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The Ben Stiller Show

The Ben Stiller Show

List Price: $26.99
Your Price: $20.24
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ben Stiller Show!!! Finally.
Review: This is the series that I've always hoped would be released on DVD. This set is being planned as a huge special edition with commentary tracks, deleted sketches, and more. Much of the humor revolves around the time, but it doesn't feel dated. There are many spoofs of movies and tv shows that were popular when this aired (Fall 1992). There are just too many great moments to mention, some of my favorites are "Creepy Board," "Low Budget Tales of Cliched Horror," "Ask Manson," "Cape Munster," there are just far too many great moments. Fans of Mr. Show will want to check this out (Bob Odenkirk was a regular cast member, David Cross was a writer and appears in a few sketches), as will fans of the cast, sketch comedy, and things that happened in 1992.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Uneven but Worthwhile Sketch Comedy
Review: Looking over the other reviews, I can see that most of them are unanimous when it comes to the best sketches on THE BEN STILLER SHOW: "Cape Munster," the Manson/Lassie show, the DIE HARD and A FEW GOOD MEN parodies, the U2 and Springsteen take-offs, the "Cops" in Salem, Egypt, etc.

Other parts of the show feel like filler, especially the Guest Stars who never participate in any of the sketches. The commentaries are interesting and the shows look good for the amount of money Fox put into them.
(There's a preview of the obnoxious, annoying political loudmouth that is now Janine Garofalo when she goes off on a security guard being a "pig, the Man, blah, blah, blah.")

Good to have if you're fan of sketch comedy and what we'll have until SCTV is FINALLY released on DVD.
And I'd love to see Andy Dick's wilder, edgier MTV show, "The Andy Dick Show," make it to DVD.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: An Insult to SCTV and hair
Review: Being a baby buster, and not some tweenybopper who bought this 'thing' with the old guy from 'Duplex', I must admit that the 'Ben Stiller Show' is more of an interesting artifact (were we really that young?) than a genuine comedy classic. The filter of time made this a must-buy for me; sadly, I cannot recommend this dvd to casual or even hardcore sketch fans. The show has that same overreaching, too broad, too cool-for-school quality that made its sister Fox show 'In Living Color' such an unwatchable mess. The Odenkirk bits have some non-linear charm, but that's a plug for 'Mr Show'. For those who remember 'The Edge' or those horrific mid-90's SNL shows, it may be better to wait for those upcoming KITH and SCTV boxes.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Ben Stiller Show Still Funny After All These Years
Review: The Ben Stiller Show was a very humorous program back in 1992 when Fox canceled it. The show still went on to win an Emmy Award, which is very ironic becasue of its cancellation. The show was a vehicle for its stars Ben Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, Andy Dick, and Bob Odenkirk. The DVD includes all of the 12 episodes that made it on to the Fox Network including an unaired 13th episode.

The show had guest stars like Danny Bonaduce (The Partridge Family), David Cassidy (The Partridge Family), Dave Madden (Mr. Kincaid, The Partridge Family), Gary Shandling, Tom and Roseanne Arnold (still married back in 1992), Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Miller (who prophesized the shows cancellation on one of the episodes) and many more.

On the infomercial, parody to promote the release of the DVD, which aired Dec. 2, 2003 on Comedy Central Janeane Garofalo, said jokingly "Some of it holds up." Well a lot of it does hold up such as Skank, The Bruce Springsteen sketches, Tom Cruise: Dress Casual, Oliver Stoneland, Scotty Fantasy, The B-Minus Time Traveler, Manson and many more.

There are several skits, which are dated. Those particular skits were funny back then but aren't as funny now especially if you were too young to recall any of that pop culture. Information 411 parody of Rescue 911 with William Shatner, Blue and White Shampoo parody of annoying Head and Shoulders commercials, Amish Studs parody of the Fox dating game show Studs, The Grungies parody of the Monkees (outdated if you have never seen the the Monkees at all) and Rob Morrow from the TV show Northern Exposure as a guest star (younger family member had no clue who he was).

Now if you are a big fan of the commentaries that many DVDs have you must be alerted that not all of the Ben Stiller Show episodes have commentaries and many of the ones that do have them do not contain the entire cast, which is a bummer.

I would guess that it probably took this long to release the Ben Stiller Show because Warner Bros thought Ben Stiller was a big enough star now that people other than the few who actually saw the show would buy the DVD set.

