Sarah Silverman reams out sitcom conventions
Sarah Silverman has a dog named Doug. Somehow I find that funny in itself.
Yet that's much of the charm of "The Sarah Silverman Program," that everything in it is just a little bit whacked. It's an off-kilter frame with a seascape in it where the water level in the painting always remains horizontal to the ground.
That is, when the show isn't simply taking the picture off the wall and using it to bash some sacred cow over the head.
"The Sarah Silverman Program" has returned for a second season at 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays on Comedy Central, much to the chagrin of Christians, Jews, Muslims, God-fearing people of all ilks, blacks, whites, Hispanics, gays, both sides on the abortion issue and, in this week's episode, those who would deny the natural human right to a little healthy bestiality.
Hey, what better live-action sitcom running mate for "South Park?"
"The SS Program," as I'll respectfully refer to it from now on ("She's the storm trooper of comedy!"), is obviously not to everyone's tastes, and Wednesday's episode more than most. Sarah, playing a character named after herself, but who is sometimes more reminiscent of the clueless kids' book heroine Amelia Bedelia, wakes up next to her old Chihuahua.
"Good morning, Doug," she says cheerfully. "What should we have for breakfast?"
Doing what dogs naturally do, Doug proceeds to bend himself around and start munching on his rear end.
"OK, I'm just gonna have eggs," she replies with noticeable distaste.
Yet that's a MacGuffin. When Doug persists in doing what dogs naturally do, an exasperated Sarah eventually blurts out, "What's so tasty?" and decides to find out for herself -- right there, in the park. When she's caught in the act by a passing nibby-nose letter carrier, that leads to police involvement. Doug is impounded, and Sarah has to register as an animal sex offender -- and inform all her neighbors.
When she hears that the way to atone for any heinous act is simply go to rehab and come clean, she's there -- only to be utterly rejected by all the reprobates in her encounter group.
Eventually, she fights back in court. "I'm not a monster," she says, "I'm just a curious eccentric."
When none other than Doug takes the stand, what does he do but do what dogs naturally do.
Having revealed everything else about this episode, I won't tell the ending, except to say that, like "The Simpsons," "The SS Program" sets everything back in place at the end, no matter what happens. She'll always have her (real-life) sister, Laura, who will probably always have her police-officer lover, Jay. ("Here comes trouble with a capital S," he says when he sees Sarah.) And she'll always have her gay buddies, Brian and Steve.
To be brutally honest, "The SS Program" can sometimes fall back on offensiveness for its own sake, and this week's episode isn't quite as brilliant as last week's season premiere. That found Sarah awakened by church bells on a Sunday morning and marching into the service in her pajamas and monster-foot slippers to demand to see "the manager" and complain about the noise. There she was recruited by anti-abortion activists under the belief that there are people out there literally "killing babies," which eventually led to a hilarious montage of Sarah reliving her own three abortions, set to Green Day's ubiquitous "Good Riddance" -- a lampoon of every lame sentimental show that has ever used that song without a sense of its irony.
So "The SS Program" can deal in wicked social satire; it's just that this week it's more interested in getting cheap yuks out of the idea of a person doing to dogs what dogs naturally do to themselves.
I believe that makes it the be-all, end-all of TV comedy right now. Let's see "Family Guy" try ripping off this plot.
In the air
Remotely interesting: PBS' "P.O.V." series airs the latest installment of Michael Apted's cycle-of-life documentary series, "49 Up," at 9 p.m. today on WTTW Channel 11. It's the seventh film looking every seven years at people Apted first examined when they were 7-year-old British school kids back in 1964.
For those who want to catch up with what they've missed on "The Sarah Silverman Program," including our fair heroine bedding down with God, the first season is now available on DVD.
End of the dial: Don Tait is retiring from WFMT 98.7-FM after 35 years at the station. Oct. 19 will be his last day. Peter VanDeGraaff and Lisa Flynn will divide up the week on the midday shift starting Oct. 22. 'FMT's Radio Network is syndicating the Nashville Symphony's new series, "American Encores," and will add it locally early next year.
WXRT 93.1-FM is inviting people to ponder "Chicago without 'XRT" in a new marketing campaign. Be careful what you wish for.
-- Ted Cox