‘Space Force’ launch sputters
Space Force Ten episodes. Premieres on Netflix on Friday, May 29. out of 4
Imagine Michael Scott of “The Office” running a top-secret military branch, and you have an idea of the vibe of “Space Force,” the Netflix comedy series that reunites actor Steve Carell with the NBC series’ original showrunner, Greg Daniels.
Not that the narcissistic nincompoop who headed Dunder Mifflin would be out of place in the Trump administration. One of the weirdest ideas of the current regime that has become reality is the creation of the Space Force, a new armed services branch apparently aimed at the militarization of space. (We already have a space program, called NASA, but whatever.)
It’s a situation ripe with comic possibilities, but “Space Force,” which debuts on Friday, May 29, barely gets off the launch pad during its 10-episode first season.
Carell is Gen. Mark R. Naird, a career military man who is tapped to head the top-secret agency’s rural Colorado complex with the directive from POTUS to have “boots on the moon by 2024.” He is the brass and bluster (“I am what used to be known in America as a MAN,” he declares), while Dr. Adrian Mallory (John Malkovich), Naird’s eccentric chief scientist, is the brains and thus makes the science-adverse Naird a little nervous.
Asked why he doesn’t like scientists, Naird says, “Because you say eat carbs one day, and don’t eat carbs the next!”
Together they try to make the agency succeed in their mission despite tight timetables and often conflicting directives from Washington. Naird gets some of his orders directly from the unnamed president, on Twitter, of course, and others in video briefings with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who include, in what is barely more than a series of cameos, Jane
Lynch, Noah Emmerich and Patrick Warburton.
In a hilarious touch, Naird’s budget is questioned by Congresswoman AYC (Ginger Gonzaga, in a spot-on imitation of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez).
Naird’s team in Colorado includes Dr. Chan (comedian Jimmy O. Yang, whose first stand-up special dropped on Amazon Prime earlier this month), Mallory’s No. 2; Brad (Don Lake), Naird’s incompetent assistant; slimy media consultant Anthony Scaramucci — wait, sorry, I meant Tony Scarapiducci (Ben Schwartz); and Naird’s personal helicopter pilot Angela Ali (Tawny Newsome).
Naird’s messy domestic life includes wife Maggie (an underused Lisa Kudrow), teenage daughter Erin (Diana Silvers) and a dementia-ridden father (the late Fred Willard).
It’s all very watchable — an appealing cast, eyepleasing production design and decent storylines. The only thing missing: laughter. Most of the gags are over-the-top and predictable — such as, in one episode, when Naird is sequestered for a week in a simulation chamber with other scientists. The characters and situations are so broad, there’s no grounding in reality.
To be fair, the series gets better as it goes along. “The Office,” originally a midseason replacement for NBC in 2005, didn’t start out so hot either, but during its nineseason run became a beloved comedy.
In “Space Force,” you can feel Carell, Malkovich and the cast gain a confidence and rhythm in the later episodes, finding their characters nicely in a way that, despite the overall up-and-down quality of Season 1, suggests that a Season 2 might be better.