Niche? Well maybe. To truly appreciate the comedy in this situation, you probably have to be of a certain digital bent. Channel Four's Dead Pixels takes three friends flat-sharing who barely ever see each other, because two out of three of them are addicted to an online game - Kingdom Scrolls. So they sit in their own room, in their own imaginary worlds, grinding*.
Joined by a transatlantic friend and a new bloke from work, occasional visits to parents, and you have a menu for all things gaming. This is pointed squarely at the gamers and both amplifies and belittles their somewhat transitory existence in a digital world that they prefer much more than the real one.
The writing is sometimes caustic and regularly laugh out loud funny, but this more often comes from IRL events and emotions than what happens in the online space they all inhabit together for hours a day, every day, such is their dedication to what they love. Or at the very least, a wilful refusal to admit to what a waste of time it is.
This will likely go over most heads unless they themselves have become helplessly embroiled in a community online that demands attention all of the time. What it says about the people involved is louder than what actually happens on screen some of the time, lifting a sometimes ugly veil on the very real differences between online and real-life personas.
The script is sharp and witty, occasionally fruity, and always fun. This shows promise and it has the legs to run for maybe another season if Channel Four allow it. It's not the last word in situation comedy and it is very now, which may mean its longevity could be limited.
But if you've ever teabagged someone, you need to see this, just for the wry smiles it plucks from your cold, dead soul.