Remember how the final episode of “Seinfeld” put the main characters on trial for being selfish, inconsiderate, and just generally shallow? How the show was famously “about nothing” and that there would be “no hugging, no crying” in any episode?
Well, “The Sarah Silverman Program,” which has been picked up for a second season on Comedy Central, is clearly trying to be the even more cynical heir to “Seinfeld’s” throne of delicious insensitivity. And in the most recent episode, which aired again last night, her ability to flirt with, and then dodge, virtually every form of earnestness was on full display.
The episode centers around a death… of Sarah’s remote control batteries. The loss leaves her stuck watching a depressing charity infomercial about children with cancer. Then she is blocked from getting to the store to pick up new batteries by a wheelchair marathon, taunts a homeless Vietnam vet without noticing his anguish, and compares her remote control quandary to a friend’s father’s liver cancer.
All of this could just be chalked up to the snarky behavior of a humorously odious character, but then Sarah kicks things up a notch.
By sleeping with God. And then trying to give Him the brush-off by pretending she doesn’t have a cell phone number to give out (cue her phone to ring loudly).
This plot point certainly won’t win Silverman any “religious” fans, but she couldn’t possibly care about that. And if her intent is both to offend and make us laugh in spite of our better judgment, then she had me at “poop,” something she says several times in the episode.
As is so often the case, the wisest words come from God’s own mouth.
As they’re parting ways, God tells Sarah, “I’m sorry for liking you.”
I know how He feels.