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Sarah Silverman Program (The): Season One (TV)
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak and Stevie McCleary (5th November 2007). |
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The Show
 There is a common conception (and massive generalization) that women comedians are often not as funny as their male counterparts. It may sound sexist but sounding sexist doesn't necessarily make it a falsehood. And the truth is that, for whatever reason, the majority of popular and famous comedians are male. But in case you hadn't heard, Sarah Silverman is a funny lady, a really, really funny lady. And she's a funny lady that is easily better than most comedians I've ever seen, gender irrelevant. Deceptively masked under her cute guise is a vicious torrent of verbal abuse and abrasive sarcasm ready to be directed at any person who should dare to get on her bad side. Indeed, you can easily get distracted by how sweet and innocent she appears...until she lets loose in her trademark fashion. It is this strange combination, mixed with a great gift of timing, which has made Silverman a veritable superstar and rightfully so I say. "The Sarah Silverman Program" Season One is comprised of six episodes which for some reason are presented out of order on the disc (and on the cover inlet as well, but with the correct play order listed...?). This really only becomes relevant during some flashbacks. Indeed, the final episode on the disc is the pilot. Helped into creation by Rob Schrab (creator of the cult comic "Scud: the Disposable Assassin") we follow Sarah and her friends as she continues the legacy of "Seinfeld" (1990-1998) by filling in a lot of time doing very little. Some of the bigger stories include Sarah's quest for batteries, pooping her pants, and jumping to the conclusion she has AIDS. Yes, this show is not for the easily offended. Sarah most certainly does her best to tackle every so-called taboo topic with wild abandon. She and her cast break down many walls as it pertains to sitcom humor and successfully create a legitimately original show, one that probably deserves to be ranked up there with other frontrunners such as "Spaced" (1999-2001). The sheer joy that you can see as they perform is always evident and constantly refreshing as they have boundless energy that propels the stories forward non-stop. Each episode features musical interludes by Sarah. And while always directed beautifully (they obviously had a sizeable budget) some of the songs feel a tad jarring when they start, as if they were just clunked in there because she wanted to sing another song about poop. But, while the quality of the songs can vary and seem a little forced, they are always entertaining. At her worst Silverman is still miles ahead of average. The rest of the cast never let her down either. One of the best subplots on one of the episodes features one of her gay neighbors forcing his partner to try a new drink. This leads to a beautifully over-the-top routine as Brian (Brian Posehn), forced to drink Tab cola, sarcastically acts like it's the best beverage ever and goes overboard with his obsession with it in order to get revenge. Meanwhile, Sarah decides she's probably a lesbian. It is one wacky show, folks. And in case you hadn't picked it up, everyone plays a character with the same name as their own, sometimes actually playing 'themselves'. The show is a constant enigma in the best possible way. It's not for those without open minds. It's not for those who can't laugh at themselves. It is for everyone else, trapped in a sea of poorly scripted 'reality' shows and desperate for something or someone to save us with an original idea or two. Sarah Silverman is that someone. Always walking and crossing that line of acceptable taste with style, this show is a real treat for those who, y'know, want to have fun for some reason. And this is a much better reason than most. Watch it already.
Video
Presented in the show's original broadcast ratio of 1.33:1 this full screen transfer is a solid effort from Paramount. The series appears to be shot on digital and the result is a sharp transfer that displays detail adequately and with vibrant rich colors. Skin tones appear natural and black levels are bold and deep. The print itself is clean and dirt free, I could not spot any edge-enhancement or compression artefacts the only flaw I could see was a few instances of moire effect against some patterned lines.
Audio
A single English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track is included and is likely to be the show's original broadcast soundtrack, the show is very dialogue heavy with little surround activity required so this stereo track is perfect for the release. The series is front heavy in its mix with emphasis on dialogue and music and both aspects are clear and distortion free even though they lack the depth normally associated with 5.1 tracks. These episodes do not include any optional subtitles.
