# Strangers with Candy (1999)

> A former teenage junkie and prostitute returns to high school at 46 and tries, badly, to do everything the right way.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/1804

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 30
- Episode runtime: 23 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Stephen Colbert, Mitch Rouse, Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello
- Network: Comedy Central
- Cast: Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert, Greg Hollimon, Roberto Gari, Deborah Rush, Larc Spies, Orlando Pabotoy
- TMDB rating: 8.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0194624/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: mild
- Tone: campy, deadpan, absurd, satirical, cringe, irreverent

## What critics say

Viewers broadly regard the series as a sharply absurd, deliberately offensive satire of after-school special conventions, admired for its committed performances and cult status.

## Synopsis

Strangers with Candy (1999-2000) is an American Comedy Central satirical sitcom created by Stephen Colbert, Mitch Rouse, Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello. Amy Sedaris plays Jerri Blank, a former prostitute and junkie who returns to Flatpoint High as a 46-year-old freshman, determined to do things the right way and reliably learning the wrong lesson. Her efforts keep colliding with neurotic history teacher Chuck Noblet (Stephen Colbert) and his secret lover, sensitive art teacher Geoffrey Jellineck (Paul Dinello), whose own closeted tangle fuels much of the chaos. At home, her comatose father Guy, vain stepmother Sara and bullying stepbrother Derrick supply a grotesque domestic backdrop. The engine is simple: each episode builds a small scheme or school project that Jerri pursues with earnest, self-deluded zeal until it spirals into absurd disaster. The show runs three seasons of thirty episodes in total, each episode a self-contained comic misadventure rather than a continuing story. Its tone is deliberately campy and deadpan, with cringe comedy, after-school special parody and dark satire layered over a bright, tacky set design. Fans of Mr. Show with Bob and David, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist and Ned and Stacey will find similar kinship in its awkward, self-deluded characters and mischievous satire.

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