Review of 11-13-1999 episode (MD-508; some spoilers)

As always, this review can also be found at:

        http://www.nic.com/~dzien/nicolesullivan/md509.txt

Did anyone see the 7-Up commercial with Orlando Jones? I saw
it on Friday night during "Happy Gilmore" and several times during
"Mad TV" (I'm 95 percent sure it was Orlando Jones: the hair is different,
but the face and voice are the same.) One of the commercials has him
going around telling people to "Make 7-Up Yours" and of course the people
are offended because the back of his shirt says "Up Yours." There
were rumors that Jones was working on a sitcom when he left "Mad TV,"
but I don't not if this is true; apart fromt the 7-Up commercials, he
was also in "Office Space" earlier this year.

Also, another Nicole Sullivan VCR alert: Nicole Sullivan will host
"Later" on NBC all this week (November 22-25)! It airs 1:30 AM EST/12:30
CST in most areas (1:36 AM in NYC), check local listings for air time, but
in most places it probably airs after Conan O'Brien. Also thanks to
an astute fan for reminding me that the episode of "Party of Five" with
Nicole Sullivan airs on Wednesday, November 24 at 3:00 PM EST.

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Opening Segment: Michael McDonald starts to introduce the show, then
Molina and Lida (Debra Wilson, Nicole Sullivan) interrupt him, and
cajole him into doing Stuart. When Molina and Lida did their impression
of Stuart saying "[l]et me do it," this was somewhat funny. This segment
was OK, but somewhat disappointing, since I thought maybe they were going
to do away with these opening segments after last week's show.

G Thang: Defcon One (Phil LaMarr) is a rapper who goes on a talk show (hosted
by Michael McDonald) and comes out of the closet on the show. Then
he sings a song about how he likes things like nine millimeters
and listening to Barbra Streisand. He's flanked by
two dancers who start to strip during the song. I'm not sure, but
I thought the rapper was the same character from the "Helping Hand"
insurance parody in MD-221, but that was Dr. Dazzle - the two seem
similar in any case. I suppose if I wanted to complain, I would say
that a sketch where the humor revolves around a character's sexual
orientation is just too prosaic and too obvious; it's been done so many
times already. Still, I find this segment compelling, and I think it's
mainly because Phil LaMarr played his role convincingly. But the segment
is also well-written, and the dialogue between Defcon One and the talk
show host is strong, especially when the host doesn't fully understand
the slang which the rapper is using.

Thanksgiving and the Heater's Broke: Mimi (Nicole Sullivan) invites her
friend Tonya (Debra Wilson) to her parent's home for Thanksgiving, and,
much to her embarassment, her parents (Michael McDonald, are padding
around the house in their underwear because the thermostat is broken. This
makes FOUR straight weeks in which Michael McDonald has appeared in his
underwear (last week I erroneously said that it was two consecutive weeks,
but I forgot about the Illeana Douglas segment from the 10-30-1999 episode.
If this isn't enough to make you want to blow doughnuts, then the
way he distends his stomach in this sketch will. (And if he's going
to walk around in his underwear, can't he at least keep his legs together?)
These characters are apparently the same characters from that sketch last
season, where the father embarasses his daughter in front of her boyfriend
by walking around in his underwear, the only difference being that the Nicole
Sullivan character has now gone off to college. Best line: when Mimi's mother
asks Tonya if her father is embarrassing, she replies "I used to think so."
Also funny is when Nicole Sullivan can't finish her line because she
starts laughing (she gets it on the third attempt); at first I was wondering
whether this was scripted or not. The part where they're trying to
eradicate a stain on the carpet seems to me like gratuitous padding that
doesn't serve any real purpose, and in fact one could be very critical
of writers who not only take a pedestrian idea and turn it into a five
minute sketch, but who decide that the idea is worth repeating a second
time. Still, there's enough funny moments to keep this segment from
being a total waste, even if it might not be quite enough to compensate
for the mediocre idea behind the sketch and the disgusting spectacle of
Michael McDonald in his underwear.

James Bond Premiere: Alex Borstein and Will Sasso go to the world premiere
of "The World Is Not Enough," the new James Bond film. They interview
celebrities - mainly people who actually appeared in the movie, I would
think. There really wasn't much of a point to the segment, as with
the one where Borstein and Sasso go to the Emmy awards ceremony. This
is a little bit more entertaining, though. It was interesting to see
John Cleese, who in his glory days was responsible for creating a good
deal of comedic material now ripped off by the current crop of comedy
writers. Also we get to see Lawrence Fishburne, not deviating from his
stern demeanor one iota. Also, I liked when Pierce Brosnan said 
"I'm [James Bond] number five, but I'm not a number - I'm a free man"
 - for obvious reasons! (Ironic, too, that he would give a nod to a
character that in many ways epitomizes the anti-James Bond - the spy
WITHOUT the girl or the gun.)

