Austin Stories aired in the fall of 1997 on the MTV Cable Network.
MTV's " slacker-com" about 3 twentysomething friends goofing off and getting by ( more or less), in easygoing Austin, Texas. Laura ( Laura House) was the relatively responsible one , with a real job at an alternative newspaper, The Austin Weekly. Howard ( Howard Kremer) was her goofy, and goofy-looking friend , who lived out of his car ( when he had one), and spent his days doing little scams like stuffing his pockets with free maps at the local tourist office, then selling them on the steps of the Capitol, or trying to slip into a theater for free. He always got caught of course , but he was so amiable that no one could really get mad at him. Chip ( Brad " Chip" Pope), was the somewhat dense hanger-on , who kept getting fired from menial jobs , and whose ill-conceived schemes blew up even faster than Howard's.
A Review From The New York Times
TV WEEKEND;
Very Laid Back in Texas
By CARYN JAMES
Published: September 12, 1997
The three main characters in MTV's engaging new comedy series, ''Austin Stories,'' are in their 20's, scamming their way through life. Laura writes for an alternative weekly newspaper where she tries to hide the fact that she is running up a big phone bill calling a mystery boyfriend in Prague. Chip floats through temporary jobs, and invests in a movie usher's vest so he can try to see ''Speed 2'' for free. In a thrift shop, Howard switches tags so a $5 jacket sells for $1, then tells the clerk: ''This jacket is kind of messed up. You think you could let it go for half price?''
With its meandering style, and its sense of wry comic absurdities rather than yuck-it-up one-liners, the series owes almost everything to Richard Linklater's ''Slacker'' (including their shared Austin setting). What it hasn't got from that film it owes to Jim Jarmusch's work, especially ''Stranger Than Paradise.'' But instead of seeming derivative, ''Austin Stories'' comes across as a first-rate sequel, proof that this laid-back sensibility can thrive on television as well as in films.
The central characters are deadpan, and likable because they never go out of their way to be ingratiating. Laura, unglamorous and cynical, is the most responsible; at least she has a job. Mild-mannered Chip could turn into a geek if his friends let him; he lives with his ex-girlfriend, who refuses to notice he's around. Howard, the master schemer, floats from one friend's house to another, and in the second episode sells old Christmas candy retrieved from a Dumpster. When Chip is fired from a record store, Howard is appalled. ''It's like the Holy Grail of non-jobs,'' he says of Chip's lost opportunity.
Though the series is completely scripted and fictional, the actors come from stand-up comedy and have the same names as their characters. In the tradition of ''Roseanne'' and ''Seinfeld,'' Laura House plays Laura, Brad (Chip) Pope plays Chip, and Howard Kremer is Howard. But this show has more in common with MTV's plotless ''Real World,'' which puts a camera on a group of real-life people. Watching ''Real World,'' viewers can never be sure how much these nonfiction characters are performing, acting out their lives for the camera. ''Austin Stories'' drops all pretense of reality, and becomes ''Real World'' without the angst and with much better lines.
The series (with original shows appearing every Wednesday night at 10:30, repeated Sundays at 10:30) includes several recurring minor characters, who blend perfectly with the central trio's mordant attitudes: Mark (Mark Miks), a photographer who works with Laura; Lester (Charlie Shannon), who can outscam Howard, and Chloe (Heather Kaska) a young woman whose cushy job in the movie theater was destroyed by Chip.
MTV is calling this series ''indie television,'' an awkward phrase but one that accurately captures the show's independent-film roots. Maybe that's a promise for the future of television. Maybe it's a threat. Can a network co-opting of the ''Slacker'' style, in watered-down form, be far behind? For the moment, ''Austin Stories'' has carved out its own place as an amiable, unslick alternative to conventional sitcoms.
AUSTIN STORIES
MTV, Wednesday nights at 10:30
Rebroadcast on Sunday nights at 10:30
Created by James Jones. Directed by George Verschoor. James Jones, executive producer; George Verschoor, co-executive producer; Carol Eng, executive producer at MTV.
WITH: Laura House (Laura), Howard Kremer (Howard) and Brad (Chip) Pope (Chip), Mark Miks (Mark), Charlie Shannon (Lester) and Heather Kaska (Chloe).
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