Strangers With Candy - Season One Reviews

Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris) is rather amazingly representative, in her own special way, of your typical high school student. What makes this so amazing is the fact that she is a forty-six-year-old freshman. After thirty-two years of drug abuse, prison time, and who knows what else, she has returned home to pick up where she left off when she ran away from home. Flat Point High School is not your typical educational oasis, as becomes obvious immediately. Mr. Noblet (Stephen Colbert) and Mr. Jellineck (Paul Dinello) are two unique teachers who play a big role in Jerri's life, dispensing such tidbits of advice as "No one makes friends with a failure" and "You're only as attractive as we think you are," while enjoying an openly "secret" relationship of their own. The towering force at the school, however, is Principal Blackman (Greg Hollimon), whose educational theories are, in a word, unusual and whose narcissism knows no bounds. If you thought your old teachers were weird, you ought to take a look at these guys.

Jerri deals with many issues routinely covered in after-school specials: trying to be popular, dating, racism, dealing with peer pressure (as well as pressure from the principal and teachers), accepting a new student, coping with an extremely dysfunctional family (the most normal member of which, her father, appears only in immovable poses), and, of course drugs. In the very first episode, she turns to what she knows - brewing up drugs - in her effort to become popular, only to watch a stoned girl try to fly through a keyhole. Jerri can be a sympathetic character dealing with her step-mother's alcoholism one minute, and then the next she is assuming the role of an abusive husband to her baby care partner. This really is one of those shows you can't describe; you have to see it to understand it.

There aren't a lot of extras on the DVDs, but what is there is fantastic. The unaired pilot of the show was strange indeed, as it featured a much different look for Jerri, a step-mother played by the woman who would end up being Jerri's gym teacher, an after-school volunteer job for Jerri at a home for senior citizens, terrible music, and a completely different feel to the whole viewing experience. The commentary provided by the creators and stars of the show, Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, and Paul Dinello, is great fun. While only four of the ten episodes from Season One include a commentary, the information, reference to gags and side jokes that I had missed up until now, stories about the sometimes seat-of-your-pants manner in which everything came together for each episode, and general humor they expressed at the sight of old scenes takes a Strangers With Candy fanatic such as myself to even deeper and more appreciative heights of humor and fun.

What is perhaps most strange about Strangers With Candy is its success at making good and relevant points about some of the serious matters it subjects to a humiliating treatment in the name of comedy. I'm not entirely sure it does this intentionally, though, because the main point of concentration oftentimes seems to revolve around seeing just what they could actually get away with doing on television. If you are content with the same old predictable humor that the networks recycle year in and year out, you probably should avoid diving into the deep end of the humor pool, but if you yearn for something else, something different, something so stupid that its brilliance shines forth like a shooting star zooming across a horizon populated by distant glimmers of comedic light, then you may just find something strange and beautiful and hilarious in this unforgettable show.

Rating: 5 - Blank YOU!!!
Comedy Central's cult classic has finally made its way to dvd, something I pictured never happening. After being cancelled, with only three seasons to its credit, I was afraid that "Strangers With Candy" might fade into obscurity. Luckily, there were lots of fans out there who, like me, found it's dark, insane humor riotously funny. This dvd offering gives us the first 10 episodes, introducing us to Jerri Blank, a 46 yr old ex con, ex prostitute, ex drug user---ex you-name-it! as she struggles while returning to high school where she left off after running away 32 years ago. As a freshman, Jerri must deal with trying to fit in, wanting to make friends, be popular---all the things a typical freshman wants in school. Told in the format of the old afterschool specials that warned us of drugs, unwanted pregnancy, etc., this series worked brilliantly. Thanks mostly, of course, to Amy Sedaris who plays Jerri Blank to perfection. Add in Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello as teachers (and closeted lovers) and an array of other characters and the show always hits the mark. I love the relationship between Jerri and her step mother played by Deborah Rush, who plays this role to a tee. The dvd offers a few extras such as running commentary during episodes and a bonus unaired pilot. It was interesting watching this pilot, seeing how that changed Jerri and some of the situations she was in for the actual series. If you are a fan of this show, this dvd is a MUST!!! I've read that if this dvd sells well, the other two seasons will be released as well. I hope that is true because there were so many classic moments in seasons 2 and 3. Go out and buy this dvd now---run, don't walk! You won't regret it.

Rating: 5 - Who Wants Cake?
A true gem of twisted and very politically incorrect humor. Jerri Blank is a 46 year old bisexual high school freshman who was a teenage runaway for 32 years, during which time she was a prostitute, a thief, a baby seller, a drug addict, etc.
The biggest complaint I've heard about this show is that the lead character is too ugly. It's all makeup and facial contortions, folks. Part of the brilliance of the show is while Jerri Blank is hideous and dresses about 25 years out of fashion, she thinks the world of herself and is incredibly selfish and self-serving. After accidentally making out with her long lost son, she says 'I didn't GIVE you away, I traded you for a guitar. And all these years I've wondered... what happened to that guitar?'
Comedy Central foolishly cancelled this brilliant series after three 10-episode seasons, apparently because it wasn't as 'funny' as Adam Carolla being a chauvanist (The Man Show) or Julie Brown showing her breasts (Strip Mall). They are finally doing something right by releasing the first season on DVD (it is unclear if the other seasons will follow). These discs will include commentary tracks for the first four episodes from the three primary actors (Sedaris, Dinello, and Colbert). It will also include the pilot. I am thrilled to finally have crisp, clean copies of this series, as I've worn out my VHS tapes.

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Strangers With Candy - Season One