Space Force - General Discussion

[Guest]

Just announced by Netflix. No premiere date yet. New show created by and starring Steve Carell and produced by Greg Daniels:

 

Related article:

Netflix's 'Space Force' brings Steve Carell back to TV 'Office' comedy

[BetterButter]

John Malkovich, Ben Schwartz, and Tawny Newsome sign on for Steve Carell's Space Force show

[BetterButter]

‘Space Force’ Premieres on Netflix in May, See the First Images From the New Steve Carell Comedy Series

[BetterButter]

 

[khyber]

Saw a review of this, it wasn't positive. Too bad, this has a great cast.

[Raja]

The Launch hooked me in. If it wasn't for work I might have binged through the series.

Boobs Boots on the moon 2024

R.I.P.  Fred Willard

Edited May 29, 2020 by Raja

[Guest]

19 hours ago, khyber said:

Saw a review of this, it wasn't positive.

I haven't seen any of the episodes yet but watched the preview posted above and that was painfully unfunny. I don't have a whole lot of hope for this series. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Yes painfully unfunny. Bailed halfway through first ep. waste of great cast. 

[WritinMan]

I liked the first episode. Not hilarious, but I thought it was amusing.

[zibnchy]

Watched the whole thing yesterday for a distraction. I felt like the jokes didn't land very well. Either they started strong and fizzled or the gags went on way too long.

Points off for criminally under-using Lisa Kudrow.

It is not necessary for every show to have an angst-y teenager. This show spent way way too much time on the teenager (I've literally blocked out her name.)

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Watched the first episode. Wasn't nearly as funny as I hoped it would be but with this cast there is tons of potential so it might be worth sticking around for that. The joint chiefs meeting at the beginning with Patrick Warburton and Jane Lynch was the best part.

[camom]

What a waste of some great actors.  Did they explain why Lisa Kudrow was in prison or did I just miss it?

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, camom said:

What a waste of some great actors.  Did they explain why Lisa Kudrow was in prison or did I just miss it?

No, they just said she got 40 years. The humor was very subtle jabs at the current administration. My favorite was using the budget for the Post Office to fund the Space Force. A very talented cast, funny parts include when the heads of the military were joking around about what they would like to do to China and the Secretary of Defense approved all their actions. I also liked the scene where the soldier says: "It'll put that 2 year old's grin right back on your puss."

[Raja]

42 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

. I also liked the scene where the soldier says: "It'll put that 2 year old's grin right back on your puss."

That's Spaceman, wear the title proudly. 😇

Edited May 30, 2020 by Raja

[iMonrey]

Watched the first episode and, wow, it was bad. The scene with Steve Carell singing "Kokomo" made me cringe. 

It reminded me of Avenue 5, which was also painfully bad despite a great pedigree and a great cast. Makes me wonder if anything having to do with space is jinxed or something. 

I'll probably give it another episode or two, maybe it will grow on me. But ouch, this wasn't good at all.

Quote

It is not necessary for every show to have an angst-y teenager. This show spent way way too much time on the teenager (I've literally blocked out her name.)

Agreed! I think writers much be working through their frustrations with their own teens or something.

[Raja]

Perhaps if the daughter was a junior/community college student who stayed with dad while complaining. instead of a 16 year old high school'er with a Russian Captain. Sort of a Meathead living off of Archie Bunker and complaining while being supported by him.

Edited May 30, 2020 by Raja

[Spartan Girl]

I thought Steve doing "Kokomo" was one of the funnier moments. Now I e got that sing in my head...

Did NOT need the part with the monkey and the dog.

[Ms Lark]

I watched the whole series over the past two days. Not sure I'd have watched as much in a different non-Corona time. It's not wildly funny and does criminally underuse Lisa Kudrow and Jane Lynch. Malkovich is good as grumpy scientist. Interesting to see Jian Yang from Silicon Valley.

