Review of 3-13-1999 episode (MD-419; some spoilers) If you are going to be in the New York City area on March 15, and you are a Nicole Sullivan fan, don't forget to watch Nicole Sullivan on "Diagnosis Murder" on WXPN Channel 31 at 10:00 PM! Nicole Sullivan plays Nurse #1. Now, the review: ========================================================= ================================ Opening Segment: Cher (Mo Collins) appears in his parody of her hit "Believe" (that annoying Euro-disco song that's been on the radio a lot recently). I thought this was a pretty good impression (better than her Alanis Morisette impression, anyway, at least in my opinion); the song parody wasn't that funny, but there was one great moment when Mo Collins' wig came off, which makes it worth watching. Mike Tyson for the Gap: Mike Tyson (Aries Spears) beats the crap out of a bunch of other people (and bites one of them) in this parody of Gap commercials. Interesting here is that they used the same stock music that they used in the opening segment of the very first Mad TV episode (when they are picking up cast members in the truck)! (You knew that, right?) This was pretty funny, although somewhat predictable. [If you do a Mike Tyson impression, are you going to avoid hitting people? Probably not.] Todos En La Family: In the tradition of "Tres Companeros," this time we get "All in the Family" in Spanish. This sketch was going nowhere until Phil LaMarr saved it with his Sammy Davis Jr. impression. Still, it's just not very comedic to see someone calling people "Meathead," "sp*c" or "w*p" in Spanish instead of English. One might question whether the Mad TV audience would even get this one as many of the teenaged fans now were probably born well after the show was cancelled. UBS Guy: The second UBS Guy sketch of the season! Mo Collins is manning the counter at the video store, but apparently it's not the same character as the one in the Ms. Swan sketch. The premise here is that some guys at work send him to the video store to rent some porno videos, but he doesn't want the girl (Mo Collins) at the video store to see him renting a porn movie because he likes her or something, so he rents a bunch of Teletubbies videos instead. Especially funny is when the UBS Guy goes into the adult video section and we see his reaction (at one point, he asks the video store clerk "Wouldn't he hurt his hand?"). A UBS Guy sketch is not only a reminder of the show's glorious past, but these sketches rarely miss. Also, they don't use this character that frequently, so although the character has been a mainstay of the show for four seasons, it's not as if they're beating a dead horse. A good sketch, and in my opinion probably the best sketch in the show. Stuart: This sketch should shut up those who keeping asking "what happened to Stuart? They haven't shown a new Stuart sketch in TWO WEEKS!" for awhile. Stuart (Michael McDonald) is joining a little league T-ball team; Will Sasso is the little league coach. It's pretty much Stuart-by-numbers, and this sketch doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose other than to (temporarily) silence the minions who dominate the Mad TV message boards on the official Mad TV site and who keep asking for more Stuart (they seem to be obsessed with the character). There is one good line where the coach asks Stuart what makes him mad, and Stuart replies "[t]he world!" But one good line does not equal a good sketch. Snapshot Stories with Aries Spears: Like Snapshot Stories with Pat Kilbane (and Nicole Sullivan), only this time its about Aries Spears getting high on airplane glue and beating up Michael McDonald. The denouement was rather predictable (we know he's going to do something stupid like jump off the building, and just as predictable is that there will be no visible traces of the physical trauma he has suffered, just as was the case in the ones with Kilbane and Sullivan), but it's still pretty funny. Keri Russell: Felicity interviews roommates for next year. The first candidate is Ms. Swan (Alex Borstein). Ms. Swan does not make cogent replies to Felicity's questions (as usual), and then when Felicity asks her to leave, she says, "[n]o, you go." The second candidate is Rusty (Michael McDonald), who is amused by the fact that he said "load" and even tries to hit on Felicity (unsuccessfully). [One may very well ask, if men are not allowed in the rooms overnight, then how can Rusty be Felicity's roommate? Maybe gay men are OK?] The third candidate is the Vancome Lady (Nicole Sullivan); funny is when Felicity warns her that men cannot stay in the rooms overnight, Kathy tells