This is the thread where we talk about how great "Spaced" is

maybe it SHOULD have been up its own arse more - some scenes and jokes were a bit trite (in the same way Teachers is as soon as they play that bloody Belle & Sebastian song) but no real complaints. the paintball and dog rescue episodes are probably my favourites, but the whole slow-motion gunfight with those teenagers from the second series is the real genius

[ /fawning fandom]

Shame Twist is now slumming it in Coronation Street as one of Peter Barlow's bigamous wives.

It's odd.. I love Spaced cos it sort of illustrates the live I wished I have, and to have a group of friends like that. It's quite similar to the way my sister loves Friends, and wished the Friends cast were her friends. She hates Spaced btw.

-- dog latin (doglati...), February 29th, 2004 9:04 PM.

Hmm.

What was that advert Twist was in before Corrie but post-Spaced?

I feels like the sort of comedy me and my mates would make if we had the time, money and talent.

Also Big Train had it's moments, I think this was the same team wasn't it?

as well as great DYS, Spaced is GOOD TWEE, ala Michel Gondry

Spaced is SO responsible for my viewing of Robot Wars.

I think Spaced was underrated by citics and the populace at large, but overrated by fans. The characters seemed a little too knowing of their geek chic to really empathise with. Apart from Mike obviously.

I would've thought Seinfeld was the archetypal ILX sitcom; self-obsessed, urban, gloriously shallow.

Haha War Bastard!

I'm still errily convinced that Spaced was created *specifically* for me and just me alone. It seems so tailor-made for my sense of humour, and contains so many of my favourite comic actors, that I feel weirdly compelled to ignore it just because I Am The Target Market and that winds me up no end. It'd be like Jarvis, Wayne Coyne, Cornelius and Richard James forming a band together...just too weird.

Also, new series of Black Books imminent. Bloody fantastic, that is. I wand Dylan Moran's hair.

Man, I should have a BLACK BOOKS VIEWING PARTY at ours when it's first shown, actually what a brilliant idea! Who wants to come round and drink shitloads of red wine in our flat and shout filffy things about Dylan/Bill/wossnamewhoplaysFran?* Oh my god how exciting.

By the way, I think Typhoon could be pretty on the money in the Robot Wars finals.

*er not rilly in the style of Black Books but I must point out no smoking allowed in flat though :)

I just want Dylan Moran. *sigh*

Eeeeeeeeeeey. Nice. I am sure Caaaaampbell will be fine with this.

YES YES CAKE.

I will attempt to make carrot cake...

I still still can't see why the characters would be likeable - they just seem really sad and uncomfortable, like turning up to the worst party ever. Simon Pegg's character is an irritating wannabe-trendy twat; Jessica Stevenson's is just such a sad case that every time she says anything that's supposed to be funny even the other characters in the show can't bring themselves to give more than an embarassed shrug; the "eccentric" artist guy is a pinnacle of manners and sociability compared to a lot of people I know; the landlady is just fucking so irritating I want to kill her; the army guy is an ugly fucker with no charisma or funny-ness to him (oh look he's jumping around in a leotard, how witty! If I'd wanted to see a panto I'd've gone to the Gordon Craig in Stevenage. But I didn't); and Twist is also very very annoying. Maybe they'd be easier to bear with if they were more clearly defined but it seems that the writers couldn't be bothered to write anything less wooly than "Oh, there's one sad girl and one sad bloke and a girl who diets and an army guy and a mad dude".

The few jokes they manage to crowbar into the lifeless plot fall flat because they just go on forever. You can see them coming a million miles away:
I'd never noticed that if you jump up and down on a bed it makes sex noises! Have you ever noticed how men never grow up and still read comics and ride skateboards? No I hadn't picked up on that facet of life till Spaced told me about it again. Clubbing is crap but can be funny too - of course Human Traffic was crap but somehow Spaced did exactly the same thing, was just as embarassing and fucking boring but for some reason people liked it. Oh yeah, performance art is really weird too isn't it?

Maybe it's because I don't live in London that I just don't get this show?

Not only was Twist in Coronation Street, but Marsha has been in it in recent weeks as well.

How can you see the 'jumping on the bed stimulating sex' joke a mile away? it's a straight cut scene for fucks sake. Tim's skating/comic-reading isn't a joke, it's a serious statement that this is acceptable - why wouldn't it be? Your criticisms are useless and you could be that picky and pedantic about Fawlty Towers if you wanted to.

stevem, first off I bought the DVD of series one having been recommended it by many people. I'm a massive fan of Black Books, Father Ted, League of Gents, The Office etc. This just didn't have the calibre of humour that went with these.

what's wrong with Tim exactly (i'm not sure why people dislike Simon Pegg either, I think he's more likeable than Coogan (tho admittedly not quite as funny overall)? he skates, he's a comic-book artist, he has a fear of dogs (from his childhood), smokes herb and occasionally does speed, is good to his friends (Mike, Bilbo, Daisy) - seems okay to me - obviously he has annoying traits, all leading characters in comedies do.

