LURKING GIRL

WORKING GIRL (1988)
dir: Mike Nichols

LURKING GIRL
MAD #288, July 1989
w: Frank Jacobs
a: Angelo Torres

Movie about Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith), a secretary from Staten Island that takes the initiative while her boss Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver) is laid up and works on a deal with Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford).

New Dorp Lane is one of the main streets of Staten Island. Gorillas in the Mist was one of Sigourney Weaver's other movies. Ivan Boesky was one of the first people to be arrested for insider trading.

Tess is smarter and more ambitious than the people who work above her. Her boyfriend Mick (Alec Baldwin) doesn't treat her well and ends up cheating on her. Her co-workers set her up with a job interview with a man who turns out to be a sexual predator (Kevin Spacey unseen here, playing against type) and she fights back which gets her fired. The human resources director (Olympia Dukakis) gets her a job at another branch in the firm.

Michael Douglas' character Gordon Gekko from Wall Street makes a cameo in the first panel. Something Wild was a previous Melanie Griffith film. Nora Dunn and Joan Cusack are two of Tess' co-workers caricatured in the third panel. Olympia Dukakis' cousin Mike is in a picture in the last panel.

Tess gets a job at a different branch of the firm working under Katharine Parker, who ends up mentoring her and listening to her ideas. She proposes the idea of merging with a radio company but gets dismissed and told by Katharine to keep trying. Katharine breaks her leg skiing and takes a leave of absence, so Tess takes advantage of this time to pretend being the boss. While house sitting for Katharine, she sees Katharine was planning to propose Tess' merger idea as her own. Later that night, Tess crashes an executive meeting and meets Jack Trainer.

The middle panel has MAD editor John Ficarra, who was also from Staten Island.

The editors must have allotted four pages to the movie and then realized it wasn't enough, since most of the last half of the movie is condensed on the last page.

After a night of drinking, Jack takes Tess home. She attends the acquisitions meeting the next morning and when she gets there she finds she'll be working with Jack. He assures her nothing happened, and they agree to put it all behind them and work together. They become romantically involved, and he tells her there's someone else he plans to break up with. That other woman is Katharine Parker. When Katharine gets home, she finds out Tess has been assuming her position and crashes a meeting just as Tess and Jack are about to finish merging the company with that of Mr. Trask (Philip Bosco). Katharine accuses Tess of stealing her idea when she was the one who stole it from Tess. Katharine is sent packing and Tess is promoted.

The Year of Living Dangerously was another of Sigourney Weaver's earlier movies. Nostromo was the ship in Alien. In Dan Quayle's, campaign for Vice President, he said he looking like JFK would win him votes, but the most famous line in his debate was his opponent telling him “you're no JFK”

THE BLUNDER YEARS

THE WONDER YEARS
1988-1993 ABC

THE BLUNDER YEARS
MAD #291, December 1989
w: Stan Hart
a: Sam Viviano
Inspired by Stand by Me and Jean Shepherd specials about growing up in the past, this was a similar series about a guy looking back at his sixties childhood. It starred Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage). He wasn't seen in the narration, his voice as an adult was Daniel Stern. His brother was Wayne (Jason Hervey), sister Karen (Olivia d'Abo), and parents Jack (Dan Lauria) and Norma (Alley Mills). His best friend was Paul (Josh Saviano) and girlfriend Winnie (Danica McKeller).

The TV in the background has photos from sixties events but also pictures from MAD parodies by Mort Drucker and Angelo Torres.

THE BLUNDER YEARS
Cracked #239, October 1988
w: Joe Catalano
a: Walter Brogan

In the late eighties there was a whole spate of movies where children and adults switched bodies. One was Vice-Versa with Fred Savage and Judge Reinhold.

WISEASS

WISEGUY
CBS 1987-1990

WISEASS
Cracked #248, October 1989
w: Vic Bianco (Lou Silverstone)
a: Walter Brogan

Another show that completely overlaps with my college years, which were practically my TV blackout years, which is why I hadn't heard about it until now. It was all about undercover sting operatives catching mobsters for the O.C.B. (Organized Crime Bureau). The main cop was Vinnie Terranova (Ken Wahl), working for Frank McPike (Jonathan Banks). Their imformation operative was Daniel Burroughs a/k/a Lifeguard (Jim Byrnes), with the organization headed by Paul Beckwith (Ken Jenkins).

