MADtv: Season One (1995-1996)

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The Season One cast of MADtv. (Left to Right) David Herman, Nicole Sullivan, Phil LaMarr, Debra Wilson, Artie Lange, Orlando Jones, Mary Scheer and Bryan Callen. Not pictured: Craig Anton.

1 Season Summary
2 Opening Montage:
3 Cast
- 3.1 Repertory players
- 3.2 Featured players
4 Episodes
5 Notes
6 DVD releases
7 External links

[edit] Season Summary

MADtv's first season premiered on October 14, 1995 at 11 p.m. (which was a time that was thirty minutes before its chief rival, Saturday Night Live).

There were eight original MADtv repertory cast members. The first seven positions were filled by David Herman, Orlando Jones, Phil LaMarr, Artie Lange, Mary Scheer, Nicole Sullivan and Debra Wilson. The eighth repertory spot was initially filled by Craig Anton. However, FOX executives made a last minute decision to cast Bryan Callen as the eighth reperatory cast member and retain Anton as the lone feature player of the first season. The finished product of the MADtv casting was a mixture of seasoned television and film veterans, like LaMarr, Herman and Scheer with relative unknown newcomers, like Callen, Jones, Lange, Sullivan, and Wilson. Furthermore, with one Native American (and half Irish) male, one Jewish-American male, two African-American male, one African-American female, two white males and two white females, the original cast was one of the most ethnically diversed sketch comedy casts of the 1990s.

The Vancome Lady during Season One of MADtv.

Season One of MADtv relied heavily on the rich fan based of MAD Magazine throughout the year. Each episode featured the use of the "MAD" logo (which is still used today), Alfred E. Neuman images and pundts, the Spy vs. Spy cartoon animation, the catch phrase "What...me worry?" However, MADtv not only catered to the MAD Magazine fans, but it gain new fans by venturing off and creating new and innovative characters. It was during Season One, that MADtv established some of the series landmark characters, like Jaq the UBS Guy (LaMarr), The Vancome Lady (Sullivan), Clorox (Anton), Mrs. Jewel Barone (Scheer) and Momma (Lange) from That's My White Momma. This season also produced some of the most enduring celebrity paradoies like Tom Hanks (Herman) in "Gump Fiction", Dennis Rodman (Jones) making a public service announcement and the first of many appearances of Oprah Winfrey (Wilson) on her talk show.

Unlike Saturday Night Live, MADtv did not have any celebrity hosts during its first season. However, the show did have a few special guests who appeared in sketches throughout Season One. Some of these guests included Kato Kaelin, Joe Walsh and Dean Stockwell, Peter Marshall, Michael Buffer, Adam West, Gary Coleman, Jamie Farr, Ken Norton, Jr, David Faustino, Claudia Schiffer, Kim Coles, Bruce McCulloch and Harland Williams. Musical groups like Poison, Pharcyde and The Presidents of the United States (who were the show's first musical guests), also made appearances on the show

The show was renewed for 24 more episodes for the following season and the full cast was invited back to headline Season Two.

[edit] Opening Montage:

The title sequence starts off with several fingers pointing at a bomb. Then the bomb explodes and several different pictures of Alfred E. Neuman appears on the screen followed by the MADtv logo. Furthermore, the theme song, which is performed by the hip-hop group Heavy D & the Boyz, begins. Each member of the cast is introduced alphabetically and silently with their name appearing in caption over single-colored live action clips of each performer. In between the introduction of each cast member are more pictures of Alfred E. Neuman. When the last cast member is introduced, the music stops and the title sequence ends with the phrase "You are now watching MADtv..."

