The season finale of “Wonder Showzen” was last week. On that episode there was a “special report” by Clarence the puppet about the state of TV. The entire episode is Clarence asking people what’s wrong with television and then telling them to make some compelling TV. Dramatic music underscores the fact that the people really have nothing to say. Then, in an odd twist, someone starts harassing Clarence. This clip encapsulates the whole episode.

I appreciate that Wonder Showzen is trying to push boundaries and mess with viewers’ expectations, but I really didn’t find this episode funny. I can see the merit in the idea of the episode, but the execution of it was just not that entertaining. It reminded me a lot of something an artist would do. Like putting a toilet in an art gallery to make people re-evaluate what art is. I mean, I like the idea of a toilet sitting in an art gallery, but let’s face it, toilets are fucking boring.

I was trying to think back of an example of a show where you realized, “Oh, they’re really going to do this for the whole episode,” but then you end up really enjoying it. I thought of an episode of Sea Lab 2021 where the entire 12 minute episode was a single shot of the Sea Lab headquarters and the lights were out. A bunch of the characters are trying to figure out what’s going on, why they’re trapped in the clost and the insanity and hilarity of Captain Hazel “Hank” Murphy carries the episode. That worked. I’m not so sure this Wonder Showzen episode worked, but regardless it made me think, and I belive that’s ultimately the goal the of show’s creators.

Download the episode here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 24th, 2006 at 10:57 am and is filed under videos, tv. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.