Sarah Silverman is like your older sister’s best friend. On the outside she looks all sweet and nice and girl-next-door like. But when she opens her mouth, all heck breaks loose. Because you’ve got a crush on this nice, sweet girl, she gets away with it even if in the course of two hours with her she proceeds to potentially offend every person on the planet. That, my friends, is the first season on The Sarah Silverman Program.
Consisting of just six 20-minute episodes, the show takes on a classic sitcom model adding Silverman’s trademark comedic minstreling to the mix. The premise of the show is the day-to-day life of unemployed slacker Sarah, her sister Laura (Laura Silverman) and her gay neighbours – or gay-bors as she calls them – Steve (Steve Agee) and Brian (Brian Posehn). Plots revolve around something the selfish Sarah wants or does, such as becoming a lesbian, convincing her friends and family that she might have AIDS and coaching an orphaned girl for a Little Miss Sunshine-esque beauty pageant.
The results are decidedly mixed. At times, Silverman and company are on. These moments are generally when Silverman’s tongue is at work spitting out venomous or ignorant, totally not politically correct one-liners. Other times the show is awkward. I’m talking teenage boy in puberty awkward. From what I’ve seen of Silverman in the past, primarily her stand-up film Jesus is Magic, she works best when working towards something. In the sitcom format her timing is somewhat dictated and there’s a plot to think of. Between The Sarah Silverman Program and her bit part in School for Scoundrels, I’m not so sure if she is the best of actors out there. Her gift is in the gag, unraveling a story and unveiling her sharp wit and eye for the absurd.
With just six episodes in the first season, The Sarah Silverman Program had its high points. Each show had two or three jokes of the milk-snorting variety. But to get there, you had to wade through a lot of not-so-great moments. It’s almost as though the show might work better as something on YouTube where you go straight to the jokes and forget about the rest. Better yet, why not a variety show. Silverman can tell a good joke, she portrays several different versions of herself with ease and she can sing, even if it is just a “Poop Song.” The Sarah Silverman Program has an undeniable quirkiness to it that will appeal to some but I found the overall experience to be awkward. But isn’t that the way it is with most “first times”?
The Sarah Silverman Program: Season One DVD Review
The six episodes that make up The Sarah Silverman Program: Season One are all shown in their original full screen format. The picture is clear and crisp with no signs of abuse. Audio is in an unspectacular English stereo. I know I would have liked a little 5.1 Surround action on the musical musings. The first five episodes have at least one commentary track with various cast members. Episodes two and four having two commentary tracks each. Other extras include 13 musical numbers, eight more songs with karaoke and sing-along subtitling, two separate opening pitches and a storyboard animation. There’s also three Comedy Central “Quickies” with short bits from The Colbert Report, South Park and Reno 911!. Finally there’s previews for upcoming DVD releases for South Park: Season Ten, Drawn Together: Season Two and The State: The Complete Series.
The Sarah Silverman Program: Season One Gallery
