A-Z GUIDE TO MOVIES AND TV SHOWS PARODIED BY MAD, CRACKED, CRAZY, ETC. UP TO 1996. THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. SPOILERS AND OTHER NON-SEQUITURS, TOO. SOMETIMES THESE THINGS HAVE WORDS OR SITUATIONS WE DON'T USE ANYMORE. YOU KNOW, 'CAUSE THEY'RE OLD.
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Sunday, May 23, 2021
DULLUS
DALLAS
1978-1991 CBS
DULLUS
MAD #223, June 1981
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Mort Drucker
Prime-time TV soap opera about the Ewing Oil family.
What made it a hit was its third season, when minor character J. R. (Larry Hagman) was shot . The season ended with a “Who Shot J. R ?” cliffhanger and was not revealed until the middle of the next season. It was the highest rated TV show of all time up until then and there were about twenty versions filmed to keep it a secret from everyone, including the cast.
The Ewing clan included J. R., Gary Ewing (David Ackroyd), Lucy (Charlene Tilton), J. R.'s wife Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), Bobby and Pamela (Patrick Duffy and Victoria Principal), and the patriarch and matriach Ellie and Jock Ewing (Barbara Bel Geddes, Jim Davis)
Being a soap opera, there were too many characters to keep track of, something they make reference to. J. R. mentions Ray Krebbs and Donna Culver, who was married to Sam Culver, and Gary's wife Valene, and subplots that have long been forgotten.
Leland (Dennis Patrick) was the family's banker.
Dr. Ellby (Jeff Cooper) was J. R. and Sue Ellen's psychiatrist.
Gary later left the town of Southfork for Knots Landing, which became its own show.
The next to last panel refers to how Larry Hagman previously starred in the show I Dream of Jeannie.
The punchline is that J. R. is so corrupt he should run for president. Encouraging him are Bella Abzug, Gerald Ford, Henry Kissinger, Billy Carter, and Richard Nixon.
For some reason, the German version always had a different cover even when it used the same article.
THE JR FAMILY PHOTO ALBUM
Cracked #181, October 1981
a: John Severin
From If TV Shows Were Combined in Cracked #205, August 1984
DULL AS
Crazy #74, May 1981
w: Murad Gumen
a: Kent Gamble
Crazy's parody was all about the “Who Shot J. R.” phenomenon.
Lucy's boyfriend is Louie from Taxi. Because they were both small.
Characters they didn't use in MAD included Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval).
And J. R.'s son John Ross.
The next to last episode of the season of Saturday Night Live they pretend never existed happened the same year as this season of Dallas and had star Charlene Tilton as guest host, and they featured a sketch called “Who Shot C. R.?” about star Charles Rocket. Urban legend has it that he was fired for saying the f-word on live TV but everyone was about to be fired anyway.
The Simpsons did a 2-part cliffhanger with “Who Shot Mr. Burns?”
UPDATE:
from the Mexican edition. Perhaps a reference to Larry Hagman's previous role on I Dream of Jeannie.
UPDATE 2:
DULLEST, TEXAS
Bananas #40, c. 1980
w: Jovial Bob Stine
a: Sam Viviano
This was also done after “Who shot J. R ?”-mania.
from TV Moments We'll Never See in Bananas #60, c. 1983
UPDATE 3:
DALLAS
cover for Kaputt, German version of Cracked
covers for Panic, another German edition of Cracked. I believe the guy with the blonde hair is comedian Otto Walkes.
Interesting thing in the Wikipedia article on Sam Viviano:
The Dallas MAD cover was Viviano's first piece of work for MAD. He got the job because Norman Mingo had just died. The issue sold so poorly (worst sales up to that point for an issue) that Viviano couldn't get any more MAD work until Al Feldstein retired.
I posted a screenshot of that Wikipedia story in a thread in Hogan's Alley Facebook about Mr. Viviano (noted that it was possibly spurious). He then replied to confirm it!
In the Mad parody, the "nice guys" on page 4 are Don Rickles, the Ayatollah Khomeini, "Mean" Joe Greene, and (I think) Jimmy Connors.
Also on page 4, I wasn't sure whether "Henna Maid" was a real character, but IMDB says there was a childhood sweetheart of Bobby's named Jenna Wade, played by Morgan Fairchild, whom the drawing loosely resembles. She was only on one episode.
In the Bananas parody, the picture J.R. is holding at the start of the last page is of Mary Crosby, daughter of Bing. She played Sue Ellen's sister, who was [WARNING: 40-year-old spoilers] the one who shot J.R. She also shows up in the background of the Crazy parody, at the bottom of page 2, holding a smoking gun.
Interesting thing in the Wikipedia article on Sam Viviano:
ReplyDeleteThe Dallas MAD cover was Viviano's first piece of work for MAD. He got the job because Norman Mingo had just died. The issue sold so poorly (worst sales up to that point for an issue) that Viviano couldn't get any more MAD work until Al Feldstein retired.
I posted a screenshot of that Wikipedia story in a thread in Hogan's Alley Facebook about Mr. Viviano (noted that it was possibly spurious). He then replied to confirm it!
DeleteThe poor sales might explain the German cover being different?
ReplyDeleteIn the Mad parody, the "nice guys" on page 4 are Don Rickles, the Ayatollah Khomeini, "Mean" Joe Greene, and (I think) Jimmy Connors.
ReplyDeleteAlso on page 4, I wasn't sure whether "Henna Maid" was a real character, but IMDB says there was a childhood sweetheart of Bobby's named Jenna Wade, played by Morgan Fairchild, whom the drawing loosely resembles. She was only on one episode.
I whiffed on the tennis player - it's not Jimmy Connors, it's Ilie Nastase.
DeleteIn the Bananas parody, the picture J.R. is holding at the start of the last page is of Mary Crosby, daughter of Bing. She played Sue Ellen's sister, who was [WARNING: 40-year-old spoilers] the one who shot J.R. She also shows up in the background of the Crazy parody, at the bottom of page 2, holding a smoking gun.
ReplyDelete