Netflix Will Beat Pentagon in Race to Create 'Space Force'

Steve Carell will reunite with "The Office" (US) creator Greg Daniels on "Space Force," a straight-to-series order from Netflix announced today with a video.

It's been several months since the White House announced the creation of the sixth branch of our armed forces, a team tasked with defending satellites from attack and performing other "space-related tasks." The Pentagon hasn't announced much progress in launching the Space Force, but things may speed up once retired Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is replaced.

That delay seems to have created an opening for Carell and Daniels. There's been a lot of talk about a reboot of "The Office," but bringing their workplace comedy sensibility to space seems like a promising alternative.

Old-school TV fans may wonder if the show will get inspiration from the cult classic "Quark," an NBC series that ran for eight episodes in 1978. Created by Buck Henry (who co-created "Get Smart" and wrote "The Graduate"), the show starred Richard Benjamin as the captain of a United Galaxy Sanitation Patrol Cruiser.

Daniels (who also brought us "Parks and Recreation" and "King of the Hill" after writing for "The Simpsons") and Carell (who starred as Maxwell Smart in a movie remake of "Get Smart") are both scholars of comic history, so it's likely that nearly forgotten classic will have some influence on "Space Force."

Steve tried out his outer space chops when he hosted "Saturday Night Live" last fall when he played a NASA astronaut trying to teach school kids from space.

There's no word yet on how many episodes they're making or when the show will premiere. If they're slow about it, maybe there's still time for the brass to get it together and let Americans enlist in the real Space Force before we get to watch the fake one.