|
| Tom Wolfe was right: you can't go home again. Nicole Sullivan returns to Mad TV. |
Nicole Sullivan made a guest appearance on the season eight season finale of Mad TV, which aired on May 17, 2003. Ms. Sullivan was one of the original cast members of Mad TV, and left the show at the end of season six. I stopped watching the show a few episodes into season seven; I decided that since Ms. Sullivan was no longer in the cast, there was no point in watching. The merits of this decision notwithstanding, apparently I was not alone. Ratings for Mad TV, which had been closing in on rival Saturday Night Live, have been down lately, with SNL sometimes doubling Mad TV's rating. As a result, it's not surprising that Nicole Sullivan's guest appearance on the show had been hyped for several weeks. Mad TV could use the boost.
Ms. Sullivan appears in only one new sketch in this episode (although we do see an old sketch in which Nicole Sullivan is Stuart's babysitter by the magic of videotape). In this sketch, she plays Mindy Tivkah, the daughter of the odious Marvin Tivkah (played by Michael McDonald), both of whom attend a father-daughter dance. [I didn't really understand the concept, but apparently it's something organized by schools nowadays. Are mother-son dances the wave of the future?] Mindy, like her father is surly, jaded and promiscuous. They also can't stand each other, but Mindy agrees to dance with her father when she promises to give her access to his stash of pot. These proceedings are watched by another father-daughter pair (played by Stephanie Weir and some other guy) who share the table with the Tivkahs.
Considering that this was Ms. Sullivan's first appearance on Mad TV, a franchise which she played a considerable role in establishing, watching this sketch was essentially anticlimatic. It's a sad commentary on the state of the show that recurring characters are almost never retired. The fact that they continue to use the Marvin Tivkah character after five years is a good example of this. To the show's credit, the producers have recruited some talented cast members (many people who watch the show more regularly than I do say that Stephanie Weir, who joined the show in season six, is a blast of fresh air), but for the most part the show is held together by toilet humor aimed at a juvenile audience. The sketch in which Ms. Sullivan appeared was a good example: other than the fact that the sketch featured Nicole Sullivan, there wasn't much to care for here, although the dance number at the end gave both Sullivan and McDonald a chance to shine.
So far, Mad TV has failed to produce a single alumnus who has gone on to A-list stardom (Artie Lange, the Howard Stern sidekick, is probably the most famous ex-cast member). Nonetheless, Ms. Sullivan is still warmly remembered by fans of the show, and the thunderous applause she received from the studio audience is a testimony to this. As has happened so often, however, the material she was given didn't really do her justice. As a result, few people outside of Mad TV's target demographic (apparently it is pre-pubescent children) will feel compelled to watch this sketch. I wish I could say it made me nostalgic for the old days, but it didn't even succeed at that.
Video clips (in Windows Media 8.0 format):