Well, this is potentially pretty awesome. Supposedly, Spaced — the brilliant Y2K-era British sitcom (or “Brit-com” to use a term I invented just this minute) from the guys who did Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz — is finally (finally!) coming out on Region 1 DVD on July 22. Possibly. Maybe.
If you don’t know the show, it’s the story of two twenty-something “creative types” who have to pose as a professional couple to get a nice flat in London. Aaaaand that’s about it: they hang out with friends, try to get jobs, go to clubs, attend neighbour’s gallery shows, and play video games. The hook is the combination of affectionately-drawn characters and surreal pop-culture-riffs — everyday life becomes the scaffold on which to hang J-pop interludes, fantasy action-movie sequences, and dense layers of movie references. I already acquired the series via “other” means, but I will quite happily shell out my cash for a legitimate DVD version, if only to push it on everybody I know. Features will apparently include commentary tracks by Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith and Diablo Cody, among other illustrious hipster personages.
The reason I qualify it all, though, is that I can’t find the official source of the announcement. Just a bunch of gossip sites quoting each other. And Amazon seems to have not heard the news, because there’s no entry, and no pre-orders. Plus, any internet-based announcement involving Quentin Tarantino should set off warning bells. But hey, fingers crossed.
Amusing anecdote: First time I saw an episode of Spaced, I was pretty unimpressed — it seemed too hip and precious and not enough funny. Now, I would say it’s one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. The moral? I’m an idiot, but at least I’m trainable.
http://midequalitygroup.co.uk/events/2021-07-31/ update: It’s listed at the BBC America web site, so looks like my skepticism was misplaced. This time.