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Best IT comedies. Top 3 TV shows

Hello, Habr! I returned!

Many very warmly accepted my previous article about the series “Mr. Robot” . Thank you so much for this!

As I promised, I have prepared the continuation of the cycle and I hope you will also like the new article.

Today we will talk about the three, in my opinion, the main comedy series in the field of IT. Many are now in quarantine, many are working. This selection, I hope, will help you in this difficult time. Someone get distracted from problems, someone relax after work, someone keep a little positive.



As before, I must warn the conservative readers of Habr.

Disclaimer


I understand that the readers of Habrahabr 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, but as a person from the IT world. If you agree or disagree with me on any issues, let's discuss them in the comments. Tell us your opinion. It will be interesting.

If you, as before, find the format worthy of your attention, I promise to make a few more articles about TV shows and films in IT. The immediate plan is an article about the IT philosophy in cinema and an article about the only art series in IT, built on the historical facts of the 80s. Well, enough words! Let's get started!

Caution! Spoilers

Third place. The Big Bang Theory




The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorry and Bill Prady, who, along with Stephen Molaro, were the main screenwriters of the television show. The premiere of the series took place on September 24, 2007 on the CBS channel, and the show of the final season ended on May 16, 2019.

Plot

Two brilliant physicists Leonard and Sheldon are great minds who understand how the universe works. But their genius does not help them to communicate with people, especially with women. Everything begins to change when the beautiful Penny settles in front of them. It is also worth noting a couple of strange friends of these physicists: Howard Volowitz, who likes to use phrases in different languages, including Russian, and Rajesh Kutrapali, who is speechless (literally) at the sight of women.

Here the reader involuntarily raises the question: “They are physicists. What does IT have to do with it? ” The fact is that in 2007 the premiere of the film took place, which means that the plot of the first season (or at least the first episodes) was written somewhere in 2005. In those years, IT was not as popular as it is now. Ordinary IT-shnik seemed to the average man as a strange, groomed eccentric who constantly looks at the monitor and is removed from life. Every self-respecting physicist or mathematician knew at least one programming language to do the job. The series also talks about this. Many heroes write applications, programs themselves and even try to make money on it in several episodes.

Heroes

The most famous character in the audience is Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper .



Sheldon is engaged in theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology and lives in the same apartment as his colleague and friend Leonard Hofstedter and on the same landing as Penny.

Sheldon's personality is so unusual that he has become one of the most popular television characters. A brilliant scientist, from an early age absorbed in engaging in theoretical physics, in his development he did not receive sufficient social skills. Prudent and cynical Sheldon has discrete (digital) thinking, he is deprived of his usual sensitivity, empathy and a number of other important emotions, which, along with hypertrophied conceit, causes a significant part of the funny situations in the series. However, in some episodes, his sympathetic nature appears.

Interesting facts about Sheldon:

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Leonard Hofstedter



Leonard is an experimental physicist with IQ = 173 who received his doctorate at 24, who shares an apartment with his friend and colleague Sheldon Cooper. Leonard and Sheldon are the main comic duo in every episode of the series. Penny, Leonard and Sheldon’s neighbor on the landing, is Leonard’s main interest, their relationship is the driving force behind the entire series.

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

Interesting facts about Leonard:

  • His mother, Dr. Beverly Hofstedter, is a psychiatrist with a doctorate. The Leonard’s mother’s series has a separate storyline, since she and her son have strong disagreements and misunderstandings
  • Leonard wears glasses, suffers from asthma and lactose intolerance
  • Drive a Saab 9-5, presumably 2003
  • The protagonists of the series are named after Sheldon and Leonard in honor of the famous actor and television producer Sheldon Leonard

Cutie Penny



Penny is one of the main characters in the series, a young and attractive girl, a neighbor of Leonard and Sheldon on the landing. From the first days of settlement, it has been a romantic and sexual interest for Leonard. He has an attractive appearance and personal qualities that greatly distinguish her from other friends of Leonard, who are serious scientists.

