Out of all the episodes from 'Tales From the Darkside, THIS is the one I remember the most from my childhood. I have no clue why it was this particular episode, but for some reason it just stuck with me all of these years later. Well... I can honestly say that my favorite episode as a kid is now, as an adult, more silly than disturbing or scary (well the ending's kind of mean-spirited), but it was definitely nice seeing it again after all these year.
Chubby telemarketer Betsy (Sharon Madden) is such a reclusive loner she has nightly talks with her plants in between harassing people over the telephone. When her nerdy, bald high school flame Elmo (Larry Gelman) comes back into the picture wanting to sweep her off her feet, Betsy decides she needs to lose a few pounds. She already has a special refrigerator that taunts her ("Fatty, fatty 2 by 4") every time she opens the door, but that doesn't seem to be doing the trick. One day out of the blue she gets a phone call from a mysterious company called "Your Weight Is Over." Next thing she knows a package is delivered to her door. Inside is a hearing aid. In a crowded restaurant, she slips the device in and from that point on can hear food literally screaming in agony as it's being eaten. Hey, it DOES ends up successfully making her lose her appetite for the night. In fact, she passes out from the shock.
A few days later, she receives a package from the same company. This time it's a pair of eye glasses. As soon as she slips them on, she can see faces on the food. A pear, banana and apple sitting on the desk (all with sad-looking expressions) plead "Please don't eat us!" over and over again. Then they become friends. Each piece of fruit has a personality of its own. The pear has a female southern belle voice, the banana has a grating New York accent and the apple, naturally, is the intellectual of the group. Before long, Betsy's had enough of this program and tries to take the glasses off. Uh oh. They won't come off... and the hearing aid won't come out either. Will she ever be able to eat again or will she have to "murder" one of her new buddies?
Sure it's a pretty silly concept, but still clever, imaginative and has some laughs ("You got a problem with bananas, lady?") There's ultimately no explanation behind the company that sent these products to her, but it's not really important for an already-crowded 20-minute episode of a TV show. The performance from the lead actress is decent and the fruit fx are simple but effective.
Chubby telemarketer Betsy (Sharon Madden) is such a reclusive loner she has nightly talks with her plants in between harassing people over the telephone. When her nerdy, bald high school flame Elmo (Larry Gelman) comes back into the picture wanting to sweep her off her feet, Betsy decides she needs to lose a few pounds. She already has a special refrigerator that taunts her ("Fatty, fatty 2 by 4") every time she opens the door, but that doesn't seem to be doing the trick. One day out of the blue she gets a phone call from a mysterious company called "Your Weight Is Over." Next thing she knows a package is delivered to her door. Inside is a hearing aid. In a crowded restaurant, she slips the device in and from that point on can hear food literally screaming in agony as it's being eaten. Hey, it DOES ends up successfully making her lose her appetite for the night. In fact, she passes out from the shock.
A few days later, she receives a package from the same company. This time it's a pair of eye glasses. As soon as she slips them on, she can see faces on the food. A pear, banana and apple sitting on the desk (all with sad-looking expressions) plead "Please don't eat us!" over and over again. Then they become friends. Each piece of fruit has a personality of its own. The pear has a female southern belle voice, the banana has a grating New York accent and the apple, naturally, is the intellectual of the group. Before long, Betsy's had enough of this program and tries to take the glasses off. Uh oh. They won't come off... and the hearing aid won't come out either. Will she ever be able to eat again or will she have to "murder" one of her new buddies?
Sure it's a pretty silly concept, but still clever, imaginative and has some laughs ("You got a problem with bananas, lady?") There's ultimately no explanation behind the company that sent these products to her, but it's not really important for an already-crowded 20-minute episode of a TV show. The performance from the lead actress is decent and the fruit fx are simple but effective.
