Edgar Wright: “I can confirm too, that Simon was never contacted either. I don’t really want to get involved at all, but it infuriates me that they would a) never bother to get in touch but still b) splash me and Simon’s names all over the trade announcements and infer that we’re involved in the same way Ricky & Steve were with The Office.”
Even worse, McG is involved in this remake. Which is entirely unnecessary.
The Call by Yannick Murphy: The always interesting author of Here They Come and Signed, Mata Hari returns with a novel that whips up a worldview from a rather quirky set of limitations: namely, the call logs that a veterinarian maintains as his son is unexpectedly put into a coma and an unforgiving economy denies him work. What emerges is a surprisingly optimistic, often funny, and very moving account on how one family uses acceptance and forgiveness as a way to atone for hard knocks. (Bat Segundo interview with Murphy)
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber: Forget Franzen and Eugenides. If you're looking for a social novel that counts, Diana Abu-Jaber is the author you're looking for. Building from the free-form exploration of consciousness and identity in Crescent and the gripping procedural structure of Origin, Abu-Jaber's latest novel is her finest, equally fluent with gutterpunk culture and smarmy real estate men. It has been suggested by The Washington Post's Ron Charles that you will likely gain some pounds while reading this novel. This is certainly true. Abu-Jaber's description of food is so precise that it often made me want to do more cooking. But I very much admired the way in which Abu-Jaber presents all her characters as unwitting victims of rough capitalism, which permits them some dignity even as they perform terrible acts.
The Last of the Live Nude Girls by Sheila McClear: This memoir isn't so much about the decline of the Times Square peepshow, as it is about one young woman's efforts to pull herself up by by her bootstraps when presented with few economic options. Filled with self-introspective candor and a quiet dignity, McClear's story is one that might befall any of us in these volatile times. While McClear does get back on her feet, her book leads one contemplating the terrible fates of other young women now moving to New York and falling into deadlier vocations. (Bat Segundo interview with McClear)
I look forward to how McG will completely miss the point of the hilarious “Playfighting” episode of SPACED….
“They shoot with their bare hands? I don’t get it. Change it to a paintball tournament.”
No. No no no no no no no. NO.
Just the premise alone gives me bad memories of COUPLING’s transition to the US.
Ironically, they could have left COUPLING intact for the US, and it would have worked.
The problem is (and it goes in both directions) that for every ALL IN THE FAMILY and THREE’S COMPANY and THE OFFICE that makes it on the other side of the pond, there are at least a dozen corpses of other shows that died in translation. Generally, producers and networks think their own audiences are too stupid to get the other side of the pond’s humor. Never mind that those same audience made the imported reruns popular in the first place. (And how in the hell can you replace Jack Davenport? You’d have to teach him an American accent! Only way it would work!)
MEN BEHAVING BADLY, anyone?
McG is just unnecessary altogether.
When did it become okay to make fun of a sandwich? I think McG’s a pretty good director for two pieces of bread and some meat.
So funny that a bunch of Americans (one being my g-friend) introduced this Anglo-Aussie-american Mutt (Me) to SPACED; and we wondered why NOBODY with influence had at least noticed the sales of the UK DVDs to US homes and said “Well, at least we can release a US region 1 set… ”
Well, now we know why– People in the TV and FILM industry are stupid and self-centered, behind the times, and clueless… It’s a miracle shows like “Heroes” get made at all…
And ironic that the pop culture references that make up most of Spaced’s dynamic are AMERICAN shows/movies in the first place….