MADtv: Season Three (1997-1998)

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The Season Three cast of MADtv. (Back Row, Left to Right) Will Sasso and Mary Scheer. (Middle Row) Debra Wilson, Nicole Sullivan and Aries Spears. David Herman and Phil Lamarr. Not pictured: Craig Anton, Alex Borstein, Chris Hogan, Pat Kilbane and Lisa Kushell.

[edit] Season Summary

For the first time, MADtv had to endure a significant cast turnover.

Phil LaMarr, Nicole Sullivan, Debra Wilson and Craig Anton remained with MADtv, for its third season, but the other five original cast members faced strong pressures to leave. Artie Lange's constant tardiness to the MADtv as well as his substance abuse and constant legal troubles, ultimately led to him being the first cast member to be fired from the show. Orlando Jones and Bryan Callen desired to pursue careers in film and other sitcoms. Mary Scheer, who had recently had a baby, was torn between stardom and motherhood. Finally, David Herman, one of the most experienced members of the cast, was receiving offers to star in several film projects.

However, unlike the departure of Saturday Night Live's original cast, who had been together (with the exception of the 1976 departure of Chevy Chase) for nearly five years before they departed, MADtv's original cast was together for only two seasons. Moreover, keeping in mind the "disastrous" 1980-1981 cast of SNL, which was comprised completely of unknown performers who didn't win over the audience as much as the original cast, FOX casting executives wanted to make sure that there was some continuity between the old cast and the new cast members. Thus the aim was to reassure the audience that they were still "watching MADtv," but cast had a few new faces. As a result, it was agreed that LaMarr, Sullivan, Wilson and Anton would return to the show; Jones and Callen would not appear in Season Three; and Lange would be fired from the show. However, both David Herman and Mary Scheer agreed to remain on the show. Herman would be allowed to leave mid-season and Scheer would stay until the end of the third season.

The departures of Lange, Jones and Callen meant that there were three repertory cast member spots to be filled. Lange was replaced by Canadian actor, Will Sasso who previously appeared in a comic relief role in the FOX broadcast of Doctor Who and Jones' replacement was Def Comedy Jam stand-up comedian Aries Spears. Sasso would take over Lange's job of impersonating big and portly celebrities and Spears could play other minority roles that Jones once played on the show. This left Callen's spot vacant.

Many assumed that Season 3 would have led to Craig Anton's promotion from a featured player to repertory status. However, the decision was made not to promote Anton. Instead, it was decided to hold off on filling the position until after Herman's departure. FOX casting executives decided to create four additional featured player positions. Filling the featured performer spots were newcomers Alex Borstein, Chris Hogan, Pat Kilbane and Lisa Kushell.

The Season Three cast achieved its goal and it was very well received by the viewing audience. The highlights of the new cast were Sasso with his lampoon of Kenny Rogers, Spears with his James Brown, Jr. impression, Kilbane's "bug eyed" character Stan the Java Man and Kushell's socially depressed Susan Whitfield. However, the biggest highlight came from Alex Borstien's Asian character, Ms. Bunny Swan. Ms. Swan was so popular that a series of soap opera like sketches were produced throughout the season (and throughout Borestein's five year tenure on the show) featuring the character. The end result was that all of the featured players (with exception of Anton) were promoted to repertory status mid-season.

Once Season Three concluded, several cast changes had occurred which would affect Season Four. As previously mentioned, Mary Scheer decided to leave the show, despite being asked to remain for the fourth season. In addition, newcomers Chris Hogan and Lisa Kushell both decided not to return for the next season. Hogan had been offered a part on the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun and Kushell eventually became the co-host of TBS's Dinner and a Movie from 2002 to 2004 and a guest crank caller on Crank Yankers. This was also the last season to feature original cast member Craig Anton. After three years as a featured performer, Anton left MADtv to pursue other projects in film and television.

Despite the massive departures at the beginning, during and at the end of the season, Season 3 proved that MADtv (unlike In Living Color who lost most of its original cast by Season 5) could survive with a new cast as long as the cast could develop a rapport with the viewing audience.

[edit] Opening Montage

The title sequence starts off with several fingers pointing at a bomb. Then the bomb explodes and a picture of Alfred E. Neuman and a brain appears on a purple screen followed by the MADtv logo. The theme song, which is performed by the hip-hop group Heavy D & the Boyz, begins. Each member of the repertory cast (followed shortly by the featured cast) is introduced alphabetically and silently with their name appearing in caption over a black and white still photo. When the last featured cast member is introduced, the music stops and the title sequence ends with the phrase "You are now watching MADtv..."

[edit] Cast

[edit] Repertory player

• Alex Borstein*
• David Herman^
• Chris Hogan *
• Pat Kilbane *
• Lisa Kushell*
• Phil LaMarr
• Will Sasso
• Mary Scheer
• Aries Spears
• Nicole Sullivan
• Debra Wilson

[edit] Featured player

• Craig Anton
• Tim Conlon

* Performer was a featured cast member at the start of the season, but was promoted to repertory status mid-season.

^ Performer left mid-season.

[edit] Episodes

The third season of MADtv aired from September 20, 1997 to May 16, 1998. There was a total of 25 episodes produced for that season. They were as follows:

[edit] Notes

• This season was perhaps the toughest make or break season in the show's history. It was the first season where one third of the original cast (Callen, Jones and Lange) was gone and in their their place was a bunch of newcommers. Season 3 introduced Alex Borstein, Chris Hogan, Pat Kilbane, Lisa Kushell, Will Sasso, and Aries Spears. All of the new cast members, except Hogan and Kushell would return for Season 4.
• This was the last season to feature original cast members David Herman and Mary Scheer. Herman had a bad relationship with the new cast and asked the producers to remove him from the show. He would then pursue a movie career while Scheer would leave the show and the entertainment industry as a whole due to motherhood.

[edit] DVD releases

As of December 2006, there have been no video or DVD release of MADtv Season Three.

[edit] External links

• Planet MADtv
• The MADtv Forum
• MADtv - Official Website
• Crazy MADtv World
• MADtv at The Internet Movie Database
• MADtv at TV.com
• Jump The Shark - MADtv