Skip to main content

Must All British TV Series Be Adapted?: FOX Plans US Version of "Spaced"

Yet another entry from the annals of what in the hell are they thinking: FOX has given a put pilot commitment to an American version of.... wait for it... Spaced.

While, yes, The Office proved that you can successfully adapt a British television format for US television, it seems that no one was paying much attention to the recent crop of botched attempts like Viva Laughlin, The Thick of It, and The IT Crowd. Hell, does no one remember Coupling?

What you're seeing right now is my jaw spinning out of control on the floor. If there's one series that really shouldn't ever be messed with and transformed into a US comedy, it's Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson's brilliantly mordant series Spaced, which ran for two seasons beginning in 1999 on the UK's Channel 4.

The series was an early pairing between actor/co-writer Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright, who would go on together to bring us such feature films as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Spaced, which aired Stateside on cabler BBC America, has a deceptively simple premise: a pair of young sad sack slackers, Tim and Daisy, move into together in what appears like the perfect apartment, but with one hitch: their doddering landlady Marsha will only rent them the flat if they pose as an actual romantic couple. Hilarity ensues.

The setup is in fact a convenient excuse to bring two of the most woefully underemployed and charming slackers together under one roof, along with the cast of quirky characters, and a plethora of Generation X pop culture references, circa 1999. As I've previously discussed, the sight gag alone of Tim and Daisy transforming themselves unwittingly into Scooby Doo's Shaggy and Velma is alone worth the price of admission.

Which is what makes me so sad. Spaced on its own, as it exists, is as close to television perfection as you can get over the course of 14 hilarious, absurd, and touchingly funny episodes. The fact that it's survived nearly ten years without an attempted American version has made me hopeful that it would never be tampered with by US networks.

Alas.

FOX has hired former Will & Grace writer Adam Barr to adapt the series. He'll executive produce the pilot, along with McG and Robert Green. Warner Bros. Television, Wonderland Sound & Vision, and Granada are all behind this pilot adaptation.

Personally, I love Spaced and think that Pegg, Stevenson, and Wright's series is absolutely sublime but as for any Americans looking to catch a glimpse of this witty and hilarious series, you'd do much better to try and catch the original.

Comments

Eric said…
I don't disagree with your opinion on Spaced, but do we know for a fact that "The IT Crowd" was a failure? As far as I know, they never filmed it.
Jace Lacob said…
The pilot for the US version of The It Crowd was filmed and, having seen it, I can say that it was a stinker... Ouch.
Anonymous said…
No, no, no, no, no! Why do they keep doing this?
Anonymous said…
oh....no. No, no, no!
Bfarn said…
NOOOOOO! They be stealin' my Spaced!

I agree completely that they will botch this. And I happen to like McG. But they're gonna turn this into some sort of edgy bullshit, with, I don't know.... Seth Green, and some hot chick, and a laugh track, and I will be sad.
Yet another wonderful British comedy that will be lost in translation when brought over to the US. We may speak the same language but, aside from a few gems (such as "The Office") when we drag these brilliant British shows across the pond they inevitably arrive on our shores cold and soggy.
Anonymous said…
You just know it's going to be bad......

Leave SPACED alone you morons.

Tim & Diasy 4ever.
Bill said…
Initially I wasn't entirely opposed to the idea. Plenty of adapted british shows have worked just fine (Golden Girls and All in the Family were too, right?), they seem to have about the same success rate as original shows... most suck, but you never know. And maybe free cash for some creative guys who deserve it.

But apparently Simon & Edgar are not only not involved and have no financial interest, but it sounded like they didn't even know about it until it hit the trades.
Anonymous said…
I don't think so. I didn't watch British Tv series.
spacedadict said…
being british i was shocked to find out there is going to be a us version of spaced because i love it so much think the us version would be no were near as good as the british version i just hope that it doesnt stink.
tv reviews said…
They really should stop doing that. It worked out great for some TV shows like The Office but that is no guarantee for anything else.

Popular posts from this blog

What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season

Pilot Inspektor: CBS' "Smith"

I may just have to change my original "What I'll Be Watching This Fall" post, as I sat down and finally watched CBS' new crime drama Smith this weekend. (What? It's taken me a long time to make my way through the stack of pilot DVDs.) While it's on following Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars on Tuesday nights (10 pm ET/PT, to be exact), I'm going to be sure to leave enough room on my TiVo to make sure that I catch this compelling, amoral drama. While one can't help but be impressed by what might just be the most marquee-friendly cast in primetime--Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Jonny Lee Miller, Amy Smart, Simon Baker, and Franky G all star and Shohreh Aghdashloo has a recurring role--the pilot's premise alone earned major points in my book: it's a crime drama from the point of view of the criminals, who engage in high-stakes heists. But don't be alarmed; it's nothing like NBC's short-lived Heist . Instead, think of it as The Italian

The Daily Beast: "How The Killing Went Wrong"

While the uproar over the U.S. version of The Killing has quieted, the show is still a pale imitation of the Danish series on which it is based. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "How The Killing Went Wrong," in which I look at how The Killing has handled itself during its second season, and compare it to the stunning and electrifying original Danish series, Forbrydelsen , on which it is based. (I recently watched all 20 episodes of Forbrydelsen over a few evenings.) The original is a mind-blowing and gut-wrenching work of genius. It’s not necessary to rehash the anger that followed in the wake of the conclusion last June of the first season of AMC’s mystery drama The Killing, based on Søren Sveistrup’s landmark Danish show Forbrydelsen, which follows the murder of a schoolgirl and its impact on the people whose lives the investigation touches upon. What followed were irate reviews, burnished with the “burning intensity of 10,000 white-hot suns