3 hours ago, camom said:

Did they explain why Lisa Kudrow was in prison or did I just miss it?

Not sure if I missed it, either, but I don't think they ever said. Guess they're going for a 2nd season since it ended on a bit of a cliffhanger (if you can even call it that).

[juno]

6 hours ago, camom said:

What a waste of some great actors.  Did they explain why Lisa Kudrow was in prison or did I just miss it?

Did a bit of research and found this:

Space Force': Why Is General Naird’s Wife Maggie in Prison?

29 May 2020

by Phil Owen and Jennifer Maas

The Wrap

(Warning: This post contains spoilers for season 1 of Netflix’s “Space Force”)

 

Spoiler

“Space Force” on Netflix may be a sitcom, but it also low-key has a mystery going throughout its first season. It’s not a super obvious mystery — instead, it’s the sort of thing you might not even notice until somebody calls your attention to it, like how at the end of “Layer Cake” you realize you have no idea what the name of Daniel Craig’s character is.

What we’re talking about here is the situation with Maggie Naird (Lisa Kudrow), who spends almost all of the season in prison. But the weird thing about that is that “Space Force” never establishes what she did to end up there. We just get only the vaguest references. At one point, General Mark Naird (Steve Carell) says that Maggie committed a “very serious crime.” On several occasions the characters mention that she’ll be locked up for at least 40 years, and one time it’s specified that her sentence is 40-60 years.

But nobody ever says what Maggie actually did. It’s not presented as a mystery, since it’s not necessarily important to the plot to know what her crime was. It’s just this strange information gap that never gets filled.

So we asked “Space Force” co-creator Greg Daniels about it.

“At the moment, we’re kind of enjoying the mystery around it and the question marks that it raises. It causes you to lean in because we’re dropping little hints about what it is and how serious it was. So we’re enjoying not being specific at the moment. You didn’t miss anything. It’s not in there,” Daniels told The Wrap.

“It was pretty serious, clearly.”

So let’s examine the clues, which are very scarce. Obviously, we’ve got the stuff mentioned about — the 40-60 year sentence, Naird saying the crime was “very serious.” Beyond that, there’s just about nothing to go on.

Also Read: TheWrap-Up Podcast: 'Space Force' Star Ben Schwartz, the Box Office Fate of 'Tenet' and the Launch of HBO Max

The first episode contains a time jump of about a year, and the crime, or at least the trial, occurred during that gap. You’ll recall that Maggie was not in prison at the beginning of the premiere episode. But from there her imprisonment is basically just a fact of life, and there isn’t even any kind of discussion about the crime.

But we have a few clues nonetheless. The first is that lengthy prison sentence, which is way too long to be something mundane. The second is that whatever she did wasn’t so serious that Naird was fired or forced to resign from his post at Space Force — though considering that “Space Force” is a comedy there’s probably more leeway here than there would be in real life.

Generally speaking, a sentence like that comes with a conviction for murder, sex crimes, or high-volume drug trafficking. But “Space Force,” which is at its heart a light comedy, is not the type of show that would go in either of those directions. But if we look at U.S. sentencing guidelines we can see other possibilities. Possibilities that could make for funny jokes.

While a prison sentence of 40-60 years is pretty much as high as the American criminal justice system goes before a life sentence, there are crimes that can earn that sort of sentence that could work as a gag. Per U.S. sentencing guidelines, there are two items that we think could fit that bill: piracy and kidnapping.

While we typically think of piracy as a water thing, right now we’re looking more at air piracy. For example, perhaps Maggie, distraught about having to movie from D.C. to Colorado as her husband takes over the new Space Force, had a breakdown on the flight out and tried to hijack the plane to force it to return to D.C. Really, Maggie would be around aircraft of all kinds so often that there are any number of situations we could imagine for a piracy charge.

But realistically, whatever the crime is, it’s likely the end up being the result of some kind of misunderstanding rather than something that would make us dislike Maggie. And honestly, the way Carell said “very serious crime” came off like he was trying to hide that it was actually something stupid and embarrassing instead of legitimately serious.

