THE PLOT THUS FAR
MADtv was a late night sketch-comedy show based on the humor of the popular MAD magazine. Material includes celebrity impersonations, music video, commercial, movie, and TV show parodies, recurring characters, musical guests, and the occasional mock cartoons. The show competed against the long-running SNL, but was aimed at a younger audience. Lasting an impressive 14 seasons, the show’s revolving-door cast of talented actors and numerous Emmy Award nominations made it truly a success story.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
Enter MADtv, which lampooned the peculiarities of 1990’s and 2000’s politics, lifestyles, habits, entertainment and everything else under the sun in America. Finding ripe targets was in itself pretty easy: in retrospect (though some certainly saw it even then and were laughed off as loonies, or worse, as John Birchers) it is difficult to argue that almost anything that went on politically, economically, socially or culturally in America during those decades was a positive development. But what made MADtv so brilliant was its unabashed sense of humor about just how ridiculous everything was.
The third season of “Mad TV” was a slight change in cast, but it’s also where they started developing their returning characters. You get more impressions of famous people and the hosts start getting better. By getting better, I mean less pop stuff of the time and we start seeing people I know. Hell, they got Ralph Malph and Luke Skywalker to host an episode. It was great, but I was 16 when this aired. I was easy to impress.
The DVD comes with no special features. The Dolby track is supportive for what’s there. However, the transfer felt flat. It’s not anything detrimental, but just that noticeable. In the end, I’d recommend a rental.
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!