The brilliant cast of the Brit-com Spaced, now on DVD in the US (BBC Warner)
If you only buy one DVD this year make it Spaced . Seriously, it's funny. Very funny. This show will not only make you laugh, it will get better with each viewing as you pick up on more and more of the pop culture references. This1999 Brit-com brought together actor/writer Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright, the comic geniuses behind Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz . But the U.S. DVD release of their show was held up in production limbo for years due to music-rights issues (every show is crammed with musical quotes). The U.S. DVD box set comes out July 22 (that' today people!). In the show Pegg and Jessica Stevenson (now Hynes) star as Tim and Daisy, twenty-somethings who meet by chance and decide to pose as a "professional couple" to rent an apartment. He's an aspiring comic book artist who's just been dumped, and she's a writer looking for any excuse not to write. Each episode is loaded with riffs and homages to movies and TV shows. The references range from discussion of which minor Star Wars character the entire trilogy hangs on to simply framing a shot like Woody Allen.
Pegg told me the "series was about people living their lives through pop culture. Their lives were mirroring movies and TV shows. Whereas now Edgar and I are making movies so it's no longer about mirroring, it's no longer about people living their life through pop culture, we are making pop culture. So you can see the beginnings of what we're interested in in Spaced, and possibly evidence of what we might do in the future."
So far, everything they've done has been brilliant. Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Jessica Hynes will all be at Comic-Con on Friday July 25 for a panel and a screening of fan fav episodes. "Cocked locked and ready to rock!"
Check out our KPBS Comic-Con Blog where you can find videos, recommendations, and live coverage of the Con... and hopefully some video of Simon, Jessica and Edgar...
