''The Sarah Silverman Program'' is an American television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

, which ran from February 1, 2007, to April 15, 2010, on Comedy Central starring comedian and actress

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer. Silverman was a writer and performer on ''Saturday Night Live'', and she starred in and produced '' The Sarah Silverman Program'', which ran from 2007 to ...

, who created the series with

Dan Harmon Daniel James Harmon (born January 3, 1973) is an American writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator and producer of the NBC/Yahoo! Screen sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), creator and host of the comedy podcast '' Harmontow ...

and

Rob Schrab Robby Christopher Schrab (born November 12, 1969) is an American comic book creator, screenwriter, director, and producer. He is the creator of the comic book '' Scud: The Disposable Assassin'', co-writer of the feature film '' Monster House'', c ...

. ''The Sarah Silverman Program'' faced cancellation in 2009 when Comedy Central and the producers were unable to reach an agreement for the show's per-episode budget. LGBT-interest cable channel

Logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...

stepped in to co-produce the third season.

Premise

Episodes revolve around the adventures of Sarah and her friends in Valley Village,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, a district in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

portion of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

that is portrayed as an autonomous city within the show. Silverman plays a fictionalized version of herself, a single, unemployed woman who leads an irresponsible life. Her most notable trait is her undiluted, childlike self-absorption, which commonly leads to awkward comedic situations in which she insults friends, family, and total strangers. The show tackled issues such as

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagoni ...

, and

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

; it was canceled after three seasons. The show was filmed at

Hollywood Center Studios Sunset Las Palmas Studios, formerly General Service Studios and Hollywood Center Studios, is an American independent entertainment production lot located at 1040 North Las Palmas Avenue in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, providing stage faci ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

Characters

* Sarah Jane Anastasia Silverman, a.k.a. Sarah St. Clair (

) – The main character who is extremely childish and immature and exhibits a lack of diplomacy or sensitivity to others. She often acts impulsively, oblivious to anyone or anything else. Sarah does not have a job as she hates and refuses to work and attacks anyone who tells her to get a job, so her sister Laura pays her rent. Sarah is very close to Laura, and she has a dog named Doug, whom she found in the trash. Her favorite TV show is ''Cookie Party!'', a (fictional) ''

Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle bu ...

''-like

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

in which contestants have a cookie bakeoff, voted on by the viewers and hosted by drag-queen "Mini Coffee" and his puppet sidekick Ookie. Sarah enjoys watching the show with Laura as a weekly ritual, and they even went on the show as contestants. Sarah despises her sister's boyfriend (later husband) Jay, a policeman, and frequently says so. She retaliates by attempting to undermine their relationship, sometimes in a jealous manner. Sarah attended Valley Village High School with Brian, Steve, and Laura. Sarah and Laura's parents, Max and Rose Silverman, died when they were young (Rose's tombstone says she died in 1986 when Sarah was 10; Max later turns up alive and stalking

Larry Bird Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Hick from French Lick" and "Larry Legend", Bird is widely regarded a ...

at a book-signing). Sarah's jobless, careless-yet-comfortable lifestyle is usually a major part of the show's plot, along with constant episodes of humiliation at Laura's expense, despite Sarah's total dependence on her hard-working sister. Her young version in memories is played by Laura Marano. * Laura Jane Silverman III (

Laura Silverman Laura Jane Silverman (born June 10, 1966) is an American actress and the older sister of actress and comedian Sarah Silverman. She acted in '' Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic'' and ''The Sarah Silverman Program'' portraying a fictionalized versi ...

) – Sarah's younger sister (in real life, her older sister), is a

registered nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...

. Their parents died when they were young, and Sarah is Laura's only family. Laura is very susceptible to guilt, making Sarah's manipulation of her remarkably easy. She is more responsible than Sarah and devotes most of her life to taking care of her. In the first episode, she tells Jay that she can eat 30 hard-boiled eggs in one sitting. She used to have a large amount of pubic hair (like her mother) until she shaves it all off in the episode "Patriot Tact" after her mother comes to her in a vision to tell her it is all right to shave. She falls in love with Jay in the first episode. She attended Valley Village High School with Brian, Steve, and Sarah. * Brian Damien Spukowski (

Brian Posehn Brian Edmund Posehn (; born July 6, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, voice actor, musician, and writer. After numerous appearances as a television guest star, Posehn acquired his first major recurring role in HBO's ''Mr. Show with ...

) – Sarah's gay neighbor and friend, who is dating Steve, is an enthusiastic metalhead, but the only song on his five-year-old

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes wa ...

is the

Spin Doctors Spin Doctors are an American alternative rock band from New York City, best known for their early 1990s hits "Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong", which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart at No. 7 and N ...

' " Two Princes". Brian claims it's a palate-cleanser to prevent him from going psycho from listening to only metal. In the first episode, he claims to be

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whic ...

