyle is also a former drummer and played in several major bands in Toronto.

Monica Hall

Monica joined Raviga in 2010, quickly made her way up under Peter Gregory and is now the youngest partner in Raviga's history. Previously, she was an analyst at McKinsey and Co. Monica does not engage in software development.
She is passionate about both the consumer sector and healthcare, and has written several academic articles concerning consumer and patient rights. Monica holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Princeton University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Erlich Bachman

Erlich runs a tech incubator where Richard, "Bachman," Dinesh, and Gilfoyle live and work in exchange for 10 percent of their potential business. Erlich clings to his glory days when he sold the aviation startup Aviato, and this move, at least in his mind, allows him to be the ruler of the incubator over other tech nerds. He still drives a car adorned with numerous Aviato logos and smokes a large amount of "weed".

What I liked about the show

IT humor. Most jokes will resonate only with people working in our field.
A niche series (5 seasons). Due to its short duration, the series doesn't wear out its welcome.
Reflection of our world. Many characters are modeled after real-life prototypes or reference various scientists in the IT field.
Well-developed characters. You genuinely care about the success of these nerds and perceive them as real people rather than comic book heroes.
Business. The show features many real business schemes that one can learn from.
Authenticity. It's rare to see actual IT work and genuinely laugh at the blunders that happen every day at work.

What I didn't like

Content is strictly 18+.
The ending was a letdown.

"Silicon Valley" rightfully deserves to be called the best comedy series about the IT industry. Watching it makes you forget about all the little things. Although it's worth following the plot, it's very easily digestible and doesn't strain you.

Final

After watching all the series about IT, I've come to the conclusion that comedies are the easiest to watch (which is not surprising), but only one comedy managed to resonate deeply — "Silicon Valley."

Lastly, I ask you to vote for the comedy that you liked the most.

If you enjoyed the theme, I will try to write the next article by the end of next week.

For now, it's better to stay home with good series. Watch all the series I've listed and form your own opinion about each of them! Stay healthy and take care of yourself!

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