Last year Edgar Wright told me that he though they could possibly stop McSpaced, the US version of his classic TV show Spaced, from ever happening. It turns out that trying to stop McSpaced is like trying to wish away cancer – you can’t do it.
The show is moving forward, despite the cries of rage from a million fans. The American version of the show will be produced by the guy behind Will & Grace and will be from McG’s production company, and it is almost certainly going to lose every single bit of the charm, wonder and magic of the original. Here’s what Edgar has to say on his MySpace blog:
For anyone who missed my previous blogs, me, Simon [Pegg], Jessica [Stevenson] and Nira [Park] are not involved in any way, shape or form.
And neither do we want to be.
That show was very personal to us.
It’s about Simon and Jessica, not just some format or high concept.
It pains me to see it reduced to this…
“Single-cam half-hour revolves around a young man and woman who pose as a couple in order to rent a cheap apartment.”
Feel free to vent. I haven’t got the energy right now.
I continue to wonder what the exact point of remaking Spaced is – without the genius of the people involved and their very specific nerdy pop culture sensibilities, you’re left with a generic sitcom concept that doesn’t really have a ton of US name recognition. It’s the execution that makes Spaced special, not the idea of two people pretending to be a couple to get a cheap apartment.
It’s Edgar, Simon and Jessica who are really getting the shortest end of this stick, since Spaced wasn’t something they did for the money but was a project that meant a lot to them, and as Edgar says, was about them. Some people are saying that the up side of this is that more folks will be turned on to the original, but I feel like there is no up side. Unless a plane full of gay rapists crashes into the studio where the pilot is being shot on the day McG is visiting. And McG survives the crash and is trapped in the rubble with the rapists for a week. That’s an up side.
By the way, it looks good for a Spaced DVD release in the near future. We’ll keep you updated.
22 comments
aw devin, did your eyes well up when you got this news? you big pussy
Spaced was fuckin' great. This shit is a travesty. But we really shouldn't worry, as it'll probably last 4-5 episodes and get canned.
Everybody said the same thing about the Office. Whatever. Why not wait until they deliver a product before you start laying into it.
The US OFFICE is 1/18 as good as the UK one. It's junk in comparison.
Well, the makers of the U.S. Office at least, you know, told Gervais and Merchant they were planning to re-make it, and then consulted them about it. Didn't Wright and company find out about this junk in the trades?
One of the things that I loved about Spaced was that the first episode sets up this generic, Three's Company-esque premise, and then the rest of the series completely and utterly ignored it. If you take away everything that made it good, you're just leaving it with the generic premise. They'd do better to give it a different name and not claim any relation to the original.
I hope we get the shot for shot remake that was the original Office Pilot with this remake. That would be The Apple-level awesome-bad.
Seriously, what are they buying with the premise (which they've already destroyed if they do it "single cam")? Indie cred? Hasn't Edgar and co. already shit all over that? Why not call it "Roomies"? Cause where do you live in America that you have to pretend to be a couple to get an apartment that wouldn't work against whatever "hip" sensibility they're shooting for? Maybe you could set McSpaced in Mississippi and see how far that gets you.
My head is 1/18th the size of Devin's left ass-cheek.
Here's hoping Edgar & Simon will do a podcast trashing the show shot by shot.
who cares if they remake the show if you still have the original to watch. get upset over something worthwhile
Silver Lining: Maybe this will force a DVD release of the original?
Dellamorte, the original series was done "single cam" as well, so I'm not sure what you mean by that. This project is doomed to fail for any number of reasons other than that.
I think the real travesty is that there has been no US release of Spaced on DVD.
"Single cam" is the designation of shows following in the would-be documentary style of The Office, ala 30 Rock. Or dumbspeak for faux-verite. Spaced was way not faux-verite, even if BBC only gave them one camera to shoot it.
I was politely informed I was wrong. I guess I just took SC as defining the faux-Doc style that has taken over sitcoms, since most recent sitcoms have been shot that way. Shows you I don't know my TV terminology as well as my movie stuff.
Channel 4, not BBC – Shows you what else you need to research.
Well the bright side is….McG produced Chuck didn't he?
Chuck has tons of geek references and isn't bad most of the time.
Why do people get so pissed about remakes???? You still have the original. Who cares if the new show is a big bowl of fucksoup?
Simon Pegg has weighed in with a response:
http://www.peggster.net
Great, another reason to hate McG. Im gonna need another bit of paper.
"I continue to wonder what the exact point of remaking Spaced is – without the genius of the people involved and their very specific nerdy pop culture sensibilities, you're left with a generic sitcom concept"
But see, that's exactly the type of shit that gets ratings in this country. It's a brilliant move on McG's part.
The office is based off a British show with different writers and look at the cult following they have now with the american version.
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