Review of 10-2-1999 episode (MD-502; some spoilers)

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Opening Segment: Mo Collins comes out and talks about how the ratings
went up last season, and how the front office at Fox is now one thousand
percent behind the show. As she continues to talk, the display changes
into a split screen, with about three quarters of the screen (and the
audio track as well) devoted to an advertisement for Fox comedy shows
(e.g. "Action," "That 70's Show," "Futurama" - virtually every show
EXCEPT Mad TV). To add insult to injury, they mention the fact that
the comedy shows advertised are - unlike Mad TV - in prime time. And for
the crowning insult, the voice-over guy says, "now back to our regularly
scheduled program, "Tales from the Crypt" [the show that aired at 11:00 PM
on Saturday nights BEFORE Mad TV premiered in October 1995, in the days
when Fox wasn't willing to take a chance with its Saturday late night
programming]. Plus they mention SNL a few times (e.g. "If you liked
Jay Mohr on SNL - you'll love him on Action," plus reference to the
Coneheads). For the second week in a row, they came up with a funnier
opening than pretty much any of the season four openings. What makes it
funny, of course, is that it's so close to the truth in at least two
respects: (1) the end of the show has gone over to a split screen, as if
we aren't bombarded with enough advertising, and (2) according to at
least one cast member, the cast are treated like the "bastard children"
of the network. And as if we needed it, this also reminds us whose 
parsimony is responsible for the underfunding of the show.

The Tenors: This is what it would be like if PBS did a drama about the
Mafia (in the tradition of "The Sopranos"). The three Tenors - Luciano
Pavarotti (Will Sasso), Placido Domingo (Michael McDonald) and Jose
Carerras - are presented as three Mafia types bent on
preventing rival Andrea Bocelli (Pat Kilbane) from performing. It's not a
very clever idea for a parody - it's essentially cross A with B and
get C, the type of idea the average viewer could probably concoct.
But they did pick a deserving topic for a parody - yet another Mafia
drama that purports to present its characters as three dimensional figures.
Eventually the critics fawning admiration becomes as contemptible as
their admiration for teen dramas like "Felicity" which essentially
feature pretty white kids without any real problems, and hence, the
show becomes an easy target.

Fun With Soda: This is apparently a parody of a Pepsi commercial, though
I haven't seen it; I'm assuming it is because of the logo on the can.
A girl (Alex Borstein) goes into a diner; the guy behind the counter
(Will Sasso), gives her a can of "the one you [the girl] like." Then
a bunch of dead people start dancing around the girl, she screams, then
sits on the floor and starts crying. I didn't see the original commercial,
so I didn't really get this one, other than the juxtapositioning of
the upbeat music and dancing with the macabre element of being surrounded
by dead people, admittedly in itself funny. And the production values
do seem to have improved for the commercial parodies this season, so
we can count that in this segment's favor (though in my opinion still
not up to the standard established in seasons one and two). This
was not bad, although I would be in a better position to evaluate it
if I saw the original commercial.

Lida and Molina: The two Hispanic beauticians (Nicole Sullivan, Debra
Wilson) try to obtain tickets to see - who else - Ricky Martin in
concert, but the show is sold out. They pray to - who else - Selena,
and then run into that skanky slut Rosa (Mo Collins), who has two tickets,
and is willing to take Lida but only if she calls Molina a skanky slut.
Lida refuses, but she manages to purloin the tickets, so that both
Lida and Molina get to go to the show. Though these characters were
a bit more interesting before they recurred them - that one sketch
where they're working in the convenience store and they get robbed by
Chris Hogan was very funny - but there are some good lines here, like
when Molina tells Lida to "do" the man selling tickets (in order to
get tickets) and Lida replies, "I already did him." Also they haven't
overutilized these characters (unlike certain other characters on the
show), so their presence isn't quite as annoying.

Albanian Pie: Again a parody in the "cross A with B" variety: this
time we combine the hit movie "American Pie" with the plight of Kosovo
Albanians (Nicole Sullivan, Pat Kilbane and extras). All they have
to eat is a pie provided by the Red Cross; although they tell their
son to guard the pie, he ends up naked on the couch with the pie
smeared all over his body, apperaring surfeited. Immediately we spot
an inaccuracy in the sketch: when Pat Kilbane brings the pie home,
Nicole Sullivan thanks "the Lord" for the pie; since most Kosovo Albanians
are Muslim, I assume they would be thanking Allah for the pie (if they were
thanking a diety at all). [Also, the characters are portrayed as peasants
still using horse-drawn carriages; while the Balkans continue
to lag behind the rest of Europe economically, I don't think
they're THAT backward.]  Of course, I suppose this oversight could
be forgiven because it's sketch comedy, not a symposium on Balkan politcs,
dammit. Still, there wasn't much to care for here; not much in
terms of production values here, either, since the only set was the
hovel. It's essentially an attempt at black humor that fell short, even
the girl saying that she shoved the accordian up her [bleep] couldn't
save this one.

