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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YELLOWSTREAK
MAD UK #247, November 1982
a: Dave Stoten
A lot of TV detective spoofs of the seventies put all the detectives together, usually because the premise was the detective had some kind of gimmick or trait. This is supposed to by about this premise taken to its most absurd conclusion as a detective called Yellowstreak, who's supposed to be Orson Welles as all their traits combined.
This article seems to pre-date right-wing rancor against “woke” by forty years, lamenting how detectives used to be like Sam Spade, then TV made them disabled (Ironside, Raymond Burr), black (Shaft, Richard Roundtree), female (Police Woman, Angie Dickinson), fat (Cannon, William Conrad), streetsmart (Columbo, Peter Falk), and old (Barnaby Jones, Eddie Albert). McCloud is in the background of the splash panel as well.
Winifred Atwell was a jazz/ragtime musician. I have no idea why she's referenced here.
There are appearances by Quincy, Efrem Zimbalist and Roger Smith from 77 Sunset Strip, and Starsky & Hutch. There seems to be a picture of James Garner in Quincy's lab. In the last panel Orson Welles looks more like Tim Curry.
I'm familar with Karl Malden and Michael Douglas from Street of San Francisco and Robert Wagner from Hart to Hart, but I must say I'm stumped by the two in the same panel as with Kojak. They must be the only non-American detectives.
SHAFTED
Crazy #4, May 1974
w: Len Wein
a: Mike Ploog
Not the films, of which there were three, but the TV series. Since many of NBC's mystery series were revolving TV movies, CBS decided to do the same thing and brought Shaft to the small screen, alternating with the Jimmy Stewart series Hawkins. The Shaft series also featured Richard Roundtree as John Shaft, the big black dick who was sex machine to all the chicks.
There was an unwritten rule in the seventies that if one TV detective was parodied, they all had to be, hence the appearances by Ironside, Columbo, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, and Ironside on the cover. They're on the inside too.
Shaft's boss was Lt. Rossi (Ed Barth).
In Isaac Hayes' theme, a popular song in its own right, he describes Shaft as “a mean mother--” and is then interrupted before he can say the f-word.
3
Shaft's Big Score was the title of one of his movies.
LONGSHOT
MAD #153, September 1972
w: Stan Hart
a: Angelo Torres
The early seventies saw the era of the detective with the disability and/or gimmick. Longstreet's was that he was blind. This explains the story of Mike Longstreet (James Fransiscus), an insurance investigator, as told by his associates. The real Longstreet lost his eyesight from a bomb in a champagne bottle. His seeing eye dog was named Pax. His co-workers were Nikki (Marlyn Mason) and Duke (Peter Mark Richman).
The other two detectives are Ironside (Raymond Burr) and Cannon (William Conrad)
TV'S DEFECTIVE DETECTIVES
Cracked #102, August 1972
a: Jack Barrett
The other detectives at this gathering are Mannix (Mike Connors), Ironside and Mark Sanger (Don Mitchell), Nichols (James Garner), Cannon, Columbo (Peter Falk), and Sarge (George Kennedy). There is more than one cowboy in the splash panel, perhaps the other is McCloud?
Jack Webb as Friday from Dragnet also appears to be present.
CANNONBALL
MAD #160, July 1973
w: Dick DeBartolo
a: Jack Davis
Here's a gag that wouldn't go over today. Not because of wokeness, but because there's no such thing as television with vertical and horizontal dials anymore.
The premise of Cannon, like the introduction says, is that he was overweight. He was also a gourmet. There were no other recurring characters on the show.
On the show itself, he was always doing fat jokes, so it's not just the parody.
The other TV detectives punned here are Columbo, McCloud, MacMillan and Wife, and Hec Ramsey, all of which were alternating shows on the NBC Mystery Movie.
Yeah, it's racist, but it was 1973. Don't worry, we're not canceling MAD. They're canceling themselves.
Letter from William Conrad and his son.
From What Today's Programs Would Look Like If They Appeared in 2001 A. D. from Cracked #132 in May 1975, drawn by John Severin.
I dare anyone to hear William Conrad's voice and not be able to think of the narration in Rocky and Bullwinkle.
UPDATE:
CANYON
Cracked #117, July 1974
a: John Severin
The other detectives are Mannix and McCarren from Hawaii Five-O.
Lorne Greene was on a short-lived series called Griff. Then there's the obligatory Spiro Agnew caricature. I think when I run out of movie and TV spoofs, I'll do a blog dedicated solely to the spiro Agnew references in humor magazines.
McCloud and Columbo are referenced here.
And Friday (Jack Webb) from Dragnet and Kojak.
UPDATE 2:
cover for Kaputt, German edition of Cracked
Not sure if this is Telly Savalas as Kojak inflating Cannon or a German politician.
UPDATE 3:
From Cracked #138, December 1976, art by John Severin
