It's a pretty ridiculous state of affairs when a show like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is still considered to be one of the most subversive shows on television. Christ in a bag of cats, people! The show's not subversive if my grandma prefers Carson Kressley and his ugly belts to my twice-yearly visits to her rest home.
You wanna see subversive? I'll show you subversive! In just over a week, THE MOST SUBVERSIVE SHOW I'VE EVER SEEN will be returning for a slam-bang second season—and it's called Wonder Showzen (Friday, March 31, MTV2, 9:30 pm). In fact, this show is so subversive, I'm continually astonished it ever made it to the tube. The retarded brainchild of New Yorkers John Lee and Vernon Chatman—self-proclaimed artists, rock musicians, television executives, and sex-collective members—Wonder Showzen is a viciously hilarious anti-government, anti-religious screed disguised as a classic children's show... with naughty puppets.
Consider Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Zoom, or any number of kiddie shows you've come to know and love. Then take those same shows and add atheism, masturbation jokes, cannibalism, anarchy, and puppet-on-puppet oral sex, and you've got a pretty good starting point for Wonder Showzen. Hosting the show is a group of puppets led by a yellow furball named Chauncey who every week goes on a new adventure—which generally ends horribly. For example, in one episode, Chauncey and a (real) little girl named Kaitlin decide to take a rocket to outer space—and end up accidentally killing God (and then eating Him). Whoops.
Wonder Showzen also specializes in live-action segments, featuring a cast of kids in a variety of wildly un-PC situations; such as performing a musical dance tribute to slavery, or defining "love" as "something special between my dog's butt and the carpet." But my favorite segment is called "Beat Kids," featuring a nine-year-old child reporter named Trevor, who interviews adults in a variety of occupations and pastimes. When Trevor visits the horse track, he asks the trainers if slow horses "get sent to the chop suey factory." In another particularly offensive (and therefore hilarious) segment, he dresses up like Adolf Hitler and asks passersby, "What do you think is wrong with the youth of today?"
The jokes in Wonder Showzen are piled on fast and furious, with blink-and-you-miss-it gags involving pigs (what they call "Hindu kryptonite"), milking cows ("I saw my daddy doing that in the bathroom!"), and Abraham Lincoln ("It never occurred to me to shave my beard and free the slaves—though I have thought about shaving the slaves and freeing my beard!").
And for those few who are still too goddamn cheap to invest in cable or satellite, this week is definitely your week to celebrate, because Wonder Showzen: Season One is coming to DVD on Tuesday, March 28. Did'ja hear that, Grandma?? That means it's time to dump Carson Kressley and check out the true "King of Subversive TV," Wonder Showzen. (And don't forget, Granny: There are no TVs in the chop suey factory!)
