|
''The State'' is a half-hour sketch-comedy television show, originally broadcast in the USA on MTV between December 17, 1993, and July 1, 1995.〔(The State at TV.com )〕 The show combined bizarre characters and scenarios to present sketches that won the favor of its target teenaged audience. The cast consisted of 11 twenty-something comedians who created, acted, wrote, directed and edited the show. Several memorable characters were created for the show, and for a short time their catchphrases entered into the vernacular. Often, the cast would appear as themselves and address the audience to promote fake contests or to deliver mock public service announcements. Much like Monty Python, ''The States sketches were sometimes linked to each other in some way: a punchline or image that ended one sketch often provided a lead-in to the next. After years of legal issues related to the soundtrack to many of the episodes, the series was released on DVD on July 14, 2009. A ''State'' film featuring all of the original troupe members is in the works, but was delayed by the 2007–2008 screenwriters strike, and no release date for the project has been announced.〔(IESB Interview with David Wain ).〕 ==History== ''The State'' was founded as "The New Group" by Todd Holoubek at NYU in the late 1980s when he grew dissatisfied with the structure of other local comedy groups. Holoubek attracted film and acting talent by advertising this group as one where every member had "their own window". It was a free form idea wherein the group lacked central leadership and encouraged to act as a collective. Applicants came largely from the drama and film departments on campus. As they honed their talents, members were added and dropped until they eventually ended up with the cast that is familiar today. The State began performing locally and on campus where they garnered their reputation, followed by an off-broadway run of "Molt", produced by Jonathan K. Bendis and Steven Starr. MTV offered the group a collaboration with Jon Stewart on a show called ''You Wrote It, You Watch It'', which was followed by a six-episode commitment to ''The State'' show. After three seasons with MTV, The State began talks with ABC to air opposite ''Saturday Night Live'', but the deal was eventually dropped. CBS then offered a series of specials with the promise that, should they be successful, the show would be picked up as a regular series. CBS initially wanted to develop the show in hopes that they would target a late-night younger audience, but controversy arose when ''Details'' magazine reported that ''The State''s network executive allegedly made racist remarks about the late-night African American television audience; the executive was subsequently fired. The show was a ratings disaster due to an unsupportive network and lack of advertising. The CBS special marked the final new episode of ''The State'' to be aired. Members of ''The State'' remained close and went on to contribute to other projects including ''Viva Variety'', ''Reno 911!'', ''Stella'', the films ''Wet Hot American Summer'' and ''The Ten'' and the podcast ''RISK!'' About half the members went on to direct films and the entire cast remains active in the entertainment industry. The entire cast regrouped for the first time in 14 years for two performances at SF Sketchfest, The San Francisco Comedy Festival, on January 24, 2009, followed with a Q&A at The Clay Theater where they screened ''Wet Hot American Summer''. The following day they had a retrospective at Herbst Theater in San Francisco where they answered fans' questions and discussed the history of The State. Nine members of the group (minus Allison and Holoubek) reunited on the January 28, 2014 broadcast of the Comedy Central game show ''@midnight'', which is produced by Lennon and Garant. Showalter, Kenny-Silver, and Black were contestants. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The State (TV series)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|