British comedy seems to be able to find laughs in the misery and the smallness of life in a way that American comedies seem to struggle with. Also, we didn't know it at the time But Edgar turned out to be a generational talent as a director and Simon, Nick and Jessica were top tier comedy actors, very hard to get those planets to come into alignment twice.
This video does help demonstrate how much had to go right for Spaced to work. The two main characters' chemistry and characterisation. The performances by people like Mark Heap and the direction. The set. A complete package.
Yes! And the reason for that is American television, even in 2008, was several decades behind its British counterpart when it came to accurately depicting real lives. Without that foundation of reality, the jokes and cut scenes based on films just don't work. There is no contrast because they are both fantasies.
Thank you! I've just recently started watching Community (I know - late to the party) and couldn't quite decide what it was trying to be. Just like Spaced it's not a sit com it's a comedic situation. No laugh track cause there are no "jokes".
Caught "Spaced" on DVD at a time when I was also watching "30 Rock" and the pop culture references with the cutaway gags is very similar as well. But, yeah "Community" is an even smarter take on the concept.
I remember thinking this a few years back as well. The constant pop culture references, mixed with great writing and direction is how they fit I think. That plus Edgar wright and Dan Harmon are both massive nerds and inject themselves into anything they make.
Spaced is one of those examples of a show that was entirely defined by the people who made it, not the stories it told. The stories, let's be honest, were silly and often surreal (though very cleverly written). But the entire spirit of the thing? Was the people who made it, cast and crew both, producing something that is quintessentially British and earnest and inexplicably cool. It seems like what the American remake attempted to do was take the aspects that mattered least, and have them carry the show.
Watching the Bryan/Christian comparison, what screams out is how much the US remake needed Edgar Wright. Those jump-cuts in the original worked so well partly because of the audio and visual finesse that Edgar brought (the camera blurs and dolly zooms, the discordant music box and ticking clock, for example). Edgar was the third side of the Spaced triangle, and his absence shows.
Absolutely. Also when Brian is "saying" the different emotions he is very monotone and, ironically, emotionless which is an important contrast to the extreme portrayal of him doing the art. Christian gets angry, scared, and pained as he's saying it which dulls the contrast even more.
I like how the difference between the "pain" details on the paint scene is American is loud furious pain but the UK is a little whimper. I like the less is more comedic effect.
the US version just had him yell three times at a canvas, Heap can come of as insane, creepy, childlike, delerious, obsessive, boarderline homicidal, and even get you to question his sexuality just by pulling a face!, and he can do it all while being a sympathetic character!
@@stevenr6397 The US version does actually what you expect, which is why it isn't funny. "Anger" cut to man yelling. There's no joke, it's an illustration of what he just said.
spot on @@davidjames579 - the UK ones are a) actually funny in the way they're cut/filmed b) serve the bigger joke of his art being pretentioius/not watercolour and c) illustrate his intense character. The US one only does B. And the opening scene of Spaced is absolutely genius in how it sets up the show - those first 5 minutes are so crucial to any sitcom, in how they have to sell the characters and set up the situation as well as get lots of laughs. This utterly fails. All that said, this still looks better than the other US remakes in the vids on this channel, so it could be worse.
@@framebadger You could write a book on Edgar Wright's use of film technique and editing to deliver humour and subversion of expectation. He's a one man aesthetic. The remake doesn't understand that jokes aren't just lines, but performance and film-making as well. Spaced is a spoof and manipulation of sitcom conventions. The remake is basically the thing Spaced was spoofing.
Wow, I had no idea such a thing existed. What an odd choice to try and remake. It was just so... British? It also encapsulated its era so perfectly, watching it now is like a time capsule. I get that remaking it years later means you could update the references, but it was just so "of its time" that it feels like an important part of the show, rather than it just happening to be when it was made. Like, if someone was coming up with Spaced as a brand new idea in 2023, it still feels like it should be set in 1999. Your channel is great btw. Got recommended the Vicar of Dibley one and couldn't believe it was only your 2nd as it was so well thought through and put together. Subscribed right then :)
@@rhodrageI guess it's because little British nuances are harder for them to digest or understand, but the US is the US so naturally we're very well adapted to their culture being portrayed in film and tv
@@0xM4ND Maybe, but i suspect its more to do with money. The American networks have the money to do the remake and aim for syndication. Over here in the uk its easier and cheaper to just show the thing as is. Also (perhaps) its the American-nes of the thing which is the selling point. I cannot imagine a UK Frasier remake. Even the things that are very similar are stil just very different (Freinds vs Coupling, and i dont know which came first). TLDR: money. money is the reason i reckon.
Spaced is very much tied to its time and place. It's just so...90s Britain. You can't recapture that. Like the bit where Tyres tells Tim about the time they hugged through the acid tweaking funk mix of Josh Wink's Higher State of Consciousness - 'You told me you wished I was your da!' Like, that's not gonna translate anywhere. I don't know why you would even try to remake something so absolutely ingrained in the pop culture of an extremely short time period.
That’s what I though. There’s robot wars in there. Resident evil. Pop culture films of the day. Things you would only get if you grew up in that time. You could play that now in Britain and it wouldn’t get the reception it got when it came out.
Funny you say that, there was a mad comment by one of the execs before this came out that the actor was a 'cross between Mathew Perry and Robin Williams'
@@cinewhirl yeah, think I caught a glimpse of it in the vid where you showed one of the articles on it. Not sure about the Robin Williams part, but you can hear in his inflections he’s trying to channel Chandler Bing in his performance.
Another way to put your thesis statement at the end - Spaced felt indie. The way The Young Ones felt punk (indie). It feels as if they're getting away with something that in no way the suits at the network would have allowed. You can't get that on American TV. Not on a major network, anyway. Probably your best bet is Adult Swim on The Cartoon Network, where things like Tim & Eric flourished.
I borrowed Spaced on DVD from my best friend as I missed it when it was on TV the first time. It's hard to unpack the US remake. Casting for the side characters was totally wrong. The main actors didn't seem that bad, but they weren't given the best material. Your comparisons have been really well made.
9:14 Right there is the core reason why this remake felt so stiff and unrealistic. They're drinking beers, not smoking a joint, and why? Because American television in 2008 was still far too sanitized and disconnected from reality to successfully pull off the formula of Spaced. Not a single viewer would look at the ersatz Tim and Daisy and think "yeah, that's (sort of) me! I can identify with that!"
@@madbeef. Totally. I also especially loved Julia "Just going down Treshers [wine shop] to do the weekly shopping" Deakin as Marsha the landlady. Vital ingredient I can't see in this remake attempt.