Penny works as a waitress at The Cheesecake Factory, where friends often go. However, Penny dreams of becoming an actress. She regularly attends acting classes. Penny’s financial situation, as a rule, is deplorable (she often does not pay bills for light, television, is forced to buy “sharak in Cayman Islands” insurance, dines at the expense of Leonard and Sheldon, uses their Internet connection (which somewhat annoys Sheldon, in in particular, he sets passwords such as “Penny is a freeloader” or “Pennissavisualwi-fi” (without spaces), while in one of the series he lends Penny a large amount of money with the phrase “give it back as soon as you can.”) Penny is good, but that's it she’s assertive, so she’s very contrasted with the characters of the guys.

Howard Wolowitz



Volovitsa has an original way of dressing: he wears T-shirts over his shirt front, skinny jeans and slip-ons. Plus, almost always as an attribute you can see an icon pinned to clothes. In everyday clothes, an icon (most often in the form of an alien head) flaunts on the collar of a turtleneck or shirt shirt on the left side.

The weaknesses of Howard include buckles. According to the costume designer Mary Quigley, the buckles for the Volovitsa belt are selected by the performer, depending on what the next series is talking about, or simply “in the mood”. Simon Helberg has a large collection of buckles (whole shelves in the dressing room are filled only with Volovitsa buckles), and Mary is constantly looking for replenishment for this collection or she creates new forms for the upcoming episodes. The general enthusiasm of the actor and his character for this piece of clothing resembles the general enthusiasm for T-shirts with the image of Flash by Jim Parsons and Sheldon Cooper performed by him. According to Helberg, tight-fitting suits and a wild selection of accessories (including an eye patch in one of the episodes) are connected with Howard’s hope in this way to attract the attention of girls.

Rajesh Koutrappali



The main feature of Raj is his pathological fear of women and, as a result, the inability to talk with them. In addition, he cannot speak with people in the presence of women or effeminate men. Nevertheless, Raj can speak with the fair sex in the following circumstances: under the influence of alcohol, under the influence of drugs or if he is bound by a blood bond with a woman.

What did you like about the series?

  • Good humor. Uncomplicated, but also without jokes
  • Clear characters and problems. The series tells about everything known from the school bench - botany and cool
  • Positive attitude. Happy is a good thing

What did not like

  • Too long. All Sitcom Disease
  • Remoteness from IT. One way or another, but there are very few jokes about IT

For me, The Big Bang Theory is the best gum series. It can be turned on in the background while you are working at a distance from home and not follow any plot twists or you can turn on the series after a hard day and “unload your brains” with a pleasant company. Again, it’s not scary if there will be a child nearby and watch the series with you.

Second place. Computer Specialists (The IT Crowd)




Have you tried turning it off and on again? If you've ever heard this question, you probably know that it came from this series. The British comedy series "The IT Crowd", aired from 2006 to 2010 and got a special final episode in 2013, has become a cult comedy series about IT infrastructure.

Plot

The IT Crowd takes place in the offices of a fictional British corporation in central London. The plot develops around the tricks of the information technology support team, consisting of three people and working in a dirty, neglected basement, in stark contrast to the brilliance of modern architecture and the magnificent views of London available to other employees of the organization.

Moss and Roy, two technical experts, are depicted as ridiculous nerds or, as Denholm described them, "ordinary nerds." Despite the extreme dependence of the company on their services, the rest of the workers despise them. Roy’s annoyance is expressed in the fact that he does not want to answer technical support calls, hoping that the phone will stop ringing, as well as in the use of tape recordings with standard tips: “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” and “Is it exactly plugged in?” Moss's broad and confused knowledge of technical areas is expressed in his extremely accurate and at the same time completely incomprehensible proposals. However, Moss shows a complete inability to solve practical problems: extinguish a fire or remove a spider.

Heroes

Roy Trenneman



Roy is a lazy engineer, trying by all means to avoid fulfilling his duties. Roy constantly absorbs junk food and despises his own position, although he has all the knowledge to complete his work. Roy is also a big fan of comics and often reads them instead of working. In each subsequent series, he appears in a new T-shirt with emblems of various computer games, programs, famous quotes, etc. Prior to the Reinholm Industries (the same company in which IT specialists work), Roy worked as a waiter and, if he was rude, put customer orders to himself in the pants before serving them to the table.

