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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“What in the wide world of sports is going on here?”
--Slim Pickens, BLAZING SADDLES
ABC TV'S WILD WORLD OF SPORTS
MAD #102, April 1966
w: Al Jaffee
a: George Woodbridge
Sports show before there were several all-sports channels covering lesser-known events like racing and skiing. The show was hosted by Jim McKay. Ken Sanguine and the other field commentators don't seem to be based on anyone in particular.
From When American TV Programs Are Shown in Russia by Lou Silverstone and Angelo Torres in #272, July 1987.
THE WIDER WORLD OF SPORTS
Cracked #139, January 1977
a: John Severin
Howard Cosell, obligatory appearances by Kojak and The Fonz.
Chris Schenkel. Bill Flemming
The Ty-D-Bol Man was a mascot that lived in the toilet tank.
WEIRD WORLD OF SPORTS
Sick #107, December 1975
w: Kim Bene
a: Tony Tallarico
Jean-Claude Killy was the biggest downhill sking star then and Evel Kneivel started the daredevil motorcycle craze of the 70s.
Keith Jackson and Frank Gifford were also correspondents on the show.
WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966)
dir: Mike Nichols
WHO IN HECK IS VIRGINIA WOOLFE?
MAD #109, March 1967
w: Larry Siegel
a: Mort Drucker
Called that because the some of characters sing it to the tune of Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?, but just its meter, probably because they couldn't get the rights, as if it's the funniest thing they ever heard. It had an adults only warning when it was released theatrically before there was a rating system, though by today's standards there's nothing particularly dirty other than their behavior and somebody being called “angel boobs”. It had to pass MAD's ratings, which is why they used 'heck' instead of 'hell' in the title.
George (Richard Burton) and Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) are a forty-ish married couple coming back from a faculty party late at night drunk and as soon as they get home they start sparring verbally and going through wild mood swings,fighting, making up, being passive-aggressive, loving, then yelling at each other again.
Martha neglected to tell George she invited Nick (George Segal) and Honey (Sandy Dennis). He's a much younger professor who was also at the party and she's his wife. They see the fighting and don't really want to be there, but now George insists they stay for drinks and some games.
Honey goes upstairs to the bathroom to freshen up and Martha joins her, leaving the men alone. Nick talks about his job as a biology professor, and George keeps forgetting whether the subject is biology or history. When Honey and Martha come down, Honey asks about the son Martha mentioned while they were gone, which George says he doesn't want to talk about. The subject of their son keeps coming up again. George disappears into the garage, gets out a rifle, shoots at them all and scares them, but it turns out to be a joke gun and an umbrella comes out, then they all laugh. The younger couple also get drunk, Honey can't handle her liquor, and throws up.
They all decide to call it a night. George and Martha drive them home, but they stop at a bar because the women want to go dancing. Honey dances but suddenly doesn't like the music and sits down. Nick and Martha dance together. They all drink and fight some more with Martha belittling George for being a failed author.
Martha takes off abandoning George by the side of the road, returns home to find Honey asleep in the car, and suspects Martha and Nick have gone off together. Martha is just belittling Nick, making him do chores, calling him “houseboy”, and he just wants to leave.
Martha brings up their son again, who she says is coming home from boarding school to celebrate his birthday, but George tells her he died in a car accident and that he ate the telegram that informed them. It's revealed that the son never existed and the “games” they were playing were about who could humiliate each other the most in front of the guests. George had to kill the son off to punish Martha for letting out their secret, and the son was made up to keep their marriage together. Nick and Honey decide it's finally time to leave.
THE TIME FUNNEL
Sick #53, June 1967
w: Francis DiBacco
a: Angelo Torres
This only lasted a year with thirty shows, which would be three seasons by today's cable standards. It was about he government's Project Tic-Toc. Controlling it were Dr. Anthony Swain (John Zaremba) and Ann McGregor (Lee Meriweather). Douglas Phillips (Robert Colbert), Anthony Newman (James Darren), and Gen. Heywood Kirk (Whit Bissell) were its astronauts.
Lee Meriweather was Miss America in 1955.
Dancers on American Bandstand would give a song a rating.
O. K. Crackerby was a sitcom on the network the previous year that had an even shorter air span than this.
THE 10TH VICTIM: MOVIE SPOOF
Sick #47, September 1966
The trailer labels this as a comedy. Maybe it was edited as one for American audiences. I've only seen the subtitled version. I'd put it in the dystopian science-fiction genre. The Austin Powers movies owe a lot to it.
TVARZAN
MAD #112, July 1967
w: Dick DeBartolo
a: Mort Drucker
There was a TV series of Tarzan. Though it's had many incarnations over the past 100 years, including parody characters, and a movie of his origin. Here is but one version.
This one starred Ron Ely as Tarzan.
Jane wasn't used in the TV series.
A native is a caricature of Godfrey Cambridge.
Jai (Manuel Padilla Jr.) was an orphan who befriended and assisted Tarzan.
MAD parodied the Tarzan we're all familiar with over the years. Here are a few examples.
MAD #114, October 1967
MAD #158, April 1973
This is what critical race theory actually is.
MAD #167, June 1974
MAD #206, April 1979
There was a 1981 version starring Bo Derek, directed by John Derek. This is from The MAD Academy Awards Show in #231, by Stan Hart and Mort Drucker.
