Review of 5-15-1999 episode (MD-424; some spoilers)

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Opening Segment: Will Sasso finds a lost little boy - Stuart (Michael
McDonald), who emerges with some diffidence. His mother (Mo Collins) steps
out of studio audience to collect him. He delivers all his stock lines; e.g.,
"No," "Let me do it" and "Look what I can do." He also makes a scatalogical
remark involving hot dogs and pigs. It wasn't very funny but then again
I've all but given up on the opening segments for this show, and at least
this will silence (temporarily) the countless minions who demand more
Stuart.

Whose Idea Was This Anyway?: Drew Carey (Will Sasso) hosts his improv show.
I wouldn't say Sasso's Carey is dead-on, but it's close enough. The
celebrity improv actors are Cher (Mo Collins), Magic Johnson (Aries Spears),
Ray Charles (Phil LaMarr), and Luke Perry (Pat Kilbane). Cher is
vindictive, using the appearance to insult daughter Chastity, Perry is not
very good, Charles is clueless, and Magic Johnson is just plain stupid
(when Carey asks Johnson to name an occupation, he replies "[A] hat."
This cruel portrayal of Johnson provides some moments of inspired hilarity,
and most of the celebrity impersonations were good. The problem is that
this segment never rises above being a showcase for these impersonations
and as a result falls flat. Also this parody reminds me of an episode
late in season two when Ryan Stiles was hosting; Phil LaMarr tells him
how much he likes "Whose Line is it Anyway" and how he wants to do some
improv; they do a sketch involving Shakespeare at a laundromat; Stiles says
things like "[b]eware the tides of march" and LaMarr completely outdoes
him with a portrayal of a man overwrought because he doesn't have any
quarters for the machine. I hate to make comparisons which make the old
material look good at the expense of the new, but the segments are so
similar in this case that the comparison is unavoidable, and I found the
Stiles/LaMarr segment much funnier than this parody.

Controlling Boyfriend: A man (Michael McDonald) is moving in with
his girlfriend (Nicole Sullivan - yes, Sullivan and McDonald are a couple
again - when did he get the fixation on oral sex?). She is really happy,
but there is something strange about this guy. He doesn't let her finish
what she's saying; moreover, he seems to be able to get her to do what
he wants. Finally, he renders her catatonic while he puts the moves on one
of her friends (Mo Collins). This was OK, but I didn't get the whole point
of him raking his hand across her face - is this some kind of mind-control
technique? And the whole "gentle spirit" thing is just plain nauseating.

Snapshot Stories: This time, with Mo Collins. She buys a house and has a
housewarming party, and everybody comes (read: only Will Sasso came).
This one was somewhat less violent than the previous ones, although not
wanting to disappoint us, they give us Mo Collins forceably expelling
Sasso from her house, and Sasso setting Collins' house on fire to avenge
his expulsion. This was OK though by now it's like they're beating a dead
horse.

Rusty: Donny Osmond gets to meet one of his biggest fans: Rusty (Michael
McDonald). We get to see Rusty asking Osmond questions, Rusty singing with
Osmond, and finally, we get to see the normally congenial Osmond shoving
Rusty out of the green room. There weren't any really hilarious moments
here (although the last minute of the sketch came close), but there are
some funny moments, and the piece is carried off competently by Osmond,
McDonald and Mo Collins. Even the Rusty character isn't as annoying as
it usually is. Still, this segment drags a bit; in the olden days probably
it would have been shorter but these days it seems they are letting the
sketches run longer to fill air time.

Lorraine: Lorraine (Mo Collins) is back, and once again Michael McDonald is
the man who is tormented by her. This time she obsesses on the mini-cups
into which free samples are placed at a supermarket. I must admit this
character is funny, and although I suppose you could say these sketches
are formulatic, it's no more so than any other recurring character and since
they've only used the character twice this season, it's not really
that noticeable. Nevertheless, we could chastise the producers for a
lack of realism: just as last week we got a pharmacy with a waiting room,
this week we get a supermarket, and not one of the patrons is using a
shopping cart, one of the most ubiquitious fixtures at supermarkets in
this country. I'm referring to this character as "Lorraine" even though
her name is not mentioned in any of the segments because this is the name
given to her in the "Mad TV Episode Guide" at the Mad TV website
(www.madtvonfox.com). 