[edit] Cast

[edit] Repertory players

[edit] Featured players

Craig Anton

[edit] Episodes

The first season of MADtv aired from October 14, 1995 to June 22, 1996. There was a total of 19 episodes produced for that season. They were as follows:

Episode	Airing Date	Guest(s)	Sketches	Other notes
#101	October 14, 1995	Kato Kaelin and Poison	Executives scramble through the streets of L.A. at the last minute to find castmembers; Forrest Gump meets Pulp Fiction parody; MTV Week With Poison; Star Trek: Deep Stain Nine; Ice-T and Ice Cube Rap.	First Episode
#102	October 21, 1995	Kato Kaelin, Joe Walsh and Dean Stockwell	Quantum Dream Team; Crimson Tide II; The Air Guitar Shop
#103	October 28, 1995	Peter Marshall, The Rolling Stones (musical guest)	"13 Apollo/Friday the 13th"; "First to a Million"; "Outing Dummy" and "Like a Rolling Stone
#104	November 4, 1995	Michael Buffer, Adam West and Gary Coleman	E.R. parody has has-been celebrities trying to revive their careers; "Woody Allen Action Flick" and "Life With Buffer"
#105	November 11, 1995		"When Harry Met Willy"; "Larry King Gone Mad" and "Krishna Rock"
#106	November 18, 1995	Neve Campbell, Jamie Farr, Matthew Fox, Dana Gould, Scott Wolf	"QVC Fine China Hour"; "Calvin Klein"; "Oprah"; "Clueless of the Lambs"; "Party of Five" and "Vague"
#107	November 25, 1995	Billy Barty, Dave Foley, Ken Norton Jr	"Hard to Oppress: Dark Territory"
#108	December 9, 1995	Quincy Jones, LL Cool J, RuPaul	"Daytime Jane"; "Sweatin' to the O.G.s"; "Octoroon" and "Gump Fiction".
#109	December 16, 1995	Pauly Shore	"Vancome Lady: Department Store Santa"; "Easy to Assemble" and "The Christmas Santa Forgot"	Christmas Episode
#110	January 6, 1996	Andy Kindler, Rip Taylor	"Clintfeld"; "Get Smarty" and "Handicapped Toilet Police"
#111	January 13, 1996	Tony Orlando), The Presidents of the United States (Musical Guest)	"Mad About Jew"; "Windows of the Soul" and monologue on adoption
#112	February 3, 1996	David Faustino, Pharcyde	Martin Luther King (Phil LaMarr) struggles to get his speech ready in a parody of Martin. Rap group Pharcyde and David Faustino star in a spoof of The Three Stooges with urban violence as a background. The Linder family audition to be on an episode of Rescue 911, but the parents (David Herman, Mary Scheer) frequently embarass their son Mark (Bryan Callen). A loudmouth (David Herman) tells a story to his friends, then tells everyone else to stop looking at him. A psychiatrist (Nicole Sullivan) doesn't make her patient (Mary Scheer) feel any better when she reminisces about her relationship troubles. While looking for a target to take out, a hitman (David Herman) tries to think of the song that plays in his head.
#113	February 10, 1996		"The XXX-Files"; "Jim Carrey School of Acting" and "Vista Militia"
#114	February 17, 1996	Whoopi Goldberg, Brian Austin Green	News reporters aren't really sympathetic towards dangerous events that they report on. Michael Jackson (Phil LaMarr) promotes a seminar tape on how to be famous like him. Two wannabe gangstas (David Herman, Nicole Sullivan) rethink their ways when they are introduced to White Chocolate (Brian Austin Green). A woman (Mary Scheer) is rude to everyone on an airplane. A parody of Davey and Goliath has Davey forced by his dog Goliath to dish out harsh discipline to sinners with a gun. A discussion about Casino erupts into a fight. A man (Artie Lange) suffers from a disease that makes him act like a sports fanatic. A coffee addict (Bryan Callen) doesn't understand that his girlfriend (Nicole Sullivan) wants to break up with him. Two cops (David Herman, Artie Lange) try different tactics to get one of their suspects (Orlando Jones) to confess to a crime. A fan who look like Whoopi Goldberg accosts the actress/comedienne backstage.