@@madbeef. Actually, I used to work for them as an off-licence branch manager (it was opposite Olympic Studios - Charlie Watts once came in for a bottle of Jack Daniels. Apart from that, I'm not famous). Wasn't long after I left that the whole chain closed down. Wasn't my fault. I think, basically, supermarkets killed the old-style Offie, leaving the field to late-opening corner shops. I'd like to say 'happy days', had some great customers, but really, they were pretty sh*t to work for.
biggest issue is the direction, without Wrights weird jump cut style was essential to making it work and feel edgy and cool without him you only have the actors and the script, and instead of the cream of the crop of up and coming british comic actors and writers you have some nobodys reciting a watered down script, I honestly think the americans who made this just had no idea why the original had even been a success so just churned out there usual work
Tried 3 times with Peep Show too...oh and IT Crowd. Us Americans just cannot remake British wit the right way. The only reason the US office was successful is because they stopped copying the uk scripts and changed the whole vibe
I spent a night talking to a friend about an idea for a comedy show and after like 5 hours hours i realised we were just talking about making spaced but with a slight twist.
One of the things I have loved about having memories of Spaced from all those years ago is watching Pegg, Hynes, Frost and Wright's work since. Spaced kind of feels like a mostly fictional biography that is correct in key ways. Like if someone asked you about who Edgar Wright is, you could kind of just point at Spaced and they'd have a deeper understanding of his subsequent work...
Without the British Spaced their would be no Shaun of the Dead. Edgar Wright the director of Shaun of the Dead was also involved in the Spaced TV series. They did an episode where Simon Peggs character in the TV show has a nightmare about zombies. After doing the episode they came up with the idea Shaun of the Dead. Jessica Hynes even appears in Shaun of the Dead as his ex who turns up at the end with the military
The reason that performer can't nail the role of Brian (although as you say, he's giving it a good shot) is because the original was as much of a creation of Mark heap's as Simon and Jessica's writing. Brian was originally written as more debonair but Heap went with a more intense, brooding take on the character and it works brilliantly. It's the same for all the main cast, they're not just people reading from a script they're actors actually being allowed to perform and stretch their legs within a role. It's as much a part of what made Spaced what it is as Wright's directorial style and the pop culture references. Everything about the remake screams "what's the point"
Yeah I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes when I'm watching some naff show I think I could be an actor, then I see someone like Mark Heap and realise that there truly are 'professional' actors that can just do things the layperson can't
I find it a bizarre mix of the series one pilot of UK Spaced with somehow the pretend gunplay from series 2 episode 5 "Gone" mixed with the fight from the paintball scene. Like they couldnt handle the mundaneity of the original where not everything has to be happening at all times, and so they had to shoehorn in parts which really ruins the flow. Spaced is my favorite sitcom of all time, but it was so very of its time, I was the same age at that time and living that kind of life and meeting those kind of people in bedsit land, it just cant transfer over. Especially when you sanitise it for an American audience. The show was called Spaced, but I think a more appropriate term for this would be Void.
The weird thing is the Spaced experience is something a lot of young just out of Uni poor creatives go thru, including in America, so the stories are there. But the execution feels harmless.
When I see an American remake, it's like they just remake it because it's successful, they didn't get why it was successful, they remake it because it's successful
The remake really doesn't seem to have much respect for its audience. One thing you didn't mention was the inclusion of an extra character gurning in the background, in the scene where the male lead was moving out from his girlfriend's - he was blatantly there as an audience surrogate, forcing an emotional reaction like an X Factor judge
It's so weird that they didn't just make a new show. The concept of Spaced has nothing to do with why it's good. It's 100% the combination of people involved doing what they do naturally. I would think that if the guys who remade it have some talent they'd have been a lot more successful trying to explore their own ideas and writing jokes based on the personality of their actors instead of trying to copy someone else's homework. I love Spaced, but I have never even wondered about a remake let alone wanted one.
@@SineN0mine3 I thought the promotional description they used was hilarious. It's the conceit of Green Card, which is so cliched the UK show even lampshades it. The conceit is the least interesting thing about Spaced.
Great video! i had no idea they tried to remake Spaced! You should do the Red Dwarf remake. You probably already have it on the list, but im putting in my vote :-)
This is so strange to see alternate univere spaced. Kinda glad it didn't get picked up but weirdly, part of me wishes I could a seen more of Mo Collins and Will Sasso outside of Mad Tv.
Excellent video. What I would love to see you do is the failed initial pilot for a remake of "the thick of it", which subsequently was remade into the series VEEP. I think your in depth analysis will tell a fantastic story
I relate to Spaced so much because it's abt a set of normal people who live a relatively mundane life, but like pretending that they're in a movie. I'm exactly like that.
You need to check out Coupling. My favourite ever show and, although the US remake is basically a word for word copy, it's terrible! The casting doesn't come close and the delivery is so far off.
Great review and analysis. I always wonder who these remakes are for. Fans of the original want to watch the original. People who don't know it, aren't benefitting from it being a familiar IP. That leaves the only reason being "it's easier than writing something new" which isn't exactly a basis for great art. Even The Office, which is by far the most successful remake of a British comedy, was a bit shaky in the first season because it was basically copying the UK version but not as good. Once they started writing original stories for it and fleshing out the characters in a more unique way, it found its feet. If Gervais and Merchant hadn't been involved in it, I'm sure it would have ended up like this. I wonder what a US version written by the original writers, and directed by Wright, might have been like, though I doubt they'd have wanted to do it.
Good analysis. I think Spaced succeeds largely because it's a big creative risk being taken on fresh, hungry talent. I think UK TV made more room for those sorts of risks, especially at the time Spaced was made. American TV is great at many things, but it's just soooo corporate. UK TV can be pretty naff, at its worst, but it's also better at making something very clever out of limited resources--perhaps because there's lots of talent but less money.
Big part was Channel 4 willing to fund strange TV and film concepts which turned out to be hits. BBC is way too bland and ITV way too commercial to fund such indie creative stuff.
Strange spotting both Bryan Callen and Will Sasso in this. Had no idea they were in it (even briefly) but being friends I wonder if they had the same agent.
Another thing that made this show memorable, was simply the fact it was British. Its nationality was part of its identity. This doesn't mean it's unrelatable in other countries, I'm Australian and I think this show is brilliant on every level. And from what I've heard, the American viewers who watched this show, loved it just as it was. I guess the problem - when it comes to bad American knock offs - is American program planners underestimating their audience.
I think the actor playing the Daisy role is kinda spot on, but it's a shame she's not been able to do more. I remember really liking her in The Big Bang Theory, but she was written out.
I find it fascinating that you only have 2800 subscribers but nearly 400000 views. I have subbed and liked your videos after the Spaced one. Great stuff.
Great channel buddy! I'd like to see you critique the mighty boosh, please. For me it's a timeless classic and incredible for reasons not disimilar to south park.
Good timing. I watched this recently. It was dire. It makes no sense that they put the finger guns scene in the first episode. There was no set up at all.
Wait did the full US pilot get leaked? I knew there was select footage out there from that one actors highlight reel but I wasn't aware the entire pilot had leaked.
Not one, not two, but three cast members on this pilot are alums of the late-night sketch show MADtv: Bryan Callen (Ben's ex's new boyfriend), Mo Collins (the landlady), and Will Sasso (Ben's best friend). If I were to watch the whole thing I'd probably keep thinking it was a parody sketch. As for suggestions: I imagine this one will live or die based on how much of a fan you are of the original material, but how about Beane's of Boston, the pilot for the failed adaptation of Are You Being Served?