And hey, maybe that line of thought is why we don’t find out what Maggie did this season. Maybe they had planned to tell us, but the crime didn’t quite fit the tone of the show so they cut it.

Or maybe it’s just that the lack of an explanation is itself the gag and we’ll never actually find out what she did at any point before “Space Force” wraps up for good. Which would be pretty funny.

 

[zibnchy]

4 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Did NOT need the part with the monkey and the dog.

This is a great example of a gag that did not land AND went on far too long. I think it would have been amusing as a short gag but, as long as it was, it just came off as stupid and boring. Also the entire undertone of "Look at these cute animal astronauts. When we're done with them we just leave them in space to slowly starve to death" was a BIT off-putting.

 

4 hours ago, Ms Lark said:

Not sure I'd have watched as much in a different non-Corona time.

I probably would have bailed during the first episode, which was pretty unfunny. I stayed for Lisa Kudrow and was disappointed. This show is probably going to do well enough because people are bored, restless, angry and looking for something funny and light. Unfortunately this isn't that I think.

5 hours ago, Raja said:

Perhaps if the daughter was a junior/community college student who stayed with dad while complaining. instead of a 16 year old high school'er with a Russian Captain.

Maybe if there's a season 2, they'll bring her back older. I think it could have worked if she'd been 18 or 19 (and slightly more mature). I honestly couldn't get past the creepy Russian Captain giving a 16 yo girl booze and then pawing at her. It was just too much CREEP! Fortunately they ditched that story pretty fast but I wonder how it made it to air at all.

[WritinMan]

Episode 2 with the dog and monkey story line was very poorly thought out. Kind of surprises me when productions like this don't have ONE person that says: "You know this seems like a really bad idea."

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, zibnchy said:

6 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Did NOT need the part with the monkey and the dog.

This is a great example of a gag that did not land AND went on far too long. I think it would have been amusing as a short gag but, as long as it was, it just came off as stupid and boring. Also the entire undertone of "Look at these cute animal astronauts. When we're done with them we just leave them in space to slowly starve to death" was a BIT off-putting.

 

I would have laughed if the Chimpanzee was in the Chinese moon car headed over to destroy the US base and he was having a great time.

[Ellaria]

I watched this because I am a huge fan of "The Office" and wanted to see what Steve Carell and Greg Daniels could do together again. 

It isn't really funny or, more likely, not as funny as it should be. Many in this great cast are under utilized - Patrick Warburton, Diedrich Bader, Jane Lynch. The attempts at satire aren't particularly original. John Malkovich's scientist is the highlight.

There are a few bad choices with story lines:

7 hours ago, WritinMan said:

Episode 2 with the dog and monkey story line was very poorly thought out. Kind of surprises me when productions like this don't have ONE person that says: "You know this seems like a really bad idea."

That sums it up for me. I was repulsed by it. 

The other bad choice was putting Lisa Kudrow's character in prison for basically the entire season without explanation. One minute she is crying in bed; the next scene it's an orange jumpsuit. Why throw her in prison (for 40 years, no less) and why keep the reason for it a mystery? It strikes me as a poor use of a character and an actress. Unfortunately, this is a decision that you can't walk back so it has to play out for however long this show goes on.

I binged the 10 episodes in a day - perhaps there is something compelling that kept me watching. Or perhaps I was just bored. Right now, however. I don't think that I would bother watching a 2nd season.

Edited May 31, 2020 by Ellaria Sand

[juno]

Even thought the ending might be the dumbest I have ever scene on television, I enjoyed the series. I especially enjoyed the dynamic between Carell and Malkovich.

[Impish Dragon]

20 hours ago, zibnchy said:

This is a great example of a gag that did not land AND went on far too long. I think it would have been amusing as a short gag but, as long as it was, it just came off as stupid and boring. Also the entire undertone of "Look at these cute animal astronauts. When we're done with them we just leave them in space to slowly starve to death" was a BIT off-putting.

