Review of 1-16-1999 episode (MD-413; some spoilers) =========================== =========================================== Opening segment: With James Brown (Aries Spears). He's so unintelligible that they have to have captions. I think the Celine Dion opening would have been funnier - maybe they'll use it in a future episode. Spishak Mach 20: What will those geniuses at Spishak think of next. Man (Andrew Bowen) complains that his razor doesn't give him a close enough shave so he doesn't look like a first-rate professional; his wife (Nicole Sullivan) threatens to leave him if he doesn't get a promotion. The Spishak spokesperson (Pat Kilbane) comes out of the shower and gives him the Mach 20. It's called the Mach 20 because it has 20 different blades which not only remove all facial hair, but also mutilate your face. At the end we see Andrew with his face all bandaged up, and then his wife says, "Thanks, Spishak. You saved our marriage!" This segment reminded me of a time I was watching Wall Street Week and they had a mutual fund manager on who was very upbeat on Gilette because they were about to introduce a new razor. I was thinking to myself, is it possible that this guy has forgotten that IT'S JUST A RAZOR? How can you get excited about a product that's been around for almost 100 years, and how can you convince me that this product isn't essentially pretty much the same as all other razors? The guy was right, though: Gilette stock shot up upon introduction of the new product, a testimony to Madison Avenue's ability to convince the American public that a new product is really the latest and the greatest. And this sketch was a fitting parody of these advertising techniques. I give it a thumbs up. Celine Dion Martin Luther King Day Special: Nicole Sullivan plays Celine Dion in this parody. I think the whole idea is that Celine Dion is full of herself; also I'm not sure but they may be implying that Canadians do not know much about black history (oops - that's African American history - didn't mean to offend anyone). She also sings "Blue Tail Fly" or something. This segment was OK. Sullivan's impression of Dion was passable, too, even though she is not anorexic-looking and pasty-complexioned like the real Celine Dion. Blind Date: A woman (Debra Wilson) is alternately nice and rude to her blind date (Phil Lamarr). Her date gets so annoyed at her behavior that he leaves after five minutes. The woman then calls her friend on her cell phone and says she doesn't understand why he flipped out on her. This was OK; Wilson and LaMarr carry it off pretty well even though the premise of the sketch is only mildly funny. Celine Dion II: Celine Dion is back, and to honor Martin Luther King, she shows us her wedding pictures. She also tells us how a photo of King reminded her of how beautiful she is. This segment was good for a few laughs, especially when Sullivan starts singing a parody of that song from Titanic. Celine Dion III: This time, they bring out Martin Luther King's widow (Debra Wilson) and son (Aries Spears), and Celine Dion betray's her ignorance of black (African American - what a giveaway) history when she says that she rememebers the day the slaves were freed (in 1986), and she does not know that Martin Luther King was assassinated. Finally, when King's son tries to reprise King's "I Have a Dream" speech, Dion sings over him, and he and King's widow finally leave the set in disgust. This was probably the funniest of the three segments. Some suggested that they copied SNL for this segment; this may well be true but I still found it funny albeit unoriginal. Sketch about Little Sister: Kid (Will Sasso) has to bring his little sister (Alex Borstein) along with him as he hangs out with his friends at an arcade. She generally acts obnoxious, and points out to a girl that he wets his bed. The funniest part is when Sasso pushes Borstein into a trash bin; I laughed and laughed. It was also funny when Aries Spears starts punching Sasso. Other than that, the sketch wasn't especially funny - I don't think anyone would argue that this is "Best of Mad TV" material here - but it was still OK. Snapshot Stories with Nicole Sullivan: Imagine a cross between "Mister Rogers Neighborhood" and "A Clockwork Orange" and you have the basic idea for this recurring segment. Story about how Nicole Sullivan sees a woman without a security pass on the lot. She and a security guard beat the crap out of her, but later she returns and she finds out it's Will Sasso's aunt. Sasso and her aunt then beat the crap out of Sullivan and even throw her down a flight of stairs. Sasso's aunt wants to stab Sullivan to death but Sasso stops her. At the end we see Sullivan, at the bottom of the stairs, with her head in her arms, saying "[m]eeting new people is one of life's greatest joys!" I think this was the funniest segment in the show. Especially funny is the way she goes "doo doo doo doo doo" every time they show someone walking. Lowered Expectations: With Gena (Nicole Sullivan), a girl who ends every phrase with the word "murder." Fairly simple but it works; this segment is about a minute long so it doesn't overstay its welcome either. Ms. Swan: Ms. Swan (Alex Borstein) uses an ATM machine, and Nicole Sullivan is the woman