Review of 11-21-1998 episode (MD-409; some spoilers) Nicole Sullivan fans should note that November 21st was the four-year anniversary of the original broadcast of the Party of Five episode in which she appeared! Of course she wasn't famous back then. ============================== =============================================================== Opening Segment: Stuart's mother, Doreen Larkin (Mo Collins), appears; then Stuart (Michael McDonald) also comes out. This character is starting to get on my nerves. Still, it was good to see Mo Collins back after not being in last week's show. One True Impact: Steven Segal (Will Sasso) and Jean Claude Van-Damme (Andrew Bowen) appear in a cross between a Terms of Endearment-type movie and an action flick, about two brothers taking care of their dying father. The dialogue is riveting (Van-Damme to Segal: "He's dying - I'm very emotional right now." Or: "I understand now - you are wrestling - with your past"). This was a funny concept, but something was lost in the execution I think; still, it was mildly funny, especially when they battle two hooded thugs named "Cocaine Addiction" and "Dad's Cancer." UBS Guy: The UBS Guy (Phil LaMarr) gives a monologue about Thanksgiving. I'll give my opinion on this segment later; I'm still trying to figure it out. Cooking with Kenny and James: The most celebrated segment of tonight's show. It's wierd how Kenny Rogers (Will Sasso) has now mutated into a rather effeminate character. He and James Brown Jr. (Aries Spears) are at a soup kitchen making Thanksgiving dinner for a bunch of homeless people. This segment didn't really improve much on the original "Cooking with Kenny and James" segment; it's just not my cup of tea, and unlike Ms. Swan, another recurring segment which didn't impress me, they haven't come up with a really good sketch yet to showcase these characters (the Swan and Ken Starr sketch comes to mind, and one or two others). Perhaps they never will. I guess they are trying to parody those cheesy shows on the Food Network which are 10 percent about teaching people how to cook and 90 percent showmanship, but it just doesn't work for me. Melina and Lida: The two Hispanic girls (Nicole Sullivan, Debra Wilson) are back to talk about their favorite Thanksgiving, watching that slut Rosa get busted by the cops on TV (a fantasy?). Lida keeps adjusting her breasts to make them look bigger. It didn't really add anything to the characters, but the execution was good. Not Another Bite: A family (Nicole Sullivan, Michael McDonald) is terrorized by a Thanksgiving dinner guest (Phil LaMarr) who demands more and more food. This was OK but I was a little disappointed; I was half-expecting LaMarr's head (or stomach) to explode, Pulp Fiction-style. The ending, with LaMarr being interrupted from eating the pie in a suspensful manner (by now everyone suspects that as soon as he has one bite he will turn into a psychopath) was funny, though. Snapshot Stories with Pat Kilbane: Finally, about halfway through the show, they hit a home run. Basically, it's the story about how Pat Kilbane thought that Andrew Bowen took his parking space, so he and the lot manager beat Bowen senseless. But then Bowen and the lot manager beat Kilbane senseless when they find out that someone else moved Kilbane's car and parked it in Bowen's spot. This is funnier than it sounds. It's like a very twisted version of "Mister Roger's Neighborhood," if you can imagine that. Ms. Swan: Ms. Swan (Alex Borstein) returns. This was OK, especially the joke about the pricks. She's thankful for her health, her job, and Wesley Snipes. Stuart Thanksgiving: Stuart (Michael McDonald) has to go on a plane to visit his father for Thanksgiving, and he gives his mother (Mo Collins) and the flight attendant (Nicole Sullivan) a hard time. The character is spinning its wheels - he doesn't go beyond his signature lines; e.g. "Look what I can do" and "I found it on the floor" and "No!". But I thought it was really funny when he takes over the PA system. It was a good enough sketch so that I didn't really notice how annoying this character can sometimes be. Darlene McBride Thanksgiving: The destruction of the Native American way of life is celebrated on the latest Darlene McBride (Nicole Sullivan) CD. But that's not all: racial slurs against blacks and Indians (that is, people from India), and anti-gay comments are thrown in, free of charge! She even advocates the enslavement of Native Americans. This was about average for a Darlene McBride segment, which is to say it was pretty good. Mo Collins' impression of a Polish-American woman obsessed with football: I didn't quite this character's outfit - is she supposed to be a Packers fan or something? In any case I guess she's supposed to be from Milwaukee or thereabouts; she said something about stuffing the turkey with bratwurst. This was pretty good even if I didn't quite get it. Thanksgiving Dinner: Happy Folger (Michael McDonald) is back, and this time he's talking about how he ate his whole family one Thanksgiving. Like McDonald's Stuart character, the Folger character seems limited in that it does not break out of its idiom - i.e. "I really wanted to live," etc. But I laughed nonetheless; especially the part about how he killed the cook. It was unquestionably a good sketch. Clops II: Now it's a Mad TV Classic. I liked all three Clops, so I give a thumbs up to this segment (in case you forgot, we get Mr. Potato Head arrested for public drunkenness, Wallace of Wallace and Grommit gets in trouble for animal endangerment (funny!), and the Planters nut goes on a killing spree); still, since this was a Thanksgiving special, I was hoping they would actually come up with an hour's worth of new material (the only times they have so far this season was in the season opener and the Halloween episode). Nevertheless, at least nobody can criticize the producers of undermining the new cast by reminding everyone how good the old cast was; this was an animated segment. ====================================================== ======================================= While almost every segment in the first half of the episode misfired in one way or another, in the second half of the show, the writers and the cast pulled everything together and gave us some very good stuff. This is not surprising, since most of the season the show has been inconsistent. So again we get a show that more or less falls into the middle grouping of Mad TV episodes; in other words, probably not on anyone's A-list of Mad TV episodes but not a disaster either. Still the show will have to improve if it is going to be a serious late-night contender. As one fan noted, SNL has a legion of loyal fans who would gladly watch color bars if the theme music was in the background. Since Mad TV has neither the solid ratings nor the tradition to withstand a prolonged slump, it must improve to survive. Nevertheless, news from the Nicole Sullivan front is encouraging: this week, she was in a total of four (five if you count the Mad TV Classic) segments, up from two the previous week. Next Week: MD-323 (OAD 5-2-1998); an excellent episode which not only includes "Window of the Soul" as a Mad TV Classic, but it also features Nicole Sullivan in almost every segment! ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