 

I probably would have bailed during the first episode, which was pretty unfunny. I stayed for Lisa Kudrow and was disappointed. This show is probably going to do well enough because people are bored, restless, angry and looking for something funny and light. Unfortunately this isn't that I think.

Maybe if there's a season 2, they'll bring her back older. I think it could have worked if she'd been 18 or 19 (and slightly more mature). I honestly couldn't get past the creepy Russian Captain giving a 16 yo girl booze and then pawing at her. It was just too much CREEP! Fortunately they ditched that story pretty fast but I wonder how it made it to air at all.

They actually stated in show that she is 18 but a junior in high school.  I agree that she came across as a tv typical 16 year old.  I was hoping, with the brief glimpse we got of her at the beginning, she wasn't going to be so immature.

Overall I liked the series.  But I do feel it could have been funnier. 

[853fisher]

I really wanted to like this.  How could we go wrong with Greg Daniels and a great cast?  Unfortunately, for me, we did.  In a fundamental way, I didn't find it at all funny. I'm almost three episodes in and I could count my laughs on one hand.  I read a review which touched on the idea that the series was pitched at a time when the real-world Space Force was just the subject of yet another tweet, but of course now it is a very real thing.  I think timing has to do with why the show and I didn't vibe.

I might have felt differently three or four months ago, but after 100K dead and thousands of individuals and businesses crushed, as I confirm that my market isn't one of the businesses now closed indefinitely and plan my grocery run so I can be back home before our new curfew, a sitcom the gist of which is "lol, these incompetent hacks in our government!" just isn't very funny to me.  I'm sure some would say I need a sense of humor, but other shows are still very funny to me, just not this one.

I might even feel differently if there was anything particularly incisive or witty, but there isn't.  All I'm getting are tired plot lines like a troubled teen daughter, a few lazy or crude jokes like the guy from AL who couldn't pronounce "acai" or the 30sec bit about whether someone was wearing panties, and half a yuk with soundalike names.  A PR guy named "Scarapiducci"?  Congress's "Pitosi," "Schugler," and "the angry young woman from NY, Anabela Ysidro-Campos"?  Boy, I wonder who those are!

But then we don't go anywhere.  Why bother putting Kudrow's character in jail and connecting her to nothing?  Who thought that asinine chimp plot was worth all the time spent on it?  How can we be expected to care about the culture shock plot line with the daughter when it's almost exclusively tell-don't-show?  Is this really the last thing we're going to get to see Fred Willard in?  I have so many questions.

I've tried to choose my words carefully, because I know this isn't really the place for political talk, but I don't know how to react to a sort of political workplace comedy without touching on this.  I can't root for a fictionalized version of a real-life half-baked boondoggle, even if its chief seems to be a nice guy.  I can't laugh at a tweet about "boobs on the moon, but we think he means boots" when this weekend's real-life tweets are full of racist tropes, incitement of violence, and other sideshows.  I either need my entertainment to be sharper parody or stay away from these very real things.

Perhaps it gets better after the start.  I don't know.  I'm glad that others perhaps less tightly wound than me enjoyed it, but I think this was an ill-conceived mess and an utter waste of my time and a lot of good talent.

Edited May 31, 2020 by 853fisher

[ICantDoThatDave]

Sadly the most amusing thing for me was how far the show went to pretend that Steve Carrell & John Malkovich were ever actually in the same location. Seriously, start watching for all the camera tricks.

[Kel Varnsen]

2 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I really wanted to like this.  How could we go wrong with Greg Daniels and a great cast?  Unfortunately, for me, we did.  In a fundamental way, I didn't find it at all funny. I'm almost three episodes in and I could count my laughs on one hand

I have only watched the first episode and while it wasn't really funny I am willing to give it a ton of slack. I mean Parks and Recreation was also co-created by Greg Daniels and the first season of that show was rough. And it was nothing like what the show went on to become. I would hate to give up on this show and have it be the next P&R.

