Amanda and the Lobsters practice some dance moves. When she leaves, Penelope shows up in a Lobster disguise before security takes her away.
• One of my favorite cold opens. I don’t know why, but Penelope’s disguise makes me laugh.
• In the shot where the Lobster points out Penelope’s disguise, you can see the Blockblister set in the background.
TV Clips: Dancing people, and a guy pointing to his car saying, “Look at that shine!”
Intro
Amanda solves problems of various audience members.
• Boring.
Fake Commercial: Homework Hut
A place that delivers all kinds of homework.
• One of the most creative premises on the show. Who wouldn’t want a place that does your homework for you? I know I sure did.
Hillbilly Moment: Fish
Sketch: Blockblister
Foreigners sell cheaply-made knock-off movies at their video store, such as “The Vantom Menace”, “The Wizard of Voz”, and “Austin Powders”.
• Another one of my favorite recurring sketches makes its debut! While it’s somewhat outdated nowadays because the store it’s spoofing is gone, that doesn’t make it any less funny.
• The first customer returns two videos in this sketch. Later Blockblister sketches would have each irate customer return one video.
• Other than that major difference, the Blockblister formula is already fully in place.
• What makes the Star Wars parody even more brilliant is the fact that The Phantom Menace wasn’t even out on home video yet. It wasn’t released on VHS until April of 2000, while this episode aired in November 1999.
• The visual of Amanda dressed in a cheap Austin Powers costume (oops, I mean “Powders”) is hilarious. I especially like when she briefly stops to look at the script.
• An odd ending where, after the last customer leaves, the family turns the TV back on to watch more of Austin Powders. They never did this again.
Stop-Motion Amanda
Amanda takes a bath, but she keeps finding her brother’s stuff in the tub.
• Amanda’s offscreen mother is only the second character in these shorts to not be voiced by Amanda or Schneider.
• I like the ending where it’s revealed that her brother left a shark in the tub, somehow.
Sketch: Judge Trudy
A special Halloween edition. Shelly Barnes takes Mrs. Shane to task for handing out an apple instead of candy to trick-or-treaters. Mrs. Shane is punished by having her dress removed. Then, a young boy is in trouble for egging a man’s house. The judge excuses this by saying he was only trying to make an omelet, so the man is spun around by the bailiff.
• Good to see this back again. The Halloween premise is a nice way to shake things up.
• The Bailiff is now played by his regular actor, Gary Anthony Williams (aka Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks). His over the top personality still hasn’t materialized, though.
• Drake uses his Kyle voice for his character. Is it supposed to be Kyle in costume or something?
Hillbilly Moment: Cucumber
• A blooper from this sketch was available on the show’s website, in which Amanda briefly forgets her line.
Penelope Taynt
Penelope uses her website as a distraction to escape.
• Nice Nickelodeon reference in how one of the choices in an Amanda Trivia Quiz question about Amanda’s dogs is “Ren and Stimpy”.
Sketch: Totally Kyle
Kyle tells of the time when he found a rock in his driveway and brought it into his room.
• A pretty relatable and funny story. I like how it just randomly ended with him arguing with his father about the rock.
Sketch: Meet the Literals
A family who takes everything literally causes chaos at their new neighbors’ house.
• Probably my favorite of all the freaky family sketches this show did. The whole premise is perfect, and their literal reactions to everything were all so funny.
• The ending where they prepare to kill their new neighbor was the perfect way to finish it.
Closing
Amanda and the Lobsters show off the dance they were rehearsing earlier.
• A nice call back to the cold opening, complete with a reappearance from Penelope in disguise.
Final thoughts: I consider this to be the point where the show finally hits its stride. Things will only get better from here.
TV Clips: Dancing people, and a guy pointing to his car saying, “Look at that shine!”
Intro
Amanda solves problems of various audience members.
• Boring.
Fake Commercial: Homework Hut
A place that delivers all kinds of homework.
• One of the most creative premises on the show. Who wouldn’t want a place that does your homework for you? I know I sure did.
Hillbilly Moment: Fish
Sketch: Blockblister
Foreigners sell cheaply-made knock-off movies at their video store, such as “The Vantom Menace”, “The Wizard of Voz”, and “Austin Powders”.
• Another one of my favorite recurring sketches makes its debut! While it’s somewhat outdated nowadays because the store it’s spoofing is gone, that doesn’t make it any less funny.
• The first customer returns two videos in this sketch. Later Blockblister sketches would have each irate customer return one video.
• Other than that major difference, the Blockblister formula is already fully in place.
• What makes the Star Wars parody even more brilliant is the fact that The Phantom Menace wasn’t even out on home video yet. It wasn’t released on VHS until April of 2000, while this episode aired in November 1999.
• Favorite line: “But the Force, she is with me.”
• The visual of Amanda dressed in a cheap Austin Powers costume (oops, I mean “Powders”) is hilarious. I especially like when she briefly stops to look at the script.
• An odd ending where, after the last customer leaves, the family turns the TV back on to watch more of Austin Powders. They never did this again.
Stop-Motion Amanda
Amanda takes a bath, but she keeps finding her brother’s stuff in the tub.
• Amanda’s offscreen mother is only the second character in these shorts to not be voiced by Amanda or Schneider.
• I like the ending where it’s revealed that her brother left a shark in the tub, somehow.
Sketch: Judge Trudy
A special Halloween edition. Shelly Barnes takes Mrs. Shane to task for handing out an apple instead of candy to trick-or-treaters. Mrs. Shane is punished by having her dress removed. Then, a young boy is in trouble for egging a man’s house. The judge excuses this by saying he was only trying to make an omelet, so the man is spun around by the bailiff.
• Good to see this back again. The Halloween premise is a nice way to shake things up.
• The Bailiff is now played by his regular actor, Gary Anthony Williams (aka Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks). His over the top personality still hasn’t materialized, though.
• Drake uses his Kyle voice for his character. Is it supposed to be Kyle in costume or something?
Hillbilly Moment: Cucumber
• A blooper from this sketch was available on the show’s website, in which Amanda briefly forgets her line.
Penelope Taynt
Penelope uses her website as a distraction to escape.
• Nice Nickelodeon reference in how one of the choices in an Amanda Trivia Quiz question about Amanda’s dogs is “Ren and Stimpy”.
Sketch: Totally Kyle
Kyle tells of the time when he found a rock in his driveway and brought it into his room.
• A pretty relatable and funny story. I like how it just randomly ended with him arguing with his father about the rock.
Sketch: Meet the Literals
A family who takes everything literally causes chaos at their new neighbors’ house.
• Probably my favorite of all the freaky family sketches this show did. The whole premise is perfect, and their literal reactions to everything were all so funny.
• The ending where they prepare to kill their new neighbor was the perfect way to finish it.
Closing
Amanda and the Lobsters show off the dance they were rehearsing earlier.
• A nice call back to the cold opening, complete with a reappearance from Penelope in disguise.
Final thoughts: I consider this to be the point where the show finally hits its stride. Things will only get better from here.
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