"Space Force" (Netflix). I guess my family are the only people who think it's funny

[underpants]

We watched the first two episodes last night and laughed a lot.

Aside from the politics (which seem very diminished so far) it’s either funny or it’s not. Like I said we laughed a lot. Yes we are fans of The Office but that’s not going to make us laugh now.

I’m reading the reviews and articles about how this was a sweeping miscalculation and misfire. How it’s a joke about us as a nation. Etc. look Carell has had some real duds recently there’s no doubt about that. I just don’t see this as one of them.

They have several funny standard sitcom type things - the running jokes between Gen Naird and Chan and his assistant- and it works. For us at least.

[Zoonart]

1. Critics are the troops that stand at the

lip of canyon and observe the battle that rages below.... then swoop down and kill all of the survivors.

I too think that Space Force is funny and it does convey the message about Government waste... the militarization of space and good people trying to work within a system that grinds them down. It think is is very current.

[underpants]

4. I started reading about it before watching it and stopped

I just wanted to watch it.

This morning I was just looking up how many episodes there are (without turning on the TV) and found article after article about how bad it is and these broad overtures about it.

Funny’s funny. It either is or isn’t. This is funny.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. I watched the first 3 episodes and liked it, though I wouldn't say it's hitting on all cylinders.

I also found the unexplained jailing of Mrs Naird off-putting. The way my attention strays while watching TV, I assumed I missed the reason so I went back and tried to find the explanation. Nada. Then I looked up reviews online and apparently it's supposed to be an ongoing mystery.

[underpants]

3. Yeah that

Suddenly she’s in prison. My wife and I snapped a look at each other like Whaaaaaat?

I took it as a little mystery built in and sets Gen. Naird (there’s a joke in the name I know but hasn’t hit me yet) as the single father.

Look Malkovich is just flat out funny.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

5. It's funny...

Not all people have the same sense of humor.

[pnwest]

6. I found it hilarious - binged the whole series

in one day. Malkovich was a scream, and he and Carrel play off each other brilliantly. It’s subtle which is why it will get shitcanned, cause the majority of the public need to be hit over the head with the jokes. It’s not perfect, there were a couple of things toward the end of the last episode made me roll my eyes a bit, but for a pleasant distraction with cute, subtle humor - it’s great. Sincerely hope there’s a season two!

[underpants]

9. Yes Malkovich just kills me

My daughter said “He seems like he could be difficult to deal with in real life”. I laughed and told her some of the stories he used to tell on Letterman. Like the one that ends with one of his own daughters telling the other “A lot of people react that way to Daddy”.

Yes being intelligent is usually a killer for sitcoms. They do have a great chemistry between them.

Thanks.

[Thyla]

7. We watched the first 2 last night too

And found it brilliantly funny, more so than the trailers led me to expect. Kids enjoyed it as well and can honestly say I haven't laughed out loud at a tv show for a long time.

Casting John Malkovich has to be coup of the year, he is brilliant. Fred Willard had me in stitches too.
This in my opinion is a very, very good show.

[underpants]

10. When I saw Malkovich was in it I was sold.

Another though not for kids is Avenue 5. The first two episodes were ok for my daughter (14) but it got “bad” in terms of material. Great cast. Two from The Office. Very funny and fast paced.

[stopbush]

8. After watching five episodes, meh.

Last edited Sun May 31, 2020, 03:32 PM - Edit history (1)

Underwhelming, to say the least.

It reminds me of another Carell vehicle - Little Miss Sunshine - that had a cast that had me salivating at the possibilities but left me disappointed when all was said and done.

[underpants]

11. Ok. Thanks.

Little Miss Sunshine, to me, was him branching out during The Office. It was a quirky movie with a punchline at the end.

[stopbush]

13. LMS required suspending disbelief too often for me.

Seriously. What family - however dysfunctional - would make a seven-year-old girl assist in push starting a van, then risk her life jumping into a moving van? Just how much muscle power did the little girl add to the task of push-starting the van? I’d guess zero.

“It’s one of the quirky things that makes the movie fun.” Sorry. No.

[stopbush]

12. Finished all ten episodes. I still say meh.

And the very ending is simply lame.

I wouldn’t recommend it.

[CloudWatcher]

14. BBC: Space Force is one of the most astronomically good shows Netflix has released during lockdown.

The BBC seems to have liked it: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200529-space-force-astronomically-good-tv