Spaced is one of my favourite shows! Had a feel of my uni days (along with 'The Young Ones')... But I find Americans just dont get it. like "Being Human" The UK one was about friendship, about these 3 beings living together, even when they had to change the cast, it STILL worked, there was comradery... The US one?... They tried to do a direct remake, when they should have gone with "Just another Vamp/wolf/ghost having to live together to keep the world working" Which was made canon in the UK version, but in the American one? they dont even like each other! Same with Ghosts. UK one, they ALL get along like a mismatched family would, and they have all known each other since birth... US, a bunch of individuals who met last week and put up with each other.
I didn’t know about this remake. If I had come across it I’d probably have watched it and thought it was ok. But I love Spaced. The characters feel real not quirky. There is a mundane life experience filled with rich inner lives amongst them which is true of most people. And yes their apartment is a set not two people who don’t have their lives together blending their living space. I think they could’ve made an excellent remake. If Simon and Jessica and Edgar got together to give input now they could make a more modern version that would bring in old and new audiences and I would love it.
It must take a great deal of effort for the producers and showrunners of American remakes of UK sitcoms to sit around a table and systematically and surgically remove every single quirk, mannerism and trace of originality that made the property worth the viewers time in the first place. I'd be inclined to say "Kudos, dudes!", but I'm not a sociopath.
Spaced is just perfect geek and subculture 90s comedy. mixed with mad manic energy and off the wall references and humour. The US remake making a Lord of the Ring reference just misses the mark, it comes across as closer to Big Bang Theory. IT comes across as just so...pedestrian. US TV just can't really do sad directionless losers, which is what the characters of Spaced are. They're slackers. Daisy isn't happy, Tim isn't happy, they're barely functioning as adults, and what's why we love those characters.
To be fair to the americans, the problems americans faced with creating a red dwarf and the office, its no surprise they wanted to keep the brits away. The brits would want to create an americanised version of the english show but the americans would want to take the core ideas and make their own thing. It rarely ever works out because english and american comedy is based on different premises and rules. The office is an exception that definitely proves the rule.
Might be interesting to see you talk about a successful US remake of a British show for a change - I believe Being Human was successful enough there to get 4 seasons? (vs the 5 it got in the UK, meaning the US version has a few more episodes (37 for the UK version, counting the pilot which... S1 follows on from despite multiple cast changes vs 52 for the US version)) (Or just something that isn't a sit-com. I believe their remake of Blackpool (Viva Laughlin) is notoriously bad)
I agree with you up to a point. I have watched both and, as much as what you say is correct, i believe it was different enough to be ok. Spaced UK was not ok, it was BRILLTASTIC whereas this was ok. You call it mediocre and you are spot on. I've seen worse attempts at making British comedy work stateside and vice versa. Great review. I love your work.
This is just sad,the original was so masterfully written,chocked full of pop culture references,and let's give a shout out to the soundtrack! Incredible,and perfectly encapsulated that time, being young in London. Not to mention the amazing cast of comedians,including the secondary characters. I live in the same place as Jessica Hynes and when I see her around I just think of Daisy 😅
Spaced was incredible, Edgar Wright is one of my favourite directors and Simon Pegg and most of the cast among my favourite actors. A hilarious show, one of my favourites. The fact that it was made without their permission. It seems that it got rid of everything that made Spaced great. For one, the clips you showed of the US show never even made me chuckle, whereas the clips of the original made me laugh despite having seen them a bunch of times already.
Mark Heap makes a kind of hissing noise, prior to saying "it's bit ore complex..." I think the producers using the d-d-d-d-d, of the latino [?] really worked for that moment, but I struggle to see how they planned to incorporate the rest of his story.
Wow. The way they so obviously did not understand the male telepathy gag is quite telling in the remake. And making Mike look so bland and normal looking... In America. The land of crazed gun nuts. He quite literally could have a couple of live AR15's on his back and look more like his part than... In short. The remake shows a great deal of lack of commitment. The apartment is big, bright and spacious because they figured it'd make things easier to handle if the series was picked up. The montages are watered down to be quickly shot with as few setups as possible. Edgar and Co knew they had only 6 episodes to cram in everything they could think of. When that was a hit, they knew they only had 6 episodes more for new ideas. Everything had to be explored fully. Every scene was shot to make its umpact the greatest. Not a single second of final runtime wasted. I'm sure there was a way to bring rhe show over as a success. But it just needs so much more effort per episode than these producers were willing to give.
Wow, MadTV alumni all over this show. April's actress seems like she actually pulled off Daisy, but Tim's counterpart was.. flat. Not flat as in his reads were bad, but just like there was nothing beneath them. It's like he was reading subtext out loud instead of dialogue, but then maybe that was the script or direction.
I see it as a massive waste of Baco. The foil. Spaced is way too firmly rooted in the UK culture of that time to be effectively copied over to the US. That and, as others here have said, the brilliant writing, direction, editing and performances. Great video though!
just like the inbetweeners. not something I'd watch now but I appreciate how relatable it was for so many people, and a part of it being so funny for so many people was just how British it was. It's not just what happens, it's everything else behind it. You can't just transfer that
@@0xM4ND Yeah, exactly that. It would be like if a Western country tried to copy a Japanese or Korean comedy. There's too much cultural context in the comedy and it won't translate. Of course, the actual solution is to air the original. But in the States I don't think they would do that because there are large sectors of the demographic who only want US based shows/references. Obviously, there are also sectors in the US who really appreciate media from other countries/cultures, but in the end it all comes down to viewings and dollars.
@@al201103 yeh definitely, I think we also manage to pull off writing humour into fairly mundane things, we do that well - but in the US it has to be that little bit EXTRA. sometimes that can work, but other times it loses it's direction. the only fools remake is a prime example of this 😂 mental
@@0xM4ND Yes, that's a very good point as well. Someone else in the comments here said that Community could be considered the spiritual successor to Spaced and I think that's actually a pretty good comparison. It also encompasses exactly your point!
I love Spaced and have watched it many times over the last 15 years. I had no idea there was an attempt at an American remake. I'm so glad it didn't work out because I try to get people to watch Spaced all the time and if they watched that trash they'd think I was an idiot.
Sounds very much like a case of the Australian series The Games. A comedy program produced by ABC Australia before we held the Olympics in the year 2000 and was ripped off by the BBC and branded an original idea before the UK held their Olympics
Okay. If you're talking about TWENTYTWELVE... let me disabuse you. The British one was obviously before the Aussie one. If not what show are you talking about?
The actor in the Nick Frost role is a lot more interesting here than the bland leads. He is clearly a good character actor while the others project no kind of personality at all. And I think they didn't involve the original creators because the producers were afraid they'd have to pay them instead of putting as much of the budget as possible in their own pockets. The result is yet another failed pilot which makes one winder why it was ever made at all.
