MAX VERSUS WIKIPEDIA PART 1: Woops!

'Woops!' is surreal sitcom, in the spirit of Herman's Head, that aired on Fox for a single season. The plot of the show is that a malfunction during a parade caused nuclear missiles to fire and accidentally start World War 3. According to the plot, the entire world is wiped out in a flash of light, except for a few survivors, who all find a farm that's mysteriously untouched from the blast. On this farm, the survivors attempt to rebuild society, which is difficult, considering that the remaining survivors are:

1. A normal, everyday male schoolteacher who only survived because he was inside a Volvo.

2. A middle aged feminist that's a bit of a goody goody, and a control freak.

3. An incredibly greedy stock broker who can't get over the fact that his money has no meaning anymore.

4. A slightly unethical male doctor, who is possibly the only remaining black person alive on the planet.

5. A ditsy female salon worker.

6. A slightly crazy, overweight homeless guy. (The best performance of the cast)

Despite the grim topic, the show is played off as a ridiculous oddball spoof, attempting to capitalize on the trend of over the top, zany network comedies. Plots included:

*POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING*

- The pilot, where the survivors gather.

- A giant mutant turkey, the size of an elephant, wrecks havok on their farm, almost eats the survivors, and would have been unstoppable, had it not looked up while it was raining, and drowned. The homeless guy almost perishes in the same fashion, but the everyday guy manages to get him to look down by using the 'hey, a quarter' trick. This episode was easily the funniest of the series.

- Mutated berries, that cause LSD-like hallucinations when crushed against your head, causes the survivors to become 'berry heads'. Only the main hero refuses to immediately try them, only to become a full blown addict just as the others are kicking the habit. Includes an 'even stranger than usual' hallucination scene during his recovery, with the rest of the cast dressed in giant berry costumes.

- The survivors decide to begin repopulating the planet, with contests to decide the best suited couple. The main guy and the teacher are chosen, but he finds he isn't ready to go through with it, and as the rest of the cast gets in a giant fight over the name of the child to be, they all decide they're not ready to take care of kids yet.

- The survivors experiment with starting their own businesses and money system (twisty-ties), only to have a few members of the cast become completely corrupt with power. The homeless guy has a surprisingly somber and thoughtful speech on how money changes people right at the end of the episode.

- The homeless guy and the supermodel fall in love.



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How did I measure up? Let's find out...


Man...there's actually a halfway decent wiki page for this show...but only halfway decent.

According to the wiki, the show aired in 1992, and although thirteen episodes were made, only 10 were aired (who the hell kept track?). My description doesn't include as many fine details (as I expected), but I go a bit more in-depth into the plot.

The character descriptions are on par with mine, but include their names (both characters and actors), which I had all forgotten. I actually made one small mistake: the greedy guy isn't a stock broker, he's a venture capitalist (a small difference, but still worth a point).

The wiki lists all the plots of the episodes, including ones I missed, but my plot descriptions, again, are far more in-depth.

Hmm...all things considered, we're pretty much going neck in neck...until the Christmas episode.

In the Christmas episode (I can hardly believe it), the group gets a visit from Santa Claus...no, not figuratively, but the real Santa Claus. It turns out he's having survivor's guilt, as he made it to the North Pole bomb shelter (they nuked the north pole?), but Mrs. Claus and all the elves didn't make it, and it's up to the gang to cheer him up!

My God.

I want to see that episode.

That is the single darkest and most ridiculous plot for a sitcom episode in the history of mankind.

How the hell did I miss that one? Why have I never heard of it? Damn it, I've got to give them this one.

POINT WIKI

Ouch! I was pretty sure that one was a safe bet, but I guess I underestimated how much attention a fifteen year old show, that only lasted two and a half months, gets.

Oh well, next up...we relive the statue kissing nightmare...