Comedy Central has recently released DVD's of the hit television series "Strangers With Candy" in which a 47 year old woman returns to her high school after a thirty year hiatus of being a "boozer, user, and loser," in order to earn her high school diploma.  These shows originally appeared on the Comedy Central network about five years ago, and they are laugh-out-loud funny.

The Season Two Disc features a two-part episode called "Blank Stare" where Jerri Blank joins a love cult. Although there might not be any resemblance to people's actual cult experiences, the episodes do poke fun at the mindless mantras, the love bombing, and the pyramidal organizational chart found in most bonafide cults.

"Strangers With Candy" began its three season existence as a spoof on the melodramatic, ABC after-school television specials of the 1970's and 1980's, which typically appealed to kids like me growing up in the suburbs. The original after-school network television shows usually had good intentions of educating American youth about such social problems as racial prejudice, drug abuse, and teenage sex. But "Strangers With Candy" turns the after-school special wildly off-course and, in the process, pokes fun at the melodramas' overly preachy attitude.

If you find yourself in a local DVD rental store and wonder what to rent, I highly recommend all three seasons of "Strangers with Candy," but especially the Season Two disc containing the "Blank Stare" cult episodes.