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.. In 2007, Strangers with Candy was ranked #30 on TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever. A prequel film of the same name was released in 2005.
Plot
The series' main character, Geraldine Antonia "Jerri" Blank, was a "junkie whore"/runaway returning to high school as a freshman at age 46 at the fictional Flatpoint High School in the town of Flatpoint.According to the show's animated introduction, 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 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 : A 46-year-old ex-con, ex-junkie, ex-prostitute, and high-school freshman at Flatpoint High.
- Guy Blank : Jerri's biological father, shown only in a motionless state during mid-action.
- Sara Blank : Jerri's hateful stepmother.
- Derrick Blank : Jerri's arrogant teenage half-brother. He plays quarterback for the Flatpoint Donkeys football team.
- Stew : The Blank family's meat man. He engages in an affair with Sara while remaining married to the mother of his two children.
Flatpoint High faculty and staff
- Principal Onyx Blackman : Principal of Flatpoint High School. His image is prominently displayed around the school, in classrooms, lockers, and even paper towels.
- Charles "Chuck" Noblet : 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 : Geoffrey 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 : The girls' gym teacher.
- Iris Puffybush : Secretary to Principal Blackman.
- Cassie Pines : The school's guidance counselor.
Flatpoint High students
- Tammi Littlenut : Jerri's red-headed friend, who is often referred to as "Copperhead".
- Orlando Pinatubo : 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 : Jerri's sexually diminutive date in The Virgin Jerri; later a recurring character.
- Paul Cotton : Jerri's love interest who gets to see her "Liberty Bell" in Let Freedom Ring.
Miscellaneous
- Claire Noblet : Wife to Chuck Noblet. She is oblivious to her husband's relationship with Geoffrey Jellineck.
- Father : Local cult leader, whose cult threatens Blackman's hold on his Flatpoint students.
Episodes
Film adaptation
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.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."