One of the first films Hollywood offered Edgar Wright to direct was Failure To Launch (2006). Wright was baffled by this, and said no. Approaching him for it I think says everything about the difference between Britain and Hollywood. Failure To Launch is a comedy about a Pop Culture obsessed slacker who refuses to move out of his parent's home, and the comedy comes from them trying to get him out. It's predictably bland. But some Hollywood Exec saw Shaun Of The Dead and possibly Spaced, and thought this guy would be perfect to direct FTL because of the similarity in characters and conceit. The disconnect from why they're so different was lost on the exec.
think the way British comedy shows come together vs American comedies probably played a role, UK tend to be a group of guys who know eachother pitching a show to a studio and US tends to be a studio hiring a bunch of actors. Chemistry is instant when people already know each other, US shows have even seen success with this approach: Always Sunny for example
I'm sure I remember seeing an interview with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg soon after the last series and they said that there was going to be another. I guess when it came down to writing it they decided they'd done enough or they got busy with other projects.
13:25 Can you give me 3 pilots for any TV shows that fit the description you just provided? I can't say I've ever thought "wow, the pilot was the best part of the show".
the key phrase is "supposed to be" which in many cases doesn't turn out to be true. the idea being you try to put your best foot forward to create a positive enough first impression to sell the series. Obviously there are things that benefit from being shot later, for example actors getting a better grip on their characters or in some cases even being recast after not doing well in the pilot.
While its disappointing that there where only two series, I would have loved to have seen more, though understand why they didn't. The only good US remake I've seen was Wilfred, and that was only because they had the original (Australian, writer, producer and actor in it).
From the clips, it seems like they downplayed the Mike stand-in's military obsession. I have to wonder if it's because America was in the midst of a war at the time and our reserve troops were being sent into combat. It would have been hard to lean into that aspect of the character without getting into politics.
I didn't know about this but it honestly performed about as well as a lot of American remakes. (I.T. Crowd? Jesus..) It lacks subtlety and you can tell the actors don't get the references or the jokes. I can't call it a rule exactly, but when you see Will Sasso in an American version of an English property (Doctor Who 1995), it will most likely fall flat.
Never heard of this before, but even watching this video, it is easy to tell how little effort was put in. The cinematogrophy alone is so subpar compared to the original that some jokes are literally ruined by it
Spaced was a great creation of it’s time, filled with British humour which can’t be recreated for a American audience. The film references perfect for the time it was made . It was perfect. The actors can’t be replaced. I think it had the heart and soul of the cast who wrote it. Why do Americans keep ruining wonderful British sitcoms? You just can’t translate something that’s so English so why try and fail? Just come up with something original that’s written for your intended audience, it will get a much better reception as our humour is so different.
Great video! Loved it! My only criticism - and take it or leave it as you have WAY more subs than me, is that you speak in waves. One two pause three four pause five six pause - honestly, if that's you and your style then absolutely keep it! But (and again, please disregard if you see fit) I much prefer it when the commentary can get a sentence out. I honestly hope that doesn't come across as rude - I genuinely enjoyed the video and the content! But we don't talk, like this, in my, opinion .
The heart is missing out of the remake. Friends made the original while a studio produced the remake. There's no chemistry in the cast and there is no love in the production.
Why did they try!! You could NEVER capture the chemistry of the cast and all the off the wall craziness of the stories, references and Legendary characters in SPACED. BTW the now Defunct show "CALL ME CAT" was an American version of the MIRANDA show. Even though Miranda Hart was a producer it was a rather 2nd rate version of the Hilarious British series. All the Physical Comedy that Miranda was Brilliant at was done in the US Version but at 5 percent the energy. CAT was cute but nowhere close to MIRANDA.
British comedy seems to be able to find laughs in the misery and the smallness of life in a way that American comedies seem to struggle with. Also, we didn't know it at the time But Edgar turned out to be a generational talent as a director and Simon, Nick and Jessica were top tier comedy actors, very hard to get those planets to come into alignment twice.
This video does help demonstrate how much had to go right for Spaced to work. The two main characters' chemistry and characterisation. The performances by people like Mark Heap and the direction. The set. A complete package.
Yes! And the reason for that is American television, even in 2008, was several decades behind its British counterpart when it came to accurately depicting real lives. Without that foundation of reality, the jokes and cut scenes based on films just don't work. There is no contrast because they are both fantasies.
as were all their mates...
“Oh my god…”
“What?”
“I’ve got some fucking Jaffa cakes in my coat pocket…”
how's that for a slice of fried gold
Community is the closest thing to an American successor to Spaced, and it works because it's its own thing, and the creator was passionate about it.
Thank you! I've just recently started watching Community (I know - late to the party) and couldn't quite decide what it was trying to be. Just like Spaced it's not a sit com it's a comedic situation. No laugh track cause there are no "jokes".
Caught "Spaced" on DVD at a time when I was also watching "30 Rock" and the pop culture references with the cutaway gags is very similar as well. But, yeah "Community" is an even smarter take on the concept.
I was just about to post this!
Community is absolutely the closest thing to an American spiritual successor to Spaced.
@@zshtseason 4 of community is like an American remake of community 😂
I remember thinking this a few years back as well. The constant pop culture references, mixed with great writing and direction is how they fit I think.
That plus Edgar wright and Dan Harmon are both massive nerds and inject themselves into anything they make.
Spaced is one of those examples of a show that was entirely defined by the people who made it, not the stories it told. The stories, let's be honest, were silly and often surreal (though very cleverly written). But the entire spirit of the thing? Was the people who made it, cast and crew both, producing something that is quintessentially British and earnest and inexplicably cool.
It seems like what the American remake attempted to do was take the aspects that mattered least, and have them carry the show.
Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz being perfect examples of that.
Watching the Bryan/Christian comparison, what screams out is how much the US remake needed Edgar Wright. Those jump-cuts in the original worked so well partly because of the audio and visual finesse that Edgar brought (the camera blurs and dolly zooms, the discordant music box and ticking clock, for example). Edgar was the third side of the Spaced triangle, and his absence shows.
Absolutely. Also when Brian is "saying" the different emotions he is very monotone and, ironically, emotionless which is an important contrast to the extreme portrayal of him doing the art. Christian gets angry, scared, and pained as he's saying it which dulls the contrast even more.
I like how the difference between the "pain" details on the paint scene is American is loud furious pain but the UK is a little whimper. I like the less is more comedic effect.
I agree with you, I think comparing those two scenes says a lot
the US version just had him yell three times at a canvas, Heap can come of as insane, creepy, childlike, delerious, obsessive, boarderline homicidal, and even get you to question his sexuality just by pulling a face!, and he can do it all while being a sympathetic character!
