Strangers with Candy

Strangers with Candy is an American comedy television series produced by Comedy Central. It first aired on April 7, 1999, and concluded its third and final season on October 2, 2000. Its timeslot was Sundays at 10:00 p.m. (ET). In 2007, Strangers with Candy was ranked #30 on TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever.[1] A prequel film of the same name was released in 2005.

For other uses, see Strangers with Candy (disambiguation).
Strangers with Candy
Created byStephen Colbert
Paul Dinello
Amy Sedaris
Mitch Rouse
StarringAmy Sedaris
Stephen Colbert
Paul Dinello
Greg Hollimon
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes30 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time23 minutes
Release
Original networkComedy Central
Picture format480i (4:3 SDTV)
Audio formatDolby Surround 2.0
Original releaseApril 7, 1999 –
October 2, 2000
External links
Website

Plot

The series' main character, Geraldine Antonia "Jerri" Blank (played by Amy Sedaris), was a "junkie whore"/runaway returning to high school as a freshman at age 46 at the fictional Flatpoint High School (home of the Concrete Donkeys) in the town of Flatpoint.

According to the show's animated introduction,[2] Jerri ran away from home and became "a boozer, a user, and a loser" after dropping out of high school as a teenager, supporting her drug habits through prostitution, stripping, and larceny. She has been to prison several times, the last time because she, in her words, "stoled [sic] a TV."

Every episode featured a theme or moral lesson, although the lessons were often amoral or warped; in an episode about eating disorders, Jerri learns that it is acceptable to become bulimic because it will get people to pay attention to you. When Jerri's father dies in the episode "The Goodbye Guy", Jerri learns the valuable lesson, "You never really 'lose' your parents. Unless of course they die. Then they're gone forever. And nothing will bring them back." In another episode, "Bully", Jerri learned that "violence really isn't the only way to resolve a conflict, but it's the only way to win it."

Each episode ends with the cast and other featured actors from the episode dancing.

The last episode features Flatpoint being turned into a strip mall because the show was cancelled to make room for a TV show called Strip Mall.

Production

Development

The series was first envisioned by Paul Dinello, Mitch Rouse, and Stephen Colbert, all of whom had seen a Scared Straight!–type public-service film called The Trip Back, in which motivational speaker Florrie Fisher recalled her days as a New York prostitute to a group of high-school students. Seeing that Fisher strongly resembled their friend Amy Sedaris, they showed her a copy of the tape and, suitably impressed with Sedaris's imitation of Fisher, began developing a series based around the idea of Fisher going back to high school herself. The four combined this concept with lampooning the after school specials they had all been subjected to in high school, along with the short-lived mid-1990s teen series My So-Called Life. Much of Jerri's past is taken from anecdotes in The Trip Back, some of which were also included in Fisher's autobiography, The Lonely Trip Back. Several lines of dialogue in the series were taken verbatim from Fisher's public-service film.

Sedaris, Colbert, Dinello, and Rouse were cast members of the short-lived Comedy Central series Exit 57; they, along with Greg Hollimon and many other stars of the series, were also alumni of Chicago's Second City comedy troupe.

Cast and characters

The Blank family
  • Geraldine "Jerri" Antonia Blank (Amy Sedaris): A 46-year-old ex-con, ex-junkie, ex-prostitute, and high-school freshman at Flatpoint High.
  • Guy Blank (Roberto Gari): Jerri's biological father, shown only in a motionless state during mid-action.
  • Sara Blank (Deborah Rush): Jerri's hateful stepmother.
  • Derrick Blank (Larc Spies): Jerri's arrogant teenage half-brother. He plays quarterback for the Flatpoint Donkeys football team.
  • Stew (David Pasquesi): The Blank family's meat man. He engages in an affair with Sara while remaining married to the mother of his two children (Chuck and Patty).

