Review of 1-8-2000 episode (MD-512; some spoilers)

This review can also be found at:

        http://www.nic0lesullivan.org/md512.txt

That's a zero (0) instead of an 'o' in "nicole" (her agent has already
purchased the domain name www.nicolesullivan.org, so it's the best I
could do). This is also the new URL for The Unofficial Nicole Sullivan
Tribute Page.

Sadly, Don Martin has died at the age of 68. Yesterday's New York Times
contains an excellent obituary. Don Martin drew cartoons for Mad
Magazine from 1956 until 1987, when he left Mad for rival Cracked
over a dispute with Mad publisher William M. Gaines over reprint rights.
You may remember that an animated version of his cartoons, "The Don
Martin Department," appeared briefly on "Mad TV" (1995-96). He probably
made a more meaningful contribution to the arts and society at large
than John F. Kennedy, Jr., but his death will probably not get as much
press coverage. R.I.P. Don Martin.

Opening Segment: Steven Segal (Will Sasso) comes out, beats up some guy,
then tells the audience to enjoy the next one thousand years. It wasn't
that funny, but since all this character does is physically assault people,
at least they got it over with and moved on with the rest of the show.

Nicky Malone, Teenage President: A man in the street (Phil LaMarr) says
that he wishes there was a television show for him (and therefore, everyone
else). A voice off-camera (Debra Wilson) extols the virtues of Fox's
newest show, "Nicky Malone, Teenage President." This program not only
features a teenager (Alex Borstein) as president, but it also has
professional wrestlers; each show is improvised; a million dollars is
given away each week, and Art Garfunkel (Michael McDonald) performs a
song on each show. In other words, it combines elements of other popular
shows like "Whose Line Is It Anyway" and "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire" in
the hopes of engineering a ratings hit. [Ironically, they point out that
WLIIA was a "surprise hit" - unlike the fake Fox series delineated here, in
other words, it's not as if ABC designed WLIIA to be a smash hit. They
first aired it in the summer of 1998 instead of reruns, so it was a
relatively low-risk means of taking a gamble on something new; they had
no way of knowing it would catch on in America even though it was
a success in Great Britain.] This segment drags on a little too long
for my liking (with some slick editing they could have made the same
point in less time), but it was still OK - even more so because it pokes
fun at Fox's current ratings slump (the latest blow to the network is
lesser extent "Ryan Caulfield: Year One") and as a result, I'd be
surprised if "Malcolm" lasts more than thirteen weeks.]

Reality Check: The two corpulent African-American women (Debra Wilson,
Aries Spears) give a "reality check" to guest Donald Trump (Pat Kilbane).
Trump is initially congenial, and when the women say that they would
never wear a "Trump for President" button because they would fear for
their physical safety, Trump at first says that he admires their candor -
but within a minute he reverts back to the politically incorrect Trump
and says that he could buy their votes if necessary, and calling them
"water buffalos." The women fire back with derisive comments about Trump's
political ambitions and even impugn the real estate mogul's sexual prowess.
The parody works on two levels - some of the insults are actually pretty
funny: e.g., they insinuate that Will Smith is an oreo - but also because
it's a parody of how politicians pander for votes, especially the votes
of specific ethnic groups. Even though the chances of two African-American
women from south Philadelphia voting for a wealthy white conservative are
almost nil, he has to make an effort to "reach out" to this group for
fear of seeming racist. [Which is why the candor of Warren Beatty's
character in "Bulworth" is so refreshing - no real politician would
say those things.] Also, we get the irony of the two women talking about
going to Denny's, a franchise that has been (successfully) sued for
discriminating against blacks. When the segment first came on I thought
it would be disappointing; it wasn't the greatest segment but nevertheless
it exceeded my expectations.

Monica Lewinsky Handbags: The world's most famous intern (Alex
Borstein) is hawking handbags designed for the young career woman.
There's a special compartment for lipstick and another one for
Jenny Craig Snacker Crackers. There's room for pads - maxi or knee.
Almost all of the segment is based on cheap sexual allusions, which
is good for a laugh or two. With the presidential sex scandal largely
yesterday's news (I almost forgot there was an impeachment trial last
year), this parody seems to be a shameless attempt to milk a few
more laughs from the whole debacle. And since it's a topical issue,
it will quickly seem dated (like much of the political humor from
the early days of the show, especially the Dole and Gingrich parodies) -
although I hope they do some political humor this year, especially
since it's an election year. It was a realtively unimaginative segment
but somewhat funny nonetheless.

Mad TV at the Billboard Music Awards: Alex Borstein and Will Sasso
interview celebrities at the Billboard Music Awards. Will Sasso has
lost a lot of weight (he looks like Bruce Willis now), but otherwise
it's pretty much the same as the ones where they went to the Emmys
and the opening of "The World is Not Enough." They interview people
like Christina Aguliera, Metallica (gasp!), Emmylou Harris, Vitamin C and
even Oscar De La Hoya. There wasn't much humor here - except for when they
told Vitamin C, bedecked in a green outfit, to "enjoy the Packers game."