@@stevenr6397 The US version does actually what you expect, which is why it isn't funny. "Anger" cut to man yelling. There's no joke, it's an illustration of what he just said.
spot on @@davidjames579 - the UK ones are a) actually funny in the way they're cut/filmed b) serve the bigger joke of his art being pretentioius/not watercolour and c) illustrate his intense character. The US one only does B. And the opening scene of Spaced is absolutely genius in how it sets up the show - those first 5 minutes are so crucial to any sitcom, in how they have to sell the characters and set up the situation as well as get lots of laughs. This utterly fails.
All that said, this still looks better than the other US remakes in the vids on this channel, so it could be worse.
@@framebadger You could write a book on Edgar Wright's use of film technique and editing to deliver humour and subversion of expectation. He's a one man aesthetic. The remake doesn't understand that jokes aren't just lines, but performance and film-making as well. Spaced is a spoof and manipulation of sitcom conventions. The remake is basically the thing Spaced was spoofing.
Wow, I had no idea such a thing existed. What an odd choice to try and remake. It was just so... British? It also encapsulated its era so perfectly, watching it now is like a time capsule. I get that remaking it years later means you could update the references, but it was just so "of its time" that it feels like an important part of the show, rather than it just happening to be when it was made. Like, if someone was coming up with Spaced as a brand new idea in 2023, it still feels like it should be set in 1999.
Your channel is great btw. Got recommended the Vicar of Dibley one and couldn't believe it was only your 2nd as it was so well thought through and put together. Subscribed right then :)
Thank you!
Totally agree on the time capsule idea. It's comforting to rewatch now,imagining a flat in London could ever cost 90 quid a week! 😆
Haha that is true
I continue to be baffled by American remakes!
I'm more baffled that we tend to get a lot of US shows untouched, but british shows just have to be changed for some reason
@@rhodrageI guess it's because little British nuances are harder for them to digest or understand, but the US is the US so naturally we're very well adapted to their culture being portrayed in film and tv
@@0xM4ND Maybe, but i suspect its more to do with money. The American networks have the money to do the remake and aim for syndication. Over here in the uk its easier and cheaper to just show the thing as is. Also (perhaps) its the American-nes of the thing which is the selling point. I cannot imagine a UK Frasier remake. Even the things that are very similar are stil just very different (Freinds vs Coupling, and i dont know which came first). TLDR: money. money is the reason i reckon.
As an American....me too mate.
it worked twice
Three's Company
and
Sanford & Son
so they will endlessly try to do it again to have their own royalties and licensing rights
Spaced is very much tied to its time and place. It's just so...90s Britain. You can't recapture that. Like the bit where Tyres tells Tim about the time they hugged through the acid tweaking funk mix of Josh Wink's Higher State of Consciousness - 'You told me you wished I was your da!' Like, that's not gonna translate anywhere. I don't know why you would even try to remake something so absolutely ingrained in the pop culture of an extremely short time period.
That’s what I though. There’s robot wars in there. Resident evil. Pop culture films of the day. Things you would only get if you grew up in that time. You could play that now in Britain and it wouldn’t get the reception it got when it came out.
It probably doesn’t help that the guy playing Ben feels like Matthew Perry ordered off Wish.
Funny you say that, there was a mad comment by one of the execs before this came out that the actor was a 'cross between Mathew Perry and Robin Williams'
@@cinewhirl yeah, think I caught a glimpse of it in the vid where you showed one of the articles on it. Not sure about the Robin Williams part, but you can hear in his inflections he’s trying to channel Chandler Bing in his performance.
@@lordofuzkulak8308 maybe because he's putting on an accent, he's actually australian. he's a funny actor in other stuff
Spaced was such a pure vision that any kind of remake or rehash can only ever dilute it.
Another way to put your thesis statement at the end - Spaced felt indie. The way The Young Ones felt punk (indie). It feels as if they're getting away with something that in no way the suits at the network would have allowed.
You can't get that on American TV. Not on a major network, anyway. Probably your best bet is Adult Swim on The Cartoon Network, where things like Tim & Eric flourished.
I bet the people that made Too Many Cooks could have nailed a Spaced reboot for America.
@@Nozoki Exactly!
The whole point of spaced, apart from the excellent joke writing was the movie references and the editing
It is also the reason Shaun of he Dead was made. I just posted a comment on it.
And game references.
@@GR-ir2bu resident evil episode!
@@wbaldwin666 tomb raider was on there, Tekken was on there too
I borrowed Spaced on DVD from my best friend as I missed it when it was on TV the first time. It's hard to unpack the US remake. Casting for the side characters was totally wrong. The main actors didn't seem that bad, but they weren't given the best material. Your comparisons have been really well made.
I agree. I get the sense that there is a lot if themselves in the characters, especially Tim, Daisy and Mike
@@fineganswake23 Mike was Nick Frost's first acting role, so he probably had very little experience to draw off.
9:14 Right there is the core reason why this remake felt so stiff and unrealistic. They're drinking beers, not smoking a joint, and why? Because American television in 2008 was still far too sanitized and disconnected from reality to successfully pull off the formula of Spaced. Not a single viewer would look at the ersatz Tim and Daisy and think "yeah, that's (sort of) me! I can identify with that!"
Yeah good point
I'm sorry. You just can't replace Mark Heap. There's only one, and he's it.
Main reason I loved Green Wing too. Was absolutely peak perfect Heap. (But I genuinely loved everyone else in that, and Spaced.)
@@madbeef. Totally. I also especially loved Julia "Just going down Treshers [wine shop] to do the weekly shopping" Deakin as Marsha the landlady. Vital ingredient I can't see in this remake attempt.
@@unclenogbad1509 do Threshers even exist any more? I remember those.
@@madbeef. Actually, I used to work for them as an off-licence branch manager (it was opposite Olympic Studios - Charlie Watts once came in for a bottle of Jack Daniels. Apart from that, I'm not famous). Wasn't long after I left that the whole chain closed down. Wasn't my fault.
I think, basically, supermarkets killed the old-style Offie, leaving the field to late-opening corner shops. I'd like to say 'happy days', had some great customers, but really, they were pretty sh*t to work for.
Crispin Glover could do it.
There's absolutely no way anyone can remake Edgar Wright's distinct style, tone, and creativity, so why even try?
Agreed
also Josh Lawson's American accent is trying way too hard
US-American arrogance.
biggest issue is the direction, without Wrights weird jump cut style was essential to making it work and feel edgy and cool without him you only have the actors and the script, and instead of the cream of the crop of up and coming british comic actors and writers you have some nobodys reciting a watered down script, I honestly think the americans who made this just had no idea why the original had even been a success so just churned out there usual work
I cannot believe anyone TRIED to re-do Spaced. That's hillarious in itself.
Tried 3 times with Peep Show too...oh and IT Crowd. Us Americans just cannot remake British wit the right way. The only reason the US office was successful is because they stopped copying the uk scripts and changed the whole vibe
Don't forget the notoriously awful Red Dwarf attempt.
There's been some very successful US remakes though. Sanford and Son. All in the Family. Shameless.
I spent a night talking to a friend about an idea for a comedy show and after like 5 hours hours i realised we were just talking about making spaced but with a slight twist.
