Sally (Flight of the Conchords)

"Sally"
Flight of the Conchords episode
Jermaine and Sally go out on a date. "Sally" introduced the titular recurring character.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 1
Directed by	James Bobin
Written by	James Bobin Jemaine Clement Bret McKenzie
Production code	101
Original air date	June 17, 2007
Guest stars
Rachel Blanchard as Sally Eugene Mirman as Eugene David Costabile as Doug Judah Friedlander as Man with cake Frank Wood as Greg
Episode chronology
← Previous — Next → "Bret Gives Up the Dream"

"Sally" is the pilot episode of the American television sitcom Flight of the Conchords. It first aired on the HBO on June 17, 2007. In this episode, New Zealanders Bret and Jemaine of the band Flight of the Conchords have moved to New York to try and make it in the United States. At a party, Jemaine falls for, (and subsequently, begins dating), Sally - Bret's former girlfriend. As Jemaine's attentions focus on Sally, a lonely Bret is forced to deal with the advances of Mel, the band's obsessed - and only - fan. Meanwhile, Murray, the band's manager, helps the band film their first music video, although they can't afford decent costumes or proper video equipment.

"Sally" received largely positive reviews from critics. According to Nielsen Media Research, "Sally" drew over 1.2 million viewers. Several of the songs from the episode, most notably "Robots," and "Not Crying," and "Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)" received positive critical acclaim. All three songs were released on the band's EP The Distant Future, although "Robots" appeared in a live form. "Robots" later was re-recorded and released on the band's debut album Flight of the Conchords, along with "Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)." The latter was later nominated for a Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics Emmy award.

Plot

Bret and Jemaine attend a party thrown by Dave. Jemaine spots a beautiful blonde woman (Rachel Blanchard) in the crowd and approaches her. Her name is Sally and she agrees to leave the party with him to get a kebab. They end up back at the band's apartment but just as they begin kissing, they are disturbed by Bret turning the light on and an embarrassed Sally leaves.

The next morning they are discussing the incident. Jemaine thinks that Sally left because she found it weird Bret being there and turning on the light. However Bret thinks it is because he used to date Sally himself. No final conclusion is reached.

At a band meeting with Murray, they discuss the party and ways to increase the fan base, which currently consists of only one person — Mel. Bret suggests that the band film a music video which Murray thinks is a great idea. So on the day of the filming, they visit Dave's pawn shop to rent some video equipment, but due to a lack of funds, they are forced to resort to using a camera phone to do the filming. Despite these setbacks and the disappointing cardboard robot costumes made by Murray (they wanted ones like Daft Punk), they successfully manage to film an adequate video for "Robots."

Over the following week, Jemaine starts spending a lot of time with Sally, which leaves Bret feeling lonely and neglected. When Bret suggests hanging out sometime, Jemaine invites him along on a dinner date with Sally, but they all feel a "bit weird" and Bret leaves early. On the way home, he is stopped by Mel who attempts to cheer him up, but fails miserably. Bret is soon joined in his unhappy mood by Jemaine, who gets dumped by Sally immediately following the dinner.

Promotional version

HBO released the episode on the internet as a promotional tool a few weeks before it was first broadcast on television. This pre-release version differs from the official broadcast version in several ways. The episode title sequence changed. It is edited differently and includes some new scenes and animated sequences. The scene interstitial screens are slightly different. The New Zealand Consulate, where Murray works, is represented as occupying space in the back of a shop.

Production

Th episode marked the debut of the Flight of the Conchords song and single "Robots."

"Sally" was written by James Bobin, Jemaine Clement, and Bret McKenzie, the latter two starring as the titular Flight of the Conchords. The episode was directed by series co-creator Bobin. In this episode, the character Mel shows Bret that she carries around a picture of Jemaine's lips in her wallet. This was inspired by an incident that happened to the band during the filming of their documentary A Texan Odyssey which covered their trip to the 2006 South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas. The incident was caught on camera and is included in the documentary. In addition, The episode is the first of the series to feature the character of Sally. She returns to disrupt Bret and Jemaine's lives in the fifth episode, "Sally Returns."

The episode contain several cultural references. Judah Friedlander has a cameo appearance in this episode, starring as the man, Isabella, who tries to sell Dave a cake. Murray is wearing a New Zealand All Blacks rugby shirt when the band is in Dave's pawn shop obtaining a camera. In the same scene, Murray and Bret have a conversation about the band Fleetwood Mac and their album "Rumours". During the filming of the video for "Robots", Jemaine tells Murray that he wanted robot costumes "like Daft Punk" rather than the amateur versions hand-crafted by Murray. Murray replies with a characteristic lack of musical knowledge: "I don't know who he is."

Songs

The first song featured in the episode is "The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)." The song, also known as "Part-Time Model," was based on the conceit of a man "who's not very good at compliments." The song begins after Jemaine sees Sally from across the room at Dave's party. Jemaine details his seduction of Sally, describing her as being so beautiful she could be a "part-time model". This song was voted #60 in the 2008 Triple J Hottest 100. Later, the song was nominated for a Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics Emmy award.

The second song featured in the episode is "Robots." The song, also known as "Humans Are Dead," is sung by both Bret and Jermaine. It is set in a post-apocalyptic "distant future," humorously stated to be the year 2000, where all humans are dead and robots have taken over the world. Within the context of the plot of the show, it is the band's first music video. Since the band has very limited funds, Murray constructs the robot costumes himself and films the video using a cell phone.

The third and final song featured is "Not Crying." The song begins as Sally breaks up with Jemaine. Jemaine denies that he is crying by offering excuses such as "it's just been raining on my face". The song was also featured on the band's The Distant Future EP. All three of the songs were released on The Distant Future EP in 2007, however, "The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)" and "Robots" appeared in live form. The two were subsequently re-recorded in studio form for the band's debut album, Flight of the Conchords in 2008.

Broadcast and reception

"Sally" debuted on the HBO television channel in the United States at 10:30 PM on Sunday, June 17, 2007 in the time slot preceded by Entourage, and vacated by the last episode of the final season of The Sopranos. The episode received over 1.2 million viewers. The episode received largely positive reviews from critics. IGN, in an advanced review of the episode, awarded "Sally" an "amazing" 9.2 out of 10 rating and called the series "The funniest show you haven't seen yet." The review noted that, "Flight of the Conchords deserves the buzz it is slowly building. This is a very funny show." Blogcritics reviewer Daniel J. Stasiewski noted that the series was different for HBO, writing, "Flight of the Conchords isn’t Entourage or Sex in the City or even Extras. It’s different. And sometimes different is just good." Stasiewski, however, did note that the availability of the band's music on video sites like YouTube negated any reason the to buy cable to watch the show. Further more, Stasiweski noted that while "the fun, quirky music videos that pop-up can make this long half-hour worth watching [...] the 10 or so minutes in between numbers aren’t groundbreaking comedy."