Rocky and Mugsy from the Bugs Bunny cartoons are probably among the gangsters because they're the easiest to draw. The Edward G. Robinson caricature looks out of place being lifted from Hirschfield among a group of Drucker/Davis copies.

WHINERS AND LOSERS WHO DRAW BADLY

WIN, LOSE, OR DRAW
1987-1989, NBC

WHINERS AND LOSERS WHO DRAW BADLY
Cracked #247, September 1989
w: Peter Bagge
a: Rob Orzechowski

Game show similar to Pictionary. The teams were divided between men and women and both had celebrities and contestants. This version was hosted by Vicki Lawrence-Schultz. The womens' team on this is Ruth Buzzi and JoAnne Worley of Laugh-In.

Ruth Buzzi did a show on Saturday mornings called The Lost Saucer with Jim Nabors, which must be what they're referring to. It's supposed to be Andy Warhol in the second panel.

The other team has Arte Johnson and Alan Sues, also of Laugh-In.

Bert Convy was co-producer and the original host.

MARCH OF THE UPDATES

Here are some parodies of movies from a few days ago that were also parodied by Cracked. One because it was the only issue I didn't have when I was assembling material last year, the other because it was past the cutoff point I established. Click 'previous' a few times to see the trailers and summaries and who the actors are. Enjoy.

TWISTED
Cracked #312, November 1996
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Walter Brogan

Spielberg wasn't the director for Twister. It was only produced by his company.

TWITS
Cracked #245, July 1989
a: Walter Brogan

PLATOON (1986)
dir: Oliver Stone

PLA-TOONS
Cracked #245
w: Matthew Sweeney
a: Walter Brogan

This parody doesn't require having seen Platoon, it just made for a good pun.

The end has Charlie Sheen and Kevin Dillon from Platoon, as well as Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter and Sylvester Stallone as Rambo. If they were going to use actors from other films about Vietnam, they missed out on they opportunity to use Charlie Sheen's real life father Martin Sheen of Apocalypse Now.

The reason Charlie Sheen's helmet says 'Estevez' is because it's his real last name.

NEW FARCES

NEW FACES
Nine Network 1963-1985, Network Ten 1992-1993

NEW FARCES
Australian MAD #289, August 1989
w & a: Warren Brown

This parody was done in between the old and later incarnations of the show, presumably figuring who the hosts would be if there was a new version. This is hosted by Daryl Somers of Hey Hey It's Saturday (which had an ostrich pupppet as his co-star) with judges Wilbur Wilde and Victoria Nicolls. If you haven't figured it out from the context, New Faces was a talent show.

Tony Barber was an Australian game show host. Jeff Fenech was a boxer. Bert Newton was the original host.

PLEASE GO AWAY

HOME AND AWAY
1988-present, Seven Network

PLEASE GO AWAY
Australian MAD #289, September 1989

Australian soap opera about a foster family set in Summer Bay. The family is led by Tom Belcher (Roger Oakley) and his wife Pippa (Vanessa Downing). One of the children was Frank Morgan (Alex Papps), often pursued by Roo Stewart (Justine Clarke). Sally (Kate Ritchie) was another foster child, as was Steven (Adam Willits), and tomboy Bobby Simpson (Nicolle Dickson). One of the locals was Floss McPhee (Sheila Kennelly). Television personality and politician Derryn Hinch makes an appearance in the parody.

HUNCH AT SEVEN

HINCH at 7
1987-1991 HSV 7

HUNCH AT 7
Australian MAD #283, December 1988

Derryn Hinch was the host of several current affairs programs in Australia and also represented Victoria in the Senate. This parody makes reference to several public figures in Australia unfamiliar to this ugly American.

from Australian MAD #310, April 1992. He was always bouncing around from station to station.

HEY DUD

HEY DAD..!
1997-1994 Seven Network

Australian MAD #291, December 1989
w & a: Peter Broelman

The premise of this sitcom was a widowed father taking care of three kids. Just like family sitcoms here, the parent can't be divorced, they have to be widowed.

The oldest daughter was Debbie (Simone Buchanan). The other two children were Simon (Christopher Mayer) and Jenny (Sarah Monahan). The father was Martin Kelly (Robrt Hughes). Betty (Julie McGregor) was his personal assistant because we all can relate to that, and there was Nudge (Christopher Truswell), the requisite wacky neighbo(u)r/freeloader. He works at home like the father in Growing Pains so that the situation can call for whichever is convenient.

World Vision is an international charity.