Haha, I understand that feeling
One of the things I have loved about having memories of Spaced from all those years ago is watching Pegg, Hynes, Frost and Wright's work since. Spaced kind of feels like a mostly fictional biography that is correct in key ways. Like if someone asked you about who Edgar Wright is, you could kind of just point at Spaced and they'd have a deeper understanding of his subsequent work...
The gun obsessed best friend doesn't quite land the same in the US version.
Also, the US direction is completely uninspired.
You could switch it for the Katana-obsessed best friend.
There are smart ways to do it.
Most US writers, execs and producers just aren't smart.
Without the British Spaced their would be no Shaun of the Dead. Edgar Wright the director of Shaun of the Dead was also involved in the Spaced TV series. They did an episode where Simon Peggs character in the TV show has a nightmare about zombies. After doing the episode they came up with the idea Shaun of the Dead. Jessica Hynes even appears in Shaun of the Dead as his ex who turns up at the end with the military
Same with Hot Fuzz and The World's End. Only shame is we will never get any more of these films.
The reason that performer can't nail the role of Brian (although as you say, he's giving it a good shot) is because the original was as much of a creation of Mark heap's as Simon and Jessica's writing. Brian was originally written as more debonair but Heap went with a more intense, brooding take on the character and it works brilliantly.
It's the same for all the main cast, they're not just people reading from a script they're actors actually being allowed to perform and stretch their legs within a role. It's as much a part of what made Spaced what it is as Wright's directorial style and the pop culture references.
Everything about the remake screams "what's the point"
Yeah I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes when I'm watching some naff show I think I could be an actor, then I see someone like Mark Heap and realise that there truly are 'professional' actors that can just do things the layperson can't
I had no idea Aussie actor Josh Lawson was in a soulless remake of Spaced, playing an American.
Weird.
I find it a bizarre mix of the series one pilot of UK Spaced with somehow the pretend gunplay from series 2 episode 5 "Gone" mixed with the fight from the paintball scene. Like they couldnt handle the mundaneity of the original where not everything has to be happening at all times, and so they had to shoehorn in parts which really ruins the flow. Spaced is my favorite sitcom of all time, but it was so very of its time, I was the same age at that time and living that kind of life and meeting those kind of people in bedsit land, it just cant transfer over. Especially when you sanitise it for an American audience. The show was called Spaced, but I think a more appropriate term for this would be Void.
The weird thing is the Spaced experience is something a lot of young just out of Uni poor creatives go thru, including in America, so the stories are there. But the execution feels harmless.
Really been enjoying these videos. Are you planning on doing a Red Dwarf comparison soon ? Or (& I know this will be tricky) Dad's Army?
It's on the list for sure.
@@cinewhirlcheck out the Peep Show remake it’s perfect fodder for one of your great videos
Ben has a best friend called Bill?
Feels more like a Flowerpot Men remake
When I see an American remake, it's like they just remake it because it's successful, they didn't get why it was successful, they remake it because it's successful
The remake really doesn't seem to have much respect for its audience. One thing you didn't mention was the inclusion of an extra character gurning in the background, in the scene where the male lead was moving out from his girlfriend's - he was blatantly there as an audience surrogate, forcing an emotional reaction like an X Factor judge
That's the Mike replacement
It's so weird that they didn't just make a new show. The concept of Spaced has nothing to do with why it's good. It's 100% the combination of people involved doing what they do naturally.
I would think that if the guys who remade it have some talent they'd have been a lot more successful trying to explore their own ideas and writing jokes based on the personality of their actors instead of trying to copy someone else's homework.
I love Spaced, but I have never even wondered about a remake let alone wanted one.
@@SineN0mine3 I thought the promotional description they used was hilarious. It's the conceit of Green Card, which is so cliched the UK show even lampshades it. The conceit is the least interesting thing about Spaced.
Great video! i had no idea they tried to remake Spaced! You should do the Red Dwarf remake. You probably already have it on the list, but im putting in my vote :-)
This is so strange to see alternate univere spaced. Kinda glad it didn't get picked up but weirdly, part of me wishes I could a seen more of Mo Collins and Will Sasso outside of Mad Tv.
Excellent video. What I would love to see you do is the failed initial pilot for a remake of "the thick of it", which subsequently was remade into the series VEEP. I think your in depth analysis will tell a fantastic story
Cheers, will add it to the list!
I relate to Spaced so much because it's abt a set of normal people who live a relatively mundane life, but like pretending that they're in a movie. I'm exactly like that.
You need to check out Coupling. My favourite ever show and, although the US remake is basically a word for word copy, it's terrible! The casting doesn't come close and the delivery is so far off.
Great review and analysis. I always wonder who these remakes are for. Fans of the original want to watch the original. People who don't know it, aren't benefitting from it being a familiar IP. That leaves the only reason being "it's easier than writing something new" which isn't exactly a basis for great art.
Even The Office, which is by far the most successful remake of a British comedy, was a bit shaky in the first season because it was basically copying the UK version but not as good. Once they started writing original stories for it and fleshing out the characters in a more unique way, it found its feet. If Gervais and Merchant hadn't been involved in it, I'm sure it would have ended up like this. I wonder what a US version written by the original writers, and directed by Wright, might have been like, though I doubt they'd have wanted to do it.
Great points!
Good analysis. I think Spaced succeeds largely because it's a big creative risk being taken on fresh, hungry talent. I think UK TV made more room for those sorts of risks, especially at the time Spaced was made. American TV is great at many things, but it's just soooo corporate. UK TV can be pretty naff, at its worst, but it's also better at making something very clever out of limited resources--perhaps because there's lots of talent but less money.
Big part was Channel 4 willing to fund strange TV and film concepts which turned out to be hits. BBC is way too bland and ITV way too commercial to fund such indie creative stuff.
Strange spotting both Bryan Callen and Will Sasso in this. Had no idea they were in it (even briefly) but being friends I wonder if they had the same agent.
Had no idea they did this. Glad it failed.
Another thing that made this show memorable, was simply the fact it was British. Its nationality was part of its identity.
This doesn't mean it's unrelatable in other countries, I'm Australian and I think this show is brilliant on every level.
And from what I've heard, the American viewers who watched this show, loved it just as it was.
I guess the problem - when it comes to bad American knock offs - is American program planners underestimating their audience.
I think the actor playing the Daisy role is kinda spot on, but it's a shame she's not been able to do more. I remember really liking her in The Big Bang Theory, but she was written out.
It is funny that they cast an actress who actually bears a resemblance to Jessica Hynes, whereas none of the actors do to the original actors.
I find it fascinating that you only have 2800 subscribers but nearly 400000 views. I have subbed and liked your videos after the Spaced one. Great stuff.
Great channel buddy! I'd like to see you critique the mighty boosh, please. For me it's a timeless classic and incredible for reasons not disimilar to south park.
Good timing. I watched this recently. It was dire. It makes no sense that they put the finger guns scene in the first episode. There was no set up at all.
Plus, miming gunning people down in public in 2008 in an American setting feels a little tone deaf, compared to in England in the 90s.