[Also, note the use of the word "oversight" in the above paragraph.
"Oversight" is actually one of a handful of words in the English
language that is its own antonym (oversight = an inadvertant error OR
oversight = management, supervision). Can anyone come up with some
other words that are their own antonyms? It doesn't count if it's not
the same part of speech.]

Hollywood Squares: Providing an excellent forum for celebrities to display
their ignorance (my mother used to call it "Hollywood Retards"),
"Hollywood Squares" has flourished for many years and thus is a perfect
target for a parody. This is not the most original idea for a parody
of course (Howard Stern did one on his short-lived WWOR show, and I
think SNL may have done one at least once), and in a sense, this is
more an excuse to retread some of the celebrity parodies like Meg
Ryan (Nicole Sullivan), John and Patsey Ramsey (Michael McDonald, Alex
Borstein), L.L. Cool J (Aries Spears) and Whoopi Goldberg (Debra Wilson).
Still, the parodies are good enough to keep this segment moving. The
denouement is somewhat funny, with one of the contestants (Mo Collins)
disappearing after disagreeing with the Ramseys' answer. Also Sullivan's
portrayal of Meg Ryan as cloyingly sweet was effective, although
Borstein as Patsey Ramsey may have had the best line: when asked
what "DNA" stands for, she says "[d]o not answer - at least not without
an attorney present."

Ms. Swan: Ms. Swan is taking a leave of absence from her nail salon,
so she is showing her replacement (Michael McDonald) the ropes. The funniest
part here is when Ms. Swan seems to be insinuating that McDonald is
gay, but apparently she is not insinuating anything; she just has a
poor command of the English language. Admittedly this is not my favorite
character; still this sketch had its moments.

Busta Rhymes: Phil LaMarr and Aries Spears are arguing about how to do
an accurate impression of Busta Rhymes. Then the real Busta Rhymes take
over and do a song. This was pretty good, although it does raise the
issue of the extent to which having musical acts on the show disrupts
the continuity of the show. The original rationale behind not having
a musical act every week - other than the fact that they would be
accused by critics of trying to copy the SNL formula - is that when
you watch Mad TV, you're going to get an hour of unadulterated comedy.
And to a certain extent this undermines the format, but they've had
musical guests so infrequently that it really doesn't pose a significant
threat. Last season I don't think they had one at all; in season two,
Ice-T and Harry Connick Jr. performed songs; in season one, they aired
a Rolling Stones video. The one exception was season three, when Corky and
the Juice Pigs made frequent appearances (they were also in MD-217) but
since they are a comedy act, they don't really count. I enjoyed it
somewhat but if I had to listen to rap at all I would probably be more
inclined to listen to something really old like Run DMC or something.

Little Hassan Taylor: In spite of all the hype about higher ratings for
"Mad TV," the show apparently doesn't have enough money to put together
an hour of new material every week. Hence, we get these retreads, which
used to be called Mad TV Classics. This one is from MD-407 (last season),
and is actually pretty good (a parody of a 1950's black r&b singer singing
songs like "Open the Door Honky" and "Kiss My Big Black Ass"); still I
have to hold Fox and the producers in a certain amount of contempt for
putting a "rerun" in only the second show of the season.

Spy vs. Spy: "Spy vs. Spy" is back, but don't get too excited; it's
not as if they're making any new ones. This one was the one where the
white spy tricks the black spy by digging a hole that looks like
it's his shadow (the black spy falls into the hole). This was
moderately funny.

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Just as last week some were surprised to see that the season
premiere was pretty good, I was surprised to see that the improvement
was not necessarily a fluke. There were one or two really good segments;
the weakest segment was probably "Albanian Pie." [It's harder to pick
a best segment, though the opening segment is probably the one I would
pick.] The show was marred by the "Mad TV Classic" segment, but since
most of the shows last season had one, it's no worse in that respect.
Also the production values seem somewhat higher than last year, although
most of the segments are longer, too. (6/10)