Strangers with Candy
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Template:Infobox television Strangers With Candy was a cult television series produced by Comedy Central. It first aired from April 7, 1999 and concluded its third and final season on October 2, 2000.
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Plot
The series' main character, Jerri Blank (played by Amy Sedaris), was a runaway returning to high school as a freshman at the age of 46 at the fictional Flatpoint High School, in the town of Flatpoint.
Created and written by Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert, and Mitch Rouse, the show was a spoof of the after school specials of the 1970s and 1980s. Sedaris, Colbert, Dinello, Rouse, and many stars of the series were alumni of Chicago's Second City comedy troupe.
According to the show's animated introduction (used after the first season), after dropping out of high school as a teenager, Jerri ran away from home and became "a boozer, a user, and a loser," supporting her drug habits through prostitution, stripping, and larceny. She went to prison because, in her words, "I stole the 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's OK to become an anorexic, because it will get people to pay attention to you. When Jerri's father passes away 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."
Origin
The series was first envisioned by Dinello and Colbert, both of whom had seen a public service "Scared Straight"-type film called The Trip Back, in which motivational speaker Florrie Fisher recalled her days as a New York street whore 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' imitation of Fisher, began developing a series based around the idea of Fisher going back to high school herself. The three, along with Mitch Rouse, combined this concept with lampooning the after school specials they had all been subjected to in high school. 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. It is arguable that Jerri Blank has become even more famous than the woman that inspired her; while Strangers with Candy became a cult success, Florrie Fisher sank into obscurity in the 1980s. Today, much speculation among fans of the series revolves around finding out whatever happened to Fisher.
Characters
Film
On February 7, 2006, movie company ThinkFilm announced that it had acquired the distribution rights to a feature film of the series. ThinkFilm also confirmed that Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, and Paul Dinello will reprise their roles for the film. 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, is also a producer. This will be the company's first feature film production. ThinkFilm plans to release the film in summer 2006.
External Links
- {{{2|{{{title|Strangers with Candy}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database.
- Strangers With Candy at TV.com.
- Tony's Strangers With Candy Companion Site.
- The Comfort Zone Strangers With Candy photo galleries and quotes pages, as well as Amy Sedaris pictures, audio downloads and interview transcripts
The film was completed in 2004. It was acquired by Warner Independent at Sundance in 2005, but release of the film was delayed due to legal clearance issues. It is set to be released in the summer of '06.