@@matthewstarkie4254 I hadn't even considered that, but yeah that does seem really off now that I think about it
Wait did the full US pilot get leaked? I knew there was select footage out there from that one actors highlight reel but I wasn't aware the entire pilot had leaked.
Not one, not two, but three cast members on this pilot are alums of the late-night sketch show MADtv: Bryan Callen (Ben's ex's new boyfriend), Mo Collins (the landlady), and Will Sasso (Ben's best friend). If I were to watch the whole thing I'd probably keep thinking it was a parody sketch.
As for suggestions: I imagine this one will live or die based on how much of a fan you are of the original material, but how about Beane's of Boston, the pilot for the failed adaptation of Are You Being Served?
thank you for providing names, now i can look for their socials and harras fhem
I had no idea this even existed, I wish it would've stayed that way honestly
Spaced is one of my favourite shows! Had a feel of my uni days (along with 'The Young Ones')...
But I find Americans just dont get it. like "Being Human" The UK one was about friendship, about these 3 beings living together, even when they had to change the cast, it STILL worked, there was comradery... The US one?... They tried to do a direct remake, when they should have gone with "Just another Vamp/wolf/ghost having to live together to keep the world working" Which was made canon in the UK version, but in the American one? they dont even like each other!
Same with Ghosts. UK one, they ALL get along like a mismatched family would, and they have all known each other since birth... US, a bunch of individuals who met last week and put up with each other.
If Spaced didn't exist, I'd probably enjoy this as a quirky bit of fun. But then they'd have had nothing to rip off so it wouldn't even exist.
I didn’t know about this remake. If I had come across it I’d probably have watched it and thought it was ok. But I love Spaced. The characters feel real not quirky. There is a mundane life experience filled with rich inner lives amongst them which is true of most people. And yes their apartment is a set not two people who don’t have their lives together blending their living space. I think they could’ve made an excellent remake. If Simon and Jessica and Edgar got together to give input now they could make a more modern version that would bring in old and new audiences and I would love it.
It must take a great deal of effort for the producers and showrunners of American remakes of UK sitcoms to sit around a table and systematically and surgically remove every single quirk, mannerism and trace of originality that made the property worth the viewers time in the first place.
I'd be inclined to say "Kudos, dudes!", but I'm not a sociopath.
Spaced is just perfect geek and subculture 90s comedy. mixed with mad manic energy and off the wall references and humour. The US remake making a Lord of the Ring reference just misses the mark, it comes across as closer to Big Bang Theory. IT comes across as just so...pedestrian.
US TV just can't really do sad directionless losers, which is what the characters of Spaced are. They're slackers. Daisy isn't happy, Tim isn't happy, they're barely functioning as adults, and what's why we love those characters.
Me and my ex were obsessed with this (UK version) when it was out :)
Ty for these interesting reviews ^^
Thank you!
I don't know if its a fun fact or not but the American version of Simon Pegg is actually Australian
I thought that was our Josh! The accent really threw me though.
To be fair to the americans, the problems americans faced with creating a red dwarf and the office, its no surprise they wanted to keep the brits away. The brits would want to create an americanised version of the english show but the americans would want to take the core ideas and make their own thing. It rarely ever works out because english and american comedy is based on different premises and rules. The office is an exception that definitely proves the rule.
Might be interesting to see you talk about a successful US remake of a British show for a change - I believe Being Human was successful enough there to get 4 seasons? (vs the 5 it got in the UK, meaning the US version has a few more episodes (37 for the UK version, counting the pilot which... S1 follows on from despite multiple cast changes vs 52 for the US version))
(Or just something that isn't a sit-com. I believe their remake of Blackpool (Viva Laughlin) is notoriously bad)
Good ideas, thank you!
I agree with you up to a point. I have watched both and, as much as what you say is correct, i believe it was different enough to be ok. Spaced UK was not ok, it was BRILLTASTIC whereas this was ok. You call it mediocre and you are spot on. I've seen worse attempts at making British comedy work stateside and vice versa. Great review. I love your work.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed!
Because of you , I can now add Brilltastic to my vocabulary. Ill try not to comment on the same things you do.
This is just sad,the original was so masterfully written,chocked full of pop culture references,and let's give a shout out to the soundtrack! Incredible,and perfectly encapsulated that time, being young in London. Not to mention the amazing cast of comedians,including the secondary characters. I live in the same place as Jessica Hynes and when I see her around I just think of Daisy 😅
I like that they named the main guy and his buddy Bill and Ben
Spaced was incredible, Edgar Wright is one of my favourite directors and Simon Pegg and most of the cast among my favourite actors. A hilarious show, one of my favourites. The fact that it was made without their permission. It seems that it got rid of everything that made Spaced great. For one, the clips you showed of the US show never even made me chuckle, whereas the clips of the original made me laugh despite having seen them a bunch of times already.
Mark Heap makes a kind of hissing noise, prior to saying "it's bit ore complex..." I think the producers using the d-d-d-d-d, of the latino [?] really worked for that moment, but I struggle to see how they planned to incorporate the rest of his story.
Only ever heard of this remake. Never even seen a clip until now. Don't think I'll be looking for the full episode...
It's a shame that Will Sasso never seemed to find quite the right place for his talents as he can be a genuinely funny individual.
Agreed. He's always good and makes it seem effortless. I think Mo as the landlady would've ruled as well.
Wow. The way they so obviously did not understand the male telepathy gag is quite telling in the remake.
And making Mike look so bland and normal looking... In America. The land of crazed gun nuts. He quite literally could have a couple of live AR15's on his back and look more like his part than...
In short. The remake shows a great deal of lack of commitment. The apartment is big, bright and spacious because they figured it'd make things easier to handle if the series was picked up. The montages are watered down to be quickly shot with as few setups as possible.
Edgar and Co knew they had only 6 episodes to cram in everything they could think of. When that was a hit, they knew they only had 6 episodes more for new ideas. Everything had to be explored fully. Every scene was shot to make its umpact the greatest. Not a single second of final runtime wasted.
I'm sure there was a way to bring rhe show over as a success. But it just needs so much more effort per episode than these producers were willing to give.
Wow, MadTV alumni all over this show. April's actress seems like she actually pulled off Daisy, but Tim's counterpart was.. flat. Not flat as in his reads were bad, but just like there was nothing beneath them. It's like he was reading subtext out loud instead of dialogue, but then maybe that was the script or direction.
Is Ben's mate Bill the Morgue Guy from the 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie?
I see it as a massive waste of Baco. The foil.
Spaced is way too firmly rooted in the UK culture of that time to be effectively copied over to the US. That and, as others here have said, the brilliant writing, direction, editing and performances. Great video though!
just like the inbetweeners. not something I'd watch now but I appreciate how relatable it was for so many people, and a part of it being so funny for so many people was just how British it was. It's not just what happens, it's everything else behind it. You can't just transfer that
@@0xM4ND Yeah, exactly that. It would be like if a Western country tried to copy a Japanese or Korean comedy. There's too much cultural context in the comedy and it won't translate.