her not to worry; her men are usually in and out in an hour (and then she asks them to leave). She succeeds in offending Felicity with her crude remarks about sex; It was good that they got Keri Russell on the show after the big splash that the Felicity parody made; but they should have written something better to commemorate this guest appearance. Still the segment had its moments: highlights included Ms. Swan miming a pot smoker, and the abovementioned crude remarks of the Vancome Lady. Singing Telegram: Nicole Sullivan plays a psychotic woman who delivers a singing telegram to a couple (Andrew Bowen, Debra Wilson) on the couple's anniversary along with a man (Pat Kilbane) whom she has kidnapped and is forcing to perform singing telegrams. It was pretty funny when she kept pulling Kilbane out into the hall to yell at him; the climax, with Sullivan shooting everyone, was over the top without really drawing the sketch to a satisfying conclusion. [Contrast this with the postal worker sketch in MD-102, where a supervisor trainee fires a worker brandishing a gun. The worker waves the gun menacingly at the trainee - then reveals that he is himself a postal inspector who has come to see if the office is complying with rules (such as not allowing employees to bring guns to work). The inspector then fires the trainee's superiors for delegating the responsibility of firing him to a trainee - who promptly shoot the inspector in retailiation. This is a good example of how a violent ending can be both ironic and satisfying.] Still, the ending showing a Chihuahua and the Taco Bell logo were nice touches ("Make a break for the border"). The Eracists: The Eracists (Nicole Sullivan, Alex Borstein, Will Sasso, Aries Spears) try to avert a confrontation between gays and organizers of a Saint Patrick's Day parade (who are opposed to having gays march in their parade). Interesting here is that in previous sketches the Erascist espouse ideas that most Americans would probably agree with (like racial tolerance), whereas in this sketch, they advocate equal rights for gays, which most Americans probably oppose (if you don't believe me, consider the fact that the chances of either Al Gore or whoever the Republicans nominate as a presidential candidate advocating the right of gay people to marry is slim to none). So I guess this is good in that sense. But the message is less important than the fact that in these sketches the creative forces behind the show are making fun of people who think that you can achieve peace, love and understanding by singing a stupid song (in fact, they kind of remind me of the dumb entertainment they would provide for school assemblies when we we little. Your tax dollars at work...) This sketch was OK, even if it was basically formulatic as far as Eracist sketches go. Little Nestor: Only the third Corky Quackenbush animated segment this year. Little Nestor goes to a skating rink and promtly gets squashed and cut to pieces by other skaters. Then he's run over by the Zamboner. It's good to see Quackenbush back, but this cartoon was not that funny (a rarity, in which the animated segment was a bit of a let-down); still, I liked the way the kid says "ow" every time he is further mutilated. Dirty Walker, Funky Talker: Desparation Lee is in a parody of "Armagaeddon." He's an astrophysicist, and an asteroid is slated to hit Earth in six days, but he's mostly concerned with having sex. Redd Foxx (Aries Spears) also appears as the President of the United States. This was OK. Lean Bulime: From season three. Daisy Fuentes plugs a series of dietetic entrees whose secret ingredient is syrup of ipecac. Good use of a celebrity cameo, and also in diet-crazed Hollywood (witness the seemingly anorexic Calsita Flockhart) the parody hits home. A very good segment. ============================================================ ================================== The first new episode after February sweeps is usually a bit of an anticlimax, and this is no exception. Last year, the week after an excellent episode featuring Jerry Springer, we got an absolutely horrendous episode (the crowning turd in the drainpipe was the contest winners sketch). This episode is not horrendous but many of the sketches lack focus; still, there's enough inspired moments to make the show worthwhile. The over-reliance on recurring characters continues to be a problem as it has through much of seasons three and four; it's almost as if the writers are just grinding out material rather than coming up with original ideas. But there's some good stuff here. (5/10) ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