Spaced

A sitcom carried by a cast of endearingly oddball characters and plenty of pop-culture references, Spaced is a prime example of British television at its smartest, funniest, and most accessible. While many UK TV productions thrive on provincial humor and don't translate well across the pond, Spaced boasts a wide appeal due to its unabashed love of American movies, which are giddily spoofed in almost every episode of the series. Created by writer/actors Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes and director Edgar Wright, the London-based show focuses on aspiring comic-book artist Tim Bisley (Pegg) and unmotivated writer Daisy Steiner (Hynes), single twentysomething friends who pose as a "professional couple" to score a comfortable flat. Once settled in their new home, Tim and Daisy settle into a responsibility-free existence that allows for lots of silly misadventures, often with Tim's oafish, military-obsessed best friend Mike (Nick Frost) and frequently involving nods to The Matrix or the Star Wars series, as well as other genre touchstones. In fact, one zombie-featuring episode of Spaced led directly to Wright and Pegg developing Shaun of the Dead, now an undisputed horror-comedy classic. While many viewers may find their way to Spaced via Shaun or Hot Fuzz, another cherished Wright/Pegg collaboration, the series stands—or, rather, sits comfortably—on its own amusingly low-key merits.