Steve Carell’s New Netflix Series ‘Space Force’ Is Shockingly Bad

Daily Beast ^ | May 26, 2020 | Kevin Fallon

[C19fan]

There’s a very annoying thing in the age of streaming. It’s the “just wait until episode five... it gets real good” thing. The “I know there are close to 1,000 TV series to watch but spend several hours not enjoying yourself so you can appreciate when this arbitrary show finds its way” thing. The very annoying thing that—groan of all groans—can be true if you have the patience and/or the masochism to investigate. And so when it came to Space Force, I watched through episode five. And then I watched episode six. And episode seven. And episode eight. The show did not get good. Maybe it was disbelief that kept me hitting “play next,” or at the very least confusion. If not, perhaps it was misguided optimism?

[Flick Lives]

Three I have discovered on Amazon, worth checking out:

- Bosch - Superb
- Longmire - Superb
- Giant - Very Good

—

You might want to checkout “The Expanse”, a sci-fi series set in the near future. Plenty of interesting characters in that series.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Bosch is a cut above...and it was an entirely unexpected find.

[Seruzawa]

The Expanse. Simply excellent

[x]

Avenue 5, another space comedy, was also lousy and idiotic. It's from the people who made Veep so it should have been good, but it seems like they knew politics better than they know space or anything else. Also, all of the standard PC stuff, mandatory characters, etc.

Aniara, the very serious Swedish film that may have served as the basis for Avenue 5, dragged along, but was not terrible. It was definitely a downer, but it evoked some classic SF emotions about the hostile vastness of space.

[Yo-Yo]

Must be as bad as Comedy Central's "That's My Bush!" that tried to satirize the Dubya Whitehouse in 2001. It was so awfully unfunny even to the "selected, not elected" liberals, that the show lasted less than two months.

[x]

The Brits were smart not to drag out and wear out the idea.

I couldn't stand Carrell and Krasinski. Ricky Gervais left me wanting more. They didn't.

[Terry L Smith]

I was in grade school when Alan Shepherd was shot into space.

I will watch the REAL story of “Space Force”, with equal anticipation.

[catnipman]

below, is my “Good TV series” list (no particular order; streaming or cable only):

Deadwood (based closely on true life events)

Justified (based on Elmore Leonard’s “Fire in the Hole” story; one of the best TV series ever)

The Larry Sanders Show (insanely funny show that parodies late-night talk shows)

The Expanse (best science fiction series ever; CGI used well for a change)

Sherlock

Doc Martin (comedy)

Midsomer Murders (humorous murder mystery detective homicide show)

Death In Paradise (humorous murder mystery detective homicide show)

Preacher (crazy, crazy, crazy, occult show)

Fargo (the series; riveting characters and stories)

Mr. Robot (good for the first couple of years, but degenerates after that)

Bosch (homicide murder mysteries based on Michael Connelly’s books)

Ray Donovan

True Detective (oddball murder mystery homicide detective anthologies)

Hap & Leonard (buddy series based on the books)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (1st two years only)

Silicon Valley (THE best sitcom made since “Seinfeld”; insanely funny, especially for those in the biz)

Westworld (1st season only)

Broadchurch

Happy Valley

The Fall

John Adams

Foyle’s War

Hinterland

Band of Brothers (mini-series)

Weeds

Entourage

Californication

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (movies turned into a limited series)

The Wire

True Blood (really peters out badly after in the last few years, though)

The Walking Dead (really peters out badly in the last few years, though)

Game of Thrones (awesome until the last year which was not very good; last episode truly atrocious)

House of Cards [UK]

House of Cards [US] (decent until the last year, especially the last episode)

Sopranos (one of the best series ever made)

Breaking Bad (another of the best series ever made)

Dexter (really great after the first season, but disappointing ending, though)

Maniac (brilliant fictional mini-series, grossly mistitled)

Tiger King (Honey Boo Boo with tigers, murder and mayhem)

Bordertown (subtitles)

The Office (UK) [a few belly laughs if you can stand the tedium]

Hatfields & McCoys (mini-series)

Terriers (only a single season)

Better Call Saul (spin-off of Breaking Bad; uneven in quality and interest, but a few great episodes and always great characters)

Chernobyl (absolutely compelling 2019 mini-series)

Orphan Black (earlier seasons are the best)

Portlandia (insanely funny; last two seasons totally sucked because the show runners fired the writers and tried to write it themselves)

Rectify (extraordinarily powerful, especially as the series progresses)

Santa Clarita Diet (comedy)

Bloodline (drama; amazing characters and acting)

The Terror (mini-series based on Dan Simmons book base loosely on real events)

Archer (animated, fantastically funny, last 2-3 seasons not very funny)

Ugly Americans (animated, one of the funniest animated series ever made)

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

Jack Taylor

[HamiltonJay]

I am not debating the show was popular, I am simply saying, in my opinion it was absolute crapola... I know others felt differently.

[nwrep]

Well said. I agree 100%.

[CodeToad]

I can’t imagine any Netflic show about Space Force being of any interest. The real thing is highly classified and people tend to guess what it’s about in wrong ways.

[nwrep]

Wow, how can someone watch so much TV? That is thousands of hours of wasted life. Are you retired, if you don’t mind me asking?

[LocDoc]

when sleep will not come watch alot

[Bommer]

Cant be worse than ‘The Orville’.

[dead]

It’s of course tempting to watch Space Force with the expectation that it will skewer Trump, an imbecilic administration, and a bureaucratic clown show— there are a handful of moments that directly interact with the current political climate. That one of those is the very first scene of the show sets the expectation that Space Force will offer at least some kind of political commentary. That those moments are so sporadic, yet still so concentrated and blunt when they come along, contribute to the series’ fatal flaw. There is an absence of a point of view; it’s never made clear what the show set out to do, say, or even be.

I have no doubt the show sucks, but this reviewer's main complaint seems to be that it is not quite ham-fisted enough in its Trump bashing, that sometimes the viewer is not really sure if the show is bashing Trump or the AOC character or the Pelosi character.

Not enough "orange man bad" to be palatable.

[LastDayz]

Ozark

[Fightin Whitey]

Your first mistake was watching Netflix.

Worse still to shelter anyplace near Steve Carell or his video image.

[minnesota_bound]

Steve Carell is not funny, just annoying.
I watched ‘The Office’ because of Pam Pam.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BFj9EBiAvmU/maxresdefault.jpg

[redhead]

Well, I might watch it if he reprised his “Despicable Me” character, Gru.

[PhiloBedo]

That was “Linc” from the Mod Squad.