Spaced
If sitcoms were like this, I might actually consider watching them.
Spaced is an absolutely amazing show, and no simple encapsulation of its concept would do it justice. Because really, the setup is very much the standard sitcom stuff: two relative strangers, one male and one female, have to pretend they’re a couple to share an apartment (or “flat,” as they call it in their strange, almost-English language). They have wacky neighbors and wacky friends. They acquire a dog. They sort-of almost hook up a bunch of times, in a whole “will they/won’t they” situation.
Only, somehow, this show manages to make all of this interesting again. (Was it ever before?) It doesn’t so much twist these situations as it does present them in an exciting, surreal-yet-believable way that really does seem fresh and original. It packs itself full of the same dense, rapid-fire pop culture referencing that we’ve come to expect from the likes of The Simpsons, but does it in a way that feels natural and not at all forced. This, I believe, has a lot to do with the characters on which it builds its foundation.
Because, beyond all British cleverness, Spaced is constructed around two very believable leads: Tim (Simon Pegg of Shaun of the Dead fame) and Daisy (Jessica Stevenson). The chemistry between them is quite apparent from the pilot onward (which is good, since the two seasons are only 7 episodes apiece and there’s not a lot of time to wait for things to develop), and the fact that Pegg and Stevenson co-wrote the entire series together accounts for the intimacy and character-driven nature of the thing.
The reason all the goofy pop culture references and occasional turns into absurd humor really work is because Tim and Daisy are believable and fun people. They’re 20-something geeks who pepper their speech with regular references to Buffy The Vampire Slayer, comic books and Star Wars. (In fact, a running gag in series two involves Tim’s scorned lover rage over the disappointment that was The Phantom Menace.) Because they’re both just so natural as typical twenty-first century nerds, the almost stream-of-consciousness nature of the narrative makes perfect sense. We are, after all, the generation of ADD and media saturation. So, for example, an impromptu Pulp Fiction re-enactment does not seem terribly out of place when you’re really trying to get inside our heads.
And yes, I say “us,” because that’s what makes this show really special: it really gets what it means to be a sci-fi/fantasy/comic book geek in this particular time, perhaps more than anything else I have seen. It grasps that we’re not the stereotypical basement dwellers who can’t get a date, but that we can have relationship troubles and all the other crap that the pretty people on Friends went through. And honestly, for as much as I crushed on Jennifer Aniston for so many years, I think my current crush on Jessica Stevenson actually eclipses all of that. Nerdy, clever girl with English accent? Yes please.
So yeah, Spaced is a true show for my people. I’m almost positive I missed a whole bunch of stuff the first time around (partially because I was laughing so hard and partially because I couldn’t always get past the accents 100%), and I look forward to seeing it again. And again. This one is definitely a keeper.
One final note: this DVD set is not actually available in the US. A friend of mine got me a copy in the UK, and I managed to make it run on my computer. It’s really a shame, because quite a lot of people in the US enjoyed Shaun of the Dead, and I’m almost certain those same people would adore this as well.