MAD

[BillBrasky]

I'm not sure whether this should go under "Comedy" or "Whatever Else...and Music", so if people think it doesn't belong here, please feel free to move it to the other place.

From Cartoon Network's press release, April 2010: Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and using the iconic MAD magazine, published by DC Comics, as inspiration, MAD is an animated sketch-comedy series utilizing a chaotic mix of animation styles and twisted humor to pull back the curtain and expose the truth behind movies, TV shows, games, pop culture and, of course, curtains! Classic MAD magazine characters and features such as Alfred E. Neuman and Spy vs. Spy pop up, and no subject matter or individual will be safe from MAD's barrage of parodies and sketches. In the end, viewers won't get even, they'll just get MAD! Sam Register (Teen Titans, Ben 10, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) is the executive producer. Kevin Shinick (Robot Chicken) and Mark Marek (KaBlam! The Andy Milonakis Show) are the producers.

The show premieres Monday, September 6 on Cartoon Network.

[shig]

Will it be as good as MadTV??

[BillBrasky]

[punkdc]

I'm kinda excited for this. The only thing that seems weird is that is prime time Cartoon Network and not Adult Swim.

[BillBrasky]

I thought this was pretty good. It captured the feel of the magazine very well. The "Avatar" and "CSI/ICarly" spoofs were exactly like stuff they would really do in MAD Magazine. The "Bieber Bowl" ad was funny as well.
So far this is much more like MAD Magazine than "MAD TV" ever was.

[punkdc]

This really did grow on me. I'm excited to see what else they have to offer.

[Cupid Stunt]

Good show. The art is great, and I love how many sight gags there are.

[BFH]

I had a conversation on the "Shakeytown" podcast about this and I'd like to pose the question here: can anybody debunk my theory that the live action "MAD TV" getting canceled was in part to be able to use the copyrighted name for this new venture? Granted, I know "MAD TV" wasn't always a critical darling, but I don't know how its ratings were, and I thought I remembered it doing well for Comedy Central. Considering there was no other competition for "SNL," it didn't seem to make sense for Fox to pull it off the air.

[BillBrasky]

At the time, the reason I heard was that the ratings were just really bad. And it wasn't cost-effective for FOX to continue producing the show anymore. It didn't seem to be a tremendously expensive show to produce, but I guess compared to running reruns in that time slot which would probably get around the same ratings, it just made economic sense to cancel it.

I think the ratings had been falling for several years; in the last couple of seasons, there were a lot of "Classic MAD TV" moments (i.e. old sketches) that helped fill the hour, and then that last season with Matt Braunger and Eric Price was kind of a half season, with a reduced number of episodes.

If Braunger reads this thread, he might be able to provide a better answer.

[BillBrasky]

A second season of this is starting on Cartoon Network tonight at 8:15 PM.