Two years ago, I reviewed MADtv and Talkshow with Spike Feresten for Blogcritics. I decided to revisit the two shows as they are still on the air for some reason.
I'm amazed MADtv is still on the air. I used to like the show back in 1995, but almost all connections to what MADtv originally was are gone. The classic Heavy D theme has been replaced by some tuneless something, and I can't even remember when Alfred E. Neuman was part of the show's logo. The show no longer feels like it did even two or three years ago. I can accept change, but MADtv's fourteenth season premiere was just plain shit.
I've found Bobby Lee insufferable as of late. I laughed at parts of a Johnny Gan sketch, but the laughs were of the if-I-don't-laugh-I'll-toss-a-chair variety. The Gan formula - Gan wants to have sex with Hollywood starlets, sidekick Pongo is damn near retarded, Gan's show is amateurish - was not helped by the appearance of Pongo's vestigial twin Pangsy. Yay for unfunny shock humor!
Lee even played John McCain in two sketches, a strange casting choice that didn't work comedically. To be fair, Lee wasn't allowed to do much with McCain beyond Crotchety Old Man jokes, a sure sign of awful writing.
The other main draw of today's MADtv is Keegan-Michael Key, and his Barack Obama impersonation is fairly good. I have never liked his Coach Hines character, but Hines was the highlight of MADtv's season premiere.
On the other hand, Key has a dull segment called "Hole 'Nother Level" - HNL for short - where he annoys guest stars. Here, Key threw Jerry O'Connell "you were the fat kid from Stand By Me" jokes. It's not a good sign when O'Connell is the better actor in the sketch.
I hated MADtv's fourteenth season premiere overall. Barack Obama and John McCain on So You Think You Can Dance, a recurring parody of The Hills and Arden Myrin's celebrity interview segment weren't funny. Jerry O'Connell was even in a John Edwards-centric parody of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" video. The idea of O'Connell doing sketch comedy scares the hell out of me.
There is no reason for the further existence of MADtv. This is the first time I've caught the show in two years and it has shown zero improvement since then. MADtv deals in loudly insipid shock humor at this point and the retooling last season did nothing to improve it. Fox needs to shear this malignant tumor on its schedules with a broadaxe.
Article comments
1 - jay
someone has to understand that MadTV is funny! SNL blows, MadTV is the way better show. I admit, it has not been as good as of the last few years, but it has its moments (HNL is funny, and so i Coach Hines, and Bobby Lee is still funny if you catch the right skit) all in all, i would say it is a waaaaaaaaaay better watch then SNL, who think it is there duty to be political.