Goths are people too!

This is the point at which I admit to being a nerd. Yes, I have a degree in Computer Science. It's true. So here's the caveat: I think that the main topic of this entry--a British comedy called The IT Crowd--would be funny to non-nerds and non-geeks... but I can't entirely be sure. I'll give you the details, and you can be the judge.

I came across this show by accident, and was instantly convinced that I should purchase the DVD. It was worth every £.

Reasons I like this show:

1. A catchy opening sequence.

2. Maurice Moss. Is there a fire in the office? No problem--just e-mail the fire department.

3. Richmond Avenal--a.k.a. "The Goth Guy." Incidentally, when I researched the name (I figured it must be an anagram or something) I learned that Avenal, CA is "...the smallest city of approximately 16,187 people." Can anyone tell me where I can find the largest city of approximately 16,187 people?

4. The DVD lets you display l33t subtitles!!

- Episode 1 - some l33t, plus random tech speak/quotes/cultural references. Example: As Jen goes down the elevator, the subtitles state, "You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door." I miss the days of text-based games. It was the golden age of computers.
- Episode 2 - The subtitles are a monoalphabetic substitution cipher. More specifically, they are ROT-13 encoded. If you love browsing the Windows registry, you know all about this.
- Episode 3 - All the words from the episode's entire script sorted in alphabetical order
- Episode 4 - MIME base 64 encoded. Kinda like an e-mail attachment, before the computer turns it back into something you can double click to open.
- Episodes 5-6 - direct l33t translations

5. Great quotes:

Jen: Goths are people too.

Moss: Roy is stuck underneath a lady's desk.
Jen: What? Still?
Moss: Look, I know that normally this would be very funny, but he's been under there too long for reasonable explanation. If that woman looks down she's going to assume he's a desk rabbit.
Jen: What's a desk rabbit?
Moss: I just made that up. But that's probably going to be what they start to call people like Roy. But Roy's not a desk rabbit, he's my best friend.

Denholm (looking at the frame of a broken computer monitor with a raging fire behind it): Nice screensaver!
Later: I love the way the smoke seems to be coming from the top of it.

Moss: I am a giddy goat!

Moss: Events seem to be taking a downward turn.
or, if you have the l33t subtitles on: 3V3N7$ 533m 70 b3 74KiNg 4 d0wNw4rD 7uRn.

If you want even more details, check out the Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_IT_Crowd

Also, it sounds like a US version of this show is going to air sometime this year. If it's like other copycat/recycled show ideas, it won't live up to the UK version. Not that I'm cynical.