MiSTed: "Rent"

by Molly Sergel


...continued from Part Ten...

Mark: Don't breathe too deep.

CROW: I'll say. Condemned building probably doesn't have the best ventilation.

Don't think all day.

MIKE: More good advice.

CROW: That these characters have obviously taken to heart.

Drive the other way.

MIKE (Joey): Does he...you know...drive his car on the other side of the street?

TOM (Phoebe): Well, he's not *British*.

CROW: Funny this particular actor should mention that--

MIKE: CROW!!!!

Goes away, just play the game.

CROW: Yikes -- no more Repetitive Scrabble! Are you trying to kill us all?

You're living in America at the end of the millennium.

ALL: AUUUUUUUUGHHHH!!!!!!

CROW: Chris Carter is taking over the world, one show at a time.

MIKE: And, just like he does on TV, he's starting with the ones that suck!

TOM: If they play that stupid "Millennium" theme song, I'm leaving.

CROW: If Gillian Anderson appears, I'm *never* leaving.

Leave your conscience at the tone.

MIKE: Auuuugh, the answering machine!

(All cover their ears.)

MIKE: False alarm.

TOM: Shouldn't they have some kind of disclaimer about that? I nearly had a heart attack!

CROW: I smell a lawsuit...

And when you're living in America at the end of the millennium, you're what you own

ALL: Huh????

MIKE: So...if I own a 90210 lunchbox, does that make me Jason Priestley?

TOM: No, I think it makes you a lunchbox.

MIKE: I hate this show!

Roger: The filmmaker cannot see

Mark: And the songwriter cannot hear

CROW: Well, we knew *that* -- duh!!!

Roger: Just tighten those shoulders

Mark: Just clench your jaw til you frown

TOM: What are we, in the army now?

MIKE (Instructor from beer commercial): Well, don't just stand there -- find the general his pretzels!

Both: You're living in America. Where it's like the Twilight Zone

(All look at each other.)

ALL: Chris Carter.

MIKE (Announcer): Imagine, if you will, a place where people barely have any heat or electricity. Yet, they have answering machines, cellular phones, and conference calling...

I don't own emotion - I rent

(All groan.)

CROW: Shameless Reference to Their Own Show #525,600.

Mark: What was it about that night

Roger: What was it about that night

MIKE: Don't say a *word*, Crow!

CROW: Hey -- do you see me talking? (stifles laughter.)

Mark: For once the shadows gave way to light

Roger: For once the shadows gave way to light

TOM: Random references to animals, to fire, even to their own show are okay. But add literary allegories and it's like, *enough* already!

Both: For once I didn't disengage

MIKE: Huh? I missed that. What did they say?

Mark: I hear it- Roger: Mimi - I see you

CROW: SHUT UP!!!! MIKE: Geez, didn't you learn anything in kindergarten? *Take turns*!!!

Alexi - Mark

CROW: Where? Where? (Mike shakes his head sadly.)

I quit!

TOM: Not again! I swear, people quit faster than American Airlines pilots on this show!

Both: Dying in America at the end of the millennium.

MIKE: This better not be another literary allegory.

TOM: No, just a really bad attempt at contrasting opposite ideas.

And when you're dying in America at the end of the millennium, you're not alone. I'm not alone.

CROW: Both you *and* I aren't alone? So, who are we with, each other? TOM (Barney): (sings) I die with you, you die with me, we're a dysfunctional family...

Roger & Mark's voice: "Speak!"

ALL: AUUUUUUUGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

MIKE: That's it, I'm getting rid of that thing right now, I don't care what happens! (He tries to get out of his seat, Tom and Crow hold him back.)

TOM: No, Mike -- you can't do that! They'll send us back to Deep 13 and make us watch Irwin Allen movies! Dr. Forrester is that evil -- you know that!

CROW: Besides, look, look here in the program, no more Voice Mail. It's okay, calm down, it's all over.

(Mike starts crying, Crow comforts him.)

Shhh, shhhh, just let it out, let it all out.