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[[File:Cheap_Seats_1956.jpg|frame|Jason and Randy Sklar. Or is it the other way around?]]
 
''Cheap Seats'' is a show on [[ESPN]] Classic that is hosted by twin stand-up comedians Randy and Jason Sklar. The two watch old campy sports and make funny comments about them. The story goes that a long time ago (on February 4, 2004) a man named Ron Parker (Michael Showalter), "an anchor with attitude", was filming the first episode of ''Cheap Seats with Ron Parker''. The show was slated to go big. However, moments into filming, he was buried under a stack of tapes and his loyal but poorly treated assistants, Randy and Jason Sklar, had to fill in for him (like [[Useful Notes/Baseball|Gehrig for Pipp]] or [[Useful Notes/American Football|Brady for Bledsoe]]) as they were the next people in line before Ryan Leaf. Thus the show became ''Cheap Seats Without Ron Parker''.
 
The show itself ran for 77 episodes and the finale aired on November 19, 2006. The first ten episodes were an hour long, with the remaining running 30 minutes. The hour-long episodes were edited down, with some scenes reshot, to allow reruns in the shorter time slot. Occasionally, this leads to orphaned jokes or other discontinuity <ref> See season 1, episode 2, "Cal vs. Stanford", where the Cheapies show two shots of Elway tripping immediately after the snap, while only one appeared in the half-hour show, or season 1, episode 8, "Superdogs! Superjocks!", where "What 2 Look 4" warns of an obscene number of dog puns, but most were cut from the shorter episode</ref>.
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{{tropelist}}
=== Tropes: ===
 
* [[Call Back]]: Frequently made back to other episodes, and occasionally to their stand-up routine.
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* [[Opening Narration]]: The first season's [[Title Sequence]] explained the show's premise. This was dropped starting with Season 2.
* [[Running Gag]]: In season 4, the Sklars "gained" a long-lost older brother named David, whom Randy has never met.
* [[Spiritual Successor]]: This show owes much to ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000 (TV)|Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''. Made explicit when Mike and The Bots did an extended cameo in the Season 2 premiere.<ref>Technically the second episode, but the first proper one. The actual S2 premiere was a [[Clip Show]] parody of ESPN's ''Sportscentury'' series.</ref>
** If that weren't enough, MST3K creator Joel Hodgson was a fan of rising comedian Michael Floorwax, who appears in two episodes of ''Cheap Seats''; references to his "All over the world!" bit can be heard in several early episodes of MST3K.
* [[Serious Business]]: Ultimate Frisbee player Ken Dobbins.
{{quote| '''Ken:''' This isn't a game out here! This is your life!}}
* [[Studio Audience]]: Brought in during Season 2, became a recurring gag for a few episodes, then [[Put Onon a Bus]].
* [[Ted Baxter]]: In his appearance in the pilot.
* [[Twin Banter]]: Employed frequenty by Randy and Jason.
* [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]: The Sklars reveled in throwing in obscure sports and pop culture references.
* [[Wham! Episode]]: The episode when Ron Parker comes to take his show back. He doesn't succeed thanks to Beamy.
* [[X Meets Y]]: ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000 (TV)|Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' meets [[ESPN]] Classic.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Comedy Series]]
[[Category:TurnLive-Action TV of the Millennium/Live Action TV2000s]]
[[Category:American Series]]
[[Category:Cheap Seats]]
[[Category:TV Series]]
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