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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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.
AMERICA'S PHONIEST HOME VIDEOS VISITS FOOL HOUSE
MAD #297, September 1990
w: Dick DeBartolo
a: Mort Drucker
Bob Saget was hosting America's Funniest Home Videos at the same time he was starring in this, but this parody has nothing to do with that show except a voice-over narration.
Michelle (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) was the youngest of the three daughters. The other daughters were Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and D. J. (Candace Cameron). The premise of the show was that Danny Tanner (Saget) was a recently divorced father, and had his brother-in-law Jesse (John Stamos) and Joey (Dave Coulier) help him take care of his daughters.
Samples of the one-liners are below.
FULL OF IT HOUSE
Cracked #292, September 1994
w: Greg Grabianski
a: John Severin
This was done four years later. By this time, Jesse had a wife Rebecca (Lori Loughlin) and had two sons, Nicky and Alex (Blake and Dylan Tuomy-Wilholt). Funny how earlier the youngest child was played by twins since children are usually played by twins because of child labor laws, but when it came time to bring in younger children, the characters were twins on the show.
Waco, Texas was the location of a religious cult that had a standoff and shootout with the government around this time.
The Olsen Twins became famous pop sensations for fifteen minutes in real life.
Lori Loughlin is probably better known for her stint in prison for falsifying her daughter's college application.
MAD #307, December 1991
w: Dick DeBartolo
a: Mort Drucker
You'll have to forgive me for not knowing who Lt. Mudrock is supposed to be. I didn't watch much TV around this time. I couldn't find anything in the 1990 or 1991 schedules with a character that had a name even close. Usually in the caricatures there would be a label giving a clue but nothing here.
But I know enough about the characters from Family Matters he was investigating. The lead was Carl Winslow (Reginald VelJohnson), his wife Harriette (Joe Marie Payton), Laura (Kellie Shanygne Williams), Mother (Rosetta LeNoire), Rachel (Telma Hopkins) her son, Eddie (Darius McCrary), and Steve Urkel (Jaleel White).
Urkel started out as a date with Laura the first season and was so popular he became the breakout star like the Fonz and added to the main cast. He always hung around initially because of his crush on Laura.
That's Robert Stack in the first panel
The last page is supposed to show how the accusers are saying the characters are derivative of their characters, but theirs are derivative of previous characters as well. Estelle Getty, Roseanne Barr, Dick Van Patten, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and David Leisure all had precedents on other sitcoms. Malcolm Jamal-Werner did too, the fact that he's black doesn't matter.
The "Air France" button Jerry Lewis is wearing refers to how he's supposedly considered a genius in France.
As I mentioned earlier, Steve Urkel became the breakout character. There was merchandising of him, and even a dance...
FAMILIAR PATTER
Cracked #265, September 1991
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Walter Brogan
Saturday Night Live is always criticized for being "not as funny as it used to be" but I'll always argue that it's been the same since the beginning, you just have the best memory of it from when you were in high school. Something they even say themselves. It's wildly inconsistent but there's always at least one sketch that's top notch even if most the show is just plain unfunny.
My favorite recurring bit they did a while back was their parodies Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney did of 80s sitcoms. They did about five that were usually cut for time, and had the chance to be timed well because they were pre-recorded. The character played by Kyle Mooney here is based on Urkel.