But this makes him so boring! He's so fucking non-descript! Sure, quite likeable if I knew him as a mate, but not someone who's going to make me burst a capillary from laughing.

Daisy is sweet but irritating because she is confused, insecure, lazy, unfocussed and nonchalant - just like me a lot of the time. The other characters are of course cariacturesque because they are there to prop up the two leads - how is this different to most other good comedies?

It's just, I dunno. Maybe their mundanity. They're embarassing, not in a David Brent way; vaguely pleasant but not as fun as Father Dougal. It's like watching an episode of the Office with only Tim in it - funny enough I guess but not much funnier than someone telling a joke in a pub. I don't see these characters definedly enough. You say they are caricatures, but they're not and maybe that's the appeal. Comedy characters ought to be larger than life. If someone's going to be a mad art genius, make him proper mad, y'know. Father Ted, Black Books, LoG all have this element - Spaced is like watching a British episode of Friends with more cheap reference "gags".

Mark Heap is great as Bryan tho - using his facial expressions brilliantly for when the words just can't come out.
As I say, I've met people who are weirder than that in real life. Anyone can pull a silly face. Also I think it's a bit old hat taking a pop at modern art, it's like joking about not being able to get the shower the right temperature.

Marsha is entertaining also - the voice alone,
it's not funny, it hurts and I know a lot of people who actually speak like that - I didn't realise this was supposed to be a joke.
her rows with her daughter
I did like the "she's the devil in an A-cup" joke, but again my little sister throws fits all day long and I can't see the humour in this.
i mean there is more going on with these characters than you seem to have noticed. where's Amber's Dad?
In prison/dead/divorced I presume. I know they did explain it in one episode. Why are broken homes funny?
Marsha touches on it in one episode with revealing venom and bitterness iirc - never actually seeing Amber is quite a nice touch
what, like Mrs Mainwaring, 'Er Indoors and the one with the tights in "Last of the Summer Wine" who I forget the name of? It's been done so many times it's not even worth doing anymore.
what is the relevance of Mike's 'ugliness'? he's a sweetheart (which he demonstrates repeatedly by staying loyal to Tim and getting upset when Tim lets him down and gets a girlfriend, also wearing a leotard to the club) which is why his obsession with guns and stuff is funny in a tweeish fashion.
Okay, being ugly isn't really a fair chide but this guy had a lot more potential than how they had him in this. He just annoys me for some reason I can't put my finger on.

How can you see the 'jumping on the bed stimulating sex' joke a mile away? it's a straight cut scene for fucks sake.
Yeh but it's such a turgid stock joke. It's been used in at least three or four adverts before Spaced came along and did it again.
All these oh-so-clever movie references have been done better a million times in shows like Family Guy, the Simpsons, League of Gentlemen and Black Books. Spaced goes about these in such a hamfisted "oh look, we're referencing Star Wars/Thriller/computer games/etc" fashion that you just wonder what the point was in doing it in the first place.

Tim's skating/comic-reading isn't a joke, it's a serious statement that this is acceptable - why wouldn't it be?
Yes, but I knew this. Why do I need it pointed out to me that people like skateboarding etc? Is there a big point to it? I always thought they were laughing at him in the show because of his hobbies. It's such a cheap pop even you agree it's not even a joke.

Your criticisms are useless and you could be that picky and pedantic about Fawlty Towers if you wanted to.
Yes, but Fawlty Towers had jokes in it.

Oh noes!

Haw

oh jesus no. other than the office, the US hasn't matched/improved a british series in many years, they need to stop.

Skins: not as good as Daria.
-- Dom Passantino, Monday, 14 May 2007 10:49 (5 months ago) Bookmark Link

^^^OTM

finally getting a Region 1/American release

DVD

Spaced Series 1 and 2 were both released on DVD in the UK, followed by a boxset which collects the previously released single-series DVDs and adds a bonus disc with a feature length documentary "Skip to the End" behind the scenes of the show and a music video by Osymyso.

Music rights issues long prevented the release of "Spaced" in Region 1 (U.S. and Canada), and despite the raised profile that resulted from Pegg and Wright's movies from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, no DVDs surfaced between 2004 and 2007. In an interview, it was suggested a deal with Anchor Bay Entertainment failed to come to fruition over the music rights.

