Sliders Academy Awards: Best Comedy

Date: 07/02/2003
From: Recall317

Looks like the board is in a list mood, so why not stroll back down memory lane with a revival of the awards show? (That's a rhetorical question. I'm doing this post regardless of your answer.)

Of all the boxes the networks tried to jam Sliders into, comedy is one they left alone. Still, comedy is at the core of this show. The first season was as much humor as it was any other component (much to Fox's horror) and subsequent seasons still set aside episodes for the sole purpose of making people laugh. So which story was the funniest?

For me, there are three candidates that rise above the rest, but I can only pick one. For Best Comedy, I select:

The Weaker Sex
By Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin

While producers of later seasons tried to avoid "on the nose" satire, this one left the face of politics a bloody mess. "I favor the good things in life. I oppose the bad things..." is as succint a summary of a political platform I've ever seen. The campaign ads, both outrageously positive and viciously negative, are so damn funny because they are absolutely true. Factor in some sharp observations (checking the height of the podium, for example) and it's one of the best political satires television has offered in the last decade.

That alone would have made this a top candidate for funniest ep, but we haven't even breached the reverse sexual discrimination which dominates the story. Rembrandt trying to console the ex-boyfriend is a great sequence, as is Arturo's indignation over being rejected for the typing pool. Arturo's in rare form all episode long:

"I don't believe that anyone has captured my essence so beautifully. That moment when I changed that disgusting little brat's diaper…classic."

"Sir, I need to kiss your baby!"

"Ignorant bovine!"

I laugh just typing this.

Your selections?

R317

PS. Interesting sidenote, Prestwich and Yorkin wrote extensively for David Kelley productions including Picket Fences and Ally McBeal. So they had some experience in the "dramedy."

Hard to go against "Weaker Sex"

Date: 07/02/2003
From: ThomasMalthus

Ya heard me, BT.

So I won't. But I will say that "Summer of Love", "King is Back", "Love Gods" and "Paradise Lost" all deserve honorable mention. Well, maybe 'honorable' isn't the best word to describe that last one...

ThomasMalthus

P.S. Never gave you props for these awards earlier, so, uh, props.

"Weaker Sex" is good...

Date: 07/02/2003
From: Slider_Quinn21

But I'm going to go with "Summer of Love"

Nothing against "Weaker Sex" at all, but I think "Summer of Love" is just classic Sliders comedy.

Whether it's Rembrandt's hilarious situation at home, Wade's interaction with the hippies, Bennish, or Arturo in his hippie outfits, Summer of Love works.

Quinn
http://slidersweb.net/otherworlds/214

I'm going for...

Date: 07/02/2003
From: Slider_Sarah

something a bit more oddball.

Prince of Wails.

Because not only is the title funny (what's 'Wails' got to do with Wales?), I can only assume that the accents were meant to be a joke.

Other than that, I'd probably go with Summer of Love just because of the professor's reaction to everything :-)

And believe me, I tried hard to come up with one that wasn't season 1! But the best I got was Net Worth, which I still find hilarious. Or one of the season 3 episodes I think were put in as a joke anyway :-)

Weaker Sex would probably be up there, but not quite the top.

Sarah.
slider_sarah@hotmail.com
http://www.slidersweb.net/sarah/

hmmmmm

Date: 07/02/2003
From: Grizzlor

I would not pick The Weaker sex. I would however consider some hillarious moments like Remmy in the People's Court in Pilot part 2, Arturo in Love Gods, and my choice,

THE KING IS BACK!

Come on! The King, Jim Morrison and Enrico Pavarotti!

Wellllll...

Date: 07/03/2003
From: Blinker

BT can go jump down a well!!

For the same reason the board has produced countless stunningly inventive works of brilliantly pointed satire and yet I still laugh hardest at the unintentional comedy of Dorky and Executive, I must forsake all respectability and hope of influencing this round to vote for:

"Data World."

Because it can't possibly get any funnier than a life-size hotel that houses a digital representation of ITSELF, which is populated by barbarians who for no particular reason are reconstituted from waiters, who left behind shambling zombie versions of themselves who rather than reverting to animals simply stand up and shamble all day with no apparent need for sustenance. Did I mention the bandana-wearing dwarf who lives in a metaphorical trash can? Or the most gratuitous chess game in screen history? Or the download of Quinn's fourth season memories that depicts him in the third person? Do I need to?

Okay, so "Paradise Lost" comes close, but JRD puts in too convincing a performance for its own g... bad. "Data World" is the only ep that had me in hysterics from start to finish.

- Blinker 7:-O
http://slidersweb.net/blinker

And the nominees are ...

Date: 07/04/2003
From: The_Seer

"B.T." directed by BT.


Just for fun, I thought I would first come up with a list of nominees. I tried to have a represenative from all 5 seasons but unfortunately there were so many good Season 1 candidates. I also couldn't come up with a strong candidate from the 2nd and 3rd seasons (not including "ridiculous funny", as some others have) but surprisingly I thought there was a strong candidate from each of the last 2 seasons. So here are the 5 nominees:

"Summer of Love"
"The Weaker Sex"
"The King Is Back"
"Lipschitz Live!"
"To Catch a Slider"

And the Oscar goes to ...

"The King Is Back"!

Yes, I have to agree with Grizzlor. "The King Is Back" is the Best Comedy for several reasons ... the Rembrant impersonators, Arturo after he had been rescued from the fanatic mob, the Del Rubio sisters' country rendition of "Whip It", Maurice Fish, the "real" Rembrant's appearance at the "comeback" special to upstage and replace "our" Rembrant, ... but the funniest part of this episode has to be the Arturo quotes. Even though the character has had some great quotes in other episodes, this one stands out as having some of the funniest ones ever, like:

"You're popular here, which means this can't possibly be our Earth."

"Gentlemen, check your flies."

And IMO the greatest Arturo quote of all time:

"Mr. Pavarotti is an Italian. He speaka like this. Do I speaka like this? No. Why? Because I am an Englishman, you blistering idiot!"

Original URL http://bboard.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/4066927
Nominated by Blinker