testees is a canadian and american television series, created by kenny hotz (of kenny vs. Spenny) and written and produced by kenny hotz and derek harvie (of the tom green show). Testees originally aired on thursdays at 10:30 pm est on fx and ran from october 9, 2008 to december 18, 2008. And debuted on october 14, 2008 on showcase in canada. The show is filmed in toronto and hamilton, ontario. Testees is now showing on fx in the uk and comedy central in germany and austria. After one season, testees was not renewed by fx.
premise
the series follows two friends (steve markle and jeff kassel) as they work as human test subjects at testico, a product testing facility. Besides being an obvious play on testes – including the descended double "e" in its logo – the name of the show plays up the vulnerability of test subjects, which is the source of much of the humour in the series.
cast and characters
pete cooper (steve markle): Peter is somewhat neurotic and awkwardly unsuccessful with women. He seems to dwell on the negative realities in the world, failing to enjoy life in the moment. His negativity is more subtle than aggressive. He’s a good-hearted person. Peter is slightly anti-social. He likes playing video games and dvds like girls gone wild. Despite his negative traits he’s still likeable and is rarely loud or obnoxious. He’s a bit of a slob and paranoid about the unforeseen effects of the experiments. It’s usually peter that gets the short end of the stick. Peter has dreams of being rich but doesn’t do anything to get there.
Ron mitchell (jeff kassel): Ron is slightly more normal than peter. He doesn’t mind being a guinea pig as much as peter does. He justifies his choice of occupation by deeming it a necessary service to society. He’s generally more composed than his pal and slightly better with women. Most people would admire his loyalty and ethics. Like peter, he strives for a better life. He’s vaguely more aware of the real world than peter is but he’s still a complete slacker and a tad naive. In the end he’ll always do what’s right, but it might take him a little time to figure it out.
Nugget (joe pingue): He’s loud, he’s obnoxious and he’s always looking for a scam to make a quick buck - even if it means selling out those closest to him. He’s also ron and peter’s best friend.
Kate (kim schraner): She’s cute, spunky and probably the smartest person in the show. But nugget and the boys always manage to drag her down to their level. She’s like one of the boys, but with boobs.
Larry (kenny hotz): The most senior testee and testico’s resident ladies man. He always gets the best products to try - and while the boys suffer, he finds a way to turn even the worst side effects to his advantage.
episode list
1. Gas pills october 9, 2008 (april 16, 2009 - uk) -- after being the test subjects for a new pill, the guys find out that peter is pregnant.
2. Pill for men october 16, 2008 (april 23, 2009 - uk)-- after going through a gender reassignment procedure ron and peter become women for three days; nugget tries to impress his father by letting him meet his new fiancée, peter, his father then makes an indecent proposal; and ron runs into one of his ex's after kate introduces him to a group of lesbians.
3. Forget me nugget october 23, 2008 (april 30, 2009 - uk) -- after losing their memory testing new method of brain washing, nugget convinces ron and peter that they are gay, so he can get revenge on the two for getting him a male stripper for his birthday party; kate runs for the city's zoning commissioner, as a hard right wing conservative, so she can get a patio for her bar.
4. Vac attack october 30, 2008 (may 7, 2009 - uk) -- ron and peter get to test out a new military-grade vacuum. After getting it, it begins attacking them for their messy lifestyles. After finding graffiti in the bathroom of her bar, kate asks nugget to watch out to find out who's doing it, instead he turns her bathroom into a five-star restaurant.
5. Uber-glued november 6, 2008 (may 14, 2009 - uk) -- ron and peter test out a new super glue and a prank goes horribly wrong, resulting in peter being super-glued to ron's backside, which ron end's up using to his advantage, by taking amy out on a date; nugget opens up his own sperm bank in kate's bar.
6. Herfume november 13, 2008 (may 21, 2009 - uk) -- ron and peter test out an experimental pheromone spray that make ugly women very attracted to them.
7. Kicking the bucket list november 20, 2008 (may 28, 2009 - uk) -- when ron and peter face their deaths, they come to the realization that they haven't lived a full life.
8. Abstinence underwear december 4, 2008 (june 4, 2009 - uk) -- ron and peter test out new chastity belts that emit an electrical charge when they get erections, after getting control of their erections and days left to go with the experiment they both meet women out of their league, so they must find a way to get the chastity belts off.
9. Jelly bean omelettes december 4, 2008 (june 11, 2009 - uk) -- ron takes care of peter after he is paralyzed by testing out a new muscle relaxant; nugget sets up an art gallery show, for a painting he found in the dumpster and then says a quadriplegic peter painted them.
10. Mr. Pain and danger lad december 11, 2008 (june 18, 2009 - uk) -- when the doctors at testico tell ron and peter they've lost the ability to feel pain, they turn into daredevils.
11. Pineapple shampoo december 11, 2008 (june 25, 2009 - uk)-- nugget moves into ron and peter's apartment, to live rent free, after they are blinded by a new shampoo.
12. Project x december 18, 2008 (july 2, 2009 - uk) -- ron and peter begin imagining symptoms after testico will not tell them what they are testing out.
13. Truth serum december 18, 2008 (july 9, 2009 - uk) -- ron and peter test out a new truth serum for testico, which unravels peter's past and puts his friendship with ron in jeopardy.