who has the misfortune of having allowed Swan to cut ahead of her on the line. The best part here is when Ms. Swan accuses the woman of calling her a "dirty little whore." Also funny is where she tells Sullivan not to look when she's typing in her password and she says it out loud anyway. We also get "[i]t looka like a deposit" (not bad). This was one of the funnier Ms. Swan sketches. Was that one of those new $20 bills? Lowered Expectations: With Bunifa (Debra Wilson), the character from the earlier sketch. This was OK. Pimps Say the Darndest Things: Sort of like "Kids Say the Dumbest Things" from last season, only just like the real show, this is hosted by Bill Cosby (Aries Spears). We get a two pimps (Phil LaMarr, Will Sasso) and a prostitute (Debra Wilson), who beats up Cosby when she finds out he's not a john. The idea isn't that funny, but Spears' impression of Cosby is so over the top it makes it worth watching. Mad TV Classic?: This time, we get "Sling Blade II: The Reckoning," and it doesn't suck! This segment originally aired in MD-304, and it's a good example of the type of movie parody they used to do well that they don't do much anymore (I'm not sure, but I don't think they film on location anymore, which is unfortunate, because you can't really do justice to a segment like this unless you can film on location). I don't think they've done a movie parody this year as good as this (the only one I remember this year was "He Got Gay," although I'm sure there were others, if I look at some of the tapes). Fans of the old Mad TV probably had a good time sighting old cast members: that's Craig Anton as the President of the United States (giving it a Bob Dole-esque touch), Lisa Kushell as one of the reporters at the press conference, and Dave Herman as John Ritter (not his last appearance on the show, but pretty close). Also starring Jennifer Aniston (Nicole Sullivan) in the role Sigourney Weaver turned down. The first time I saw this segment I hadn't seen "Sling Blade" and I didn't know he was supposed to be retarded (er - mentally challenged or something); it's even funnier now that I know. Very amusing, I reckon. ======================================================================= ======================= MD-413 turned out to be a solid show; the sketches and segments in themselves were generally pretty funny and even when the material was only mediocre often good performances from the cast members made up for the deficiencies. Ratings may be on the rise, although it's hard to tell: for MD-412, Mad TV achieved a 5.1 rating, which is the highest rating for the season so far and the first time the show has gone over a 5 rating since March 1998. But I still think the show has a way to go before it fully recaptures the glory days of seasons 1-2, and the Sling Blade segment shows how the lack of location filming has hurt the show somewhat. (Remember also that excellent Terminator parody from the Christmas 1996 episode - another good example of something they couldn't do now!) But generally the show has done more with less resources in the last few shows, and it is amazing that anyone watches at all given the fact that Fox doesn't really promote the show (although they do use the celebrities that the show has created - e.g. Nicole Sullivan and Phil LaMarr co-hosted a pre-awards ceremony party at the Billboard Music Awards last December). Next Week: MD-405 (does anyone know what show is going to air on January 30th?) ================================================ ===================== Number Six | http://www.nic.com/~dzien/nicolesullivan/ dzi en@nic.com | (The Unofficial Nicole Sullivan Tribute Page) ===================== ================================================ Addition: Someone pointed out that I forgot to review the Charlie Sheen segment; it didn't make that strong of an impression on me, obviously or I would have remembered it; still, I thought it was pretty funny. In case you don't remember, it's a parody of an anti-drug public service announcement with Charlie Sheen (Andrew Bowen), who apparently was arrested on drug charges. What is funny is that he has to say that taking drugs is not cool, but it doesn't match his own personal experience ("wait a minute...drugs ARE cool...no, no, they're only cool for a while, and then..." etc.). In the end he mentions that he cannot take drugs while he is on probabtion, which doesn't end until June 2000, and then he anguishes over how he's going to survive a year and a half without illegal drugs. A decent parody of all those anti-drug PSAs in which the participants are ex-drug users and their enthusiasm seems to be contrived. One could perceive a PSA (or perhaps, a parody of one) in which Tommy Lee speaks out against domestic violence. Addition II: I should note also that Michael McDonald and Mo Collins were nowhere to be seen in MD-413. Although it would have been interesting to see these two in the show (as long as they avoid showing Stuart, who has gotten to be rather annoying), the show hardly suffers as a result. McDonald in many ways is a two-trick pony; his main contributions are Stuart and Rusty; Mo Collins is a good but not indispensible member of this ensemble cast. ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