Besides Panama Red, one of the inspirations for Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris' character in Strangers With Candy) was an ex-junkie-prostitute-turned-motivational-speaker named Florrie Fisher.
In 1970, Fisher made The Trip Back, a public service special that looms large in the mind of anyone who's ever seen it as one of the greatest (i.e. most ridiculous) scare specials of all time. And now, thanks to You Tube, you can experience the spectacle for yourself:
From the twisted face, to the hair, to the rambling tangents filled with intensely inappropriate comments ("…she was part Negro, part Spanish, and part Indian–and believe me she had the beauty of all three…"), it's like watching a huskier version of Jerri Blank.
But besides that, seeing this clip made me realize I haven't seen a good after school special in a while. Actually, I never saw a real "after school special," because I didn't grow up in the 70s and early 80s, the golden era for after-school specials and scare films (more about that here).
By the time I was old enough to watch them, after school specials had been replaced by Oprah, and while she is definitely scary, it's just not the same. (Though I did watch a fair number of Lifetime movies, like the dazzlingly melodramatic Tori Spelling stalker film Mother May I Sleep With Danger?. But, as the title indicates, those movies were more about mothers than anyone else: It was always the mother crusading for her teen daughter, or the mother protecting the brat teen daughter, or the mother, you know, mothering her teen call girl daughter–never about the teen call girl herself.)
In fact, the last after-school-like special I remember watching was a 'roid rage episode of HBO's Lifestories: Families In Crisis starring a pre-veneers Ben Affleck. (Extent of rage: ripping his girlfriend's shirt.)
That was probably close to ten years ago, though. There have to be ones that are more current.
So, seen any good/bad after-school-like specials lately?