Alternative and surreal comedy has thrived in recent years due to the opportunities afforded by a shifting media paradigm. While it's narrative driven incarnation has only just found a proper foothold in the last decade, it first entered the mainstream in the 1990s with sketch comedy series such as Mr. Show and soon to be revived The Kids in the Hall. However, it's MTV's own mostly-forgotten foray into the form, The State, that inadvertently paved the way for it to segue into the now-familiar situation comedy format. Following the conclusion of The State's three season run in 1995, founding troupe members Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Wain began performing as perpetually suit-clad trio "Stella" in 1997. With a set that included live material and pre-taped segments, Stella continued even as its member's careers flourished. After a 2004 episode of Comedy Central Presents showcased their act, a pilot for Stella the series was ordered by the network and a 10 episode season launched in the summer of 2005.
A blend of esoterica, non-sequiturs and occasional fourth-wall breaking glances (and waves) at the camera, Black, Showalter and Wain played cartoonishly exaggerated versions of themselves. The back of the series' DVD collection notably quotes a Hollywood Reporter description of the three as "The Marx Brothers on acid." Intended to be more mainstream and accessible than their earlier comedy (and less graphic), it was ultimately for naught as Stella was not renewed for a second season, a combination of a high budget and low ratings. Nevertheless, Stella opened the door for live-action absurdism to step into the staid sitcom format, a direction that's spread to numerous other series in the years to follow.
Stella's episodes featured pithy, descriptive titles ("Camping," "Vegetables," and "Novel," to name a few) and are mostly what they appear to be, less a few odd turns along the way. In the episode "Paper Boys," Michael, Michael and David became paperboys. That is, after accidentally striking and hospitalizing a child with their car. In "Meeting Girls" they head to a New York redneck bar to meet women. After the Michaels find partners, a picnic the following day leads to the whole group living in the trio's apartment the next, with Black assuming the role of father to his girlfriend's (future Hunger Games star Elizabeth Banks) children and Showalter thrust into a "Lifetime"-style dysfunctional and abusive relationship. When they attempt to make amends with David, he -- and the apartment -- have been completely made over with two new roommates already moved in. And of course the episode ends with a last-minute rush to an airport to stop David from boarding a plane to Italy.
Banks, who'd co-starred with the trio in Wain's feature-length directorial debut Wet Hot American Summer, was just one of several notable guest stars willing to play in the Stella sandbox. Others included fellow Wet Hot co-stars Paul Rudd and Janeane Garofalo, Sam Rockwell, Alan Ruck (later to collaborate with Showalter on The Dropout), Edward Norton, and Josh Charles, as well as former State troupe-mates Joe Lo Truglio and Ken Marino. Rudd and Lo Truglio appeared as the cruel co-workers of Amy, a neighbor of the trio, who humiliate Michael, Michael and David at Amy's office party (in an episode appropriately titled "Office Party"). A solution for redemption presents itself when they decide to sneak into the company picnic and best Rudd and Lo Truglio at the competitive events. To avoid being recognized they acquire fake mustaches from Rockwell's shady mustache dealer Gary Meadows, whose supply is held in a hidden compartment of his house (with numerous passed out fake-mustache wearing strangers spotted throughout).
Stella aired at a watershed moment for Comedy Central. Long-running series South Park and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart had become critical and ratings darlings, recognized for their razor-sharp social and political commentary. Modest successes such as Reno 911! (created by and starring many The State co-stars) supported a line-up bolstered by Dave Chappelle's ground-breaking comedy series Chappelle's Show. Unfortunately just as the third season of Chappelle's Show was due to begin as Stella's lead-in, star and creator Dave Chappelle found himself needing to part ways with the network. The added pressure on both Comedy Central and Stella, coupled with a higher price-tag per episode and less accessible comedic bent than other series airing at that time (such as the soon-to-premiere Mind of Mencia), meant that Stella's dice was cast following its season finale in August 2005. Despite the official announcement of the cancellation, when the series was released on DVD in the fall of 2006 it was still branded "Stella: Season One." This DVD remains the most reliable way to view the series, which has only been available to stream infrequently in the years since.
While Stella's mark on television was a minor one, the impact left it in its wake, intentional or not, is massive. It paved the way for similar series such as Flight of the Conchords, The Sarah Silverman Program, Workaholics and Broad City -- to say nothing of a myriad of FX and Adult Swim series, including Wain's own co-creation Children's Hospital -- to craft similar bizarre world-scapes glimpsed through the point of view of altered and surreal versions of their creators. With the Stella trio's subsequent output including works as disparate as soon-to-be-feature film Bob's Burgers, Another Period, or the Showalter-directed Academy Award-winning film The Eyes of Tammy Faye, their little-seen show is a work worthy of reevaluation and being sought out by fans of the alt-comedy live-action cartoon and Stella themselves.