Maurice Moss



Maurice is a typical computer man, as he is represented. The owner of encyclopedic knowledge of computers, but is absolutely unable to solve basic household problems. His overly concrete statements seem comical. He lives with his mother and often hangs on dating sites. Both Maurice and Roy believe they deserve more than they are valued by the company.

Jen barber



Jen, a new member of the team, is hopelessly backward in technical terms, despite the statement in the resume that she has "a lot of experience with computers." Since Denholm, the company's boss, is also technically illiterate, Jen’s bluff at the interview convinces him, and he appoints her head of the IT department. Later, the official name of her post changes to “Relationship Manager,” but despite this, her attempts to establish mutual understanding between the technical experts and the rest of the staff basically bring the opposite effect, putting Jen in the situation as ridiculous as her comrades in the department.

What did you like about the series?

  • Simple and clear humor
  • Chamber series (5 seasons). Due to the short duration, the series does not have time to get bored

What did not like

  • British humor. Some may like it, some may not, but for a wide audience this is more a minus than a plus
  • Fixation. Where the series began, on which it ended. The plot here is more likely for show. Although the fans “shook” the final episode from the creators, the sediment remained
  • Shortcuts. In this series, in no other, characters are like in a comic book. Everything is very boilerplate

Personally, I did not like the series at all. I'm not a fan of British humor and jokes about PMS and stuffing a sandwich in my pants, not for me. However, many of Habr's readers love this series. And this is understandable, because it was the only comic series about IT (and indeed, the only series directly about our work).

Noteworthy film. Shots (The Internship)




One of the few (if not the only) comedy film about IT. If briefly about the film, then the plot of the film is as follows: two friends who have exchanged the fifth dozen and fired from work, get interns in a successful online corporation. Not only do they, all their lives engaged in sales, understand little about high technology, but their superiors are also half their age and incomprehensible as many times. But endurance and no experience will help even in the most difficult situations. Or they won’t help. Or help, but not to them ...

First place. Silicon Valley




Silicon Valley is an American comedy series created by Dave Krinsky, John Altshuler and Mike Judge about the Silicon Valley business. The premiere of the television series took place on April 6, 2014 on the HBO television channel.The premiere of the sixth season took place on October 27, 2019, and the series ended on December 8, 2019.

Our in the city of

Russia Amediateka company received the rights to show the series. Due to the fact that the translation that was made by Amediateka did n’t really like, the audience didn’t really like, the cube in a cube studio took up localization. Yes, the translation contained profanity (which is quite acceptable, since the rating of the series is 18+). Yes, the translation is amateurish. And yes, the localization of the Cube is many times better than the localization of the Amediateka.

The Cubes successfully translated the series until the third episode of the fifth season. At this point, Amediateka officially banned the transfer of the series to third-party studios.

Enraged fans wrote petitions for two years and still got their way. Silicon Valley was translated by the Cube in Cube studio from beginning to end and distributed through the Amediateki service.

That's what a cool community means !

Plot The

faddish entrepreneur Erlich Bachmann at one time made money on the Aviato airline search application. He opens an incubator for startups in his house, collecting IT specialists with interesting ideas. So in his house appear programmer "nerd" Richard Hendricks, Pakistani Dinesh, Canadian Gilfoyl and Nelson "Baska" Bigetti.

Working in the Internet corporation Hooli (analogue of Google), Richard simultaneously developed and began to promote the Pied Piper media player. No one was interested in the application, which, according to the original plan, helped to find copyright infringement. However, it turned out that it was based on a revolutionary data compression algorithm, which Richard later called “Middle-Out”, which is a combination of popular lossless data compression algorithms to this day, from right to left, but existing there is still no middle-out implementation. Richard leaves Hooli and accepts an invitation from venture company Raviga, which is ready to finance the project. Ehrlich’s house becomes the office of the future company, which proposes to organize a startup called Pied Piper.

