TV’s most over-qualified comedy cast is set to get a little more over-qualified-er tonight, as Netflix announced that it’s ordered a second season of Greg Daniels and Steve Carell’s Space Force, the show that dared to ask how many absolute ringers—Ben Schwartz, John Malkovich, Tawny Newsome, Lisa Kudrow, Chris Gethard, Aparna Nancherla, Dan Bakkedahl, Jimmy O. Yang, Patrick Warburton, the late Fred Willard, Jane Lynch, jesus—you can throw at a show and still not actually make it as funny or enjoyable as it should be. Per Deadline, the show’s second season will add Parks And Recs and Brooklyn 99 alum Norm Hiscock to the show’s production team, where he’ll serve as co-showrunner with Daniels.
For those unfamiliar with Space Force, it followed Carell as Air Force general Mark Naird, a stiff and by-the-book military man tasked with running a wing of the military tweeted into existence by a wildly ill-informed (if unnamed, in the show) POTUS, while also balancing a surprising amount of family drama with rebellious teen daughter Erin (Diana Silvers) and incarcerated spouse Maggie (Kudrow). The show drew much of its comedy in the first season from the rigidity of Carell’s Naird in the face of challenges from folks like the program’s head scientist (a delightfully dry Malkovich) or its vapidly cheerful social media manager (Schwartz, doing his damnedest to get this rock up the hill through sheer energy and charisma alone). The trouble was that the show never actually seemed to settle on whether Space Force was a genuinely good idea or not; it occasionally showed signs of being a truly mean-spirited, potentially brilliant satire, but was just as likely to pull the punch for a feel-good “Good people doing good work” conclusion.
All of which may or may not continue in the show’s second season; clearly, though enough people tuned into the first to make Netflix’s decision to pull the trigger on a second outing make some kind of logical sense.
72 Comments
Really? They’re going to renew the Trump joke that’s already dated, but not GLOW? Netflix needs to get it’s shit together.
Alison Brie and Betty Gilpin should kick Steve Carell’s ass
God I hope Biden sees the bill for Space Force and says “Don’t we already have NASA? Why don’t we give them this ridiculous check and let them, I don’t know, actually re-enter the space race”
They should definitely re-enter a race that ended 60 years ago.
The sane course of action would be to fold it back into the Air Force. And while we’re at it, fold the Marine Corps back into the Navy. The stupid violent parts of our national identity are based far too much on the Marine Corps.I’m okay with not folding the Air Force back into the Army, because out of all our military branches the Air Force has the best song.Also, command over the nuclear arsenal should be transferred to the Coast Guard.
I find it amusing that there are never any headlines when a network renews a popular but mediocre TV show, but when Netflix does it, the snark comes out. Netflix is not in the business of making quality TV, period. Just like CBS renewed BIG BANG THEORY for twelve seasons, Netflix is gonna renew shows that a lot of people watched… and ruthlessly cancel shows that aren’t popular.
So this is basically going to outlive the real thing (to the extent that the real Space Force “exists”).
This show was exactly as funny as it should’ve been, which is to say, moderately. Throwing big name stars at a comedy is almost counter-productive. See SNL’s cold opens over the past ~decade.
“This show was exactly as funny as it should’ve been, which is to say, moderately.”I binged it (thank you COVID) when it came out, and that was exactly my thoughts. It’s a stacked cast, yet somehow I was like, meh. It definitely did get better towards the end of that first season, so we’ll see if it improves with this second season. Knowing Netflix though, as soon as it does find its pace and rhythm, it’ll get cancelled. I’m going with three seasons max. In all seriousness, how many shows has Netflix renewed past four-five seasons? Imports don’t count. I can think of House of Cards. Possibly some kids shows that I’m unaware of. None of the Marvel shows made it beyond three seasons. Their programming leaves me baffled at times, and the last current show that I’m a bit of a fan of, The Umbrella Academy, got re-upped for a third season, but I’m not keeping my fingers crossed for a fourth season.
Orange is the New Black made it 7 seasons, but the last 3 were so bad, I see how you’d forget they happened.
