Spaced: The Complete Series

Copyright 2001, Paramount Comedy

It took far too long, but I've finally been able to watch the entire show that was Spaced. The brainchild of Jessica Stevenson (now Jessica Hynes), Edgar Wright, and Simon Pegg, this show finally hit DVD some months back, and Netflix finally let me take a look at this great program, one that had barely even hit BBC America. Why the fuss? It's hard to explain because, as I mentioned a couple days back, it took me until the second season of the show (in all, Spaced had just two 7-episode seasons) to know I loved the show, just because I didn't feel like I was watching a fictional television show, but just a few of my friends hanging out and having wacky misadventures.

And they were, as cheesy as it sounds, wacky misadventures. The basic plot of the series is simple: Daisy (Stevenson) and Tim (Pegg) meet one day in a coffee shop, after they've both moved out or been kicked out of their apartments. While scouring the classifieds, they find a great place to live for a good price but, as it's only for couples, they lie to the frequently drunk landlady, Marsha, so they can survive. Daisy's a lazy journalist, Tim's a geeky comic-book artist, and the series focuses on their lives in their new flat, and the lives of their friends, like Daisy's best friend, a fashionista named Twist, and Tim's best friend, a militaristic guy named Mike (Nick Frost, the best friend in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).

What Spaced is really here for is to take jabs at popular culture as frequently as possible. Movies, TV, video games, comic books; it's all here for the taking. One of the best, for me, was a random Sixth Sense reference that culminated with a surprise cameo from one of that film's stars, Olivia Williams. Either way, the show is often hilarious and more comfortable than a warm blanket. Any fan of the two Simon Pegg films can easily see how those films' director, Wright, got his style. Spaced has lots of quick-cuts, cinematic touchstones, wordplay, and so forth, just as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz do. One of the first-season episodes is also an obvious beginning to the former film, the rom-zom-com that was, as there's quite a few zombie references there.

Not much else to say here; if you haven't seen Spaced, rent it or buy it. Though I'm glad Pegg and Frost, in particular, have found their way into movies, it's sad to think that Daisy, Tim, Mike, Marsha, Twist, and the quiet artist Brian, won't be on TV anymore. Yes, it's good that they found a way to go out on a high note, but it's hard to be left wanting more when there's naught to come. Still, this one's a keeper, a great show with lots of laughs and even some truly heartwarming emotion (that ending is far sweeter than you'd expect). Again, check it out.