, which causes some strain with Steve. A near-death experience of Sarah crashing their car gives Brian perspective and he tells Steve that he remains gay. Brian takes

karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

lessons, but only uses his skills when he thinks it's necessary (and not to defend Steve, in the episode "Humanitarian of the Year"). He and Steve occasionally double-date with Laura and Jay, which they secretly dread. Brian attended Valley Village High School with Sarah, Steve, and Laura. He and Steve marry in the episode "Nightmayor". * Steven Ned Myron III (

Steve Agee Steven Douglas Agee (; born February 26, 1969) is an American comedian, actor, writer and musician, known for roles including Steve Myron on the Comedy Central series '' The Sarah Silverman Program'' and as John Economos in the 2021 superhero f ...

) – Sarah's gay neighbor and friend, who is dating Brian. He makes wry comments on his partner's antics, and even prompts them (such as recommending that he drink Tab). In the first episode, the sight of women in lingerie made him physically ill after Brian pasted his face on all the women in the catalogue. Steve enjoys playing ''

Halo 2 ''Halo 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. ''Halo 2'' is the second installment in the ''Halo'' franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed '' ...

'' online. He is often assaulted by strangers who claim that his face just makes them want to punch him. Steve is also known for having noxious, unbearable

flatulence Flatulence, in humans, is the expulsion of gas from the intestines via the anus, commonly referred to as farting. "Flatus" is the medical word for gas generated in the stomach or bowels. A proportion of intestinal gas may be swallowed enviro ...

, which is noted in several episodes, particularly "Not Without My Daughter", in which he sets off a SWAT team evacuation and is interrogated by the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collec ...

after telling Brian over the phone that he has "left a bomb" in Jay's police car. Despite knowing karate, Brian usually lacks the will to stop people from punching Steve. Although Sarah and Laura have two friends that are named Steve, they nicknamed Steve "Straight Steve" to be ironic because he is gay. His family no longer speaks to him because of his homosexuality and relationship with Brian. He attended Valley Village High School with Sarah, Brian, and Laura. In the episode "Nightmayor", he and Brian get married. * Officer Jay McPherson ( Jay Johnston) – A police officer who is dating Sarah's sister Laura. Jay met Laura when he arrested Sarah for driving her car into a playground sandbox after drinking too much cough syrup and passing out. Jay is also a closet performer in the genre of sentimental "gentle comedy" character sketches. Jay dislikes Sarah and calls her "the cuckoo clown" (in the episode "Positively Negative"), but he is so devoted to Laura that he will go out of his way to help Sarah, even when she vows to kill him. Jay won a "Humanitarian of the Year" award for reading to blind people. Growing up, he never celebrated his birthday because his mother told him that every day was his birthday (to cover up her beer and cake addiction, which ended up killing her on Jay's actual birthday). Jay has a brown

moustache A moustache (; en-US, mustache, ) is a strip of facial hair grown above the upper lip. Moustaches have been worn in various styles throughout history. Etymology The word "moustache" is French, and is derived from the Italian ''mustaccio'' ...

, which Sarah frequently insults or at least mentions in episode introductions. In "Muffin' Man", Jay mentions that his partner, Officer Paul Tompkins, has been suspended for opening fire on a Hispanic youth who pulled a pellet gun on him, and that he had received a temporary new partner named Tig (

Tig Notaro Mathilde O'Callaghan "Tig" Notaro (born March 24, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, radio contributor, and actress. She is known for her deadpan comedy. Her acclaimed album ''Live'' was nominated in 2014 for the Grammy Award for Be ...

) who is a lesbian. Jay was also very attached to his pet turtle, Toot, whom Sarah shot to death in the episode "Pee". In season two it was revealed that he had an uncle who was killed by an electric eel. He proposed to Laura on the second-season finale. * Doug – Doug is Sarah's " Chihuahua-

pug The Pug is a breed of dog originally from China, with physically distinctive features of a wrinkly, short-muzzled face and curled tail. The breed has a fine, glossy coat that comes in a variety of colors, most often light brown (Fawn (colour) ...

mix", pet dog that she found in the trash. Most episodes conclude with Sarah telling Doug her overall reaction to the episode's events, even if he's sleeping. He is played by Sarah Silverman's real-life pet dog, Duck.

Recurring characters

* Heather Silverman ( Laura Marano) - A greedy young orphan Sarah misrepresents as her daughter to use her to win the Little Miss Rainbow pageant in "Not Without My Daughter". * Armen ( Armen Weitzman) – A soft-spoken clerk at the Fan-Tasti-Mart whom Brian and Steve talk to during their various fights. He became Sarah's friend in "Making New Friends". * Eddie (

Eddie Pepitone Edward David Pepitone (born November 5, 1958) is an American character actor and stand-up comedian. Early life Pepitone was born to a Sicilian father and a Jewish mother in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, and was raised from the age of nine ...