#115	March 9, 1996	Dave Higgins, Doug Llewelyn, Barry Williams	A player (Phil LaMarr) claims to be too good to be a bachelor on Lowered Expectations. Roseanne Barr (Artie Lange) Drew Barrymore (Nicole Sullivan), Whitney Houston (Debra Wilson), and Barbara Streisand (Mary Scheer) star in a film about survival. Eddie Murphy (Orlando Jones) tries to convince director Spike Lee (Phil LaMarr) to work with him.
#116	March 16, 1996	Chris Hardwick	In the latest installment of X-News Marsh's roomate (Bryan Callen) takes over while the two newscasters (David Herman, Nicole Sullivan) deal with their own problems. In a parody of Casino and Encino Man, Nicky Santarone (Artie Lange) helps Dave (Bryan Callen) and Stony (David Herman) become big shots at their school.
#117	April 6, 1996	Claudia Schiffer and Kim Coles	Artie Lange introduces the cast in announcer fashion. Check out outrageous bloopers from an interview with O.J. Simpson (Orlando Jones). Parody of Levi's commercials. On That's My White Mama, Mrs. Curtis (Artie Lange) catches her daughter (Debra Wilson) smoking cigarette s. A news reporter (Mary Scheer) nearly repeats everything her associates say. A parody of Lethal Weapon where Murtaugh (Orlando Jones) works with a new partner, Montell Jordan (Phil LaMarr). Claudia Schiffer stars in a parody of James Bond films. Two homegirls (Kim Coles, Debra Wilson) work as surgeons. A gangster (Artie Lange) poses as a businessman who sells stolen products, then harrasses his partner (Bryan Callen). The high school's valedictorian (Nicole Sullivan) makes reference to grim, historic events during graduation day.
#118	May 25, 1996	Bruce McCulloch	"Babe-Watch"; "Drug Bust"; "Beauty Pageant" and "Funeral DJ".
#119	June 22, 1996	Harland Williams (special guest)	Two clueless martial artists (Bryan Callen, Artie Lange) have a sparring match. Spishak promotes their own margarine. Parents (Artie Lange, Mary Scheer) are oblivious that their daughter (Nicole Sullivan) is a lesbian, and that the other girl (Debra Wilson) is her lover. Lowered Expectations bachelors include one who's very uptight (David Herman), one with a special talent (Orlando Jones), and one who's looking for a spiritual relationship (Debra Wilson). A fugitive with missing limbs is on the loose, but several cops are able to find the body parts and other pieces of evidence. Kids have their slumber party ruined by the host's father (David Herman). A claymation parody of Gumby involves the curious clay figure looking through a Playboy-like magazine. A scamming little league bookie (Artie Lange) strikes up deals with children. Two employees (Mary Scheer, Nicole Sullivan) settle their rivalry by threatening to kick each others' ass. Two goofy performers (David Herman, Mary Scheer) look to get their big break.	Season finale

[edit] Notes

Craig Anton was originally casted as the eighth repertory cast member. However, FOX executives didn't feel that he fit in with the image of the other cast members. Thus he was replaced at the last minute by Bryan Callen. Anton stayed on the show as a featured cast member until he was let go at the end of Season 3.

[edit] DVD releases

The MADtv - The Complete First Season DVD Cover

All 19 episodes from Season One were released on DVD on September 21, 2004 in a boxed set entitled MADtv: The Complete First Season. The audio track included on this release was a Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround mix. Extras include the 200th episode of MADtv (from Season Nine), the best of MADtv's commercial, movie, tv-show, music video and animation parodies, a reel of Season One bloopers, nine more unaired sketches and a promotional preview for MADtv: The Complete Second Season.

As of August 2006, the Season One box set remains the only complete season DVD release of the MADtv series. However, a compilation of select sketches, entitled MADtv: The Best of Seasons 8, 9 & 10, was released on October 25, 2005.