Dolemite vs. Black Belt Jones: Dolemite (Aries Spears) has his pimping
cane taken from him by Black Belt Jones (Phil LaMarr), and he has to fight
him to get it back. One wonders why the pimping cane is sought after so
much - is it really valuable, or does it have magical properties? Anyhow,
Dolemite and Black Belt Jones decide to stop fighting and join forces
against the sheriff (Will Sasso), who after getting pummeled, simply
walks out. The plot meanders in a desultory manner: he sleeps with
a woman (Mo Collins) to find out where the pimping cane is, even though
he knows already that Black Belt Jones has it at a warehouse in Pasedena.
The sheriff's deputy appears in a later scene even though he was killed
earlier on in the story. All of this is apparently a parody of the poor
continuity in these 1970's blax-ploitation films.
The dialogue is so stupid it's funny. The two men are adament that they
must fight, then just as quickly change their minds (ah, the mercurial
vicissitudes of the human mind). Overall, it ranks about the same as the
other "Dolemite" parody: it was good, though a bit too long for me, and
a good reproduction of the blax-ploitation movies. Other than Black
Belt Jones, no new characters were added, either.

EEE! Behind the Song: Michael McCloud and Jasmine Wayne-Wayne (Will Sasso,
Alex Borstein) reunite to write a new song for a new James Cameron movie.
The new song, "You Are the One That I Love" sounds exactly like their
previous hit, "You Are the Love of My Life." Again, this is apparently
partly a parody of one-hit wonders and partly a parody of sappy romantic
songs that become the "song of the year" like the Celine Dion Titanic
song. Basically this has essentially the same appeal as the first segment
with these two characters, the only difference being that since they are
now attempting to write a follow-up hit, the fact that their songwriting
skills are so limited that they can only write a clone of the original
hit in an attempt to duplicate their earlier success is emphasized.
Of course the denouement was somewhat interesting, with Jasmine Wayne-Wayne
starting a successful solo career (with the song that she and McCloud
wrote), while McCloud is reduced to being a street musician with a toy
keyboard. Funniest moments: (1) When Jasmine Wayne-Wayne starts choking on a
nut, she insists on continuing to eat nuts even though she is still
choking, and she swallows some water to try to wash it down - then she
regurgitates the water all over McCloud (predictable but funny). (2)
When McCloud and Wayne-Wayne claim that they were into Latin music way
before artists like Ricky Martin made it mainstream - we get to see
the two singing the same song, only McCloud has a sombrero and maracas.
Ultimately, there were enough funny moments here to make the fact
that in many ways this is a copy of the original segment something that
can be overlooked.

Antonia - Pottery: Antonia is supposed to make a vase in pottery class,
but does everything but make a vase - even making a clay figurine of
her cat C.C. Her pottery instructor (Pat Kilbane) insists that she
finish making a vase before the session is over - and so we get to see
scenes of Antonia and the pottery instructor getting it on. Bits of
clay are everywhere. Then instead of a vase, we see she's molded the
clay in the shape of a man and a woman humping each other. Interesting
is that once again they are turning Antonia into a sexual character (as
in the perfume commercial parody). This was OK, although by now it
is obvious that the Antonia segments have lost some of their appeal
now that Phil LaMarr isn't the foil.

Mad TV Classic: This time, it's "Bris-o-tine" from last year - it can
be used to circumcise people as well as to slice and dice. This was
OK, but once again it shows how little faith they have in the new
material when they're showing reruns from last year. Or perhaps they
just want to save money and don't feel like showing older, better material
since that would mean they would have to pay royalties to actors no
longer on the show. For example, if they showed the Power Book parody
from MD-102, they would have to pay royalties to Orlando Jones. In
any case, as long as the quality of the show is sacrificed because
of budget constraints, I will continue to be critical of the show.

==========================================================================
On the whole, this week's show was not very strong. Most of the segments
involved recurring characters, which is not necessarily a bad thing,
but in the case the recurring segments were not particularly strong.
Even the "Mad TV Classic" was a disappointment. There were some good
moments here, but definitely a cut below last week's show and somewhat
below even the diminished expectations I have had for the show in
recent times. (4/10)

Interesting that next week's show is a new episode; it's the first
time they've done that on Thanksgiving weekend in recent times.


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