Customer Reviews

Strangers with Candy - The Complete Series

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Amy Sedaris is a very attractive woman but you would not know it until the final episode of the series "Stangers With Candy", which ran for three seasons on Comedy Central and is now collected on this DVD set. Sedaris plays Jerri Blank, a 46-year-old former teen-age runaway/junkie/whore/thief/jailbird who has come back to high school for another chance. Her face is covered with hideous-seeming makeup and her wardrobe is the truly appalling worst of 1970's chic (which is what she wore the first time around.) The creators of this remarkable show takes this unlikely premise and run with it, turning the series into a withering parody of every moralistic, melodramatic "afterschool special" you ever saw.

Fans of Comedy Central will want to see Stephen Colbert as Mr. Noblets, the nasty history teacher. He incarnates all the worst traits of every teacher who ever hated you: he's lazy, mistaken in his facts, mean and cowardly and Colbert makes him hilarious. He's so authentic that it's actually hard to watch him sometimes be spiteful to the stangely sympathetic Jerri. The regular cast is rounded out by series co-writer Paul Dinello as the wussy, self-absorbed art reacher Mr. Jellineck, and Greg Holliman as the Idi Amin-like Principal Blackman (that's his name--a good example of the series' bracing political incorrectness.)

My favorite episode is the series finale which features as a guest star the startlingly hot Winona Ryder as the high school queen mean girl. She learns her lesson in just the wrong way, as the school comes to an apocalyptic end. Check out the special features on these DVD's for some truly funny outtakes and compilations of the fabulous dance numbers which ended every episode. It looks like they had a lot of fun making this show, and you will thoroughly enjoy it too. It's like a smarter, extended, genuinely amusing John Waters project.

Let me start off by saying that 'Strangers With Candy' the TV series is one of my favorite, if not my all time favorite, television show ever. It is brilliant. The show itself gets 5 stars from me.

Now for 'The Complete Series' release. First of all, the packaging is almost unbelievably bad. BAD BAD BAD! Cheap PAPER, I don't know if I can even call it cardboard because it is so flimsy and fragile. I'll just call it thick paper. And the discs themselves are held to this PAPER only by a plastic hub glued on to the paper packaging, rubbing right against another disc on the next page. This makes it very easy for discs to fall out and become damaged. I can't stress enough how much I dislike the packaging. In one word: CHEAP.

Now moving on to the content. I haven't watched all of the content yet, but I have seen some of it and can compare it to the previous releases of all 3 seasons. I was really excited about this release in large part because of director's cuts that would appear on two episodes. I watched these director's cuts and wished the deleted scenes had instead been offered as a separate bonus. The editing of these director's cut episodes is so bad it really does take you out of the show. There will be music in one shot and it will abruptly stop when the next shot comes up. Many shots integrated into the footage are of much worse quality making it very noticeable when the transition takes place. The audio as well keeps changing so much that its really, really obvious, even in scenes that were in the original versions of the episodes. Someone will be talking from the front speaker, then suddenly you'll be hearing them talk from your rear speakers for NO REASON. Also, the video gets very bright, then very dark, from shot to shot, also occuring at points in the episode that were in the original version and looked FINE on the previous DVD releases. Then, in some scenes things were changed for NO REASON, like in "Is My Daddy Crazy" when she watches the slide show, it runs like a slow virus-infected computer powerpoint presentation and the voice of the narrator is completely changed from a guy that was PERFECT for it to some woman who SUCKS and is just NOT funny at all! I was really disappointed with the presentation of these director's cut episodes. They actually made these episodes (some of the best) a whole lot less funny. And to me, a huge SWC fan, that is a TRAGEDY.

And another thing, they changed the transition sequences where commercial breaks were to a different animation AND recording. The result is certainly inferior to the previous version.

Thank god I held on to the previous DVD releases.

This set is worth it for big collectors like me who will buy anything with extra features that I don't already have of the show, but for first time buyers just beware that some of these episodes have been altered and the result is DEFINATELY DEFINATELY inferior to the previous releases. Fans, hold on to your old copies. They are the originals, they are the cult classic. This is a nice bonus for fans, but really could easily have been mistaken for a bootleg bought on eBay.

I still look forward to the film and will love the show till I die. But I really hope one day it will get a worthy release with good packaging, remastered and clean looking episodes (the ORIGINAL versions), bonus features, and whatever else they've got to give us!

Nothing quite like this show for the writing and character talent. Every one of the major players in the series has a talent for overacting that even William Shatner would envy, and even without the writing the facial expressions and delivery are frequently close to hysterical. As anybody who has seen this show knows, the writing is very original and energetic but is able to transition seamlessly into double-entendre and innuendo with a cleverness usually reserved for British comedy. (Although, as "children" of the Three Stooges, Americans are, I think, accustomed to somewhat heavier-handed comedy.)

For those who don't know this series, it definitely is too bawdy to watch with kids (I wouldn't let mine watch with me until they are at least 20, by which time they will probably find this material boring). If you are assembling a comedy collection, however, this series fills a unique niche.

