Special Ed

For those whose interest I peeked with the ending of the blog on Friday...Special Ed is this show I have been thinking about for some time now. It consists of a plot that is part after school special and part Truman Show. In it there is a main character Ed who is mentally handicapped. The twist is that when he was born his single mother (working on where the father is and how she got rich) had the money and wanted to make sure that Ed had a normal life and got to do all the things that a quote un quote normal child would get to do. So everyone in the town knows that, Ed is special, but they never let on and act as if everything he does is right on cue with every other after school show teens love. Of course there is a double meaning because everyone calls him Special Ed, but he thinks its because he´s special ¨cool¨, not special ¨needs¨. While the show would aim at being funny and use irony and sarcasm as it´s main mechanisms, I think that there could also be some positive overtones and themes added to show that people shouldn´t treat people with mental or physical handicaps differently and could provide some good information about how people can get over their phobias and interact or atleast open their minds to people that are different than them. All this could easily be explained in the opening credits, much like Stangers with Candy does. --Great show by the way, it definitely pushes the envelope on what it should be okay to laugh at.

The pilot episode would open with Ed in his letterman´s jacket standing with a group of friends mainly consisting of jocks and cheerleaders. When a ¨nerdy¨ looking student walks by, one of his friends knocks the kids books out of his hand and Ed says, ¨Nerd´s who needs em´¨. Then the panic comes, turns out Ed is failing his history class, and to play in the big game he needs to retake the test and get a passing grade so he can start at quarterback against their crosstown rival. Who´d have guessed it, the kid that Ed calls a nerd is the student that is picked to be his tutor to get him ready for the test. Through a well produced montage to something inspirational from the 80s or 90s like ¨I need a hero¨ by Bonnie Tyler or better yet ¨You Gotta Be¨ by Des´ree, the two find common ground and of course Ed passes the test, plays in the big game, and scores the winning touchdown in a physical comedy sequence that puts the last play in the movie ¨Radio¨ to shame. The episode would close as a reinacted scene of the opening shot is redone, this time with Ed sticking up for the nerdy student. When his friend asks why are you sticking up for that kid he´s so different and wierd, Ed says, ¨Nerds, NO, Lucas is a person too!"
(And YES that is definitely a Haim reference).

Other episodes would include: A showdown with Ed´s arch enemy Jerry the kid from the crosstown rival school with M.S. The episode where the cool substitute comes and the kids think he´s so cool, and inspires them by suggesting a trip, but the Uncool nuclear parent character warns them the person is not dependable, the kids the the character is just lame and therefore jealous. Of course the substitute bails at the last minute but the dependable parental figure is there to take them anyway and all is well. The episode where Ed decides he´s tired of how callous cheerleaders are and goes for the artsy girl, who happens to be a knockout by simply taking off her glasses and putting on a dress instead of those jordache overalls and baggy sweatshirts. Ed gets his drivers license. Ed is stunned to find someone he looks up to uses drugs. Ed thinks he is betrayed by his best friend but it turns out he was protecting him all along. Ed finds the real special ed room. What happened to Ed´s father, Ed runs for class president, The foreign exchange student doesn´t get the memo...You get the idea. Maybe add some ideas of your own, I´m open to suggestions.

I think this idea is funny, and if done right, could be even more. Although I am assured that there are people who would be beyond offended by this idea. Here´s the deal, it´s satire! On some level is supposed to offend you and inspire you to be better, but it´s funny because people should be able to get the joke of the tables being turned and giving the upper hand to the underdog. How´s this, for anyone who says it´s out of line I´ll give this quick litmus test. When was the last time you called someone fat or thought less of someone for being so, or a redneck, or judged someone because of where they were from, went to school or the like. If you can pass that, well done, many should aspire to be as stand up as you.

For everyone else, which I´ll bet is the lions share, I have a hard time with people who get all bent out of shape about racism or sexism or any other hot button -ism, because society has deemed it taboo, yet they are the first people to judge someone else just as harshly for a fault that they won´t be called a biggot for saying. As I alluded to in an earlier blog, I´m tired of people thinking they can have it both ways. So to say their a-moral behavior is better than mine because it´s more socially acceptable, or no one will call them out or whispers about their behavior when they leave or enter a room. Once again I´m not buying it. Maybe if more people called me a blockhead (I´m scandinavian) or we could come up with a good derrogatory term for white people we could actually start to talk about diversity and the huge problems we still have with it in our country rather than keep it in the dark and untalked about, and leaving the power of discrimination in the hands of the abusers. I´ll concede that might be a bad example because it condones more discrimnation as a solution to the problem of the current overabundance, but it´s definitely something to think about. Until then, I´ll hope to see you at the Emmy´s!