On May 6th, 2008, Edgar Wright posted to his blog the press release finally announcing "Spaced" for US DVD on July 22, 2008 via distributor BBC Video. It will include an all-new commentary with Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Jessica Hynes and special guests Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Bill Hader, Matt Stone, Patton Oswalt, and Diablo Cody. Other supplemental features include the original commentaries, the "Skip to the End" documentary, outtakes, deleted scenes, and raw footage.[8]

One can only hope it's as entertaining and drunk as the commentary for "Cannibal! the musical" was

This should be fun and I am very excited to attend.

Damn Drafthouse. Only place on the continent that can compete with Portland.

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/celebrity/article5617867.ece

"I like to think of myself,” Hynes says, at one point, “as an older, fatter, seedier, less successful Kate Winslet."

Gotta be LBZC WS Lifetime Achievement Hall of Fame.

HELL YES

(Spaced is shit btw.)

nick frost is rubbish.

I love it and Nick frost was hilarious in it.

xp
All of which I prefer over the crazy Winslet and her teary actressness.

nick frost is ok playing simon pegg's flatmate.

Nick Frost is rubbish.

im not gonna say this show is shit, i just don't want to watch it.

Actually that's a fairer and more measured response, yeah. But it epitomises the "not actually funny but lol they mention stuff I like like comics and Star Wars so it must be sooooo awesome" lifestyle comedy bullshit that can go suck a nut for being Terry and June in disguise for me.

Still, J. Hynes WS 4ever hundred percent true idst

not even, but i respecty your choices.

i've never been into comic books, star wars, horror movies, or computer games, so me liking this was a bit of an anomaly anyway.

respect

Watched a couple of episodes recently and the jokes were still good but the constant rushing around of the camera has become irritating, although probably more due to having seen that type of effect a millions times now.

Any thoughts on Lizzie and Sarah. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rq3c2. I lolled.

too uncomfortable, turned off after 12 minutes. should i perserve?

Not sure. The end of the first episode implies this is maybe just the first act, and it seems like it is about to get a bit sillier/less relentlessly bleak. It gets pretty ridic in the last ten minutes of the first ep tbh.

no one else? seems like the kind of thing you would like, lj.

saw a few minutes of it and found the performances bad. i've never really got the whole depressing comedy thing but it seemed a but desperate and not really believable.

I watched it SUnday night. I know what you mean about "comedy without laughing" but I've never really minded that. All the familiar alt-com faces were great. I'm kinda hoping *mini-spoiler* all the actors that were shot last week come back as different characters.

I'm not sure about "not really believable" - is League of Gentlemen believable? In the same way as LOG was a comedy of grotesque, I suppose L&S is a David Lynch version, finding the darkness in everyday suburbia. Not a new twist at all, but one I enjoy, and I thought it was executed pretty well. Certainly not bad performances for me.

Lots of potential here definitely. First thing that Jessica Hynes has been in since Spaced that I didn't think was terrible.

I did lol at

"I'm busy."
"What are you doing?"
"Counting the days till I die."

This was utter shite. No wonder the knives are out for the BBC.

is League of Gentlemen believable?

for the most part, yes.

^ also it's actually funny sometimes

too uncomfortable, turned off after 12 minutes. should i perserve?

Or persevere? No need to, this surely won't get commissioned.

Not sure whether airing the pilot is a sure sign of a series to follow or whether sticking it out at 11:45 on a Sat night is basically burying it. Good to see Cann on TV again. Really wasn't sure for the first half but the daftness of proceedings after the pub encounter redeemed it. I thought Davis and Hynes were pretty great.

fwiw i loathe league of gentleman for what but i didn't hate this

try again

fwiw i loathe league of gentleman for what i think are some of the same reasons people don't like lizzie and sarah, but i didn't hate lizzie and sarah and would watch another episode. i mean it's better than bbc3 comedy, right?

No. What are these same reasons you speak of? Being "dark"? I don't find LoG very dark. Or just not being funny? Worst thing about LoG is repetition, different wigs+make up, but fundamentally the same characters over and over again.

yes, i was referring to that whole being dark/very black humour, which relative to pretty much any other tv comedy you care to name, both this and LoG are. maybe you kill kittens on the regular, or live in scotland, so they are not dark to you, which is fair enough.

LoG's far too silly to be really dark, I think

saw a few minutes of it and found the performances bad.

this is a criticism i don't get. is it shorthand for "not for me" (which i have no problem with btw. i didn't find it very funny either.) but the performances were pretty good, particularly in terms of the ~~~serious acting~~~ the script called for, and the delivery of the gags was not bad, was it?

This was utter shite. No wonder the knives are out for the BBC.

This is clearly the reason...

Getting into slow-mo action scene fights with strangers on the escalators on the Tube is one of life's greatest pleasures.

Bizarro clip from US Spaced
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDsdBB1LUto