See my reply to my50thBurner above (or below). I seriously already forgot about Orange. I think HoC sticks in my mind because I lived in DC for a while and also because of the Spacy shit. I have a soft spot for stuff actually filmed in cities I’ve lived in (see also: Pittsburgh, Madison, etc…). I never finished HoC but the first episode showed a brick sidewalk that was unmistakably DC.
I couldn’t make it past episode 2. Steve Carrell is a funny man, but he’s a particular kind of funny and this wasn’t it for me. The extremely talented cast and the big name showrunner is the only reason Netflix is renewing this. I think Orange is the New Black is the longest running Netflix original and will probably hold that distinction until the end of time. House of Cards is second and may have had some life left in it had Kevin Spacey not been a predator. The three-season model is fine, but only if the creators of those shows have a beginning, middle, and end planned already. Netflix makes the mistake of throwing money at everything shiny they see and then don’t plan for the future if things don’t work. Their limited series are usually pretty spectacular, but not using a pilot structure for shows that will have multiple seasons hurts them a lot.
“The three-season model is fine, but only if the creators of those shows have a beginning, middle, and end planned already.”I somehow think this may be the right model for them. And most series in general, FWIW. Have an endgame in sight, set yourself up for it season one, present the real conflict in season two, and resolve everything in season three. That we’re left hanging after a good season one (I’m not talking Space Force, FYI), and not knowing for six months or a year afterwards, and then it’s renewed, I’ve already lost interest. I do kind of get it: They wait that time period before re-upping the series so you’re basically forced into watching the first series again so you know what’s going on again. But…It’s flawed in a way, because you’re set up for more already, but have no idea if another season is gonna happen. This is also why I’m so hesitant to start a new show, because, yeah, it may be good, but if it only ends up being one season (or two) and ends on that typical cliffhanger, and then doesn’t get renewed, I’m just, FUCK THIS. There’s a lot of good shows out there on streaming, and the production has gone through the roof for a lot of them and that’s probably not cheap, but if you can’t just guarantee me a minimum three seasons I’m probably not gonna waste my time. I know Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, etc, are still figuring out this new wasteland of what streaming series should be, their architecture, because the network TV model is essentially dead. Figure it out, streamers, and stop yanking my chain.
The whole “wait for a year” thing is the worst part of it all. That’s the only thing that network tv has figured out that these streaming services don’t (cable is way behind the both of them because we probably won’t see the end of Better Call Saul until 2024). If Netflix wants to commit to the three-season model, they should just jump all in with three seasons. Instead, they guarantee one and then just sort of play it by ear after that. If they chose quality over quantity, that could totally work for a show to be guaranteed three seasons and avoid the one-year waiting period.
Uhm Steve Carell, Ben Schwartz, Tawny Newsome, Lisa Kudrow, Aparna Nancherla and Jane Lynch are all comedy folks and known for that first and foremost. They are also actors as things go.
Uhm, yeah, big name stars, comedy first or otherwise.I really can’t think of a standout comedy with a big budget and/or stacked cast. The only comparisons that come to mind are some of the more recent (and middling) Apatow vehicles. I guess some people have kinda come around to Mars Attacks…
“Throwing big name stars at a comedy is almost counter-productive”Putting a bunch of comedians in a comedy series. This is not entirely unique to a TV series. Your comparison to SNL doesn’t even make sense really.
Yeah, a huge, stacked cast of comedy leads and known mainstays. I genuinely don’t care if I’m wrong on this as a d!k measuring contest (also, I can’t engage in such a contest currently, as my microscope is broken [yuk yuk yuk!]).
But has there ever been a comedy made with a cast of established sitcom/movie leads that was more than Meh? I can think of many with *two* big names, but beyond that, it kinda goes downhill.
The Good Place and Bored to Death are two I can think of. Probably more if I could escape the Danson-verse.
Moonbase 8 makes Space Force look like Step Brothers.If you go into Space Force thinking of it as a drama instead of a comedy, it actually isn’t too bad.
kill yourself
The Dr Emilio grey and replying to you is the fake troll account and should be dismissed.
