SPACED

Two weeks ago I got the following email from my friend, Shawn.

Subject: Have you watched SPACED?

OMG, this show is freaking hysterical. It's Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

With no television set, I was glad to have a program to watch on YouTube. Each episode of SPACED was split into three segments, and I immediately watched Episode 1, Part 1. I am amused to a minimal degree by even the worst British comedies—I believe that this is because there are certain commonalities (which I am not coherent or focused enough at the moment to attempt to identify and explain) which exist among them. I, at first viewing, mistakenly categorized SPACED in the minimally to moderately funny group. Luckily I felt a bit under the weather one day this week and needed something to watch as I lay curled up, fetal position, on the couch. Having tapped out the resources of www.tv-links.co.uk, I revisited SPACED. "OMG" is right. The series (two seasons, 14 28-minute episodes in total) hit its stride by the second episode and consistently delivered. So much so that I had watched the entire series by the next day. In my defense, the weather was also really crappy.

The premise is simple: a guy (Tim) and a girl (Daisy) meet in a coffee shop in London and realize that they are both looking for a place to live. They pose as a "professional couple" to secure an apartment. Thrown into the mix are a lonely, quasi-alcoholic landlady; a tortured, unsuccessful artist in the basement apartment; Tim's best friend, Mike, who was kicked out of the Territorial Army because he commandeered a tank to invade Paris; and Daisy's best friend, Twist, who is "in fashion" (an embellished description of her job at a dry cleaners). The cast is great, the characters endearing and identifiable (if one has ever been a bit unfocused at a point in ones life). I think my favorite episode is #3. Here's the description:

Tim has been up all night playing Resident Evil and is still feeling the effects of some speed that he bought. Daisy has an interview at a new women's magazine publisher. Brian's ex-partner of performing art, Vulva, invites him to a showing of his newest performance piece. Daisy and Tim join him. Tim freaks out and starts seeing everyone as Zombies because of the mix of booze, speed, Twiglets (which make him violent) and the lack of sleep he's had. When Vuvla acts rudely towards Brian, Tim comes to the rescue with his hallucinations. (IMDB)