MovieChat Forums > MADtv (1995) Discussion > What caused this show to become so bad a...

What caused this show to become so bad after being so good?

posted 12 years ago by mariuswmadsen
24 replies | jump to latest

I didnt even know this show was canceled. But I grew up with Mad TV, when it was GENIOUSLY funny! With Aries Spears and Will Sasso and all those. It held a good run in many seasons, and I liked some of the newer actors too.

But then at one point, it became so pathetic and unfunny. Bobby Lee has to be one of the most boring ass comedians ever. But for some reason he got alot of primetime in the later years. But even before him, it started sucking.

Why?

Why did something so smartly funny become so dumb?

[–] theans09 12 years ago

Nicole Sullivan left.
Then Will Sasso Left.
And Finally, the shows budget got dropped to like 10 bucks in Season 13 and 14.

[–] mariuswmadsen 12 years ago

Aries Spears was great too. As well as Phil Lamarr, and Deborah Wilson.

The budget is a good reason. But what exactly suffered because of budget loss? Was there some key writer, producer or genius behind the scenes, that had to leave?

Alot of the newer actors had the potential of becoming funny. Some of them even were pretty funny in the transition phase, when the old guys were still around at the same time. But then everything just became more of the same, stupid fart humor.

There didn´t really seem to be a plan behind it anymore.

[–] robertmarcl 12 years ago

Was it the revamped set?

[–] ItsEddieHaskellBeyotch 12 years ago

Michael McDonald's refusal to leave after his expiration date.

Aries Spears I never found all that funny.

Bobby Lee even less so.

Will Sasso, Phil Lammarr leaves.

The departures of Nicole Sullivan and Debra Wilson

The need for this show to use recurring characters EVERY FREAKIN' WEEK.

The later years casts just not really trying nor seeming to give a damn.

"Lemme at 'em! I'll splat 'em!"

[–] prbronx5 12 years ago

Nicole Sullivan, Debra Wilson leaving were big ones for me.

The fact they decided to make it the Stuart & Ms. Swan (whatever that character's name was) Show also turned me off. Both were ok at first, but it seemed like they wanted them on every week. In fact, I loved Staurt's mom a lot more than him.

I also never found that high school coach routine very funny.

I loved Cabana Chat!!!

[–] WiseKing 12 years ago

EASY, the cast couldn't be replaced, and time took it's normal role as being a killer to an era. Sure, SNL will always be the bigger show, but the first group of MAD TV will always be greater than anything that has been done on SNL. MAD TV took way more risk in their jokes. Everything, was funny even while waiting for what you wanted too se.

[–] jennywocky 12 years ago

I agree. I mean, I enjoyed the first few years of SNL (the original cast), then it just became The Suk... and I kind of gave up on variety comedy shows until Mad TV came out. I didn't watch in later years, but in the early years Sasso and the others were just able to make me laugh out loud compared those duds on SNL. It's kind of insulating that SNL is still around at this point; all that means is that it's become an institution. Oh well, Mad TV, we had some good times, good times....

[–] jeffnova 11 years ago

I always thought Stuart's mom was the funniest part of the sketch.

[–] simba122504 11 years ago

It stayed on too long and many of the original cast members left.

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[–] Pumpkin_Man 11 years ago

It was either season 13 or 14 when it started to downfall for me.

http://www.youtube.com/user/pumpkinman4ever?feature=mhum

[–] Oakface 11 years ago

The female talent left, that's what I think. Most of the champions on this show were the girls, who had killer impersonation and improv. Stephnie Weir, Mo Collins, Debra Wilson, Alex Borstein. Facing off against Michael Mc.Donald and Will Sasso made for epic hilarity. Playing with the lesser comedians that were brought in during the later millennium, not so much.

Most of the time I felt like it was those seven or so comedians holding the show together at various points throughout the years. I do think Nicole Parker (and sometime Crista Flannagan) is genuine talent, but she arrived too late - some of the funniest sketches on the show for me are the "Inside Looking Out"s.

[–] pgrass13 11 years ago

One major killer was the reduced budget and change of set in the last few seasons. By the last season the only really funny person left was Keegan, Bobby Lee was hit and miss. My favorite has always been Frank Caliendo mostly because I;m a sucker for impressions but even those can be overplayed I guess.

Same thing we do every night try to take over the world

[–] Scott-101 10 years ago

I interviewedFrank Calliendo in late 2007. He didn't really want to talk about Mad TV, insinuated that he thoughtit wasn't fun or a good environment. I can't really share more details and also don't really have a whole lot of details as he preferred to talk about the Frank show more. Calliendo is more of a family-oriented comedian and MadTV got kind of low brow.
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[–] Drewism1 11 years ago

There are many reasons this show became so terrible.

A lot of the jokes in the earlier seasons were just so raw. By that I mean that they always "went there" probably when they shouldn't have. By the later seasons they had reduced the jokes so much that they weren't even funny anymore.

A lot of the good cast left. You know which ones I mean. The majority from the mid-90's to the early 2000's. Good cast combined with the good jokes means a good show. Simple as that.

I'll be honest I really didn't find Bobby Lee all of that funny. He would just dress up in ridiculous outfits (mostly like a female) and put on voices with no real joke material behind it. Just seemed bizarre and unfunny.

The early seasons always make me laugh so much. Toward the later seasons (especially the last seasons) I would just sit there and stare at the TV and maybe do a "heh" now and then.

[–] Utpe 10 years ago

I agree, and this was the type of show that would have worked a lot better had it ran throughout the entire 1990s (think In Living Color - worked perfectly when it aired from '90 - '94).

Also, it seems like quite a few people on here tend to agree that the last few seasons weren't as good. You had a loss of key actors, budget cuts, lack of a live audience, and I'm assuming new writers that made a few lousy skits.

I stopped watching back in the early 2000s and haven't seen it since until recently when I happened to catch it on YouTube. It's still as hilarious as I remember it.