Flatpoint High School (Strangers with Candy)

In the series "Strangers with Candy", Jerri Blank attends Flatpoint High School in the fictional town of Flatpoint. Most, if not all, episodes focus around how poorly Jerri fits into society there, and how Flatpoint is a hyperbolic version of actual society, though a consistently changing one. In one episode, the entire school could be racist or xenophobic, though in the next they would be all-embracing and loving, usually whichever left Jerri out.

The school was supposed to have been converted into a strip mall in the final episode, but Principal Blackman and some of the staff incited the students to riot, burning the school down before fleeing with Jerri to the streets to become vagrants.

The creators have commented on the level of detail that their art department put into the backgrounds of Flatpoint, to the point where most shots contain a background joke, many of which are relevant to the plot of episode.

The very name "Flatpoint" is an oxymoron, like "Jumbo Shrimp," as a point is a hill and a flat a flat.

In the feature film, Bayonne High School, in Bayonne, NJ, is the building and campus used for the fictional Flatpoint High School.

Background Signs and Oddities

* In several episodes of the first season, the board in Mr. Noblet's class has a tally of the students' races, starting with Old Habits, New Beginnings.
* The signs behind the podium in Yes, You Can't! read: "The only thing you can't do is the impossible" and "Your height will determine your altitude." Another sign in the auditorium reads "Success has 3 S's."
* The school pool has several signs around it, reading "No Swimming," "Stay out of the Water," and "Pool Staff Is Not Responsible for Lost or Contaminated Items." (Featured in Behind Blank Eyes.)
* The "No Smoking" sign in the women's restroom has a logo of a pot leaf (featured in To Love, Honor, and Pretend and again in A Price Too High for Riches).
* Vending machines dispense not only typical candy (such as "Chocolonic" chocolate bars), but also marinated ribs.
* Student art can be displayed and hunger strikes staged inside a "Freedom Cage," lined with barbed wire.
* A locker in the girls' locker room is graffitied with "Jerri Is a Whore" in Old Habits, New Beginnings.
* In almost every episode, principal Blackman's portrait can be seen, on students underwear when changing for gym, in students "self portraits", on the walls, on the speakers, and etc.

Unique Areas of Flatpoint High

* The Faculty Firing Range (featured in To Love, Honor, and Pretend)
* The Sulfuric Acid room (featured in The Blank Page)
* The Faculty Steam Room (featured in The Goodbye Guy)
* The teacher's lounge features a shower in the middle of the room, often frequented by Principal Blackman and Chuck Noblet. It is seen in multiple episodes.
* The cafeteria, whose menu items include crab salad, empanadas, and dollar drafts.
* The Violent Student Lounge (featured in Bogie Nights).
* There is at least one hidden passage in Flatpoint High, behind the trophy case. It leads to the door which is right next to Principal Blackman's office. It is accessed by turning a small trophy of a donkey's ass one-quarter to the left and was featured in .

Flatpoint High Signboard

Pilot

*
**"HOME OF THE CONCRETE DONKEYS"

eason 1

*A Burden's Burden
**"HOME OF THE CONCRETE DONKEYS"
*Dreams on the Rocks
**"RAISIN IN THE SUN AUDITIONS TODAY"
*Who Wants Cake?
**"FRIDAY: GOOD TIME ISLAND -- PLEASURE - HO!"
*Bogie Nights
**"HAVE YOU HUGGED A VIOLENT STUDENT TODAY?"
*Feather in the Storm
**"DEBATE IS GOOD"
*To Be Young Gifted and Blank
**"TRI-COUNTY MUSIC CHAMPIONSHIP -- WINNING IS EVERYTHING"
** [a series of musical notes]
*Jerri Is Only Skin Deep
**"IT'S DONKEY TIME"

eason 2

*The Virgin Jerri
**"AUDREY STAPINA IS A WHORE"
*Behind Blank Eyes
**"BIG GAME FRIDAY -- VISUALIZE VICTORY!"
**"E I O V U W:: E V S R M:: O U X T Y:: Q W F G E:: E F M W Q"
*Yes You Can't
**"CAREER WEEK: YOUR FUTURE IS TOMORROW"
*The Goodbye Guy
**"FLATPOINT DADDIES DO IT IN THE SACK"
*The Blank Page
**"SEE SPOT DICK JANE"
**"CHEERLEADER TRYOUTS TODAY -- IT'S SHOWTIME FOLKS!"
*Hit and Run
**"WHODUNNIT? $2 BETTING POOL"
**"BENEFIT CAR WASH -- HOT COCOA -- BIKINI GIRLS"
*
**"GOOD MORNING STUDENTS"
*A Price Too High for Riches
**"ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED"

eason 3

*Jerri's Burning Issue
**"LUNCH TODAY — CRAB SALAD"
*Is Freedom Free?
**"BE COOL STAY IN SCHOOL — LEVITICUS 4:12"
**"TODAY'S LUNCH MENU: MEATBALLS, CHICKEN BREASTS, STUFFED PORK LOIN"
*Trail of Tears
**"JERRI BLANK IS AN INDIAN"
*Invisible Love
**"WHO LEFT A STOOL IN THE POOL? SEE PRINCIPAL BLACKMAN"
**"WHO TOOK A CRAP IN THE SCIENCE LAB SINK? SEE PRINCIPAL BLACKMAN"
**"FALL MAKE OUT CARNIVALE TONIGHT. NO DUMPING"
*Is My Daddy Crazy?
**"HELP WANTED — NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY"
**"YES" (following Jerri's question, "Is my daddy crazy?" in the aired version)
**"OCCUPATION WEEK — WELCOME DADS" (replacing the above in the director's cut)
*There Once Was A Blank From Nantucket
**"SCARY JERRI — SO HAIRY — DOWN THEREY"
*Bully
**"THE NEXT SCENE IS IN THE TEACHER'S LOUNGE"
*The Last Temptation of Blank
**"GRAND OPENING EVENT — FLATPOINT STRIP MALL — COME ON IN!" (before the school explodes)
**"PEE ON ME!" (letters remaining following the explosion)

Unusual Facts

* The school's mascot is a concrete donkey, though there is a live person in a donkey suit at the school's many sporting events. The series' creators have joked in the DVD Commentary that the guy in the donkey suit was remarkably expressive and possibly the best actor on the show.