‘Space Force’ fails to lift off
Steve Carell’s return to TV isn’t as funny or clever as you’d hope
In TV, there is often a dichotomy: shows everyone is talking about versus shows that everyone should be talking about.
In this week’s example, there is the disappointing Netflix comedy “Space Force” vying for attention with the gripping AMC drama “Quiz,” based on a real-life “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” scandal in England.
‘Space Force’
The funniest thing about Netflix’s “Space Force” is the title, taken from the oft-mocked, President Donald Trumphyped military branch, and the potential for comedy that comes with the reteaming of Steve Carell and “The Office” showrunner Greg Daniels.
Alas, imagining the concept is funnier than anything in the show’s early episodes, which mine stale humor from the pitfalls of military bureaucracy. Mr. Daniels’ recent Amazon entry, “Upload,” proved superior.
Streaming Friday, this “Space” farce follows four-star Gen. Mark Naird (Carell, affecting a distracting gravelly voice), who dreams of running the Air
Force but winds up tasked with leading the newly formed sixth branch of the U.S. armed forces, Space Force.
The premiere episode is overstuffed with TV comedy stars — the late Fred Willard, Jane Lynch, Ben Schwartz, Diedrich Bader, Patrick Warburton — but none of them have much to do, and most aren’t even series regulars. As in “The Office,” the regulars are largely unknown actors, and in the early going their characters are barely developed. There’s a possible Russian spy here (Alex Sparrow) and a chopper pilot there (Tawny Newsome).
The leads aren’t well developed, either. Naird doesn’t seem to suffer from the exact defects that ultimately made Carell’s Michael Scott a tragically funny boss caricature, but it’s also unclear what his deal is.
Perhaps with time to grow the characters in “Space Force” will develop into something worthwhile. “The Office” and
Mr. Daniels’ “Parks and Recreation” were pretty wan early on and didn’t blossom until their second seasons. But with all the content options available today, waiting for a series to get better is a substantially bigger ask now.
‘Quiz’
Even the most pop culture-obsessed Americans might have missed the British “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” scandal because it began the week of 9/ 11.
AMC’s “Quiz” (10 p.m. Sunday) retells the saga in a brisk three-episode series that stars Matthew Macfadyen (Shiv’s husband, Tom, on HBO’s “Succession”) and Sian Clifford (“Fleabag”) as British Army Maj. Charles Ingram and his quizobsessed wife, Diana.
“Quiz” efficiently introduces the development of “WWTBAM,” which was originally called “Cash Mountain,” in parallel with showing Diana’s innately British obsession with pub quizzes, which she attends regularly with her brother, Adrian (Trystan Gravelle).
Charles is uninterested in trivia contests and even after “WWTBAM” becomes a British TV hit, he goes on the show only after Adrian and Diana manage to get on the show but bomb.
The “WWTBAM” producers are wary of so many members of one family making it into the hot seat opposite host Chris Tarrant (Michael Sheen). Only later will they discover how many viewers had been plotting their way onto the series nationwide. But when Charles shows up, they initially brush him off. He’s dithering and not particularly confident his first night in the chair, but he manages to win the top prize the second night.
Producers suspect Charles cheated with help from Diana and another mega-fan in the studio, Tecwen Whittock (Michael Jibson), who are suspected of coughing on the correct answer as Charles reads over the list of multiple choice options.
Episode one this weekend offers the setup, episode two (June 7) is mostly Charles in the hot seat — it’s as nervewracking as watching a regular “WWTBAM” episode — and episode three (June 14) follows Charles, Diana and Tecwen on trial for allegedly cheating.
To the credit of writer James Graham and director Stephen Frears (“A Very English Scandal”), “Quiz” rigorously offers both sides of the story and allows viewers to decide: Did the Ingrams cheat, or, as their attorney (Helen McCrory, “The Queen”) argues, are these coughs, which are among many coughs heard from the audience, just coincidence leading to confirmation bias?
“I remember watching this trial ... and then [a] documentary that followed that trial and being spellbound and being utterly convinced that of course they did it,” Mr. Graham said in January at an AMC news conference during the Television Critics Association winter 2020 press tour. “It was so obvious and so audacious. … But then about five years ago a book was published called ‘Bad Show’ by Bob Woffinden and James Plaskett, which raised new doubts that the story is quite what people think . ... So we just sort of present both sides .... ”