[TheWereCow]

Quote

Why Is General Naird’s Wife Maggie in Prison?

My guess: She tried to assassinate the president for giving Naird a trash assignment AND sending them to Colorado (the horrors!). 

I'm from Colorado and even I'd nope out of the eastern plains.

Edited May 31, 2020 by TheWereCow

[Raja]

4 hours ago, Impish Dragon said:

They actually stated in show that she is 18 but a junior in high school.  I agree that she came across as a tv typical 16 year old.  I was hoping, with the brief glimpse we got of her at the beginning, she wasn't going to be so immature.

Overall I liked the series.  But I do feel it could have been funnier. 

Given the subject matter throwing out one line in one episode seems rather cavalier.  Maybe they reinforce her age later.

[Chicago Redshirt]

The daughter character is sort of the epitome of what was wrong with the show.

For some reason they wanted to have a joke about a Russian spy cozying up to Naird's daughter. But to do that and not have it be completely creepy (because obviously, the Russian guy is an adult), they made her 18. But having her as an 18-year-old high schooler doesn't really make sense. Especially when they also want to have her throw tantrums about not having any friends and more that are more befitting a 14-year-old.

And they never really bother to flesh out anything about the Bobby -daughter relationship. Where/how did they meet? Why did they start dating? What does Mark know about the relationship, if anything and what does he think about it? 

Does Mark actually care about daughter? He decides to leave her for a week with a post-it note explaining that she's going to be gone. He doesn't seem to want to make arrangements to visit the mom in prison, and even takes off in a helicopter without her after she forces her way on the trip.

The Bobby/Bama/Daughter triangle is one that even the CW would have been embarassed to do. And Bobby just disappeared.

[WritinMan]

Well, overall, the season was not great. I got a few chuckles out of each episode.

I think Malkovich was the hero of the show. I've never liked Kudrow so all her scenes pretty much fell flat for me.

The daughter character is terrible.

I'll be surprised if this gets renewed.

[Marley]

I was excited for this but I thought it was terrible. I gave it a shot watched 6 episodes hoping somehow it would get good but it didn’t.

The way Steve Carell is making the character talk is annoying. It’s forced and stupid.

Why is a Lisa Kudrow in jail. I’m assuming they said why eventually but again I quit at episode 6. She’s hilarious tho and should’ve been in the show more and maybe it would’ve been better.

The daughter sucks. Bad actress. Bad storylines.

Ben Schwartz is only good in small doses.

Dr. Chan I was not a fan of or maybe it’s more the actor who annoys me. I just don’t find anything he does funny. I never liked him on Silicon Valley either.

The sets looks weird or cheap or fake. I’m not sure what it is but they aren’t good.

The whole cast just didn’t work for me together. I thought this show would be funny and awesome but it was not at all. I don’t think I laughed like once.

Edited June 1, 2020 by Marley

[Chicago Redshirt]

13 hours ago, Marley said:

Why is a Lisa Kudrow in jail. I’m assuming they said why eventually but again I quit at episode 6. She’s hilarious tho and should’ve been in the show more and maybe it would’ve been better.

The show never said why she was in prison. Just another misstep in a series of them.

Edited June 1, 2020 by Chicago Redshirt

[Ellaria]

16 hours ago, ICantDoThatDave said:

Sadly the most amusing thing for me was how far the show went to pretend that Steve Carrell & John Malkovich were ever actually in the same location. Seriously, start watching for all the camera tricks.

To understand...did Carell and Malkovich NOT film together? I have not seen any reports of it. 

[zibnchy]

3 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The show never said why she was in prison. Just another misstep in a seriees of them

I read an article that said that this (the not explaining why she was in prison) was planned that way and that there are multiple clues in the episodes to help us solve the question.

