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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Yesterday, this blog looked at the movie, which was about how Elliott Ness assembled a group that brought down Al Capone. The series was also based on Ness' memoirs, but veered off into fiction as it was about how Ness (Robert Stack) stayed on with the Department of the Treasury and fought Frank Nitti (Bruce Gordon), who took over Capone's empire, and other gangsters, real and made up.
THE TOUCHABLES
Yak Yak #2, March-May 1962
a: Jack Davis
Jack Davis had his own humor comic for a couple issues through Dell's tryout series Four Color Comics, and probably didn't write the material himself.
The Lawless Years was a police show set in the twenties that existed prior to this.
THE UNTOUCHYBULLS
Cracked #16, October 1960
w: Paul Laikin
a: John Severin
The show was narrated by journalist Walter Winchell.
Jerry DeFuccio was an editor at MAD for a long time but was always good friends with John Severin and contributors to competing magazines, and when he was eventually let go by MAD became editor at Cracked for a while. And The Untouchables was one of many movies and TV shows that got complaints from Italian-Americans for stereotyping them.
From Channel Fem-9 in Cracked #38, August 1964, art by John Severin
MAD never did a full parody of the program but used it in several articles.
From When Culture Comes to Top-Rated TV Shows in #69, March 1962, by Larry Siegel and Mort Drucker
From TV's Effect on Children by Stan Hart and Wallace Wood in #79, July 1963.
From Combined TV Shows by Paul Laikin and Mort Drucker, in #47, June 1959. This is a combination of this with The Millonaire.
From Adult TV Cartoons by Al Jaffee and Wallace Wood in #63, June 1961.
THE RETOUCHABLES
Sick #1, August 1960
artist unknown
THE UNTOUCHABLES
Sick #11, February 1962
a: Angelo Torres
SEA HAUNT
Cracked #14, June 1960
w: Paul Laikin
a: Jack Davis
Mike Nelson (Lloyd Bridges) was a Navy Frogman who traveled on the Argonaut and dove for treasures and encountered marine life. That was basically the premise of the show.
Buster Crabbe, serial matinee star, had been an Olympic swimmer in the thirties.
This was from Cracked #12, also by Laikin and Davis, and mislabeled.
From What Do TV Characters Do After the Show Is Over?, in Cracked #45, August 1965, art by Bill Ward
From Combined TV Shows, in MAD #47, by Paul Laikin and Mort Drucker
QUEEN FOR THE DAY
Sick #2, October 1960
w: Dee Caruso & Bill Levine
a: Bob Powell
Game show hosted by Jack Bailey. Women would give very sad stories about financial and/or emotional hardships, competing for the title of Queen for a Day. The winner would be chosen by the audience, be honored and win prizes, usually from the sponsors.
BLEEDVIS AND BOLT-HEAD CHECK OUT MTV
Cracked Monster Party #26, Summer 1995
w: Judd Stomp
a: Walter Brogan
When Cracked did their spinoff magazine, it was half-reprints, but they would run out of monster and horror material for their new stuff, and often had to make existing phenomena into monsters, which was the case here.
Beavis and Butthead was on MTV when the majority of their programming was music videos, and much of the show was them riffing on those videos ala Mystery Science Theater. They start by commenting on Full House with Bob Saget and John Stamos.
All-American Girl was a sitcom about a woman's clash with her Korean immigrant parents that was conceived as a showcase for comedian Margaret Cho.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was a showcase for Will Smith, about a kid from the 'hood moving in with his rich relatives.
Baywatch had David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson as lifeguards
Larry King is portrayed as an ape here, maybe because his name sounds like King Kong. Then Urkel (Jaleel White) of Family Matters.
NAKED TOWN
MAD #60, January 1961
w: Larry Siegel
a: Mort Drucker
The quote “There are eight million stories in the naked city, this is one of them” comes from this series, which was a crime show that took place on location in New York City based on a film from ten years earlier, and like the introduction to the article says, it started as a half-hour show in its first season, went on hiatus for a year, then came back as an hour-long series.
The re-vamped series centered on the work of Lieutenant Parker (Horace McMahon), Detective Flint (Paul Burke), and Sergeant Frank Arcaro (Harry Bellaver)
