untitled show concept

ALLEN (vo): what's the point of it?

[int. crowded bus. everyone else is muddied out into the classroom material art style (i.e. alcohol markers, ballpoint/felt tip pens, colored pencil, chalk, even creative use of crayon) while ALLEN, a man in a white polo and yellow tie, stands in the crowd holding a briefcase with an exhausted, perhaps not all there look on his face. he has on a golden watch with a leather strap, a gift from his late grandfather, and a pair of brown khakis that nearly conceal the sneakers he found at a yard sale for a shockingly reasonable price. all in all, he is a collection of stories, but none of them are his own.]

ALLEN: sixth job interview this month just for another rejection... another week of waiting... another week of applications. Did I miss my shot?

[we see ALLEN leave the bus, the crowd melting out into a lively city night. Allen stands out, not in the sense that he doesn't fit, but that the world is a pair of shoes that's just a little too big. It's not that there's no room, but that no matter where he goes, he feels like he can't fill the space completely. The shoe rattles around on his foot when he takes a step. He walks up the street lost in thought as the view pans into a wide shot. he's on a somewhat abandoned street with trash lining the gutter. he throws a few cents to a homeless man and keeps walking. the scenery would read as slums in real life, but the art style makes it look enchanting. He stops outside an apartment building, struggling with his keys before letting himself into the gate, walking down into the basement unit. as he shuts the door behind him, camera takes a moment to linger on various closeups of the walls and decor as Allen starts to unwind. it's clear that to make up for feeling disconnected from his world, he's attempted to build his own within his home. Posters and eclectic furniture fill the space. It feels homey, but nothing quite matches.]

ALLEN: (in pet voice) tk-tk-tk! here gazpacho! food! [an orange-brown, somewhat lanky, tomcat saunters in, excited at the prospect of a meal. He's clearly well cared for and well-trained. ALLEN runs a hand over the cat's back and scratches his chin, Gazpacho leaning into the pets expectantly.] How doin', bud? have a big day?

 [Gazpacho stretches and blinks, then walks over to his food bowl, as if to say "enough cuddles, dad, i'm starving."] 

ALLEN: Oh fine. [he goes to the cabinet and pulls out a can of wet food. As Allen walks away, the shot lingers on the cabinet. for barely a fraction of a second, the lines begin to deepen as though the shadows are leaking out, before cutting away.] I suppose you- oh! [the food barely makes contact with the bowl before Gazpacho is on top of it, devouring it like the ravenous king of the jungle that he thinks he is. ALLEN sighs.] you wouldn't last a day without me, would you?

GAZPACHO: Brrreow? [he looks up for a moment from his food, offended at the idea, and then resumes his meal]

[ALLEN walks over to the couch and opens his laptop. the screen is pulled up to his email, a notice from his power company. he's behind on payments by three months and he only has two weeks before they shut off his power. in the background, the odd shadowlike effect is starting to slowly creep in more and more. one by one, elements of the audio are slowly reduced, until it's just ALLEN alone with his thoughts and his cat.]

ALLEN: god, what am I gonna do? [Gazpacho walks up and bumps his head against ALLEN, now accepting cuddles.] hey bud. [ALLEN sighs again, leaning back on the couch. he tilts his head up. a sock falls off the ceiling and smacks him in the face.] huh? [another sock falls. it's completely different.] what is happening. [he stands up, Gazpacho getting spooked and running off into the dark abyss that has slowly consumed ALLEN's apartment.] WHAT is happening? [another sock falls from above him, and as it slowly starts raining socks, ALLEN runs off after his cat, into the void that is slowly transforming into a cave made entirely of mismatched socks, in a noticeably cleaner art style. As he runs, he progressively gets more freaked out, repeating "WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" with varying inflections. the shot lingers on the entrance to the cave, as the title slowly fades in. musical sting, fade out.]

EPISODE ONE: LOST SOCKS

[ALLEN is walking along the sock cave he finds himself in, calling for his cat.]

ALLEN: okay, allen. you're in a cave made of socks, even though you never left your apartment, and your cat is now... lost in the sock cave? whatever. details aren't important right now. Focus on the little bit of this that makes sense. Gazpacho is missing. I need to find him.

SOCKY: I CAN HELP...!

[SOCKY, a "one-off gag character," pops up out of absolutely nowhere (this is his thing, it'll happen exactly three times before the joke gets retired entirely), scaring ALLEN shitless. SOCKY is just an ugly-looking sock with googly eyes and pipecleaner arms. He sounds like if spongebob chainsmoked regularly]