Falcon Man and Bird Boy: Falcon Man (Andrew Bowen or Michael McDonald, but
probably Bowen) and Bird Boy (Phil LaMarr) have given up crime-fighting
and now work as downsizing consultants. In order to eliminate redundancy
and over-specialization in the workplace, they fire a secretary (Alex
Borstein) and the department in charge of firing people. The parody of
corporate inaneness is good, if not dead-on. The continual emphasis on
"eliminating redundancy" seems pretty accurate; woe to the upper management
job applicant who doesn't mention "eliminating redundancy and streamlining
the decision-making process" at his job interview, no matter how
well-qualified he/she is otherwise. Also the inclusion of corporate
doublespeak, a staple of the "Dilbert" comic strip, lends some credibility
to the parody: for example, the secretary warns her boss (Pat Kilbane) that
hiring a specialist to eliminate redundancy would simply "exacerbate the
over-specialization problem." Of course, all of this is a crock, in the same
way that it is a crock when a company asserts that "we must encourage
de-centralization to reduce bottlenecks" - because six months later, they will
almost certainly assert that "we must increase centralization to provide
accountability." But more than anything else, it seems to be a parody
of management consultants. I'm not sure if the superheroes are parodies
of specific characters, though. Overall, however, it was a good sketch.

Lorraine #2: This time, she's back and she tries to get McDonald to sell
her the mini-cups. When I saw the Bounty paper towels I started to wonder
if the producers get paid for this (like product placement in movies).
Funny is when Collins says "bonsai," then clears her throat and says
"bonsai" again.

Mad TV Classic?: The first Silivane sketch! Silvante (Phil LaMarr) is
slated to record a song for a benefit album to benefit children afflicted
with Expanded Cranium Syndrome (ECS). Unfortunately, none of his songs
are really appropriate for such an album, because all of them seem to
involve rather graphic depictions of his sexual fantasies. Eventually,
the two record company executives (Debra Wilson, Dave Herman) go with
a ditty entitled "Suck My Freak." This was extremely good, and as usual,
Silvante's songs are the funniest aspect of these sketches. Also it's
funny that the execs are enthusiastic about having Silvante on the album
because his last album sold 5 million copies and they are getting a lot
of publicity, but they obviously know nothing about his music; otherwise
they would not have chosen him for the benefit album. Nevertheless,
they lie to him and tell them they are big fans of his music. So this
time we get a sketch worthy of the appellation "Mad TV Classic."
But the producers may be shooting themselves in the foot by showing these
very funny segments from seasons one and two (this one aired midway through
season two), especially the ones featuring Dave Herman.

Lorraine #3: This time a biker (Will Sasso) tries a granola sample; he
thinks it tastes like garbage, but he's interested in the mini-cups and
spoons. Lorraine chokes and the biker does the Heimlich maneuver. The
denouement is predictable: she says "God, you're cute" just like in the
first one. Still, the three Lorraine segments were the best segments in
the show other than the Silvante sketch.

Spy vs. Spy - Barbell: The Black Spy tricks the White Spy to lift a weight
over his head which then breaks in half and smashes him in the head. This
was good but it's a rerun from season one.
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Another week of May sweeps, and again we get a good episode but not an
exceptional one. The best segments in my opinion were the ones with
the annoying Mo Collins character and the Silvante rerun. Fans of Mo
Collins (who was absent from last week's episode) and Michael McDonald
(also absent, I think) were probably pleased that they were featured as
prominently as they were; almost every sketch featured one of the two,
compensating somewhat from their absence from earlier episodes. Nicole
Sullivan only appeared in one segment, an all-time low for her this season
(except for the first five in which she did not appear at all). Also Alex
Borstein only appeared in the downsizing sketch. So it was a show in which
the "stars" stepped out of the limelight, giving the less-utilized cast
members a chance to shine. But other than that, there wasn't much to get
excited about, although most of the material was not bad. And not having
any movie/commercial parodies was probably a good thing, since it
tends to induce me to draw unfavorable comparisons to the parodies from
season 1-2-early part of 3 when they still had a budget. Still, I expected
the producers to roll out better stuff for the sweeps period. (5/10)