New Simon Pegg Sitcom

[Felatio Imperative]

http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/aug06/pegg078801.php

[Godzilla Bankrolls]

New? He's been working on it for about three or four years. Wasn't it commissioned by C4 on an episode-by-episode basis?

[Lee]

Old as the hills. And yet to Chortle, this is "news". Funny old world...

[Tommy Trumpet]

Well maybe it's considered news because now that they've finished shooting Hot Fuzz, they'll actually focus on this. As far as I remember, it's only been mentioned as an idea before, they probably haven't actually written it yet.

[Godzilla Bankrolls]

Really? I'm sure that they've made more than one pilot. Wonder if I can find the info on the web.

[Tommy Trumpet]

Oh, quite possibly, I just assumed nothing had really happened with it yet because I hadn't heard much beyond descriptions of the general idea. I mean, yes , the idea's been mentioned for years but wasn't it initially before Shaun of the Dead was even confirmed? And then with the success of that they got the chance to make Hot Fuzz so I imagine they haevn't really had a chance to move forward with it.

[DJ One Record]

We don't have that much of an imagination.

Thank heavens for post-modernism then or they'd never be able to come up with anything.

Assuming this goes ahead, won't this be Nick Frost's first writing gig? I wonder if his contributions will amount to anything more than his porn ad-libs on Shaun Of The Dead.

[Lee]

Well, there was Danger! 50,000 Volts of course, which he wrote and presented...

I say that jokingly, but actually it's one of the best things Channel 5 have ever put on.

[Marvin]

Plus he did have a biggish influence on his own lines in Spaced.

[Dark Sky]

What's Jessica Stevenson up to writing wise these days?  Seems strange to me that there's so much obsession over Simon Pegg and yet not Stevenson, who is obviously a fifty gazillion times better performer, at least, if not writer, too.

[Jemble Fred]

Seems strange to me that there's so much obsession over Simon Pegg and yet not Stevenson, who is obviously a fifty gazillion times better performer, at least, if not writer, too.

*Jaw drops to hell*

You did see that 'La Scala' thing, didn't you? (Perhaps she was just an actress in that – she is a good performer, certainly. But my god that programme was awful.)

Note no big text mention of According to Bex. I'm not that heartless.

[Jack Shaftoe]

Mmm, turned out a lot of the geekier comic book references in Spaced were Stevenson's rather than Pegg's, which was interesting.

Maybe she went a bit funny with success - happens with girls as they are more emotional than boys and their brains are smaller, also all they think about its babies.

[DJ One Record]

She was in Confetti as well, with Martin Freeman.

I haven't seen it.

[Dark Sky]

You did see that 'La Scala' thing, didn't you?

Urr...no, never heard of it...  *runs away crying*

Writing wise with Stevenson I'm just going off the fact that the best bits in Spaced are the Daisy bits, and that Shaun of the Dead seemed to have a big empty gaping hole in it in terms of decent female characters or any real sense of honest emotion and cosiness of the sort I love in Spaced.  Plus Stevenson is an incredible actress really, from her bit part in Randall and Hopkirk to her being a main character in Bob and Rose...whereas Simon Pegg can only seem to play one character (admittedly very well!) and yet reaps a lot more of the attention.

[Jemble Fred]

She didn't write it anyway (co-written by Paul Abbott? What the fuck was he thinking?), but it was A) dire, and B) a major vehicle for her. It is a shame that she hasn't found an even half-decent use of her talent as yet.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

"News" just in!

No question...

Pegg's pub quiz comedy isn't happening

Simon Pegg has denied reports he's working on a new comedy set around a pub quiz team.

La Triviata was an idea he and collaborator Nick Frost contemplated several years ago, following their own experiences with a team called QWA - Quizzas With Attitude.

However, the pair have since moved on to making films, and the TV idea has been put on ice, his management company said today.

Speculation about the show was fuelled yesterday when The Sun reported him talking about the show at a Penelope Cruz premiere in London. However, his spokesman said Pegg was not even at the event.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

So Chortle read this story in the Sun, thought 'Cor, must be true then', and passed it off as their own scoop? But now that the story's revealed to be bollocks they're blaming the Sun rather than themselves?

[Jack Shaftoe]

That's a cracking last sentence. The '...you cunts' just hangs gently in the air.

Edit - to the post before the last one, although poss. could well still apply.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

Simon Pegg has a spokesman? I wonder if he talks in That Voice.

[Jack Shaftoe]

Probably he does when it's funny, but when it's not appropriate, he doesn't bother.

