Edgar Wright-related stories
Posted Jul 24th 2009 1:03PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Web, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Hulu has been making all the right, super-sweet moves lately, at least in my book. Not only is the site streaming the marvelous British comedies
Peep Show and
Green Wing, but now
Spaced is on Hulu, too.
Spaced! You can tell I'm excited because I put an exclamation mark on it. The show has been available on DVD in the States for quite a while, but now that both seasons are online, there really isn't any excuse to not experience it. Is it obvious that I have a weird, almost evangelical need to spread the word?
Continue reading Spaced on Hulu! Now you have no excuse to be uninformed
Posted Aug 2nd 2008 10:01AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on DVD, Reality-Free
Sometimes television shows come along that completely change the industry.
Spaced is one of those shows. Broadcast on Britain's Channel 4 from 1999 to 2001, it used geeky pop culture references, non sequitur scene injections, flashbacks and other common television practices nowadays way back when it wasn't cool to do so. In that respect, it's a combination of
The Big Bang Theory and
Arrested Development long before either existed.
When co-creators and co-stars Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson (now Jessica Hynes) created the main characters Tim and Daisy, they created characters that every nerdy person could relate to.
The show does cater to a very specific audience and it's the sort of audience that tends to be the most loyal, even obsessively so. Nobody is particularly super-handsome and the characters are very niche. Also, the show doesn't really talk down to the audience and makes the viewer feel like part of the conversation. This is unlike, say,
Arrested Development which tends to be a bit pretentious (sorry to all you
Arrested Development fans).
Continue reading Spaced: The Complete Series - DVD Review
Posted Jul 3rd 2008 9:24AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV on DVD, OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-Free
The American DVD collection for
Spaced is finally coming out, and Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes and Edgar Wright will be promoting it through their US invasion. Well, by "US invasion," I mean they're going on a
four-city tour, screening episodes and answering questions in NYC, LA, San Diego's Comic-Con, and Austin. That's sort of an invasion, yeah?
Anyway, I was just sitting here and feeling sorry for myself, like I do, doubly so this time because I won't be able to attend any of those inevitably textbook events. Then, I stumbled across this recent
blog entry from Simon Pegg.
Continue reading Not new Spaced, but it will have to do
Posted Jun 11th 2008 9:07AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Reality-Free
To promote the American DVD release of the BBC series
Spaced on July 22nd,
the creators and director will be doing a U.S. tour. Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes (formerly Jessica Stevenson) and Edgar Wright will be stopping by the L.A. Film Festival to promote the event and future stops may include the San Diego Comic Con, Austin and New York.
The Region 1 DVD will include a brand new
all-star commentary track that will include the creators and director as well as various guest stars including Kevin Smith, Matt Stone (co-creator of
South Park) and Diablo Cody (writer of
Juno).
There was an attempt by McG and Fox to create an American version of
Spaced that didn't involved the original creators. Fortunately, that has been
put to rest.
In short, if you're a
Spaced fan and you live in the vicinity of Los Angeles, Austin or New York then you are a lucky, lucky person.
Posted May 11th 2008 2:03PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, Cancellations, Reality-Free
If the rumors are to be believed, then
the inevitable has occurred. Fox has passed on the Americanized version of
Spaced (nicknamed "McSpaced") and its fans are breathing a collective sigh of relief.
Producer McG made a huge mistake when he decided to not include the creators of the original, British version in his remake yet he included their as if they were still involved. Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes-Stevenson and Edgar Wright have been very vocal in their displeasure regarding the remake.
Known for its cinematic style and pop culture references, the original
Spaced launched the careers of everyone involved. Pegg and Wright have gone on to bigger and better things (such as
Shaun of the Dead and
Hot Fuzz) and Stevenson has starred in several British productions afterwards.
It's never a good sign when one is trying to remake a show and pisses off the original creators. NBC was smart enough to have the creators of
The Office rewrite their original pilot and give them creator credits. Why couldn't
Spaced?
[via
Aint It Cool]
Posted Mar 3rd 2008 7:00PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, TV on DVD, OpEd, Celebrities
Let's start with the good news, because I like ending on a downer. American fans of the British comedy
Spaced, starring Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes (nee Stevenson), and Nick Frost, are in for a treat because the
Spaced Region 1 DVD finally has a release date! Expect the good stuff to come out July 23 of this year. I'm tempted to buy it just because it's something new, shiny, and
Spaced-related, but I already splurged on the 3-Disc Collectors' Set and a region-free player that I got just so that I could watch the series. Why, yes, I am a sad little person.
Continue reading Good news and bad news for Spaced
Posted Nov 5th 2007 2:01PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Celebrities
When I first heard the news of an
American Spaced remake, I was outraged, just based on principle. How dare McG touch one of my favorite shows of all time? How dare he even entertain the very notion? "For shame, McG," I thought, "For shame." I then proceeded to the nearest Best Buy, where I collected all the copies of
Charlie's Angels and
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and set them alight. I was then banned from entering any Best Buy ever again, but I think I made my point clear.
Spaced director Edgar Wright
recently updated his blog with his own thoughts on this situation and now I'm even more upset. The gist is this: McG and FOX are planning to remake
Spaced. Director Edgar Wright and writers/stars Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson were not contacted before the decision was made to pursue an American version. They will not be involved in the same fashion as the way Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant worked with NBC's adaptation of their creation,
The Office.
Continue reading Spaced's Edgar Wright is pissed, and rightfully so - VIDEO
Posted Oct 27th 2006 10:07AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Cable, Programming, OpEd, Horror, Comedy Central
I don't know how long these promos have been running on Comedy Central, but during
South Park, I just saw a bug promoting the television premiere of
Shaun of the Dead (Saturday at 9 PM EST!). I was so giddy, I choked on air. Although I've seen it a million an one times, I am very excited that it's coming to American cable.
Shaun is one of those films that I constantly try to get people to see, so it's nice that some fresh meat will watch it without me having to strap them to a chair and do various
Clockwork Orange-y things to them.
Also, I am quite interested in seeing how much they edit from the film. After all, it is a rather gory movie... and the language is quite coarse (heh, Ed's not going to have any lines in the television version, is he?).
Continue reading Shaun of the Dead coming to Comedy Central
Posted May 13th 2006 3:18PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, BBC
BBC America
will start airing one of my all-time favorite shows,
Spaced, starting June 23.
Spaced is an absolutely hilarious show, loaded with clever references to various aspects of stoner/pop/geek culture, from Tekken 2 to zombie flicks to
Star Wars. It's from the makers of
Shaun of the Dead, so expect that sort of material (but with less gore and a lot more
mimed gun fights). Plus, the show features a rather cool-looking Mark Heap (Dr. Alan Statham from
Green Wing) as a miserable, young painter. The now-defunct Trio channel aired the show to coincide with the American release of
Shaun of the Dead back in 2004, but I haven't seen
Spaced on TV since then. Now that it's on BBCA, maybe my American friends will know what I'm quoting all the time.
BBC America also has
Peepshow coming June 30 (I've heard a lot of good things). Apparently,
Peepshow and
Spaced will be a part of BBC America's late-night adult comedy line-up, "The Underground". Well, I would hardly consider
Spaced a candidate for this, but... okay.
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