Hey,
I am currently writing an essay on Spaced, and part of this essay is analyisng whether or not it conforms to genre conventions blah blah etc. Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone around here was at all aware of a list of genre conventions/codes/attributes/that sort of thing for the sitcom, and whether or not you could point me in the right direction?
I know this is a bit random but yeah. Any help at all would be massively appreiciated.
Hi there, if you check www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom there are a list of pointers for wannabe sitcom writers. I think this could be used as a checklist almost as it's based on genre conventions to some extent. Hope it helps.
I've always thought Spaced was outside the box interms of sitcoms, well in the natural sense.
I'm not an analytical person, but I think it's quite traditional in terms of characters, storylines and so on. If I were doing the essay, I would use the line from Spaced, 'They say that friends are the new family' (I think I've misquoted slightly there, apologies to die-hard fans) from series 2 and then look at traditional family sitcoms and see how this friends-being-family thing fits into that.
The storylines are things like losing jobs and general job dissatisfaction, boyf-girlf relationships, lying and getting found out, and strained friendships. I would say you could find these themes in many traditonal sitcoms.
The reason why Spaced appears to be so far outside the box (as Scott mentions, it's actually only superficial appearance that makes it seem so) is the fantastic direction and camera work that gives it a 'now' feel. It had a pop-art spin to visuals, and effects, that had rarely been employed in sitcoms to that date.
Behind it all is a very normal 'odd-couple' flat-share but with the ever-lurking twist of potential romance between the main characters dangled in front of the viewer. The flashbacks, rewinds, and misleading sequences that are revealed to have only happened in imagination were however very clever (on more levels than one) because it gave the impression of a completely new thing while the material was, on closer inspection, standard fare.
Spaced is still a milestone in sitcom development and a true gem waiting for the non-cultist to discover. I love it. Spaced 3 please.
What Slag A said.
Apart from Series 3 
Quote: SlagA @ March 9, 2007, 10:14 AMSpaced is still a milestone in sitcom development and a true gem waiting for the non-cultist to discover.
Interesting. Do you think that there's enough there to appeal to a non-cult audience? From personal experience, I'd probably argue that there isn't.
I love Spaced, and - just for the record - my claims of it's traditional nature are a compliment. I agree that the presentation was really fresh and it's this combination which made me love it so.