Strangers With Candy Complete Series (1999)

"A raucous send-up of feel-good morality plays...  David Johnson, DVD Verdict

Editor's Note Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris) has been a runaway, prostitute, drug addict, and general misfit all her life. But upon her release from prison, the 46-year-old decides it's time to clean up her life, move back in with her family, and earn a high-school diploma. Starting over as a freshman, hapless Jerri returns to class amidst a hostile student body and an unhelpful, self-involved faculty--among them pseudo-sensitive art teacher Geoffrey Jellineck (Paul Dinello); ambiguously gay history teacher Charles Noblet (Stephen Colbert); and Machiavellian principal Onyx Blackman (Greg Hollimon)--while contending with a dysfunctional home life that includes her elderly father (Roberto Gari), evil stepmother (Deborah Rush), and bullying half-brother (Larc Spies). As ex-con Jerri maneuvers through the pecking order of teen life with zero social savoir-faire and her own brand of clueless prison ethics, STRANGERS WITH CANDY serves as a biting, politically incorrect satire of moralizing after-school specials and a hilarious look at the pangs of growing up--again. This collection presents the sadly defunct television series in its entirety with all three seasons.

	Amy Sedaris
	Greg Hollimon
	Paul Dinello
	Stephen Colbert
	Bob Balaban, et. al. - Director
	Bob Golden - Original Music By
	Doug Abel, et. al. - Editor
	Harlan Bosmajian - Cinematographer
	Kent Alterman - Executive Producer
	Michele Armour - Producer
	Stephen Colbert, et. al. - Writer

Rolling Stone
3 stars out of 5 -- "[In] the cult comedy series, Jerri Blank is a forty-six-year-old ex-con who re-enters the world of high school..." 07/13/2006 p.110

DVD Verdict 7 of 10
In general, unless you buy the premise, the running gags, the subtle under the gaydar humor, and attempts at social relevance, you will find Strangers with Candy a dreary, puzzling experience. For some reason, the show keeps reminding one of Pete and Pete, a Nickelodeon offering in which two brothers, both named Pete, have surreal adventures in a wacky suburban wonderworld. What both shows have in common is a droll tone, a self-satisfied inner acknowledgement that it's very funny and incredibly clever, and that only the "right" people will get it. - Bill Gibron