The Sarah Silverman Show - Season 1 Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

An acquired taste

The Sarah Silverman Program draws obvious parallels with Silverman’s own comic persona. In a word they’re both immensely frustrating. Both the show and the comedian have a genuinely infectious enthusiasm and energy and demonstrate a vivid imagination and a delight in the ridiculous. The show also functions as a wonderfully acidic pastiche of the populist US sitcom.

Although not especially new, it does remain incredibly refreshing to watch a sitcom headed by a character who is - whilst riffing on the ‘lovable loser’ and ‘smart alec’ archetypes - immensely obnoxious and fundamentally unlikable. However the delicate balance this requires from both writing and performance is not always there. The show also opts for the cheap laugh far too frequently and mistakes being crass for being subversive.

Silverman seems to revel in the scatological to a quite perverse degree (although perhaps no more so than a great deal of more recent US comedy) and this, unfortunately, serves to drown out her strengths. Silverman has a keen aptitude for juxtaposing the childish with the offensive, but too often it is thrown away on cheap sight gags or woefully misjudged set pieces.

The show is an intriguingly heady brew but, ultimately, an acquired taste.

[Highly rated reviewer]

3 Episode rule...

I will always watch at least three episodes of a TV show to decide if I like it or not, and although it has some good laughs, I just couldn't bring myself to watch it further. She is a talented and amusing girl, but the show really isn't for me. I suggest you give it a similiar chance though as it was still 100 times better than what passes for comedy on mainstream TV these days.

SLIPPERY SLOW

I’m not sure if there ever was a season 2 for this series and I am not going to try to find out. I think this series justified the criticism Sarah got when she came over here for a gig – she clearly is not funny in this television gig as well. It is a mash-up of shock tactics that left me cringing and not in ‘The Office’ kind of way. This was awful and it would be an abomination not to laugh for this purpose alone. Give it a miss.

[Highly rated reviewer]

An acquired taste

The Sarah Silverman Program draws obvious parallels with Silverman’s own comic persona. In a word they’re both immensely frustrating. Both the show and the comedian have a genuinely infectious enthusiasm and energy and demonstrate a vivid imagination and a delight in the ridiculous. The show also functions as a wonderfully acidic pastiche of the populist US sitcom.

Although not especially new, it does remain incredibly refreshing to watch a sitcom headed by a character who is - whilst riffing on the ‘lovable loser’ and ‘smart alec’ archetypes - immensely obnoxious and fundamentally unlikable. However the delicate balance this requires from both writing and performance is not always there. The show also opts for the cheap laugh far too frequently and mistakes being crass for being subversive.

Silverman seems to revel in the scatological to a quite perverse degree (although perhaps no more so than a great deal of more recent US comedy) and this, unfortunately, serves to drown out her strengths. Silverman has a keen aptitude for juxtaposing the childish with the offensive, but too often it is thrown away on cheap sight gags or woefully misjudged set pieces.

The show is an intriguingly heady brew but, ultimately, an acquired taste.

[Highly rated reviewer]

3 Episode rule...

I will always watch at least three episodes of a TV show to decide if I like it or not, and although it has some good laughs, I just couldn't bring myself to watch it further. She is a talented and amusing girl, but the show really isn't for me. I suggest you give it a similiar chance though as it was still 100 times better than what passes for comedy on mainstream TV these days.