Review of 12-5-1998 episode (MD-410; some spoilers) =========================== ==================================================================== Opening Segment: Mother Love (Aries Spears) introduces the show, with Shaquille O'Neal. I have to admit that unlike most of the opening segments this year, this one was actually somewhat funny. The Eracists: The Eracists have graduated to jeopardizing high-level meetings between heads of state: they barge in on peace talks between Benjamin Netanyahu (Pat Kilbane) and Yasser Arafat (Michael McDonald). To make things interesting, Phil LaMarr is absent from this Eracist lineup and in his place we get what one might call the ambiguously gay Eracist (Aries Spears). And it's actually pretty good. Nicole Sullivan is good as the lead Eracist, even if she's wearing more makeup than this character usually wears. And lest I risk verbal flogging, Alex Borstein was good as the handicapped Eracist (Ann, I think). Riggs and Murtaugh: The Lethal Weapon guys (Pat Kilbane, Aries Spears) return, in a comedy club, doing the "Who's on First" routine. This was OK; not especially funny, though. Forgive and Forget: Mother Love (Aries Spears) returns with Bobby Brown (Phil LaMarr), who is asking Whitney Houston's (Debra Wilson) forgiveness. Mother Love berates Brown for being a washed-up has-been, and then Houston comes out and the two women gang up on Brown. It wasn't a particularly original idea; we've seen this type of parody before, but it was still good enough to make me laugh, especially at the beginning where they list all the ways that Brown has abused Houston and then later when they show Brown's videotaped apology to Houston. Meet Jo Black Mama: Brad Pitt (Andrew Bowen) as Death is forced to have sex with Della Reese (Debra Wilson). Not very funny, although I liked the part where Bowen was tied down to the bed. The Big Break: A group of inmates (Pat Kilbane, Aries Spears, Shaquille O'Neal, Phil LaMarr, Will Sasso) have trouble communicating news of an escape attempt. Though not especially funny, a competent job by the writers and decent execution. Dating Game with Rick: Rick (Phil LaMarr) is back; it's his first appearance since MD-302. Pat Kilbane is getting pretty good at doing game show hosts and this is no exception. The joke here is that Ms. Swan (Alex Borstein) is one of the contestants; he picks her and rejects the other two, an aerobics instructor (Debra Wilson) and a stewardess (Nicole Sullivan) [no gag reflex - I laughed and laughed]. While some don't think the character Rick is very funny, I thought this segment was very good, especially when the aerobics instructor, upon seeing Rick for the first time, laughs and says "loser!" (I wonder if anything like this has happened on the real Dating Game?) The Swan character isn't that funny here; what's funny here is more the situation into which she is projected (although Borstein's portrayal is more than adequate). Kenny Rogers at Ha-Ha Hut: Will someone please explain this segment to me? I know I've gone on record as saying that I never found this character to be particularly funny, but this segment was not just unfunny, it was weird. The Kenny Rogers impression has mutated into something that is a cross between Kenny Rogers and Mr. Garrison from South Park. Is Rogers an amateur ventriloquist or something? Lowered Expectations: With Denise Rodman (Shaquille O'Neal), who is even freakier than Dennis Rodman. As Lowered Expectation segments go, this was pretty good. Frat Party: A public access TV show centered on a frat house. We get a drunken frat boy (Andrew Bowen), a drunken football player (Aries Spears), a drunken coed (Nicole Sullivan) who pulls a condom out of her hair, a sober drama major (Will Sasso) and a Western Civ professor (Pat Kilbane). This sketch kind of meanders rather aimlessly for about five minutes, although it does have some moments, including a pledge who is confined to a foot locker, and when frat boy cracks up every time he mentions drama club. But on the whole a rather weak segment. Mad TV Classic: It's the Woody Allen (Dave Herman) action flick, "Crimes, Misdemeanors and Payback." It says something about the current state of "Mad TV" that the part of the show that made me laugh hardest is a segment originally aired about three years ago. That having been said, I will add that the crossover here works excellently. The idea of combining Woody Allen, whose movies are generally subtle and intelligent, with an ultra-violent action film is funny in itself (just like the idea of having John Ritter as Billy Bob Thorton's sidekick in a Sling Blade action film is funny), and the idea is brought into fruition quite effectively by a talented cast. Dave Herman is outstanding, but we should not overlook good performances by Bryan Callen as the terrorist, Artie Lange as Yasser Arafat, Orlando Jones as a police officer, and Nicole Sullivan as Mia Farrow. ================================================================== ========================== On the whole, a rather weak show, though certainly not the worst I've seen from "Mad TV." The best segments (in my opinion) here were the Mad TV Classic, the Eracists, and the Dating Game with Rick, but you can't build an entire show on three segments. The Woody Allen segment was so much better than the rest of the show that one could make a case for cancelling the rest of the season and just showing compilations of old sketches. But next week we have the Christmas special; hopefully at least we'll get a new Corky Quackenbush animated segment. ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