I had the opportunity to re-watch some VHS recordings of this show on NBC and Fox, and I'm amazed at how ahead-of-its time it really was.
I think we can easily regard this show as one of the ancestors of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, by the combining the four ingredients: humour, television, left-leaning populism, and a great research team.
It also seems to have laid groundwork for some top films of the last few years.
Some connections that impressed me:
Season 1, Episode 2, "Kuwait" segment, showing that Kuwait is not a free democracy as any Westerner would understand it, might as well have an Iraq follow-up, right? The results of US spreading "democracy" in Iraq seem considerably worse, actually.
Season 1, Episode 3, "Dr. Death" segments, foreshadow the HBO biopic You Don't Know Jack (2010).
Season 1, regular Episode 6, "Neighbors" segment, predating the Sept. 11 attacks, shows how oblivious and passive people can be when murderous neighbors move in.
Season 1, regular Episode 7, "Corporate Consultants" segment covers similar ground to Up In The Air (2009).
Season 2, Episode 1, "Crime Scene Cleanup" segment seems as if it has inspired Sunshine Cleaning (2008).
Season 2, Episode 4, "Aquarium" segment on towns trying to save themselves by building aquariums is ever timely, as even my own rust-belt city has recently proposed this idiocy to revitalize our economy. We can't even keep the grass alive, and they think we can keep exotic fish alive.
There's an unaired segment about Sam Phelps-Roper, which again foreshadows The Most Hated Family in America (2007).
I hope this series becomes available on DVD, in full (including unaired segments and the episode only broadcast overseas). VHS is just agonizing to watch these days.
I think we can easily regard this show as one of the ancestors of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, by the combining the four ingredients: humour, television, left-leaning populism, and a great research team.
It also seems to have laid groundwork for some top films of the last few years.
Some connections that impressed me:
Season 1, Episode 2, "Kuwait" segment, showing that Kuwait is not a free democracy as any Westerner would understand it, might as well have an Iraq follow-up, right? The results of US spreading "democracy" in Iraq seem considerably worse, actually.
Season 1, Episode 3, "Dr. Death" segments, foreshadow the HBO biopic You Don't Know Jack (2010).
Season 1, regular Episode 6, "Neighbors" segment, predating the Sept. 11 attacks, shows how oblivious and passive people can be when murderous neighbors move in.
Season 1, regular Episode 7, "Corporate Consultants" segment covers similar ground to Up In The Air (2009).
Season 2, Episode 1, "Crime Scene Cleanup" segment seems as if it has inspired Sunshine Cleaning (2008).
Season 2, Episode 4, "Aquarium" segment on towns trying to save themselves by building aquariums is ever timely, as even my own rust-belt city has recently proposed this idiocy to revitalize our economy. We can't even keep the grass alive, and they think we can keep exotic fish alive.
There's an unaired segment about Sam Phelps-Roper, which again foreshadows The Most Hated Family in America (2007).
I hope this series becomes available on DVD, in full (including unaired segments and the episode only broadcast overseas). VHS is just agonizing to watch these days.