JANUARY UPDATES 4

MTV
1981-present

MTV
Nine Network 1987-1993

DUM TV
Australian MAD #287, June 1989
w & a: Glen Lumsden

There is an Australian version of the MTV network, though when it started out it was a television program. It was hosted by Richard Wilkins and Alison Drower.

Jimmy Barnes, Peter Garrett Of Midnight Oil, and James Reyne are parodied here.

Michael Hutchence of INXS.

IT'S NOT MUSIC TELEVISION
Barf #3, September 1990
a: Scott Jackson

Back in the U.S., another parody from back when MTV showed music videos and had VJs. At this time one was Kevin Seal.

This doesn't quite fit the meter of the song, but that's not the first thing to stand out in criticizing this article.

The Pepsi commercial above was pulled for being too controversial and she holds a grudge to this day. Michael Jackson doing a commercial for them made news when his hair caught fire during a shoot. The news segments were done by Kurt Loder.

Exxon's oil spill was the first major tanker crash to make news.

MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME (1985)
dirs: George Miller, George Ogilvie

MAD MAX: BE ON THE CHUNDA-DOME
Australian MAD Super Special #56, c. 1985
w & a: Deane Taylor

REAL PEOPLE
NBC 1979-1984

REAL FOR-REAL PEOPLE
Bananas #39, c. 1980
w: Jovial Bob Stine
a: S. B. Whitehead

REEL PEOPLE
Wacko #3, October 1981
w: Paul Laikin
a: Kent Gamble

The blonde woman above Henry Kissinger in the middle left panel looks very Drucker-like to me, but I don't think she's a caricature of anyone.

The alligator owner likeness could come from several sources. The profile looks like a different person from the full view.

Angie Dickinson but aged 40 years? Florence Henderson?

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975)
dir: Jim Sharman

THE SCHLOCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW
Barf #2, July 1990
w: Todd Loren & Diane Dumock
a: Ken Landgraf

Though Susan Sarandon has had more serious roles since, it's not as if this was ever an embarrassment for her.

“Karma Chameleon” was Bot George's big hit

Lots of Wally Wood swipes. You'll see them in just about anything by Ken Landgraf.

Of course there has to be an appearance by Sylvester Stallone in this as well.

ROSEANNE
ABC 1987-1998

GROWS-ANNE
Barf #1, May 1990
w: Herb Shapiro
a: “Wood” (not Wally)

Surprisingly one of the more respectful Roseanne spoofs in regards to her weight.

GROSSEANNE

ROSEANNE
1988-1997 ABC

GROSSANNE
MAD #287, Jume 1989
w: Stan Hart
a: Mort Drucker

Get ready for pages of fat jokes. Hey, it's not me doing the fat-shaming.

Roseanne was vehicle for comedian Roseanne Barr's working-class mother standup act long before the monomial cancelled loose cannon that became her legacy. The show was about Roseanne Conner. Her husband Dan (John Goodman) worked in construction and they had three kids, D.J. (Michael Fishman), Darlene (Sarah Gilbert), and Becky (Lecy Goranson). Roseanne's sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalfe) would drop in. They all lived in Lanford, Illinois.

The rabbit in the second panel may be a reference to Fatal Attraction, but more likely it's a joke about how the species of animal she's cooking for dinner gets increasingly bigger. Before this series, John Goodman had been in Raising Arizona.

GROSSEANNE
Cracked #244, May 1989
w: Rich Kriegel (Lou Silverstone)
a: Walter Brogan

Roseanne worked at a plastics company with her sister.

I don't know who everyone is in the last panel except Dan Rather, Bill Cosby, Peter Falk, and ALF.

GROSEANNE: THE SECOND HELPING
Cracked #291, August 1994
w: Greg Grabianski
a: John Severin

In the last few seasons the part of Becky was replaced by Sarah Chalke. Darlene's boyfriend David (Johnny Galecki) became part of the cast. Roseanne's second husband Tom Arnold is also under the table, he was co-producer of the show.

Dan no longer worked at a construction site and did the occasional odd job at home or ran his own contracting company.

Roseanne and Jackie later worked at a diner.

Here was a TV Guide cover by Bruce Stark.

NYPD BOOBS

NYPD BLUE
ABC 1993-2005

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.