Lorraine: Lorraine (Mo Collins) goes to a second-hand shop run by - who
else? - Michael McDonald. She engages in the usual incessant throat-clearing,
and wanders around the store in a desultory fashion, annoying the
proprietor (McDonald) and everyone else in the store with a megaphone.
Eventually, she's ejected from the store by McDonald. This was pretty
much Lorraine-by-numbers. Not much to care for here, unless you really
like this character.

Total Request Live - 98 Degrees and the Three Tenors: MTV premieres
a new video featuring 98 Degrees (themselves) and the Three Tenors
(Will Sasso, Michael McDonald, an extra). On the surface, the
premise is not bad - a crossover between the sort of sappy, bubblegum-
type music that is so prevalent now, and opera music, as exemplified
by the world-famous trio of Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras. But the
segment essentially falls flat. Even the denouement, with the girl
in the video leaving with 98 Degrees, and shunning the Three Tenors
entirely was not very funny. If it's funny at all, it's only in an
abstract sense - i.e. that men performing opera would want to seem
"hip" by teaming up with a pop music act. The limited production values
are also a problem here; all the action takes place in a single room
and there is no slick editing to make up for this deficiency. This
was another weak segment, perhaps the weakest of the show.

Billboard Music Awards II: This time they're backstage at the awards
ceremony. They talk to DMX, Flea, Snoop Doggy Dog, Lou Bega, Blink 182,
Rappin' 4-Tay, and Mariah Carey. Again, not much to write home about;
the funniest moment was probably when Flea asks (referring to Britney
Spears) whether it's legal to get breast implants when you're sixteen
(actually, she was seventeen at the time), and Alex Borstein says
"I think so, as long as you have a driver's license."

Billboard Music Awards III: Borstein and Sasso give out invitations
to the Mad TV Post-Awards Ceremony Party, but only a few people show
up, including Rappin' 4-Tay. We see some video clips of a few obviously
bored partygoers, then it's over. This segment was low-budget even by
Mad TV standards - the whole thing looks like it was done by a twelve-year
old with a camcorder.

Literally: A couple (Nicole Sullivan, Michael McDonald) attend a little
league game, and then make snide, off-color remarks, often at the
expense of the people around them. [For example, when a man brushes
up against Michael McDonald, he says "I think that qualifies as my
first gay experience - literally."] Virtually every sentence they
form ends with "literally," hence the title of the sketch. It even
ends with "We couldn't think of an ending for this sketch - literally!"
superimposed on the screen - but the real punch line is when the couple
reveals that they don't have a child in little league, and that they
are there for love of the game. The viewer experiences an epiphany,
because now he/she realizes what a couple of losers these two are - they
even have little-league T-shirts, even though they apparently don't
have kids in little league. This is one of the most clever sketches
they've done on the show in some time. After watching the show flounder
for most of the first forty minutes, they finally scored a direct hit
by returning to basics - solid sketch comedy in the tradition of
"Kids in the Hall," the old SNL, and...so many other shows. This was
also Nicole Sullivan's first writing credit in almost two years (the
last, if memory serves, being "Roles" in MD-313).

Clops V: The clops deal with gang warfare between Teletubbies (this
part even features the allegedly gay Teletubby as a prostitute),
a washed-up California Raisin as a wino, and a suicide attempt by a
Furby. While on the whole it was very good, I particularly liked the
part with the Furby - it was the first time all night that I laughed out
loud. Mentioning that the California Raisin had sold out his own kind
was a nice touch, maintaining the claymation cosmology. What makes
the Corky Quackenbush segments work, in my opinion, is not just the
fact that they are well-rendered (although this helps), but the humor
is somewhat macabre, in the tradition of Mad Magazine. This doesn't quite
top Clops III - the gun-wielding Pillsbury Doughboy is hard to beat -
but it comes very close. And just having Corky Quackenbush back in the
saddle is a positive development.

Don Martin Department: A man paints "My wife is an enormous fat freak"
on his wife's buttocks. Of course what's funny hear is that you
don't see that it's his wife's butt until the view pans back at
the end. This was pretty funny; too bad they haven't
shown these since the first season. I don't know if this was meant
as a tribute to the recently-deceased Don Martin, but since they
haven't shown these cartoons in awhile, I tend to think that it was.
==========================================================================

The content of the first two-thirds of this show was relatively lackluster,
and this episode seemed destined to be a disappointment. But in the last
twenty minutes, Mad TV redeemed itself with some of the best material
in recent memory ("Literally," "Clops V" and the Don Martin rerun).
If all the shows were as good as the last twenty minutes of this show,
I probably wouldn't complain about Mad TV not being as good as it was
in the first two seasons. Nicole Sullivan only appeared in one segment
(her own sketch, "Literally"); it is possible that her side projects
are reducing the amount of time she has to devote to "Mad TV" (she's
working on a new sitcom). (5/10)


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