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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THE OLDEN GIRLS
MAD #263, June 1986
w: Arnie & Jay Kogen
a: Angelo Torres
Sitcom about four women who live together in a rest home in Miami. The cast was Dorothy (Bea Arthur), Rose (Betty White), Blanche (Rue McClanahan), and Dorothy's mother Sophia (Estelle Getty).
Bea Arthur and Rue McClanahan were together on Maude ten years earlier. Betty White, now 99, is the only member of the cast still alive. Estelle Getty was actually younger than Bea Arthur. Rue McClanahan was the same age I am now because people aged faster then.
THE MOLDIN GIRLS
Cracked #222, September 1986
w: Stu Schwartzberg
a: Marie Severin
The cops here are from Miami Vice.
They have a cameo by Mary Tyler Moore here. They make a reference to her attempt at doing a comeback show in the 80s but don't mention that Betty White co-starred on her original 70s sitcom.
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.
MAD #294, April 1990
w: Josh Gordon (Arnie Kogen)
a: Mort Drucker
Usually the term 'empty nest' refers to the children moving out and the parents having the house to themselves. Here the children move in. The premise was that Dr, Harry Weston (Richard Mulligan), a pediatrician, lost his wife Libby, and his grown daughters Carol (Dinah Manoff) and Barbara (Kristy McNichol) lived with him. His secretary at work was Laverne (Park Overall) and annoying neighbor Charley (David Leisure, known previously for his role as Joe Isuzu, the lying spokesperson for Isuzu cars). Rounding out the cast was Dreyfus, the archetypal smarter-than-people dog.
-Mulligan had a role in the Blake Edwards film S. O. B. but was not nominated for an academy award.
-McNichol was in a movie called Two Moon Junction, not Half Moon Junction, which doesn't seem like it would be on MAD's radar anyway.
The show was a spinoff of The Golden Girls and sometimes members of the cast made appearances on the show.
Charley was a cruise director for a living.
-Laverne was very much a Southern stereotype.
-Blanche (Rue McClanahan) was another cast member from The Golden Girls.
-Mulligan appeared the films The Group and One Potato, Two Potato.