My only complaint is that the packaging is a bit second rate. It doesn't even come in a box, but rather in a little "accordion-folder" package which is neither aesthetic nor practical (can't stack) nor particularly protective. It is also hard to remove the disks from the center catches without damaging them (I chipped one first thing out of the box despite expecting trouble, but fixed with carefully trimmed packaging tape; works fine).

This is a quirky and very interesting series. When it first came out on Comedy Central I hated everything about it, but the more that it was on (as background noise) and the more used to it I got, the more I wanted. There are very few series on TV like it. It thrives on occward silences and lewd jokes, but at the same time there are some pseudo-touching moments and some high-brow humor (often times under the surface).

We are past the days of the after school special, but for those of you who remember seeing them on TV, or being forced to watch them in school, this will be a hilarious flashback (ironically noted).

What I didn't know about this series based on a 46 year old junkie dropout who gets out of jail and goes back to school, living at home, is that it is based on a real public service announcement about a woman with a very similar life. She even looks like the real character. It was a riot to watch the PSA because it is almost like the show. The elements of that PSA are used in the series (especially in the unaired original pilot that is also on the DVD - as a side note, they did a good job with the changes they made when the series came to air - Jerry's hair, Jerry's step mom, and Jerry's part time job at a hospital, which was thankfully totally cut out) and add a lot of depth to the narrative.

I wasn't too impressed with the voice-overs because most of it was the main characters simply chuckling like stoned people watching the show.

What sets this DVD set apart from most is how creativly presented it is. The whole thing looks like a trapper-keeper with folders and stickers and doodles that looks like a student who isn't paying attention in class. A lot of the titles and descriptions are done in interesting ways (ex: the school newspaper, a quiz where all the answers are wrong, etc). I can't get over how cool it is!

I would highly recommend getting the series this way.

This material is classic! The cast is classic and I had to have it as a complete series to watch over and over. Brilliant comedy! ;)

The packaging isn't all that bad, although the velcro always wants to dislodge and the first disc keeps popping out. The details and the "schoolbook" theme is quite clever.

I only had the first season and my family was getting tired of it, so I was very excited for this set, and preorded it several months in advance. My only problem is that I need to go buy the third season because my two favorite 3rd season episodes are director's cuts..NOT the originals I've loved so long. The cuts aren't cut very well, and as the other reviewer said, the slideshow/library scene in "is my daddy crazy?" is AWFUL. I wanted the box set to ultimately save me money, not make me want to spend another 25 bucks for two episodes.

However, it's great to see my old favorites and the new extras are great. I love watching the blooper reel, and am glad they kept the old special features while adding new ones. Especially loved is the audio commentary on the last episode--if only audio commentary is done on all of them!

So... more goods than bads, but the set is not perfect. Good for collectors and big fans. I just wish the directors cuts were special features. Most of the added parts are in the 'deleted scenes' anyway.

The packaging is fine. It is laminated cardboard, just like a real trapper keeper and is quiet clever. The quality of the episodes is great and the bonus material varies. You can't expect rough cuts of shows or blooper reels to be in excellent quality.

The show itself is absolutely hilarious. I had never seen all of the second or third seasons, so I am really enjoying them.

The DVD set is worth the price for the show itself. But I received a set in which Discs 5 and 6 would not play the episodes. They were damaged from the poor packaging. But I exchanged it for another from Amazon with no hassle, and got a perfect new set. So just weigh your options. The series is well worth putting up with the bad packaging. Better than not having the set at all.

I have now received 2 copies of this DVD and if you notice there are 3 episodes or more that do not play correctly. My personal favorite is the episode were Jerry is trying to become homecoming queen. It skips a whole chapter... THE WEESLE & THE CHICKEN... maybe the best comedy I have ever seen. Please check your copy and see if this happens, it is not the fault of Amazon it is a bad transfer to DVD that needs to be fixed. If you need to see this chapter it will go black screen for a short time after the locker scene, and skip to the next chapter. To see the chapter, go backard 1 chapter. I have had the same problem on all DVD players

First of all, I absolutely love Strangers with Candy. As I haven't had cable in a long time, my best friend bought me a copy of season 1 and was instantly hooked. Of course, the problem was that Season 2 went out of print, so I had seasons 1 and 3 and no season 2.

When I heard this complete series was coming out, I hesitated: I just needed the second season, but then when I looked, at the time buying the complete series was less expensive than just buying season 2. So, I decided to sell my copies of 1 and 3 and get the complete series. No need for extra copies, right?

I wish I had never done it. Like the reviewer on June 30, 2006 stated, the complete series is made in almost a binder form which is "cutesy" but extremely unpractical and cheaply made. I've already had a couple close calls where I've almost had DVDs fall out because they didn't click in currently.

The episodes with the extra edits were exciting at first, but on closer inspection makes the two episodes look like an amateur shot them, which makes it really irritating. There will be music and just suddenly cuts out. I mean, what? You think they would have tried a little harder for this new release.

I am really annoyed. I feel like buying the complete series was a ripoff. I wish I would have just bought season 2.