Tim Allen is “The Toolman,” host of “Tool Time,” a television show for do-it-yourselfers, husband to Patricia Richardson and father to their three sons. MGM/Sony: four discs, 30 episodes, $29.95, Dec. This is the season things turned a bit strange with Arnold the pig. Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor star as an urban married couple facing the challenges of country life. Buena Vista: three discs, 25 episodes, including “Golden Moments,” and a collection of clips from each “Golden Girl,” $39.99, Nov. This particular season earned the show three Emmys. Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty are profiled. Golden Girls: The Intimate Portraits Series. Warner Bros.: six discs, 22 episodes, includes featurette and commentaries, $59.98, Dec. A single mother and her incredibly close relationship with her daughter. Yes, you do.Gilmore Girls: The Complete Fifth Season. Sometimes their subtle observations end up being the best parts of the skits, as is the tech guy’s, “You got mail. The Yanker puppets dial up, telling a fast-food place that their chicken came with beaks in it (“I don’t want it if it’s going to be all beaky”) or a tow yard that their car has human shit in the back seat or a tech help line that “I’ve got mail! I’ve got mail! I’ve got mail! I’ve got mail! I’ve got mail! YAY!!!” The service people are the model of composure-and even humor. So the challenge for the actors becomes: Can they get a rise out of these people? Very often, the answer is no. But they are also paid not to get emotionally involved. ![]() ![]() Which brings me to what might be the show’s greatest revelation: how astonishingly accommodating people in customer service can be! From the point of view of the show, cust-serv people are the perfect victims because they are paid to answer the phone and deal with problems. When he’s done, the sweet, accommodating florist inquires only, “S-P-O-O- N-Y?” Spoonie then tries to prod her into talking about BJs-he gets a little desperate to rope her in, a feeling I vividly recognized from my own crank days-but she refuses, meekly offering her suggestion for an alternative card that might read, “I’m sorry … I love you.” Generally, Yankerville and its inhabitants evoke the harsh, dirty comic worlds of Bloom County, the Garbage Pail kids, and old-fashioned political cartoons in which candidates are drawn as outright monsters. The puppets look like seamy versions of Muppets the show even makes the parallel explicit, featuring a lechy Kermit and a bitter Big Bird with a hacking cough. ![]() There’s a city setting, Yankerville, and a repertory cast of puppet crank callers called the Yankers, who teletorture a changing cast of puppet marks (who seem, based on the frequent nose-face mismatches, to be made from pieces of earlier marks). This is the best I can do by way of summary: It’s a puppet show with a script based on the transcripts of actual crank calls. And Crank Yankers may need that confidence to sell viewers on its elaborate concept. It’s got that show’s infectious confidence that it can do no wrong. It’s the creation of Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla, and Daniel Kellison, the happy trio who turn out The Man Show (and who know a thing or two about playing mind games with callers). Crank Yankers brings back that juvenile feeling of nervous fun-and it’s really a hilarious show.
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