Mad TV

Mad TV
Genre	Comedy: Variety Shock Off-Color Surreal
Created by	William Gaines (original concept) Fax Bahr Adam Small
Directed by	Bruce Leddy David Grossman Amanda Bearse
Starring	see List of Mad TV cast members
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	15
No. of episodes	329 (plus 1 special) (list of episodes)
Production
Production location(s)	Los Angeles, California: Hollywood Center Studios (season 1–12) Henry Fonda Theater (season 13) Sunset Bronson Studios (season 14) Burbank, California: Warner Bros. Studios (season 15)
Running time	40–48 minutes
Production company(s)	Quincy Jones-David Salzman Entertainment Bahr/Small Productions (1995–1997) (seasons 1–3) Image Nation (2016) (season 15) Telepictures Productions (2016) (season 15)
Distributor	Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution
Release
Original network	Fox (1995–2009) The CW (2016)
Picture format	480i SDTV (1995–2009) 720p HDTV (2009) 1080i HDTV (2016)
Original release	Original Series: October 14, 1995 (1995-10-14) – May 16, 2009 (2009-05-16) Revived Series: July 26, 2016 (2016-07-26) – September 27, 2016 (2016-09-27)
Chronology
Followed by	Mad Key & Peele
External links
Website

Mad TV (stylized as MADtv) is an American sketch comedy television series originally inspired by Mad magazine.

Antecedents[edit]

The series was based loosely on Mad magazine, a property owned by Time Warner Entertainment (parent of series distributor WB Television Distribution) through its DC Comics subsidiary. From the magazine, the show featured animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin shorts, as well as recurring images of longtime Mad mascot Alfred E. Neuman in earlier seasons, though the live-action sketches had no relation to the magazine's content.

Launch[edit]

The first broadcast was October 14, 1995; the one-hour show first-ran on Saturday nights on Fox and was in syndication on Comedy Central. In Australia, the show screened on satellite and cable TV channel The Comedy Channel and in late-night timeslots on free-to-air broadcaster the Nine Network and its affiliates.

Mad TV was created by Fax Bahr and Adam Small; the series was originally produced by Bahr/Small Productions and Quincy Jones/David Salzman Entertainment (QDE). After Bahr and Small left the series at the end of the third season (they were later credited as "executive consultants"), the series was handled by QDE and distributed by WB Television Distribution; the series was directed by Bruce Leddy (196 episodes),^[1] as well as David Grossman, and Amanda Bearse.

Finale and revivals[edit]

On November 12, 2008, Fox announced that Mad TV's 14th season would be its last. David Salzman said that he would be exploring the continuation of the show on another channel, possibly cable.^[2] In early 2009, the show was moved to air after Talkshow with Spike Feresten, the show that normally followed Mad TV, as a test, before being moved back; the series finale aired on May 16, 2009.^[3] The show was nominated for 35 Emmy awards, winning five.

On December 11, 2015, it was reported that the Mad TV series would be returning for a one-hour special on The CW to celebrate the series' 20th anniversary; the special aired on January 12, 2016. A large portion of the original cast returned.^[4]

On April 11, 2016, The CW announced that it was reviving the show for an 8-episode season to air in primetime; the season premiered on July 26, 2016 and concluded on September 27, 2016.

Format[edit]

Mad TV was taped in front of a live audience and consisted of sketches, cartoon shorts, and musical performances. Much of its comedy parodied popular television shows, movies and music, as well as topical, political, and pop culture humor.

Cast members[edit]

Episodes[edit]

Home media [edit]

Warner Home Video released The Complete First Season of Mad TV in 2004. However, due to poor sales, the release of the second season was cancelled (despite a preview for it in the first season DVD). Mad TV: The Best of Seasons 8, 9, and 10 was released in 2005, featuring the most popular sketches from those seasons.

On November 5, 2012, it was announced that Shout! Factory had acquired the rights to the series.^[5] They subsequently announced that they would release the second season on DVD on March 22, 2013;^[6] the third season was released on June 25, 2013 and the fourth season was released on November 12, 2013.^[7] As of 2019, the first four seasons of MADtv are the only seasons released on DVD, along with MADtv: The Best of Seasons 8, 9, and 10.

Syndication[edit]

Originally, reruns of Mad TV aired as 30-minute reruns on local TV stations, often under the banner "The Best of Mad TV"; the cable channel TNN (later Spike TV, now The Paramount Network) aired the first six seasons of Mad TV from 1999 to 2001. Comedy Central soon picked up the show after its syndication package of Saturday Night Live reruns was acquired by the E! Entertainment Network, and aired 30-minute and full-hour reruns of episodes from seasons 1 through 11 until 2015. Canada's The Comedy Network also airs Mad TV reruns of seasons 8 through 13. In 2005, Canadian channel BiteTV began airing re-runs every weekday at 4pm.

Revival[edit]

On December 11, 2015, it was reported that the series would be returning for a one-hour special on The CW to celebrate the series' 20th anniversary; the special aired on January 12, 2016. A large portion of the original cast returned.^[4]

The CW announced that it was reviving the show for an 8-episode season to air in primetime on April 11, 2016, featuring a new cast; some original cast members including Nicole Sullivan, Will Sasso, Bobby Lee, Aries Spears, Debra Wilson, Ike Barinholtz, and Anjelah Johnson returned as hosts, some of whom appeared as their signature characters or most memorable celebrity impressions.^[8]

Awards and nominations[edit]

See also[edit]

• Mad (TV series)

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Official Website
• Mad TV on IMDb
• Mad TV at TV.com
• An Oral History of MAD tv at Vulture