Of course, the actual solution is to air the original. But in the States I don't think they would do that because there are large sectors of the demographic who only want US based shows/references. Obviously, there are also sectors in the US who really appreciate media from other countries/cultures, but in the end it all comes down to viewings and dollars.
@@al201103 yeh definitely, I think we also manage to pull off writing humour into fairly mundane things, we do that well - but in the US it has to be that little bit EXTRA. sometimes that can work, but other times it loses it's direction. the only fools remake is a prime example of this 😂 mental
@@0xM4ND Yes, that's a very good point as well. Someone else in the comments here said that Community could be considered the spiritual successor to Spaced and I think that's actually a pretty good comparison. It also encompasses exactly your point!
I love Spaced and have watched it many times over the last 15 years. I had no idea there was an attempt at an American remake. I'm so glad it didn't work out because I try to get people to watch Spaced all the time and if they watched that trash they'd think I was an idiot.
Americans have a negative Midas touch when it comes to remaking British shows….. never works….
Sounds very much like a case of the Australian series The Games. A comedy program produced by ABC Australia before we held the Olympics in the year 2000 and was ripped off by the BBC and branded an original idea before the UK held their Olympics
Okay. If you're talking about TWENTYTWELVE... let me disabuse you. The British one was obviously before the Aussie one. If not what show are you talking about?
The actor in the Nick Frost role is a lot more interesting here than the bland leads. He is clearly a good character actor while the others project no kind of personality at all. And I think they didn't involve the original creators because the producers were afraid they'd have to pay them instead of putting as much of the budget as possible in their own pockets. The result is yet another failed pilot which makes one winder why it was ever made at all.
WILL SASSO!
Will Sasso always delivers, even when he's in a piece of shit like this.
first i've hear of this and it looks awful, but, i think the red dwarf american pilot might have been worse (but i haven't seen this full pilot)
One of the first films Hollywood offered Edgar Wright to direct was Failure To Launch (2006). Wright was baffled by this, and said no. Approaching him for it I think says everything about the difference between Britain and Hollywood. Failure To Launch is a comedy about a Pop Culture obsessed slacker who refuses to move out of his parent's home, and the comedy comes from them trying to get him out. It's predictably bland. But some Hollywood Exec saw Shaun Of The Dead and possibly Spaced, and thought this guy would be perfect to direct FTL because of the similarity in characters and conceit. The disconnect from why they're so different was lost on the exec.
Are they writing the ‘like’ into scripts now. It’s the gradual dumbing down of everything.
That feeling when you find a new awesome channel, thank you!
Thank you!
8:30 that's Will Sasso?? And that looks like it might be Bryan Callen 3:23?
I had no idea they (we) tried that. What a fail!
There’s something very Phantom Menace-y about American Spaced.
think the way British comedy shows come together vs American comedies probably played a role, UK tend to be a group of guys who know eachother pitching a show to a studio and US tends to be a studio hiring a bunch of actors. Chemistry is instant when people already know each other, US shows have even seen success with this approach: Always Sunny for example
I saw the video title and went "a spaced remake!? how could I possibly have never heard of this!?" then... Well I learned why 😶
Spaced finished just as it was getting going.
It really felt like it needed at least one more series.
You could say that, but leaving us wanting more is a good thing too
I don't think so. It ended on the perfect note with the characters coming full circle. The story ended.
I'm sure I remember seeing an interview with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg soon after the last series and they said that there was going to be another. I guess when it came down to writing it they decided they'd done enough or they got busy with other projects.
Nope! Kill it while it's good - always leave the audience wanting more.
13:25 Can you give me 3 pilots for any TV shows that fit the description you just provided? I can't say I've ever thought "wow, the pilot was the best part of the show".
Twin Peaks, Firefly, for two to start with.
The Battlestar Galactica (new version) pilot ...
the key phrase is "supposed to be" which in many cases doesn't turn out to be true. the idea being you try to put your best foot forward to create a positive enough first impression to sell the series. Obviously there are things that benefit from being shot later, for example actors getting a better grip on their characters or in some cases even being recast after not doing well in the pilot.
The result of 'money' being the motivation rather than art.
While its disappointing that there where only two series, I would have loved to have seen more, though understand why they didn't.
The only good US remake I've seen was Wilfred, and that was only because they had the original (Australian, writer, producer and actor in it).
Only the office was a successful British comedy America was able to remake. I don’t even like the show but it seems to be loved.
From the clips, it seems like they downplayed the Mike stand-in's military obsession. I have to wonder if it's because America was in the midst of a war at the time and our reserve troops were being sent into combat. It would have been hard to lean into that aspect of the character without getting into politics.
I didn't know about this but it honestly performed about as well as a lot of American remakes. (I.T. Crowd? Jesus..) It lacks subtlety and you can tell the actors don't get the references or the jokes. I can't call it a rule exactly, but when you see Will Sasso in an American version of an English property (Doctor Who 1995), it will most likely fall flat.
Honestly, the closest thing the US got to their own version of Spaced is Portlandia.
Never heard of this before, but even watching this video, it is easy to tell how little effort was put in. The cinematogrophy alone is so subpar compared to the original that some jokes are literally ruined by it
Please do the American red dwarf pilots next
Spaced was a great creation of it’s time, filled with British humour which can’t be recreated for a American audience. The film references perfect for the time it was made . It was perfect. The actors can’t be replaced. I think it had the heart and soul of the cast who wrote it. Why do Americans keep ruining wonderful British sitcoms? You just can’t translate something that’s so English so why try and fail? Just come up with something original that’s written for your intended audience, it will get a much better reception as our humour is so different.
Great video! Loved it! My only criticism - and take it or leave it as you have WAY more subs than me, is that you speak in waves. One two pause three four pause five six pause - honestly, if that's you and your style then absolutely keep it! But (and again, please disregard if you see fit) I much prefer it when the commentary can get a sentence out.
I honestly hope that doesn't come across as rude - I genuinely enjoyed the video and the content! But we don't talk, like this, in my, opinion
.
No worries I get what you are saying
WTH?! The tried to remake spaced?! Blasphemy
The heart is missing out of the remake. Friends made the original while a studio produced the remake. There's no chemistry in the cast and there is no love in the production.
Spaced reminds me of the Canadian show Twitch City
The English show was using America movies references.
It's odd the American version regularly changing the characters story is odd.
Wow! Another great breakdown! Great video!
Thank you!
Why did they try!! You could NEVER capture the chemistry of the cast and all the off the wall craziness of the stories, references and Legendary characters in SPACED.
BTW the now Defunct show "CALL ME CAT" was an American version of the MIRANDA show. Even though Miranda Hart was a producer it was a rather 2nd rate version of the Hilarious British series. All the Physical Comedy that Miranda was Brilliant at was done in the US Version but at 5 percent the energy. CAT was cute but nowhere close to MIRANDA.
Will Sasso couldn't even save this show and that says a lot.