Flatpoint High faculty and staff
  • Principal Onyx Blackman (Greg Hollimon): Principal of Flatpoint High School. His image is prominently displayed around the school, in classrooms, lockers, and even paper towels.
  • Charles "Chuck" Noblet (Stephen Colbert): Chuck is the school's history teacher and sponsor of the school newspaper, The Donkey Trouser. He and his wife Claire have a son, Seamus. He is in a secret homosexual relationship with Geoffrey Jellineck.
  • Geoffrey Jellineck (Paul Dinello): Geoffrey (pronounced JOFF-ree as opposed to the conventional JEFF-ree) is the school's art teacher. He is an emotionally fragile and narcissistic man who is engaged in a secret homosexual relationship with Chuck Noblet.
  • Coach Cherri Wolf (Sarah Thyre): The girls' gym teacher.
  • Iris Puffybush (Dolores Duffy): Secretary to Principal Blackman (and, as implied on several occasions, "much, much more").
  • Cassie Pines (Janeane Garofalo): The school's guidance counselor.

Flatpoint High students
  • Tammi Littlenut (Maria Thayer): Jerri's red-headed friend, who is often referred to as "Copperhead".
  • Orlando Pinatubo (Orlando Pabotoy): Jerri's Filipino sidekick, about whose heritage she makes many racist remarks. It is insinuated in both the series and film that he is in love with Jerri.
  • Jimmy Tickles (Jack Ferver): Jerri's sexually diminutive date in The Virgin Jerri; later a recurring character.
  • Paul Cotton (Jared Ryan): Jerri's love interest who gets to see her "Liberty Bell" in Let Freedom Ring.

Miscellaneous
  • Claire Noblet (Carolyn Popp): Wife to Chuck Noblet. She is oblivious to her husband's relationship with Geoffrey Jellineck.
  • Father (Alan Tudyk): Local cult leader, whose cult threatens Blackman's hold on his Flatpoint students.

Episodes
Main article: List of Strangers with Candy episodes

Film adaptation
Main article: Strangers with Candy (film)

On February 7, 2006, film company ThinkFilm announced that it had acquired the distribution rights to a feature film based on the series. The film, a prequel to the television show, was completed in 2004 and acquired by Warner Independent at Sundance in 2005, but release of the film was delayed due to legal clearance issues. Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, and Paul Dinello reprised their roles for the film; several other characters were recast because the actors who played them now looked too old to be in high school. In addition to acting, Colbert is a co-producer and Dinello is a director for the film. Worldwide Pants, a production company owned by comedian David Letterman, was also a producer. This is the company's first feature film production. A teaser trailer for the film was released in April 2006.[3]

The initial theatrical release was June 28, 2006, in the New York City area, followed by the remainder of the United States on July 7. A DVD of the film was released in November 2006. Amy Sedaris said of Jerri Blank that "she's like a rash; you never know when she's going to pop up."[4]

Notes
  1. TV Guide Names the Top Cult Shows Ever – Today's News: Our Take TV Guide: June 29, 2007
  2. The animated introduction was used only after the first season. In the first season, Jerri would give the introduction during the episodes' beginnings before the song started.
  3. "STRANGERS WITH CANDY – Teaser Trailer – Exclusive First Look". YouTube. 2006-04-25. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  4. "Lauren Thompson, The Daily Texan". 2006-07-09. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
gollark: On the plus side, if exams are really cancelled, I won't have to do English Literature/Language exams, which I hate so very much.
gollark: Oh, and my city's subway system is running a reduced service, but for some reason the train network is running exactly the same as usual with probably a fifth of the usual passengers on my line.
gollark: My school is planning to try online learning or something, which I am sure will go badly.
gollark: ```What will happen about exams?In England and Wales, all exams in May and June have been cancelled, including GCSEs, A-levels and primary school national curriculum tests known as Sats.Mr Williamson told the Commons on Wednesday: "I can confirm we will not go ahead with assessments or exams and that we will not be publishing performance tables for this academic year."We will work with the sector and [the exams watchdog] Ofqual to ensure children get the qualifications that they need."```- from the BBC
gollark: Not really.
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