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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This sitcom was a vehicle for stand-up comic Gabe Kaplan, who had a show based on one single routine he did a few months earlier. The premise was that Gabe Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) is now a teacher and has returned to the school where he grew up ten years earlier, and now teaches the gang of juvenile delinquents that he once belonged to known as The Sweathogs. He lived in a small apartment in Brooklyn with his wife Julie (Marcia Strassman). When he's not teaching the Sweathogs, they often come to his home at night. The show opened and closed with Gabe giving one-liners like Groucho Marx or Henny Youngman.
The Sweathogs were Juan Epstein (Robert Hegyes), Arnold Horshack (Ron Palillo), Freddy “Boom-Boom” Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) and Vinnie Barbarino (John Travolta)
Some of the running bits was Epstein bringing in faked written excuses to get out of tests signed “Epstein's Mother”, and the Sweathogs always saying “up your nose with a rubber hose” (sanitized for TV from Kaplan's original “up your hole with a Melo-Role”. The principal of James Buchanan High School was Michael Woodman (John Sylvester-White)
Woodman slightly resembled then mayor of New York Abe Beame.
From TV Spinoffs Yet to Come by Tom Koch and Harry North, in #206, April 1979
From MAD's “Whatever Became Of...” TV Characters Edition by Mike Snider and Bob Clarke, in #266, October 1986.
WELCOME BACK, KUTTER
Cracked #133, July 1976
a: John Severin
Another example of Cracked parodying the same shows and movies over and over.
HOW THE KOTTER GANG SPENT THEIR SUMMER VACATION
Cracked #137, November 1976
a: John Severin
From If the Carter Family Became TV Regulars in Cracked #150, art by...who else?...John Severin.
From The Final Episodes of Soured Sitcoms by Frank Caruso in Cracked #232, November 1987
This is only the first part. Tomorrow are Crazy and Sick's versions of the program.
REMOTELY CONTROLLED
Cracked #243, March 1989
w: Joe Catalano
a: Frank Caruso
Remote Control was a game show hosted by Ken Ober that supposedly took place in his basement. Contestants on sofas were required to answer questions that were mainly about TV.
One of the categories was Sing Along With Colin (Quinn), where he would sing the first few words of a song and the contestant was required to finish it. In the middle of the show the contestants had a snack break, where the food was usually dropped on them. The one who came in last place was sent back through the wall on their sofa.
The person in the third panel on top is a musician from one of MTV's early spots, but doesn't look like Sting, David Bowie, Billy Idol, or Darryl Hall
The seatbelts on the sofas were there because of the way contestants would be eliminated by surprise, so there wouldn't be injury lawsuits and stuff.
THE PUTRID FAMILY
MAD #150, April 1972
w: Arnie Kogen
a: Angelo Torres
Sitcom about a single mother, Shirley Partridge (Shirley Jones), and her five children Keith (David Cassidy), Laurie (Susan Dey), Danny (Danny Bonaduce), Chris (Brian Forster), and Tracy (Suzanne Crough), all of whom had a band and traveled by bus she drove around.
David Cassidy, the actor who played Keith was a teen idol independently of the program (As was his brother later. They were the real-life sons of Shirley Jones), so both he and the show needed each other to succeed. The actor who played the youngest son was replaced after the first season.
“I Think I Love You” (below) was their big hit.
Shirley Jones had been a star in many Broadway shows before this. Movie actors often ended up on TV when they're considered too washed-up for the movies, though she was not yet forty when she was “greylisted”. Dave Madden was Reuben Kincaid, the band's manager.
Butch Jenkins was a child actor in the 40s.
THE POT-RICH FAMILY
Cracked #107, March 1973
a: John Severin
Hubert Humphrey was the 1968 Democratic candidate for President.
Bernie Cornfield was the Donald Trump of his time before the politics.
Clifford Irving wrote a biography of Howard Hughes that was later revealed to be a hoax.
From The Effect of the Energy Crisis on the Entertainment World in Cracked #119, September 1974, art by John Severin
From The Final Episodes of Soured Sitcoms in #232, November 1987, by Frank Caruso.
Susan Dey later played a lawyer on L.A. Law. A reference is made to pop star Boy George.
Cover to German edition of Cracked.
THE PART-RICH FAMILY
Spoof #3, January 1973
w: Steve Gerber & Bruce Carlin
a: Henry Scarpelli
I don't think they knew both incarnations of the Beatles were the same people. Or that Tom Jones' fans were the same age or older than the average Marvel staffer. Or is that the Beatles? They had the same hair as the Osmonds but they hadn't been a boy band for quite some time.
The Osmonds, the Jackson 5, and Bobby Sherman were other teen idols then. References are made to other bubblegum pop songs from the late 60s and early 70s.
NIGHTLITE WITH KED TOPPEL
Cracked #234, March 1988
w: Steve Skeates
a: Frank Caruso
The show actually still exists but this was Ted Koppel's run. It was originally meant to compete with Carson and focused exclusively on the hostage crisis, but became ABC's late-night news show.
Twilight Zone and The Honeymooners were opposite Nightline with Carson and Letterman, but probably only in New York, so the background gag in the middle wouldn't make sense outside there.
Saturday Night Live took a shot at how Nightline would use the same footage over and over again.