However, I (IMO) think the writers just didn't have any idea what to write for the character so they did nothing and all the talk about "clues" is just ass covering for a job poorly done.

This show is basically shit. Nobody is going to be talking about the "clues". They're just talking about how unfunny it is.

2 hours ago, Ellaria Sand said:

To understand...did Carell and Malkovich NOT film together? I have not seen any reports of it

I swear there were a few scenes where I said to myself "I don't think they (Carell and Malkovich) are even in the same room right now. I'm normally completely oblivious to such production things so for me to notice makes me wonder if there's really a story there. Hope so because it would make this show more interesting.

[cpcathy]

I really expected this to be funny, as we all did, the cast is great, but....ugh.

I laughed once at Steve Carell's face when he saw the missile launch fail. That was it.

Not giving us a reason why the wife is in prison. Not good. At least give us a standalone episode that is some sort of flashback. Having Lisa Kudrow in your cast, and you keep her in prison?  I wanted to like this since I've finished a bunch of shows while in quarantine, but now I won't be able to get past the second episode.

[Ellaria]

2 hours ago, zibnchy said:

I read an article that said that this (the not explaining why she was in prison) was planned that way and that there are multiple clues in the episodes to help us solve the question.

However, I (IMO) think the writers just didn't have any idea what to write for the character so they did nothing and all the talk about "clues" is just ass covering for a job poorly done...

...I swear there were a few scenes where I said to myself "I don't think they (Carell and Malkovich) are even in the same room right now. I'm normally completely oblivious to such production things so for me to notice makes me wonder if there's really a story there. Hope so because it would make this show more interesting.

Thanks! I didn't pick up on those clues. Maybe it requires paying more attention that the show warrants.  While its possible that they had no idea of what to do with the character, I agree that tossing her in prison is a poor way to address it. I think that it is more likely that they wanted to make Carell's character as miserable as possible.

As far as Malkovich and Carell not filming together, I guess I'll have to go back and watch some scenes to pick up on it.

 

[ICantDoThatDave]

8 hours ago, zibnchy said:

I swear there were a few scenes where I said to myself "I don't think they (Carell and Malkovich) are even in the same room right now. I'm normally completely oblivious to such production things so for me to notice makes me wonder if there's really a story there. Hope so because it would make this show more interesting.

This was the same for me.  I don't normally even pick up on such things, but it was so *blatant*.  For those wondering, watch how there's only one of them (Carrell/Malkovich) in the same camera shot.  Even when they're supposed to be talking to each other.

And when they are "in the same scene", it's the back of one of them's head.  I think the porch scene is the only time where they're actually talking to each other & the camera shows both their faces.  Them interacting was so obviously a green screen that it took me out of every scene where they were supposed to be talking to each other that it was all I could focus on.

Better CGI or an actually engaging story could have pulled it off & made me not pay attention, but I'm still 99% sure they were never on the set with each other, because it was so shoddily done that I was like, come on, they aren't both there.

Still, it's the least of this show's problems.  It's... just not funny.

Edited June 2, 2020 by ICantDoThatDave

[AnimeMania]

I went back and looked at a few scenes from different episodes with Carell and Malkovich and it looked to me like they were together in the scenes, but what do I know.

[Ellaria]

10 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

I went back and looked at a few scenes from different episodes with Carell and Malkovich and it looked to me like they were together in the scenes, but what do I know.

Same. I looked at a few scenes - granted not the entire show - and could not come to the conclusion that they were never on the set with each other.

I agree that the choices of direction/camera angle is odd in some scenes. So are lots of other things about this show. However, the cost to have your two lead actors film in completely different locations for the entirety of the series would be enormous. It also serves no purpose in the first year of the show.