I am so fucking sick of that guy and seeing all the stars he gets for his dumb “Star Wars” comments.
This is exactly right. It was inoffensive and mildly amusing, which made it an acceptable thing to watch when visiting mom. It’s like mediocre pizza. Not the best food, but it’s still pizza and most people will eat it.
The fact that this gets renewed and GLOW gets cancelled is so infuriating.
my dad hates moliere because throughout the whole thing you’re supposed to be amused or titillated like a cat cleaning its asshole but you never really laugh
This Internet rando likes your old man.
Funny enough, Carrell’s line read on “motherFUCKER” in that header image is probably the only time the show gave me a gut laugh. At least I think he said motherfucker. Maybe it was more of a gut chuckle.
Ugh – really. This and Emily in Paris but not Glow. FFS…
It’s the tonal whiplash with this show that gets me. Half the cast is being order to do extremely-mean Ianucci-style political dark comedy, while Carrell is meant to be playing an aw-shucks good ol’ boy dope. It’s got the bit where they’re trading insults in the Pentagon about Carrell’s new command, but then they have the “HAHA! See, he’s says he’s not an uptight jerk while he’s standing to ramrod-straight attention as soon as he gets out of bed, about-faces, then marches to the ensuite!” bit of pseudo-slapstick.You know what else did that? War Machine. Brad Pitt’s character: loveable goofball. Everyone else? Cynical arseholes. I’m guessing Netflix has a style for comedy now.
Hopefully they’ll figure out what Carell’s character is. It’s not just Space Force the show’s not sure about.General Naird bounces back and forth randomly between being wildly incompetent and suddenly being stirringly inspirational. A lot of first seasons go through some stumbling, but I hope it this gets cleared up.
I feel they had this show conceptually all wrong. They should have focused the show around Ben Schwartz’s character, a washed up PR guy desperately trying to put a positive spin on a disaster of a space program, as those are by far the most entertaining scenes. The fact is they have no idea what Carrell’s character is. Is he an idiot? Is he not an idiot? Who knows. But he should be a supporting character, not the main draw.
I watched a whole season with the focus on Carell’s character. I would not watch an entire episode with the focus on Schwartz’s character.For my money, Schwartz will never be more than a very annoying secondary character that’s good for a laugh or two, but not enjoyable for long stretches.
Wouldn’t be the fist time he was on a show that had a really rough first season that didn’t know what to do with his character.
Bring in McGinley.
I enjoyed it enough. I watched every episode. I’m already paying for Netflix and it’s nice to have something new to watch.
How the hell could they renew this but cancel Teenage Bounty Hunters?!
Because more people streamed this than Teenage Bounty Hunters.
Teenage Bounty Hunters was kind of a mess. Not sure how this made the cut though.
Santa Clarita Diet. Covid wasn’t even happening and they can’d it.
I’m never going to stop being mad at Netflix for cancelling Santa Clarita Diet and GLOW.
I’m not-so-secretly hoping that Drew Barrymore’s absurd lifestyle show finds an unironic audience and becomes as big a property as Martha Stewart, and when people start complaining about the world being taken over by Drew Barrymore I can tell them, “Well, we only have Netflix to blame for this.”
A lot to be mad about with those fuckers. Not even BoJack was ultimately spared from getting an early axe.
Came here to shout this exact same thing!
For real. There’s no way TBH cost less to produce. But I guess this one drew bigger numbers, even though TBH was a much better show.
My Dad (poor taste) was obsessed with it just because it had Steve Carell and Trump jokes. This is a show parents fall asleep to. That’s why.
I think this is good. I mean Parks and Rec had a super rough first season but slowly became awesome after that (although King of the Hill was hilarious from the start). Now I can just wait to see what kind of reception season 2 gets before I decide if it is worth it to power through the half of season 1 I haven’t watched.Honestly I think a big thing to improve this show would be to cut about 4-5 minutes out of each episode right from the start. Because some of the episodes I watched started funny but then just dragged themselves to the end. If they were writing network style 22 minute stories I think they would be a lot tighter and focused on the humour.
