Clone High: The Complete Series

Consider this "part two" in a trilogy of one-season shows I recently purchased on DVD. Like part one, Freaks and Geeks, this show focuses on a bunch of high school kids. But this time around, the kids are clones of famous people from history. On the DVD cover, you can see the main five clones: JFK, Cleopatra, Abe Lincoln, Joan of Arc, and Gandhi. The whole thing is some kind of mixture - part "high school show" satire, part absurdist humor, and part typical cartoon sight gag comedy - that puts a unique spin on this thirteen-episode show. Bill Lawrence (of Scrubs fame) was behind this show, and several Scrubs actors made cameos over the course of the season (Zach Braff as Paul Revere, Donald Faison as George Washington Carver, and John C. McGinley and Neil Flynn as a random trucker and janitor - yes, "The Janitor" plays a janitor). Christa Miller, Lawrence's wife, lends her voice to main character Cleo. The majority of the rest of the voice cast is made up of people from MADtv, several of whom were Scrubs guest stars anyway. The show certainly did several things right. For instance, each and every episode is referred to as "a very special episode" by a smooth-talking narrator who gives recaps and previews. The opening music and cut-to-commercial theme reek of indie rock sadness, and the show (clearly a comedy) pulls no strings as it sets heart-wrenching "emo" tracks over certain scenes to add melodrama. Additionally, a number of history-based jokes exist in every episode and while it doesn't take a scholar to appreciate them, it's nice to see that the showrunners weren't afraid to mix in some subtle wit and intellectual jokes amid the slapstick and several tried and true "over the top animation" gags. Ultimately though, it doesn't feel like a "complete" show in many ways. The characters are entirely one dimensional and most background characters are brought up just once or twice for the sake of comedic historical references. Furthermore, while it's funny on several levels, Clone High doesn't seem capable of finding a solid base of a rung on the "genres of comedy" ladder. Is it a fast-paced, zany cartoon in the vein of Aqua Teen Hunger Force? A smart satire of high school shows like Dawson's Creek? A pun-filled homage to historical figures? I can't say. Fortunately, it doesn't really matter what the show is, because it no longer "is" at all. It's just another one-season series that was under-appreciated and canceled too soon. Oh well. Clone High was funny, and Clone High was clever, but it wasn't always funny in a clever way. Check it out if you feel like it, but good luck finding it. I'm not so sure that it's anywhere online and the DVDs aren't available in America. Yeah, that's right - I imported the shit out of this DVD set from Canada. Impressed? Don't be. Amazon.com did all the work.