After The Good Place, it seems we've seen a spike in "big idea" comedies that seem so much more expensive than traditional comedies. In 2020, we had HBO's Space Station 5th Avenue, which started with an opening episode so disappointing I didn't continue, and Amazon Prime Upload, set in a digital afterlife where niceties are bought by microtransactions. In Netflix Space Force, shared by Upload creator Greg Daniels, General Mark Naird (Steve Carell) is in charge of the new branch of the military. Can the United States successfully conquer the stars? Things are not as simple in Space Force as Naird had hoped. There is a tension between science and the military at the heart of this branch, as Dr. Adrian Mallory (John Malkovich) rejects the branch's most aggressive ambitions. The existence of the Space Force itself and its cost are under study. And Naird himself is forced to move his family across the country to his new job, creating tensions with his daughter Erin (Diana Silvers).
Reaching the stars
The concept of Space Force is so big that it sometimes feels like the show is what it really is: a workplace sitcom. Some of the storylines in the episode seem to come from previous seasons of The Office, if you remove the spatial context. Take the fifth episode, which is all about war gaming, with the Space Force competing with the Air Force in a series of team building exercises to bragging rights. This intrigue is in most '90s sitcoms in one form or another, except here the budget is much higher and you have John Malkovich in the cast. As a parody of the US military, Space Force isn't as rich in jokes or satire as I'd hoped, probably because its real-life counterpart seems so strange. Even when the main Space Force idea drives the story, like in episode two where Naird and his team of scientists try to order a chimpanzee to fix a satellite, it's hard to see. Space chimpanzee jokes seem very dated, even with the expensive CG simulator of the Space Force. It just doesn't find enough to do with its main idea and the laugh is pretty clear on the ground. That being said, Space Force is pretty easy to watch, and my investment in characters has slowly increased over the episodes. It's not nearly as funny as I'd hoped the caliber of talent in the series would deliver. And maybe after a few months of lockdown where streaming is part of a limited selection of entertainment, my expectations were maybe too high.
![]()
(Image credit: Aaron Epstein/Netflix) Maybe I'm just grumpy, but the reason Daniels' past creations (Parks and Rec, The Office, King of the Hill) resonated is that they brought the humor out. of the common Perhaps Space Force can be a good vehicle for jokes, but there isn't enough of it here. The length of the episode, which frequently exceeds 30 minutes, also makes the series languid. I wonder if the same episodes forced into the traditional 20 minutes could improve the pacing of the show and lead to a higher rate of jokes per minute. The entire Space Force is the best. Carell, also a co-creator, is a major step up for Netflix, and alongside him and Malkovich, you've got Friends and Parks' Lisa Kudrow and Rec's Ben Schwartz. You'll also see plenty of American sitcom regulars. The series also features actor Fred Willard's latest television performance, and it's a joy to watch here. Netflix US will lose The Office at the end of 2020 and win Seinfeld in 2021. The old sitcom is still important to the world's most popular streaming service, and Space Force is a brave attempt to give subscribers a new offering to get excited about. . It's not as fun as it should be. Like The Office, maybe Space Force will take a second season to really hit its stride.