Bachmann’s friends form the core of the project and begin to refine it to commercial status. During the presentation of ideas on the TechCrunch forum, the algorithm shows outstanding compression efficiency without losing video quality and several investors are interested in it. Hooli and the unprincipled billionaire Russ Hanneman are particularly interested in the algorithm. Erlich and Richard refuse to sell the algorithm to Hooli and decide to establish their own platform and sell the cloud storage service. The company is gradually expanding, hiring staff and experiencing all the diseases of the growth of a young project. Richard’s former Hooli colleagues also don’t waste time and try to crack his code and figure out how it works.

The Pied Piper does not “take off” right away, but as a result, mass use of the new service by customers begins.

Heroes

Richard Hendricks



Richard invented and created the Pied Piper program, which is designed to find musical matches when he lived in the Ehrlich incubator with his best friend Baska and the same geeks as Dinesh and Gilfoyl. The Pied Piper compression algorithm triggered a bidding war and ultimately received funding from Raviga by Peter Gregory. After winning TechCrunch Disrupt and earning $ 50,000, Richard and Pied Piper are in the spotlight more than ever, which for Richard means unstoppable thrill.

Jared Dunn



Donald “Jared” Dunn was the head of Hooli and the right-handed head of the company, Gavin Belson, but, having received a special interest in Richard's algorithm, left his job at Hooli to work for Pied Piper.

Jared was raised by a number of foster parents, but despite this difficult early childhood, he continued to study at Vassar College, receiving a bachelor's degree.

Although his real name is Donald, Gavin Belson began calling him “Jared” on his first day at Hooley, and the name stuck.

Dinesh Chugtai



Dinesh lives and works in an incubator with Richard, Baska and Gilfoyl. He has composure and code writing skills (especially Java). Dinesh often conflicts with Gilfoyl.

He is from Pakistan, but unlike Gilfoyl, he is a US citizen.
He claims that it took him five years to obtain US citizenship.

Bertram Gilfoyl



Gilfoyl lives and works in an incubator with the guys. He is pompous and claims to be well versed in system architecture, networking and security. Gilfoyl often quarrels with Dinesh in disputes about such things as the efficiency of their work, Dinesh's Pakistani ethnicity, Gilfoyl’s religion, and other minor issues.

Often Gilfoyl wins these disputes or comes to a standstill with Dinesh. He is a self-proclaimed Lavean Satanist, and he has a tattoo in the shape of an inverted cross on his right hand. His personality is an indifferent programmer who has libertarian tendencies. To say that he is strange is an understatement.

Gilfoyle is from Canada and was an illegal immigrant until the Charter, in which he received a visa after pressure from Dinesh.

Gilfoyl earned a degree from McGill University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an unknown subject (probably Computer Engineering or Electrical Engineering because of its insane hardware capabilities).

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

Monica Hall



Monica joined Raviga in 2010, quickly made her way under the direction of Peter Gregory and is now the youngest partner in Raviga history. She was previously an analyst at McKinsey and Co. Monica is not involved in software development.
She is passionate about both the consumer and healthcare sectors, and has written several scientific articles on consumer and patient rights. Monica received a bachelor's degree in economics from Princeton University and a master's degree in business administration from Stanford Business School.

Erlich Bachmann



Erlich runs a technology incubator in which Richard, Baska, Dinesh and Gilfoyl live and work in exchange for 10 percent of their potential business. Erlich clings to his glorious days when he sold the Aviato aviation startup, and this step, at least in his mind, allows him to be the ruler of the incubator over other technical nerds. He still drives a car adorned with many Aviato logos and smokes a lot of weed.

What did you like about the series?

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Silicon Valley can rightfully be called the best comedy series about the IT industry. Watching it, you forget about all the little things. Although it is worth following the plot, it is perceived very easily and does not bother.

The final


After reviewing all the IT series, I came to the conclusion that comedies were easiest to watch (which is not surprising), but only one comedy could sink deeply into Silicon Valley.

Finally, I’ll ask you to vote for the comedy that you liked the most.

If you liked the topic, I’ll try to write the next article by the end of next week.

It’s better to stay at home with good shows. Watch all the series I have listed yourself and make your own conclusion about each of them! Be healthy and take care!

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