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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Here's something that's been remade several times, including with Judy Garland and Lady Gaga. This is the one from 1976 with Barbara Streisand, the story of the pop star who marries an unknown who becomes more famous than him.
MAD #193, September 1977
We start with MAD doing their usual condescension towards this newfangled rock'n'roll thing they can't understand, which had been around more than twenty years at that point.
John Norman Howard (Kris Kristofferson) is a huge rock star on tour with his group Speedway, showing up late to a concert and brought onstage with the help of Bobbie (Gary Busey) and Brian (Paul Mazursky) who pump him full of booze and coke.
After his concert, John goes to a bar where Esther Howard (Barbara Streisand) is singing with her back-up singers the Oreos (Venetta Fields, Clydie King). He upstages her by talking really loud and getting in a fight with a fan. He's impressed with her and takes her home after being chased out. He goes to her apartment the next morning and invites her to his concert.
John takes someone's motorcycle and drives onto the stage, then falls off and injures himself. Everyone leaves and leaves Esther stranded there. She visits him the next day at his mansion (in the movie, it is him that spraypaints her name on the wall.) They fall in love and he elevates her career as his starts going downhill. When he does a benefit concert, he brings her on stage.
The parody leaves out a few scenes where he shoots at some DJ's reporting from a helicopter then tries to apologize, and John and Esther cut a record together,
John and Esther get married and he has property he brought out in the desert.
Esther keeps moving up while John is increasingly forgotten. She gets nominated for a Grammy. During her acceptance speech, he comes up on stage and interrupts drunk and makes a scene. She's concerned about his downfall and asks Brian if there's any work for him. He has something new he's working on but his management just wants to continue with his old hits.
Esther's grammy is presented by Tony Orlando and Rita Coolidge though here the presenter looks more like Joe Don Baker.
Esther comes home to find John in bed with a magazine reporter (Marta Heflin), They have an argument and he leaves, crashing in a drunk driving accident. The movie ends with a memorial concert for John.
THE STAR'S A BORE
Sick #116, August 1977
w: George Kashdan
a: Dave Manak
This concentrates more on Streisand's supposed ego and breaking the fourth wall with the actress interrupting the movie to make changes.
Spun off from The Mary Tyler-Moore Show, Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) was Mary's upstairs neighbor. This series had her returning to her Jewish roots in New York and married to Joe Gerard (David Groh). Her sister Brenda (Julie Kavner) filled the void of the “man crazy” archetype.
Carlton (Lorenzo Music) was the doorman of the building. Rhoda's mother Ida (Nancy Walker) was another frequent cast member.
Nancy Walker was better known as the spokesperson for Bounty paper towels.
Rhoda's father Martin (Harold Gould) was billed as a regular, though rarely used. Nancy Walker also had a role on McMillan and Wife.
Joe ran a wrecking company.
From TV Disclaimers We'd Like to See in MAD #180, January 1976, by Lou Silverstone and Jack Davis. The mother shown at the end is Israeli prime minister Golda Meir.
From TV Spinoffs Yet to Come in MAD #206, April 1979, by Tom Koch and Harry North, Esq.
There actually was a spinoff. Rather, a special. Lorenzo Music, a writer and creator of Rhoda (and later the voice of Garfield) reprised the character that you previously never saw.
RHODENT
Crazy #12, August 1975
w: Steve Skeates & Mary Skrenes
a: Vance Rodewalt
From The Final Segments of Popular TV Series in Crazy #47, February 1979, by Paul Laikin and John Reiner
RHODANT
Sick #105, August 1975
w: Len Herman
a: Jerry Grandenetti
ROADER
Sick #119, February 1978
w: George Kashdan
a: Jack Sparling
Mary Tyler-Moore's other neighbor (who also later had her own TV show) was Phyllis (Cloris Leachman). The cast of The Mary Tyler-Moore Show is at Rhoda's wedding.
In the later seasons after Rhoda and Joe divorced, they added neighbor Gary Levy (Ron Silver). Nancy Walker left to do a show called Blansky's Beauties.
NUTWORK
MAD #192, July 1977
w: Stan Hart
a: Mort Drucker
At the Union Broadcasting Company, anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) has announced that he will kill himself on the air, his best friend Max Schumacher (William Holden) is chairman in charge of the network's news division and has begun an affairwith Diane Christensen (Faye Dunaway), head of programming who has taken over his position and sees this as a ratings bonanza. Frank Hackett (Robert Duvall) is executive in charge of the network.
Max has to fire Howard and does it gently over drinks. This and other problems trigger Howard to announce his suicide. Meanwhile, at programming, Diane is looking for a hit show that will put the network in first place.