Extras
First up we've got no less than 7 episodic audio commentaries, sadly the pilot episode entitled "Batteries" (which is featured last on the disc) does not include a track. Anyway these tracks feature cast members as well as series director and executive producer, they are split up and the various participants talk about the development of the series and shooting the various scenes as they share some production trivia. Other areas of conversation include the scripting as well as improvisational elements that make up an episode, the songs are covered as they tend to watch the show along with the viewer and laugh at favorite parts. That's partly the downside as some cast members simply watch the episode with you only occasionally commenting on something they like, Silverman's tracks with the director and executive producer are much meatier. Fans of the series will likely get into these and include the following: Audio commentary on "Officer Jay' by cast members Laura Silverman and Jay Johnston. Audio commentary on "Humanitarian of the Year" by cast members Brian Posehn and Steve Agee. Audio commentary on "Humanitarian of the Year" by star Sarah Silverman, director Rob Schrab and executive producer Dan Sterling. Audio commentary on "Positively Negative" by cast members Laura Silverman and Jay Johnston. Audio commentary on "Not Without my Daughter" by cast members Brian Posehn and Steve Agee. Audio commentary on "Not Without my Daughter" by star Sarah Silverman, director Rob Schrab and executive producer Dan Sterling Audio commentary on "Muffin' Man" by cast members Brian Posehn and Steve Agee. Next up are 13 musical performances, these are short song clips that can be viewed individually or with a 'play all' function and include: - "Brian's Story" runs for 40 seconds and is about how Brian found out his character was gay. - "Froggie" runs for 1 minute 53 seconds, Steve and Sarah sing a folk-style song. - "Acoustic Poop Song" runs for 40 seconds, an acoustic version of the song that appears in the series. - "Gay-Bor" runs for 1 minute 7 seconds, is an improve song where they each do a line of the song. - "Backstage Happening" runs for 2 minutes 2 seconds, Sarah and Laura sing about an incident involving an extra. - "Hi, I'm Sarah" runs for 1 minute 49 seconds, Sarah sings an intro song about herself and the show. - "Hot Syrupy Sarah" runs for 42 seconds, she sings about being hot. - "Is It Like..." runs for 2 minutes 3 seconds, a song about what the show isn't like. - "Fatties" runs for 1 minute 15 seconds, is a songs about the cast. - "Laura & Sarah's Song" runs for 5 minutes 17 seconds, a duet featuring the Silverman sisters. - "Steve's Song" runs for 2 minutes 27 seconds, this is a song about Steve being on the show. - "Sarah & Steve" runs for 1 minute 46 seconds and is on how they first met. - "White Dog Poop" runs for 47 seconds as Sarah and Laura sing about the white dog poop from the 70's. Following that is the first title sequence pitch video clip that runs for 53 seconds and features the original song Sarah recorded on Rob Schrab's answering machine, this into features rough animation and is a direction the network decided not to go in. After that is the second title sequence pitch video clip which runs for 54 seconds and is a stranger clip featuring the same song but this time Rob Schrab is dressed like a flower singing it. Also featured is "The Chase" an animatic running for 1 minute 1 seconds and shows the viewer how the scene was originally conceived. The disc also includes 8 Karaoke/Sing-A-Long songs, you can watch these clips in both ways one includes the song lyrics being sung while the other option removes the singing and allows you the viewer to sing your own version. The clips included here are: - "Doody Song" from the episode "Officer Jay" which runs for 1 minute 26 seconds. - "Cookie Party" from the episode "Officer Jay" which runs for 41 seconds. - "AIDS Ballad" from the episode "Positively Negative" which runs for 35 seconds. - "AIDS Ballad: Reprise" from the episode "Positively Negative" which runs for 33 seconds. - "Poop Song" from the episode "Not Without my Daughter" which runs for 34 seconds. - "Lesbian Song" from the episode "Muffin' Man" which runs for 1 minute 10 seconds. - "Humanitarian Song" from the episode "Humanitarian of the Year" which runs for 1 minute 24 seconds. A series of 3 Comedy Central quickies are next and include promotional segments for the following: - "South Park: Essays" which runs for 2 minutes 12 seconds. - "The Colbert Report: Breasts" which runs for 1 minute 26 seconds. - "Reno 911!: Chatty Junior" which runs for 2 minutes 4 seconds. Rounding out the extras are a collection of bonus trailers for: - "South Park: Season 10" which runs for 1 minute 19 seconds. - "Drawn Together: Season 2" which runs for 1 minute 27 seconds. - "The State: The Complete Series" which runs for 1 minute 9 seconds.
Overall
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