A lot of the streaming sites original comedy shows have that problem with rhe running time
I would say that is true for a lot of streaming shows in general. There has been a bunch of times where I have wanted to get into a new drama but not wanted to spend 65+ minutes watching an episode. That last season of Luke Cage was brutal, there was no reason that episodes of a super hero show (that wasn’t that great to begin with) needed to be over an hour.
Netflix would just cancel it if it was good from the start.
Netflix, so we can just go ahead and say second and final season.
I liked this show. I thought the monkey bit that happened in the 2nd or 3rd episode was funny as hell. And I’ll tell you this, this show is 18Xs funnier than Moonbase 8, which is perhaps one of the worst shows that came out this year. Seriously, that show is a comedy that isn’t funny at all.
The monkey scene was basically the only moment of the first season to make me laugh.
This show is awful.
Exactly.Moonbase 8 makes Space Force look like Step Brothers.If you go into Space Force thinking of it as a drama instead of a comedy, it actually isn’t too bad.
kill yourself
“this show is 18Xs funnier than Moonbase 8, which is perhaps one of the worst shows that came out this year.”Moonbase 8 is so bad it makes the ridiculous Emily in Paris look like great thoughtful entertainment. But this isn’t a compliment for Space Force. I admit though that Space Force is 5x funnier than Avenue 5…
It’s not that I didn’t like it, it’s that I didn’t watch it.
they have the worst taste in renewals- no GLOW or Teenage Bounty Hunters but this. At least Tawny Newsome is there.
all i have to say about this show is i called the “black on the moon” joke like 15 minutes before it happenedidk i mean it was okay? but so totally fluff that it’s hard to remember anything about it. he sings songs a lot when he’s sad. malkovich is malkovician. i remember liking all the characters but i don’t remember much of what they said.
I think SF was the first time I’ve finished a Netflix show because of sunk cost fallacy. Every episode I watched I thought “okay this is the one where it’s gonna elevate to hilarious” and every one I was let down. It is just so meh.
Hopefully we can have another Daniels/Carell sitcom that had a not great start and got exponentially better in its second season.
Fantastic. First that horseshit Emily in Paris, now this dirge. Yet GLOW, The Order, The Society, I Am Not Okay with This, and most egregiously of all Teenage Bounty Hunters get cancelled. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: fuck you, Netflix.
This sounds like a pity fuck renewal. Netflix doesn’t want to alienate Daniels and Carrell so they’ll let this thing limp along for another season, probably two, then can it and everyone can pretend they saved face. This article fails to mention that the production is moving to Vancouver to cut cost. Not a great sign.
Ortherwise know as the Chuck Lorre or Seth McFarlene effect.
Holy crap, B Positive was awful. And whoever signed off on those opening credits should be fired.
kill yourself
I didn’t think it was a great show, but I think they struck a good note with the political comedy by satirizing the behind-the-scenes stuff at the Pentagon like budget and procurement rather than tackling headline issues directly. I was also kind of shocked by how well the AOC stand-in worked, both as a character and as an impression.
Moonbase 8 makes Space Force look like Step Brothers.If you go into Space Force thinking of it as a drama instead of a comedy, it actually isn’t too bad.
The AV Club is very mad that this show turned out to be a pleasant workplace comedy and not a constant string of stinging Trump barbs.
I thought Netflix granted them 2 seasons from the start. Norm Hiscock has had a very long career that started as a writer for Kids In the Hall. Also SNL, King of the Hill
Having watched the whole series, my personal issue with Space Force was that it wasn’t the show I wanted it to be. I was hoping for a surreal farce, ala IT Crowd, with the cast getting in zany hijinks that escalated in absurdity and chaos by the conclusion of the episode. Instead it was a pseudo feel-good drama with occasional funny moments. I suspect they wanted the former but either ran out of ideas or decided the world was already bitter or cynical enough and there needed to be heartwarming denouements every episode.A second season seems like something no-one wanted – the best I’ve heard anyone say about it was that it was mediocre.
It was pretty meh, but all Season 1s of Greg Daniels shows are meh, so I’m game to give Season 2 a try.
Loved it.