Perhaps these filming choices did occur in a few scenes out of necessity. I don't think that any of us can know for certain. Regardless, this show has many issues and, if it is renewed, would not be well served by having its two leads not on set together.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Ellaria Sand

[chocolatine]

I've watched the first two episodes so far and didn't think it was that bad. I'm only interested in escapist TV these days, the more ridiculous the better, so this show fits the bill. Steve Carell is hit and miss here, but John Malkovich is great, and I'm enjoying Jimmy O. Yang as well.

[tomsmom]

I really thought I’d enjoy this MUCH more than I did. My biggest problem though was the fact that they never explain why the wife’s in prison. Wth. 

[thuganomics85]

Managed to finish this finally.  I didn't think it was awful as some of the reviews made it out to be, but it really was surprisingly dull and unoriginal considering all of the talented people behind it.  And, yes, a waste of an extremely talented cast.

My biggest surprise was that I actually thought Steve Carell was off of his game here.  I generally like him a lot, but I never really bought him as Naird, and he always just came off as an actor pretending to be what he assumed a military man acts like.  His voice just sounded overtly-raspy and felt off.  He just never embodied the role.  He got a little bit better at the end, but he was a surprising misfire here.

Meanwhile, John Malkovich basically played the same type of character that he usually plays, but considering how boring everything else was, that ended up being one of the best parts of the series.  If nothing else, his, well, Malkovichy ways are always good for a chuckle or two.  Kind of wished Mallory was the main focus instead of Naird.

Felt bad for Diana Silvers, because I though she was great in Booksmart, but wow, did she get stuck playing the worst kind of teenage character that you could play.  I hope her next roles are better, because she has potential, I think.

Ben Schwartz was amusing, even if I basically felt like Tony was Jean-Ralphio, if Jean-Ralphio was a media manager.

I know the Brad character was suppose to be annoying on purpose, but I was rooting for an "accident" of some kind to happen to him by the end of it.

The scenes with the military leaders were probably my favorite parts.  Granted, it would take real talent to somehow ruin the likes of Noah Emmerich, Jane Lynch, Patrick Warburton, and Diedrich Bader bantering with each other.

Not enough Lisa Kudrow.

Did like seeing Janina Gavankar as the rival media manager for one episode.  Wish she got bigger roles.

R.I.P. Fred Willard.

All in all, a disappointment, and definitely not as funny or as smart as I'm sure they were hoping to be.

[marinw]

9 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Not enough Lisa Kudrow.

Or the always-excellent Jane Lynch.

[Mr. Sparkle]

I'm 5 episodes in, and I agree with everyone here.  Good premise, good cast - not nearly as funny as I would expect. 

One question - Bradley is a one-star general, isn't he? Would he normally be acting as an assistant to a higher officer? 

[Mama No Life]

I liked it.  I love Steve Carrell in everything and I loved all the cast. Except the daughter, I could do without her. 

 

[Raja]

3 hours ago, Superclam said:

 

One question - Bradley is a one-star general, isn't he? Would he normally be acting as an assistant to a higher officer? 

I think at present in the US armed services  a 4 star General/Admiral would have a Colonel/(US Navy Captain) as aide de camp with two junior officers to him also in that service. So Brad isn't that much of a example inflated rank situation just one step up from real life, especially as he serves one of the  Joint Chiefs of a brand new service and not one of the other 4 stars which don't seem to exist in the show's US Armed Forces. After all General Naird expected to be Chief of Staff of The Air Force when he was promoted it was practically the first joke of the show

 

Edited June 7, 2020 by Raja

[Mr. Sparkle]

The second half was better. I actually got a few laughs from some of the episodes. 

[teddysmom]

On 5/30/2020 at 1:49 PM, Ms Lark said:

Did they explain why Lisa Kudrow was in prison or did I just miss it?

I found an interview with Greg Daniels, he said they thought it would be funny if they didn't explain it this season, that the normal role of a wife in this situation is to be supportive to the husband, etc. and now Carell's character has more stress in his life. 

I thought it would be more like VEEP, but it's not very funny at all. 

My sister said it was taking jabs at the Administration, but I didn't see that much of it.