Review of 10-14-2000 episode (MD-602; some spoilers)

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Madonna Movies: Madonna (Mo Collins) sings about how she should be
in movies as this video parody recounts her past movie bombs: "Who's
That Girl," "Dick Tracy," "Evita," and so on. She affects a British
accent for no apparent reason. The camera repeatedly shows close-ups
of what was her greatest asset all along - her body as the tuneless
syntho-pop drones on. The parody wasn't the most inspired video parody
they've ever done, although this seems a fairly accurate portrayal
of (the latest incarnation of) Madonna. Not the greatest, but I've seen
worse.

Whitney Houston Butchers the Classics: Whitney Houston (Debra Wilson)
stumbles through renditions of various classics like "Sitting on the
Dock of the Bay" and "Over the Rainbow." Husband Bobby Brown (Aries
Spears) joins in on some of the songs. Since I don't listen to Whitney
Houston, I didn't really get it; I suspect it's based on an album of
cover versions she's done or something. Other than the fact that Wilson's
Houston seems to be a good renedering, there isn't much to say about
this; the segment's not unwatchable, but it's not particularly noteworthy,
either.

The Late Show: David Letterman (Jeff Richards) disasterously ad-libs
material, banters with Paul Schaffer (Will Sasso) and welcomes Meg Ryan
(Nicole Sullivan) to the show. Meg Ryan is portrayed as insufferably
happy; Letterman tries his best to anger her - e.g. he has boyfriend
Russell Crowe making out with Anna Kornikova on the show. Paul Schaffer
is portrayed as so talentless that you'd either stop watching the
show or hope that Warren Zevon takes his place. I won't go as far as
to uncategorically state that this is a rip-off of Norm McDonald's
impression of David Letterman, although obviously one of the disadvantages
of doing an impression that someone else has done before is that
some people will accuse you of copying. Another disadvantage is that
of unfavorable comparisons, and I am about to make one of them: although
I haven't seen McDonald's Letterman impression in awhile (the one segment
I remember most vividly is the one where he has Marv Albert on the show),
but I still liked McDonald's impression better. That having been said,
this segment was not bad; it was better than the previous two, and Sullivan's
Meg Ryan impression was dead on: the physical resemblance is unmistakeable,
and although it's more of a caricature than anything else, she's picked up
on the Ryan traits with which the public at large identifies with Ryan:
e.g. her perkiness. 

Un Hombre, Dos Mujeres: A love triangle is the subject of a Spanish
soap opera. I assume this is a parody of those soap operas they have
on Telemundo. A man (Nelson Ascencio) and two women (Mo Collins, Alex
Borstein) have hors d'ourves(there are three people and two hors
d'ourves); the tension is riveting. Next week, they
get hot dogs from a cart. This was OK; not A-list material by any
means but still watchable.

You, Your Body and You: A parody of those 1950's sex education films.
You remember them. ("WRONG! Girls who park in cars are not really
popular.") In this film, we learn about the changes that the male body
undergoes during puberty; we also learn that people who engage in premarital
sex die. By the way, this film is supposed to be sponsered by Phillips
Petroleum; you'd think those free-thinking Dutch would take a more
enlightened approach to sex education. As a period piece, something
at which Mad TV in general does pretty well (e.g. the Mary Tyler Moore
parody from season two, or Rocket Revengers), this was pretty good. It
reminds me a bit of one of the Buddy Cole segments from Kids in the Hall
where Buddy Cole gets a male slave; that segment was also presented
as a 1950's educational film (though admittedly the KITH segment was
funnier).

Stuart: Oscar-winning actress Kathy Bates ("The Waterboy") appears
as Stuart's grandmother in this sketch. Even she can't save this sketch,
which ends in the most scatalogical way possible (Stuart poops in the
pool). Still, it was interesting how they made the grandmother an
amalgam of Stuart and Stuart's mother; the part with McDonald and
Bates saying "Don't!" in unison and making the same bodily gestures
was probably the best part of the sketch. But this was obviously a
sketch targeted at the twelve-and-under crowd. [If any of the show's
younger viewers feel offended by this comment, I apologize in advance -
I didn't mean to insult their intelligence.]

Gimpy Stripper: At a "bachelor party" for women, the participants
(Nicole Sullivan, Debra Wilson, Alex Borstein, Dannah Feinglass)
are entertained by a stripper wearing leg braces. The sketch is somewhat
reminiscient of the (funnier) "Manic Depressive Stripper" sketch from
season two. There's some good physical humor here, with the stripper
falling down and breaking a coffee table, and later attaching a pump
of some sort to his penis, which then explodes. There's also a good
moment here where the bachelorette (Sullivan) is about to put an end
to the festivities, only to allow the stripper to continue when he
reveals he's going to remove his g-string - at this point I don't know
whether she's supposed to be turned on or whether she's letting it
continue because it's the ultimate freak show. For another sketch involving
a cripple, see Kids in the Hall's "Waiter with Stumps for Hands," which
is an example of what this sketch COULD have been - imagine how much
funnier this could have been if he went into a pathetic story about
how he became a cripple.


Elvis: A latter-day Elvis (Will Sasso) has trouble remembering the names
of the members of his back-up band. Even cue cards are no help. Eventually
an announcer cuts in and reads the names for him. This segment was OK;
the Elvis impression was decent although the segment dragged on long
after it had made its point.

Mad TV's 1st Annual Meet the Parents Major Motion Picture Press Interview:
Alex Borstein and Will Sasso interview Teri Polo, Jay Roach, Blythe
Danner and Robert DeNiro. On the whole, not much funnier than the
segments they did last season where they interview celebs outside of
awards ceremonies, although there was a good moment where DeNiro acknowledges
he's never seen "Mad TV," seemingly yet another snub from the Hollywood
establishment.

Closing Segment: Debra Wilson asks everyone if they had a good time.
[Question: After 5-6 hours, and having to see some scenes 3-4 times,
did anyone have a good time? Another question: After 5-6 hours, would
you be willing to say that you had a good time just so you could go home?]
This was OK.
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Even without looking at each segment individually, it was probably
obvious to most viewers that this week's show was weaker than the
season premiere. In my opinion, the weakness was not in the cast, who
for the most part made contributions that ranged from adequate to
great, but from the writing. At its best, the material this week was
not A-list stuff and at its worst, it seemed highly derivative. Hopefully
this is not a sign of things to come; otherwise it's going to be a pretty
thin year. It wasn't a total waste, though. [5/10]


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