Review of 11-6-1999 episode (MD-507; some spoilers) As always, this review can also be found at: http://www.nic.com/~dzien/nicolesullivan/md507.txt The article on the Fox Network I mentioned last week was called "Fox Sees Its Young Audience Shrink As Rivals Bask in Their Ratings Gains." It was in the 10-27-1999 edition of the Wall Street Journal. It's also available at the Wall Street Journal web site (http://wsj.com) if you subscribe to the interactive edition (just search the articles database for the Fox Network). Now, my review of the 100th episode of Mad TV (actually, it's the 98th episode as I proved earlier, but let's not let facts get in the way of a milestone): ========================================================================== Opening Segment: Martin Short (who, incidentally, engineered what in my opinion was one of the more memorable moments in sketch comedy when, as Jackie Rodgers Jr., he said: "In the words of the immortal Sally Field, 'YOU LIKE ME!'") comes to the set, and thinks it's Saturday Night Live. Seemingly stultified, he confuses Nicole Sullivan with Cheri Oteri, and thinks Michael McDonald is Will Ferrell. But by far the funniest part was when Martin Short, thinking that it's SNL, mentions that when he was on the show, it had a bigger budget. Then the whole cast and Martin Short go out to open the show. This opening was somewhat surprising because they committed the cardinal error of mentioning the competition. This felt somewhat contrived, but it was still one of the more ambitious opening segments for this season, certainly superior to virtually any season four opening segment, and on par with the opening segment for MD-502 though still probably inferior to the MD-501 opening segment which in any case would be hard to top. I Love Lucy 2000: A new "I Love Lucy" segment; this one is about Lucy (Nicole Sullivan) and Ethel (Alex Borstein) surfing the Internet, leading to Little Ricky apparently being kidnapped by the Internet Pedophile - of course it's all a trick concocted by Ricky (Pat Kilbane) to teach the girls a lesson, and of course the kidnapper is his drummer from the club - but Lucy has aleady shot him several times and they've put him in a vat of acid. This segment is about as good as either of the two previous "I Love Lucy" segments; in other words, not so funny that the viewer is going to be struck by the hilarity of the material, but pretty accurate in capturing the look and feel of this prehistoric sitcom. And how appropriate, in this night of putative Internet-bashing (allusions are made to Stuart's father disappearing after logging into one too many chat rooms) that the villian is the Internet pedophile. All of the cast members did a good job of reprising their roles for this sketch, especially Nicole Sullivan as Lucy. [What they should really do now is do a segment about Ricky joining NAMBLA, but it'll probably never happen.] Cabana Chat: A brief clip of the first "Cabana Chat" segment from season two. We get to see briefly the Dance of the Pool Boy. This was good; the excerpt covered the essential parts of the segment. And of course we see why Bryan Callen may ultimately be irreplaceable. O.J. Bloopers: This is from MD-117, and it's a clip of the first of two very funny segments in which Orlando Jones played O.J. Simpson. These are supposed to be outtakes from O.J.'s video in which he professes his innocence in the killing of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. In some ways, since the subject of this segment is a trial that ended over four years ago, it seems somewhat dated. In reality, what this guy is assumed by many to have done is so odious, it will never get old. Anyone who sees this is likely to get a laugh when the attorney says to O.J. Simpson, "you're the only one who really knows what happened that night," and Simpson says "[y]ep" - only to have the acting coach come out and remind him that he has just implicated himself in the murder. Swan Airplane: When the last Ms. Swan sketch ended with "To Be Continued..." some speculated that the character had been retired. In reality, you have a better chance of seeing God than of seeing Mad TV retire a popular recurring character. That having been said, this Swan sketch was OK; my main complaint here is that they repeated the same gag with Swan (Alex Borstein) hitting the call button and kicking another passenger's (Will Sasso) seat incessantly. Nevertheless I liked the bit about Swan insisting on being served a vegetarian meal with a little bit of bacon (this is actually probably art imitating life, since some vegetarians eat those imitation bacon bits), to the annoyance of the stewardess (Nicole Sullivan). The part where she bit another passenger's leg was funny as well. The Greatest Action Story Ever Told: A clip from one of the more memorable Mad TV movie parodies: a cross between the story of Christ (Dave Herman) and "Terminator 2" with Bryan Callen as Arnold Schwartzeneggar. This excerpt has The Terminator constantly killing Judas because he will betray Jesus - and every time Jesus resurrects him, Terminator kills him again. This was funny. Entertainment Tonight: In this parody, Mary Hart (Mo Collins) interviews Sean Connery (Pat Kilbane) and Rebecca Gayheart (Herself) on the set of their new movie, "Blue Heat." The humor here derives from the fact that Gayheart is the love interest for Connery, even though Connery is about one hundred years old. In this segment, Mad TV (like the magazine continues to do on many occassions) takes aim at a deserving target: sexism in Hollywood; to wit, the fact that young women are often paired off with old men. If you need any further proof, recall the pairings of Helen Hunt (mid-30's) with Jack Nicholson (early 60's), or Gwyneth Paltrow (mid-20's) with Michael Douglas (50's). What's worse is that the producers, instead of admitting that this is sexism, merely say that these women are right for the role. This vituperative commentary on Hollywood is underscored by one of the love scenes, in which Gayheart cannot complete the scene, apparently because she finds Connery's leather-textured chest so repulsive. Then the acting coach (Aries Spears) tells Gayheart to think of someone older whom she loves, like her great-grandfather. Finally, we get to find out who plays the female lead in the next Connery movie: the Olsen twins. Adding to the humor is Mo Collins' portrayal of Mary Hart as a vacant, almost lobotomized woman. This may have been the best segment of the show, although "Fanatic" was also good. That's My White Mama: A