Overall, it's still a very humorous show. The quality of the images are far better then the recent worn out looking ones that I viewed on Comedy Central. It doesn't have any kind of social or political messages that you might hear from one of its stars now. The show is just funny comedy to watch.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BUY THIS DVD. "Do it. . . . do it. . . . do it."
Review: Tom Cruise: Dress Casual, Skank, B Minus Time Traveler, Legends of Springsteen, Cape Munster, Melrose Heights 902102402....Do I need to go on. This series is too cool for its own good. This is where Ben Stiller, Andy Dick, Janeane Garofalo and Bob Odenkirk created some of the best comedy bits in the 90s. Uhhh.... can someone tell me why this show was cancelled in its prime. It won an Emmy!!! Anyways, I guess all the best shows get cancelled (*cough* *cough* Family Guy *cough*). It's really cool that dvd is giving tv shows the presentation they deserve. As of now, dvds of Invader Zim and The Critic are being prepared. Cult shows are finally getting their dues. What are you still doing reading this review. . . Ogey uybey the owshey!!!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Tisk Tisk
Review: Don't get me wrong, Ben Stiller is the man! With the new "Starsky and Hutch" movie out, you gotta think this is a good buy! I was very disappointed though. Andy Dick too! Usually hes funny...but I don't know what happened here! You wanna see Ben Stiller at his best? Go rent "Meet the Parents" or "Starsky and Hutch" or even "Zoolander!" Stay away from this one though. Good cast though...and good ideas! I think they just needed to develop them a bit more! BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Ben Stiller Experiment
Review: This compilation is one of those DVDs that has been long overdue. After looking desperately for chances to see this "one season" wonder on Comedy Central years back, I was pleased to find out recently that I could see the entire season for a little more than twenty dollars by buying it online.

The DVD chronicles the 12 episodes of Ben Stiller's Show, which ran on MTV from 1992 to 1993. The cast includes Ben Stiller, Janeane Garofalo (remember her?), Andy Dick and Bob Odenkirk doing sketches and parodies of popular early 90s shows, commercials and fads. There is also one unaired episode included, as well as commentaries and outtakes from a few of the episodes.

This show mocks the aggravations of trendy television that sprang up in the late 80s/early 90s. There are plenty of stabs at FOX's "rich" kids shows, Hollywood blockbuster movies, commercials and MTV shows. For instance, there is a running parody called "Melrose Heights 90210-2402" which pokes fun at the over dramatization and hipness of yuppie-teen television that came to prominence with Melrose Place and Beverly Hills. There is also "Legends of Springsteen", where we learn the many achievements of the legendary "Boss" (such as how he fought off alien invaders at a cafe). Another highlight is "The Grungies" segment, which mocks the Grunge "X" Generation movement of the early 90s (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc) by combining it with the popular 60s show "The Monkees." It is also has a scattering of action movie skits that mimic action movies: Die Hard 12: Die Hungry, Cape Munster, and Advantage Agassi (Andre Agassi as a tennis-playing, crime fighter in a prototypical cheesy B-Movie subplot). Numerous commercials (What is sexy?, the "Pig" Latin singer), a mockumentary of U2 (Stiller as Bono), Ben's Video Diary, and Headslammer's Ball are other notable segments included.

An excellent buy for a Ben Stiller fan, and definitely worth a shot if you are unfamiliar with the show. Essentially, this is smart comedy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE BEN STILLER SHOW
Review: This DVD is one of the funniest tv shows I have witnessed!
Were the tv executives who cancelled this brilliant show on some strange substance? I hope they were down sized by the Fox network and they are now pulling petrol pumps or working at Wallmart!
Anyway about the show where can I begin 'The Grungies' a great parody of the Monkess. Oliver Stone Land had me in hysterics, not forgetting Stiller's near perfect impersinations of Daniel Day Lewis and Bruce Willis. There is so much more brilliant material, check it out for yourself.
Way ahead of it's time I recommend this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Remember when Ben Stiller was a good satirist?
Review: Ben Stiller started out as a great satirical comedian-- there is some depth to the work in some of these sketches. I'm sorry to say a depth that is sorely LACKING in just about every thing else Ben Stiller has done after this show. It's ironic how successful he became with much lesser work. Many of these sketches are very time-senstive, you may have trouble remembering the zeitgeist of the early 90's necessary to get some of the funny. For example, the obnoxious theme restraunts that were the subject of the PJ O'pootertoofs sketches have thankfully died out but you kind of need to remember them to get those sketches. Although the rampant, bizarre use of Charlie Manson in talk shows up to the early 90s isn't an absolute requirement to get the dark humor of the "Ask Manson" material. However, some of the other send-ups such as the excellent recurring COPS material only requires a general knowledge of the show-- and are classics.

Two other classic send ups that I'd like to see again are the Woody Allen with the movie monsters, and a Cape Fear parody with a grown Eddie Munster as the lead.

Ben Stiller was a good impersonator, too. His Bono was pegged perfectly, for instance. The Bruce Springsteen send up of old stories of Bruce going into small clubs for impromptu performances was hillarious in its increasing exagerations.

Too bad the cast didn't continue with the high quality they showed in this short lived show. (Just my opinion, of course.)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You guys are insane
Review: I challenge you to find better sketch work than the Manson takeoff of Lassie. The 90210 parody kills. These shows are the reason we allow Ben Stiller to star in such lame, safe-for-the-suburbs-and-the-unimaginative movies like "Meet the Parents. We grant him leeway because we know he is brilliant. The proof? This show. Watch it again without your eyes, ears, and too-polluted-with-jackass-the-movie brain open, and apologize to Mr. Stiller when you are done.


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