You either love or hate Sarah Silverman's comedy. There is very little in-between.
With that in mind, 'The Sarah Silverman Program: Season Two, Volume One' is the subject of this review.
The second season is just the continuing adventures of the first season.
Sarah (Sarah Silverman) is an immature woman who lives in an apartment and has her rent paid by her younger sister Laura (Laura Silverman) who is a nurse. Laura is in love with an uptight, square police officer named Jay (Jay Johnston). Sarah's next door neighbors, Brian (Brian Posehn) and Steve (Steve Agee) are two gay slackers who spend their time playing video games, listening to music and getting high.
This season tackles such pleasant subject matter like abortion, bestiality, blackface, poop, Sarah's relationship with God, illegal immigrants and, of course, poop.
If you enjoyed the first season and found it to be gleefully offensive, there is more of that to be found here. The trouble is, now that we know who the characters are, there isn't much in terms of growth from them. We don't really learn anything revelatory about them in these six episodes. Sure, there are some very amusing bits and sequences. While you are watching this, you will probably chuckle a few times, if this is your kind of humor. Unlike much of the first season, there isn't a lot from these episodes that will really stick in your memory.
On the bright side, we do get a little deeper into some things that are introduced in the previous season. We see the filming of an episode of Cookie Party, the show Sarah and Laura are obsessed with, which was always dealt with vaguely before. There is also a continuation of Sarah's romance with God. These few callbacks are great because there is some material here that is ripe for further exploration.
The season was interrupted by the writers' strike, so that explains why the season was broken up.
While Sarah makes for a manically immature main character (in a good way), her sister and Jay balance that out by being the conventional ones. Perhaps the best characters in the whole show are Steve and Brian because they completely avoid any gay stereotypes and are genuinely funny with their difficulty in gathering the motivation to leave their apartment. There is a constant tug of war between the characters who have grown up and those who refuse to do so.
Special features include: the cast and creators at the 2007 Comic Con, a few digital shorts, behind the scenes and commentary.
'The Sarah Silverman Program: Season Two Volume One' is amusing enough, but this collection ultimately lacks enough memorable moments. It's not enough to cross the boundaries of good taste, there has to be a little more substance.
Not rated 132 minutes 2007
Comments