clip from a parody of WB shows - this actually is supposed to be the most offensive show ever on the WB. Artie Lange is a man who commits vehicular homicide, but the soul of the black woman he killed takes over his body. They did a total of three of these - probably the most memorable was the one where Lange carries Orlando Jones up the stairs to have sex with him, and it always seems to be a favorite with fans of the old school Mad TV, especially Artie Lange fans. And although this clip doesn't really do the segment justice, they give you an idea of the essence of it with the "White Mama" theme song. Stuart at the Zoo: In this sketch, Stuart (Michael McDonald) and his mother (Mo Collins) visit a zoo. The ever-recalcitrant child enters a gorilla cage and sucks on the gorilla's breast. The tour guide (Nicole Sullivan) has to rescue Stuart from the cage; some humor here results when the gorilla attacks the tour guide and only releases her when Stuart tells her to do so. Other than that, it's pretty much Stuart-by-numbers, although the denouement with the gorilla attacking the tour guide again (acting on Stuart's instructions) was funny. Vancome Lady - Department Store Santa: The sketch that was probably more responsible for turning me into a hardcore Mad TV fan than any other sketch (although I started watching with MD-102). The Vancome Lady (Nicole Sullivan) turns away a child who wants to see Santa because he's husky. Not a bad clip at all. Lex Jackson: This is from the Ryan Stiles episode. Michael Jackson (Phil LaMarr) goes on The Oprah Winfrey Show and outlines his plan to kill everyone over the age of twelve - a plan which is foiled by Michael Flatley (Dave Herman). I don't know if I would have included this one if it were up to me, but then again these clips aren't all for me, and this was, admittedly, a pretty good segment. Fanatic: This is a parody of MTV's "Fanatic;" this is about Will Sasso getting to meet Nicole Sullivan, and acting as if it's his lifelong dream. Nicole Sullivan, of course, realizes this is stupid and refuses to answer his questions; she exhibits a choleric attitude, since her time has been wasted; she hits Sasso wih an empty water bottle a few times, and storms out. This segment was funny because they seem to reproduce fairly accurately aspects of the actual MTV show, plus there's the sheer inanity of Sasso, who as a cast member would be in constant contact with Sullivan, acting as if it's the greatest thrill in his life to be able to meet her and ask asinine fan-type questions like, "[w]here do you get your ideas from?" Also funny is that the limo drives him about five hundred feet to see Sullivan. There's enough humor here to keep the segment moving; Sasso does a pretty good job as the guileless (or, more accurately, idiotic) fan. Also we get to see the "Window of the Soul" movie poster on the wall of Sasso's dressing room. Bush: The rock group Bush performs it's new single, "The Chemicals Between Us." Not only did I find the song to be pretty good (although if it were up to me I might have had Enuff Z'Nuff or maybe the newly-reunited Ratt), but since they put this segment at the end of the show, it didn't interrupt the continuity of the show that much, and in any case, it's better than a "Mad TV Classic," which is what one would usually see in the last ten minutes. Still, I would prefer if musical segments continue to be infrequent, as it has been in the past with sporadic (but very good) musical segments from such bands as The Presidents of the United States and The Rolling Stones. The Klumps: A clip from the first Klumps segment, in which the Artist Formerly Known as Prince (Phil LaMarr) shows up at dinner. This was a worthy segment from season three. The Klumps were good enough to deserve more segments, but the makeup was probably hard to do. Closing Segment: The three original cast members - Nicole Sullivan, Phil LaMarr and Debra Wilson - make some remarks on the occassion of the 100th episode. Nicole Sullivan's remarks (thanking everyone: e.g. the cast, the crew, the writers) seemed to reflect that as the most popular cast member, she has to thank everyone, otherwise people will assume she is ungrateful. Phil LaMarr's remarks were interesting; he thanked everyone who supported the show during the first one hundred episodes, because without them, "we'd have six." (Number Six?) ========================================================================== With all the fanfare surrounding Mad TV's 100th episode, I was expecting a subpar show. After all, with all the publicity they've gotten, a certain number of people are going to tune in just because it's the 100th episode, so why bother to make a good show? Fortunately, the producers did not follow this cynical rationale, and actually seem to have made an effort with this show. Once again, the creative forces behind the show have made life difficult for detractors such as myself by putting together a good show. No segment was so bad as to be unwatchable; the Swan sketch especially dragged a bit, but not unforgiveably so. The absence of a "Mad TV Classic" for two weeks running certainly must count in the show's favor. The vintage clips showed some thoughtfulness, and all the original cast members (except Craig Anton, who arguably was an original cast member even though he was billed as a "Special Guest Star" for the pilot episode) were represented here. I probably would have included an Al Casdy segment, and also perhaps a clip from "New Neighbors" in MD-102 with the Kato Kaelin cameo appearance - maybe it's just the fact that this was the first episode I ever saw, but this sketch seems to encapsulate the zaniness of the early show so accurately. [The line about how Lange is a convicted sex offender, but now he just masturbates, gets more laughs from me than 60 minutes of some of the newer shows.] Nevertheless it was a laudable effort, and arguably the best show of the season. (8/10) ========================================================================== By the way, I turned on SNL and noticed that they did a "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" parody, too - although arguing about who came up with the idea first (the Mad TV segment was taped earlier, at least) is like arguing over which came first, the chicken or the egg. ===================================================================== Number Six | http://www.nic.com/~dzien/nicolesullivan/ dzien@nic.com | (The Unofficial Nicole Sullivan Tribute Page) =====================================================================