Problems

Problems[1]

Series
In The Dark
Original Broadcast Date
1993
Cast
Joe Frank, Grace Zabriskie, Ryan Cutrona, Phil Procter, Alan Arbus
Format
Absurd Monologue, Improv Actors, Sound Effects, 30 minutes
Preceded by:	God
Followed by:	Pilgrim

"My father was a pioneer in the fluorocarbon and silicon industry."

Problems is the name of a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series In The Dark. It was originally broadcast in 1993.

Synopsis

Joe's father works in a condom company, condom testing on animals and people. A testing lab made up like a hotel. His father escapes from an unhappy life in a dirigible, catches seagulls and fish. He meets the pope; we're given a list of topics they discuss. His father returns, works in prosthetics, then disappears to avoid patient lawsuits. A man talks about his gun, uses it to shoot a barking dog. His wife is furious. Sound of thunder in the background. The man and wife fight over the weather, over a squash dish, her housework. Monologue: Joe delivers monologue praising an idealized mother in a poor, rural household. Excusing her drunken outbursts, attempts to run away, repeated hospitalization, setting the house on fire, affairs with a doctor. The fighting couple - he refuses to tell her where he's been in order to prevent her from being captured and tortured for information. Monologue: remembering an idyllic past free from crime. A man on the phone describes seeing elephants from the window of his shack, his fear of a wet suit, says good bye. Bird and elephant sounds.

Interesting Facts

shares music with Windows, half hour program.

Music

• "Brooks Was Here" - Thomas Newman (from Shawshank Redemption Soundtrack, 1994) | YouTube

Commentary

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