The Sarah Silverman Program. (TV Series) Batteries (2007) User Reviews

The SS Program

[marccr2 · 10/10 · 3 February 2007]

Heil yes! Always been a huge SS fan, happy to see her getting a chance to shine on a regular basis. Smart and funny = sexy. At the time of this posting I have only viewed the first 2 episodes. A solid cast with some of my other favorites rounding out the first 2 shows. Would love to know if her animation bit with the cough syrup and flying car was an homage to Pee Wee's Playhouse or just off the cuff. Either way it was well produced and hilarious. Can only hope that Comedy Central backs this show long enough for it to spread it's legs. Good luck little show and remember, "I think I can, I think I can."

"Dying is easy, comedy gets me hard."

It's Funny Because....

[MCL1150 · 5/10 · 8 March 2007]

It's Funny Because when it comes to the laughs in "The Sarah Silverman Program", 50% of the humor comes from avoiding political correctness at every turn, while the other half comes from the uncompromising selfishness of Sarah's character. Add the two together and you have instant ha-ha's. Like in the episode where Sarah tells her friends that she has AIDS, and hilarity ensues? Well why not? It's the new millennium. AIDS is funnier now than ever and not the complete drag it was in the 1980s. The show is also supposed to be funny because of jokes about how cops assume that suspects are always black, or the fact that Sarah finds it more important to purchase batteries for her TV remote than it is to care about children dying of cancer. Ya see, as long as the children aren't actually dying of cancer, cancer can be funny. And as long as it's fake TV racism, it's even funnier than the real thing. A central source of humor in tonight's episode is the revelation that god is black with Sarah asking "Are you god's black friend?" I'd explain to you that the joke is funny because Sarah is so UN-PC that she doesn't consider the possibility that god might NOT be white, but that might insult your intelligence as a viewer. BTW, the "God is Black" joke was done first and done better on "All in the Family" way back in the 70s! Back when an audience was allowed to get a joke on their own without it being driven home with a sledge hammer. And believe it or not, there once was a time in TV land that a selfish, self absorbed character ended up getting what she deserved, but with todays brand of TV , selfishness has become a whole new brand of Teflon.

Too random for it's own good.

[TOMNEL · 5/10 · 11 March 2009]

The Sarah Silverman Show is a random show, with silly plot twists and stupid characters (This is not a bad thing). When watching this, you would expect it to be random, but this was like a compilation of 5 different plots all thrown together in one episode, topped off by a bizarre ending.

Sarah is watching television, and sees helpless kids with leukemia on, but the batteries in her remote are dead. So, she goes on a quest to the local liquor store to buy batteries, but she has no money. Many plot twists and story lines occur, including Sarah accidentally pooping in her pants while trying to fart, and Sarah having sex with "Black God".

It's almost as though Comedy Central had ordered many episodes for season one, and then changed their minds, leaving the program with nothing to do but take their extra scripts and shove an aspect of each one into the script. In the end, it's very unfullfilling, because too much happens, leaving an impression that this was all leading up to something else, and that nothing has happened. Sarah having sex with God wasn't that funny, and the battery storyline was poorly executed. Overall, the finale was the worst of the season.

My rating: ** out of ****. 30 mins. TVPGDS

Season 1: Regularly funny and clever that mostly uses her stage personae in imaginative and funny ways

[bob the moo · 16 February 2009]

Sarah Silverman is not everyone's cup of tea and now and again I must admit that her "I am sweet but yet shocking" thing doesn't work for me. At times she can be crude without being funny or just be silly without being funny – unsurprisingly this makes her look crude or silly and not funny. I recently watched Jesus is Magic and was not overly impressed by the flow of the show as she had to leave pauses for the audience to react and it didn't build or move well. The sitcom is different though and it does move with a confident and an imaginative wit that makes it effortlessly enjoyable.

The plots are not the most realistic but mostly they are set up to make the best use of Silverman, who plays her character perfectly. She is the selfish, spoilt girl with barely any self-awareness and zero for anyone around her. This makes everything about her and it is very funny how this is delivered, particularly when she thinks she may have AIDS or many of the other things that she turns inwards and makes about herself. Mostly the dialogue allows for some really imaginative shock material that is well delivered and had me regularly laughing. The downside is that some of it is childish without being funny – but I was surprised by how infrequently this happened because mostly it was just funny. The pace and flow is much better than her live show as well because there are no pauses and "restarts" but rather a constant forward motion that does allow for a comedic momentum to be built up.

The supporting cast are not quite as good as Silverman but understandably as they are not the focal point. Sister Laura is solid as the put-upon one, Posehn and Agee are good even if their characters are pretty basic and unconvincing (and think about the context of the show that I'm still saying that!). Johnston is a nice part and does "straightman" well considering how alone in that he is.

Season 1 of this show was more than good enough to make me check out the second season when I get a chance. Perhaps it is helped by its short running time (season 2 is much longer) but I'll see. Season 1 though is fresh, funny and imaginative – it is not just about having a pretty girl saying rude words, it is about a selfish character being self-centred and unaware of others in very funny ways and, on that front it really works.