Pilot (Stella episode)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Pilot
Series = Stella


Caption =
Season = 1
Episode = 1
Airdate = June 28, 2005
Production = 101
Writer = Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, David Wain
Director = David Wain
Guests =
Season list = Infobox Stella TV series episode list
Prev =
Next =

"Pilot" is the first episode of "Stella". It was written by Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, and David Wain. Wain also directed the episode. It first aired on June 28, 2005.

Plot

The episode begins as Michael, Michael and David drive down the road in their station wagon. David argues with Michael Showalter about what music to listen to before they go to bed - David wants to change the routine a little and try listening to funk rock but Michael is set on the group's traditional nightly genre: funk. Michael Ian Black, who is at the wheel, threatens to drive the car into a telephone pole if they don't stop arguing. The two bitterly taunt Michael to do it and he does. The three get out of the totalled car, still arguing.

As the guys continue discussing the problem over a sadistic game of tennis and a relaxing moment in a sauna, Michael Ian Black suggests a compromise: instead of listening to funk "rock" they could listen to "funk" rock. All three agree to this. When they get back home to their apartment, they play a CD titled "Funk Rock" with "Funk" underlined. The show's theme song begins to play as the three dance enthusiastically.

The three girls from the apartment below begin complaining about the noise, but Michael, Michael and David refuse to turn down the music. The girls call the building's German landlord, Don Mueller, who subsequently confronts the guys about their disturbance. After the guys harass Mr. Mueller, he evicts them from the apartment.

Now homeless, Michael, Michael and David are seen on the streets scrounging for food and sleeping in boxes in an alleyway dump. Desperate, they decide to check out an extravagant penthouse for purchase. During their survey of the house, David passionately kisses the realtor, Libby, who falls madly in love with him, though David immediately rejects her advances.

In order to complete the deal on the home, the three meet in front of a co-op board comprised of three African-Americans. The three board members are largely unimpressed until Michael, Michael and David perform a choreographed dance number. Convinced, the board approves of the purchase provided that they pay the necessary $3 million dollars -- money the three guys do not have. They find themselves homeless once again.

After the three see an advertisement requesting tenants for their old apartment, a plan is hatched. Certain that Mr. Mueller would never rent the apartment back to them, they disguise themselves in fake moustaches, fooling him completely. When Mr. Mueller approves, he, the three guys, the three girls and several potential buyers erupt into a gleeful dance. Unfortunately, the commotion causes their moustaches to peel off, ruining the rouse. Distressed, Mr. Mueller has a heart attack. Quick to help, the three decide to perform open-heart surgery on Mr. Mueller.

While performing surgery on Mueller with butter knives, straws, ladles, chip clips and other assorted kitchen utensils, David realizes that he loves Libby after all. In a dramatic scene, he runs out of the apartment building and through the rain to Libby's apartment, confessing his love. However, after she reveals that she is married to Hollywood actor, Edward Norton, David runs back to complete the surgery.

By the following morning, Mueller is declared dead. The tenants are disheartened until Elliot Morganthol of the Laventhal Foundation arrives, informing Michael, Michael and David that Don Mueller wasn't their landlord after all; he was actually Dr. Joseph Mengele, the famous Nazi war criminal. The Leventhal Foundation rewards the three guys by paying rent for their apartment for three months in addition to giving them a toaster, a wicker laundry hamper from Pier 1 and some fleece pullovers.

Later, Michael, Michael and David are seen in a pickup truck. They discuss their plans to celebrate how well their situation has turned out, but begin to argue when David wants to go boogie boarding and Michael Showalter refuses. Michael Ian Black threatens to drive the truck off a cliff, Showalter and David provoke him to do so, and he does. The three climb back up the cliff and back to the road, continue the discussion casually.