What It's Like Being Alone

What It's Like Being Alone is a 2006 Canadian claymation television program, currently airing on CBC Television Mondays at 9:30pm.

The show centers around the many attempts at adoption of mutant children living in an orphanage, especially the grey, fat, and warty Princess Lucy.

Characters

Aldous

The eldest of the Gurney orphans. She is tall, depressed, very gothic and obsessed with her own death. She spends most of her time moping about the orphanage and writing depressing poetry. It is insinuated that she actually cares for the other orphans, without letting on too much. Her favourite item is a black umbrella.

Armie

A boy with no limbs, except for his left arm. He glides around on a skateboard, and often falls over when he uses his arm for something, like waving. He is surprisingly happy and hopeful, despite his obvious handicap.

Brian Brain

An incredibly intelligent 8 year old boy with two brains and three eyes. He can most often be found inventing things, or gloating about his superiority.

Byron & Beasly

A blue baby with two heads. Byron, the calm and sweet head, is constantly picked on by Beasly, the somewhat demonic head. They vomit acid, and are near-impossible to bathe.

Charlie

A somewhat homosexual boy who is always on fire. Though he tries hard to not harm the other children, someone always ends up on fire.

Princess Lucy

A short, fat, warty, grey "little girl". She is ego-centric, and quite crude, and has a long, lizard-like tongue. She is always carrying a lollipop. She firmly believes that she is the most deserving of parents.

Sammy Fishboy

He's kind of like a swamp monster in appearance. Outside of his tank, he must always keep a running hose over his head. He often is very rude, especially when he becomes drunk. He is "in love" with Isabella, a stone mermaid aquarium decoration, and becomes depressed when she is not around.

Seymore Talkless

An eleven year old boy with no mouth and one giant eye. He expresses his emotions through his violin, and panic through crazed hand gestures. Even if he could talk, he is very reserved and would probably not say much.

Nanny Goodapple

The orphans' caretaker. She never speaks, and glides around on the group, as if on wheels. When out, she leaves the welfare of the other children in Aldous' hands. Nanny Goodapple is also something of a souse.

Production

The show is produced by Brad Peyton of Newfoundland and Labrador, who collaborated with Fred Fuchs before Fuchs rose in the CBC. Peyton had previously made a gothic comedy short film called Evelyn, the Cutest Evil Dead Girl, and afterwards declined to shoot films. Instead, he turned to What It's Like Being Alone. He described the genesis of the series:

I had a friend who was depressed, so I went over to her house and started drawing. I made her a little book. She liked it and said I should try to sell it. So I photocopied 200 at Kinkos and sold them at Pages Books. Made like $150 dollars. That book turned into What It’s Like Being Alone.

The style of animation was chosen due to Peyton's personal interest in it. However, he claimed a day's work could lead to seconds' worth of material.

Reception

One CBC critic commented that What It's Being Alone has "arguably the most surreal opening sequence in TV history" with a shift in view from a black and white Canadian flag to the orphan characters. He questioned whether the show indicated the CBC had adopted "Addams Family values" and said that it was "the wildest CBC comedy since Twitch City."

The public reception has been decidedly mixed, with IMDb user reviews split more or less down the middle between contempt and adoration. This might not have been entirely unexpected, as the series itself relies heavily on absurdity and gothic surrealism, with an uneasy balance struck between the seemingly cartoonish animation and the distinctly adult-yet-immature brand of black humour, which nevertheless fails even to conform to typical standards of that style. This has led many viewers to question whether the show was either very poorly written, or very well written, with the answers depending largely on whether they themselves found it funny.

External links

• What It's Like Being Alone official website, accessed 25 July 2006
• What It's Like Being Alone at IMDb, accessed 25 July 2006