Footage has been released of the Ecumenical Liberation Army (stand-in for the Symbionese Liberation Army), a communist movement that has kidnapped an heiress and brainwashed her into helping them commit a bank robbery, and filmed it. This gives Diane an idea for a new reality show that will put UBS on the map. Max allows Howard to let him say whatever he wants on the air, including swearing. Diane sees the attention Howard is getting and wants to turn the news into the #1 show they seek.
Diane begins her affair with Max, and makes the news into an entertainment hour, led by Sybil the Soothsayer. Howard is the star of the show, giving his daily rant, the most famous being the oft-quoted “I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!” (see below)
Max is tired of seeing Howard being exploited and wants to give him the help he needs, but is fired because Frank has merged news and programming (they were two separate things once). Max leaves his wife (Beatrice Straight) for Diane. In Howard's rants, he mentions a secret deal the network is making which puts everyone's job in jeopardy.
This is outdated in many ways: Networks used to be the only option. A show had to have at least 30 million viewers to survive. News was once considered a loss leader. There were no all-news network channels at the time, or even basic cable for that matter. Howard asks viewers to write local politicians to protest the corporate merger. At one time, politicians actually listened to their constituents.
Arthur Jensen (Ned Beatty), head of the parent company, convinces Howard to backpedal on the air. Max is tired of Diane caring more about her career than their relationship and goes back to his wife. The network sees Howard Beale's ratings slip and wants to get rid of him. Not shown: The Ecumenical Liberation Army, which now has a show called The Mao Tse-Tung Hour, is arguing about things like percentage points and syndication rights. They're concerned that Howard Beale, the lead-in to them, is hurting their ratings, so Diane's solution is to have them assassinate Howard on the air.
The last panel has Harry Reasoner, Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor, and Barbara Walters.
NYETWORK
Sick #117, October 1977
w: George Kashdan
a: Dave Manak
The opening panel is a parody of film critic Rex Reed. The old Lennon/Marx joke is used.
Nanoo-Nanoo, everyone. Mork week begins with the most parodied TV show of all time, in page count at least. It might be neck-in-neck with Happy Days, from which it was spun off. The five major kiddie humor magazines parodied it, and it's tied at #1 thinks to Cracked spoofing the show every other issue and publishing two specials. This Film Has Been Rated Ecch will be devoting five whole days to it starting today with versions from MAD, Crazy, Sick, Bananas, and the first one from Cracked.
SHMORK AND WINDY
MAD #209, September 1979
w: Lou Silverstone & Dick DeBartolo
a: Angelo Torres
Mork (Robin Williams) was an alien sent from the planet Ork to observe life on Earth. His space capsule was an egg he hatched from when he landed, and he was discovered by Mindy McConnell (Pam Dawber). “Nanoo, nanoo” was his greeting and “Shazbot” was the catch-all curse word he used.
Mindy's father (Conrad Janis) and grandmother (Elizabeth Kerr) run a music store. They initially don't know he's an alien and he doesn't approve of their living arrangement. The grandmother, the hip one, is all for it. Mork drinking through his fingers, taking empressions literally, the way he dresses, and other eccentric traits showed he was from space. The program is also a showcase for Robin Williams' improvisation.
Lenny and Squiggy were Laverne and Shirley's creepy neighbors and were not on this show, but were part of the Happy Days universe. “Up your nose with a rubber hose” is a catchphrase from Welcome Back, Kotter.
The show always ended with Mork in Mindy's attic where he lived, reporting on Earth's follies to Orson (Ralph James), his boss on Ork. You only heard Orson's voice.
Another cover from their German edition, which used MAD's parodies on the cover more often.
Cracked did three parodies and two other articles. For some reason, they never did a play on anyone's name.
MORK AND MINDY
Cracked #158, March 1979
a: John Severin
Crazy did a full-on parody we'll feature tomorrow and two issues before that, they did this other cover. It might have been planned for the latter. I don't know.
MURK & MUNDAYN
Bananas Looks at TV, reprinted from an earlier issue, c, 1980
w: Jovial Bob Stine
a: Sam Viviano
A character in later episodes was the neighbor Mr. Bickley (Tom Poston).
The music store was replaced by a deli in later seasons, run by Jay Thomas and Gina Hecht.
From The Last Episode Of... in Bananas #48, circa 1981
From Isn't It Time That.... also in Bananas Looks at TV.
MURK & MANDY
Sick #127, June 1979
w: George Kashdan
a: Jack Sparling
There were no computer people on the show. I think Jack Sparling just liked drawing naked women.
There was no sexual tension between the characters either, but they did have a baby later.
There will be more Mork and Mindy parodies tomorrow.