[/slight defensiveness on behalf of S Pegg, who probably wouldn't give a stuff anyway]

[Little Hoover]

You did see that 'La Scala' thing, didn't you?

Urr...no, never heard of it...  *runs away crying*

Writing wise with Stevenson I'm just going off the fact that the best bits in Spaced are the Daisy bits, and that Shaun of the Dead seemed to have a big empty gaping hole in it in terms of decent female characters or any real sense of honest emotion and cosiness of the sort I love in Spaced.  Plus Stevenson is an incredible actress really, from her bit part in Randall and Hopkirk to her being a main character in Bob and Rose...whereas Simon Pegg can only seem to play one character (admittedly very well!) and yet reaps a lot more of the attention.

Yes I'd agree with that,  I'd like to see her given a chance to write something else, just so I can really make up my mind as to whether she's good or not

[Tommy Trumpet]

Well to be honest you can't really say she hasn't had a chance. Surely having co-written Spaced both of them were in equal positions in terms of contacts/credibilty to try and write something new to move on in their career.

So there's no reason to believe it's anyone but her own fault that she hasn't, really...

[Marvin]

I  think Stevenson's an excellent writer but I don't really rate her that much as a performer anyway, she's far too Arrabella Weir for my liking.

[Jack Shaftoe]

I liked JS a lot more before she lost weight and got a bit glam.  Daisy from series 1 was interesting and funny - Daisy from series 2 less so, and after that she looked a bit identikit actress.

But that's a horrible thing to say - AW actually sets my teeth on edge. Brrrr.

[Dark Sky]

So there's no reason to believe it's anyone but her own fault that she hasn't, really...

Well she has acting wise.  Had many more diverse parts showing off her range of character acting both dramatic and comedic than Pegg has.  Though Pegg does crop up in many things he's nearly always playing pretty much the same character.  The only 'different' ones I can think of (in Black Books and Doctor Who) being a lot less successful...  Well, they didn't work for me, anyway.

Can't really argue against Marvin's Arabella Weir comment 'cause I think I've only seen Weir in The Fast Show...

[DJ One Record]

Writing wise with Stevenson I'm just going off the fact that the best bits in Spaced are the Daisy bits, and that Shaun of the Dead seemed to have a big empty gaping hole in it in terms of decent female characters or any real sense of honest emotion and cosiness of the sort I love in Spaced.

You know, that is a very good point. Beyond Daisy you also had Marsha who, for my money, was a more well rounded elder female part than what Pegg and Wright had Penelope Wilton play in Shaun Of The Dead (who, nonetheless, did a great job of what she was given). Katy Carmichael as Twist was admittedly the weak link of the show but she still shat all over Lucy Davis' SOTD performance. But it does make you wonder if Stevenson was responsible for the more defined female writing in Spaced.

Though Pegg does crop up in many things he's nearly always playing pretty much the same character. The only 'different' ones I can think of (in Black Books and Doctor Who) being a lot less successful...  Well, they didn't work for me, anyway.

Blatantly because he was playing himself playing those characters rather than actually having the range to create a different entity altogether. Face it - Pegg only has one note and he always sings it in - you guessed it - that voice.

(I'll still go and see Hot Fuzz though.)

[K]

You know, that is a very good point. Beyond Daisy you also had Marsha who, for my money, was a more well rounded elder female part than what Pegg and Wright had Penelope Wilton play in Shaun Of The Dead (who, nonetheless, did a great job of what she was given). Katy Carmichael as Twist was admittedly the weak link of the show but she still shat all over Lucy Davis' SOTD performance. But it does make you wonder if Stevenson was responsible for the more defined female writing in Spaced.

Blatantly! I love Spaced, and I'm a big fan of SOTD, but the female characters in the latter are a bit rubbish. Liz from SOTD is just the classic 'grumpy girlfriend' character that a lot of male comedy writers turn out when confronted with a female lead. She's got no personality of her own, she just reacts to what Shaun does- whether that reaction is just rolling her eyes and saying "Shaun!" or helping him batter a zombie with a snooker cue.

[Little Hoover]

And It's always terrible when you have such bland female leads in these "guy trying to win back the girl" things because you don't really see why he would care that much. and she's not even that attractive.

[The Boston Crab]

I think it was her natural blonde combined with the black eye make-up, wrapped up in the clothing and body of an attractive but not especially popular or outgoing girl from school - the classic insipid-next-door appeal.

[DJ One Record]

And It's always terrible when you have such bland female leads in these "guy trying to win back the girl" things because you don't really see why he would care that much. and she's not even that attractive.

Hell, that was the nail in the coffin of the Hitchhiker's Guide movie.