Spaced

I didn't become a fan of Spaced, the sitcom that turned Simon Pegg (and cohorts Nick Frost and Edgar Wright) into stars, until halfway through the show's first series. The first few episodes were a little hard to get into, the pop culture references were obscure, and the best jokes elicited chuckles instead of out-loud laughs. But the show soon found its groove, and by the time the second series premiered, I was laughing about as hard as I did during the best parts of Hot Fuzz.

It's a weird show. The best way to describe its humor is that it's similar to The Simpsons, except it's done in real life. The pop culture jokes come fast and furious, with brilliant references to stuff like The Matrix, Pulp Fiction, and Say Anything.

The strength of the series lies with the director Edgar Wright, who also helmed the Peg movies Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Everything works because of the visual flourish that Wright provides. It's curious because it would be impossible to pull this off in American television; directors rarely handle American television shows from start to finish. Fortunately, British TV shows only have limited episodes (Spaced totalled 13), which allowed Wright to shoot the whole show all the way through.

Labels: spaced, television

- posted by jaemark @ 9/05/2008 09:35:00 PM