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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SLEEPWALKER, TEXAS STRANGER
MAD #343, March 1996
w: Dick DeBartolo
a: Angelo Torres
A regular police show about Cordell Walker (Chuck Norris) a member of the Texas Rangers, a part of the state police. His partner was Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard) and they worked with D.A. Alex Cahill (Sherree North). His former captain was C.D. Parker (Noble Willingham) who now owns a bar and in this parody is mistaken for his Uncle Ray.
Around the start of the internet which was around the time of this show's popularity, we had 'Chuck Norris jokes' based on this program that were all factoids people made up about his strength and masculinity like “Chuck Norris was bitten by a poisonous snake and than the snake died” or “Chuck Norris' bearskin rug isn't dead, it's a live one afraid to move”
WRECKER, TEXAS MANGLER
Cracked #308, July 1996
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Walter Brogan
Lou Silverstone makes a reference to his former MAD co-worker Sergio Aragones.
The officers at the end are James McDaniel, Dennis Franz, and Jimmy Smits of NYPD Blue which was notorious for showing nudity.
NYPD BOOBS
MAD #329, July/August 1994
w: Stan Hart
a: Mort Drucker
The cover has Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz), Laura Kelly (Sherry Stringfield), John Kelly (David Caruso), Lt. Arthur Fancy (James McDaniel), Janice Licalsi (Amy Brenneman), and producer Stephen Bochco.
The conceit of NYPD Blue, and what made it stand apart from other police shows, was that it flouted regular TV standards and had profanity and nudity, hence the title, and featured a disclaimer at the beginning of each episode.
The man who accidentally walked in is Alan Rachins, who played a character on L.A.Law, a previous series of Steven Bochco. Rev. Donald Wildmon was the head of a Christian media watchdog group called the Americam Family Association, obsessed with filth on TV.
The Rodney King tape was one of the first home videos to show police brutality before such a thing was exposed every day. The background of the panel with Giuliani has his son Andrew who as a kid was known for upstaging his father on TV. “Only your own base matters” isn't a joke that ages well considering what's happened in the intervening thirty years.
Sipowicz was the swearing, bigoted “bad cop” of the show. John and Laura Kelly used to be husband and wife. Nicholas Turturro, who played James Martinez, is drawn in one panel because he isn't used anywhere else in the parody.
NYPD BLUE MOON
Cracked #293, October 1994
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Walter Brogan
The comedy world was obsessed the Lorena Bobbitt incident in the nineties. I guess the idea of someone cutting their husband's penis off does write jokes for itself.
Detective Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) was a character added to the cast later.
The neighbor Wilson on Home Improvement was a character you only saw on the other side of the fence from the eyes up.
Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) was a radio call-in psychiatrist whose father lived with him.
SeaQuest was a series that took place in the near future (i.e. now) about undersea exploration that focused mainly on a dolphin character. Terry Rakolta was head of Americans for Responsible Television (there were a lot of these groups in the eighties and nineties) that started with her offense at Married: With Children.
MIGHTY MORONIC CHOWDER RANGERS
Cracked #290, July 1994
w: Greg Grabianski
a: John Severin
Kids series adapted from Japanese series about superhero robot team featuring Jason (Austin St. John), Kimberly (Amy Jo Johnson), Zack (Walter Emanuel Jones), Trini (Thuy Trang), Billy (David Yost), and Tommy (Jason David Frank). Their enemy, Rita (Michako Sago) is from the Japanese show with her voice dubbed into English. The action scenes are from Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, the show in Japan this comes from. With the use of their coins, the are able to transform into the Power Rangers.
Clever. The Asian stereotype of substituting Ls for Rs. Other places stopped using it by the 60s, but Cracked continued into the 90s. The Putties were Rita's army and “Cement Mixer (Put-Ti, Put-Ti)” was a popular song in the 40s.
The theme song (see clip above) went “Go go power rangers”
Almost all afternoon childrens' shows had some kind of built-in public service announcement at the end.
WHEN THE POWER RANGERS' FORMAT SPREADS TO OTHER SHOWS
Cracked #297, March 1995
w: Greg Grabianski
a: John Severin
Dan Rather's rival here is Connie Chung.
Billy and Allison were Andrew Shue and Courtney Thorne-Smith.
This may be the only NYPD Blue parody that didn't mention the show's nudity.
Cover to the Brizilian edition of MAD.
A MAD LOOK AT THE MIGHTY MORPHIN' POWER RANGERS
MAD #333, January 1995
w & a: Sergio Aragones
A couple of these I just don't get. Probably because I shouldn't.