) – The cook at Romanski's, the restaurant Sarah and her friends frequent. * God (

Tucker Smallwood Tucker Smallwood (born February 22, 1944) is an American actor, author, and vocalist. Early life From 1967 to 1970, Smallwood served in the United States Army Airborne Infantry. Commanding a Mobile Advisory Team during the Vietnam War, he was n ...

) – He has a one-night stand with Sarah in "Batteries", then rekindles their relationship in "Ah, Men". * Mini Coffee (

) – "Valley Village's own Southern Belle", the host of ''Cookie Party''. * Murray ( Murray Gershenz) – An elderly resident of Valley Village. He joins Sarah's new circle of friends in "Making New Friends" and in the final episode "Wowschwitz" is revealed as a former Nazi prison guard. * The Mustangs (

Chris Romano Chris Romano also known as "Romanski" (born March 28, 1978) is an American actor, writer, producer, and director, most commonly known for co-creating, producing and starring in Spike TV's '' Blue Mountain State''. Early life Romano grew up in ...

and Kurt Scholler) – A troublesome duo who wear matching red vests emblazoned with the letter "M". * Paul ( Paul F. Tompkins) – Jay's former police partner. * Max Silverman ( Mark Cohen) – Sarah and Laura's father. He was originally thought to be dead, but in "I Thought My Dad Was Dead, But It Turns Out He's Not" Sarah finds out that he is alive after encountering him in a bookstore. Sarah introduces him to Laura on a television talk show where Laura is visibly angry and shocked. Max and Sarah go on tour as

Lisa Loeb Lisa Loeb (; born March 11, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with the number 1 hit song "Stay (I Missed You)" from the film '' Reality Bites,'' the first number 1 single for an artist ...

cover singers called the "Loeb Trotters". At the end of that episode Max reportedly dies "again" in a bus explosion. In the third-season episode "Smellin' of Troy" it's revealed that he didn't die in the bus crash, he only fell into a coma, which Laura kept from Sarah. He awakens just long enough to kill Sarah's imaginary friend (Andy Samberg). * Tig (

) – Jay's police partner. In "Muffin Man", Sarah became so attracted to her that she decides to become homosexual.

Episodes

The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike put ''The Sarah Silverman Program'' on hiatus in November 2007. The second half of the second season began airing on October 8, 2008. The third season premiered February 4, 2010. The series's first TV-MA rated episode, "Just Breve" (episode 308), aired on April 1, 2010.

Reception

The show's premiere drew impressive ratings, 1.8 million total viewers and 1.3 with the 18–49 demographic, making it "cable's biggest audience of the night." The show had the single best debut ratings "for a Comedy Central original since the premiere of the animated series ''

Drawn Together ''Drawn Together'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein and premiered on Comedy Central on October 27, 2004. The series is a parody of '' The Surreal Life'' and follows the misadventures of the housemat ...

'' (2.2 million viewers) in 2004." On February 12, 2007, eleven days after the show's premiere, Comedy Central announced that it had "ordered 16 new episodes for air this fall and next spring." The network claimed the early pickup was because in its first two weeks, "

he show He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

was the most-watched cable show in primetime among all key demos." Comedy Central called it "its most successful primetime launch in three years." The show also drew positive reviews. Tim Goodman of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

'', said that the show was "bursting with imagination, audacity, rude charm, and a relentlessly funny worldview" and called the show "an offbeat gem." Daniel Fierman of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' called it "totally hilarious."

Tad Friend Theodore Porter "Tad" Friend (born September 25, 1962) is a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' who writes the magazine's "Letter from California". Life Born in Buffalo, New York, Friend was raised there and in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' called the show "The meanest sitcom in years – and one of the funniest." Doug Elfman of ''

The Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' called the show "a live-action comedy as funny as ''

Chappelle's Show ''Chappelle's Show'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedians Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show and starring in the majority of its sketches. Chappelle, Brennan, and Michele Armour were ...

''." ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine's James Poniewozik named it one of the top 10 new TV series of 2007, ranking it at number six. The show has also been praised for its non-stereotypical portrayal of a gay couple, resulting in a GLAAD Media Awards nomination. On July 16, 2009, Silverman was nominated for a

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Beginning with the 18th Primetime Emmy Awards, leading actresses in comedy have competed alone. However, these comedic performance ...

for her performance on the series.

Home media

The complete series was released on DVD in 2012. The series is available in

open matte Open matte is a filming technique that involves matting out the top and bottom of the film frame in the movie projector (known as a ''soft matte'') for the widescreen theatrical release and then scanning the film without a matte (at Academy rati ...

16:9 high definition on various online retailers. The blackface-themed episode "Face Wars" from the second season is not available online.

DVD releases

Soundtrack

A soundtrack album was released on March 2, 2010 entitled ''From Our Rears to Your Ears''. It contains 99 tracks from the show's three seasons.

References

External links

*
''The Sarah Silverman Program'' reviews
at

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

''The Sarah Silverman Program'' pictorial episode guide
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