MADtv - The Complete First Season (1995)

Wait for Season 2, I wish I did

If you had asked me, I would have said I was watching MadTV from the first episode and hung with it off and on for many years. There are several very funny sketches from that first season I remember fondly, especially Dixie Wentworth, Dentist in a Box, the OJ bloopers video and an Artie Lange putting his parents out to pasture skit that ranks as my favorite one ever.

Imagine my surprise when only OJ was in Season 1. And not until episode 18. Dixie appears, though not by name, in a couple of forced and mostly unfunny sketches. Bryan Callen mugs his way through a number of slight bits, though no Australian pitchman, and Artie is largely a no show (though My White Momma is as funny as I remember.) Debra Wilson, an amazing actress, and Nicole Sullivan, a gifted comedian, carried the show for that year, and with great material could have done wonderful things. But given the mostly lukewarm stuff they got, it's not bad. And David Herman is the standout on the male side....I really didn't remember just how good he was. He soon left for work with Mike Judge that has not used his talents very well--the guy was very clever and skilled.

I kept awaiting the side-splitting convulsing laughter that would make me choke. But it never came. My reaction to nearly all of this was a mild smile. And there were lots of non-smiles. The Spy vs Spy cartoons are even less funny today, if that is possible, and the guests were guys I've never heard of (not surprising, considering how weak they were.) The occasional laugh out loud moment is mixed with far too much tepid chuckling. It just didn't get going...not bad, but nothing to commemorate and watch again. Maybe Season 2 is better and those hysterical moments I thought I saw appear then. Or maybe I'm hallucinating the whole thing. Whatever; this has its moments, but far too few of them. Sketch comedy is dicey stuff. The greatest of all, Monty Python, produced whole shows that are unwatchable today. These guys have nothing to reach the heights of MP, and a few that sink to their most discouraging depths.

The extras are far too slight to add much, a couple each of various animations and parodies, and the 200th show that wasn't all that great. This set is a minor disappointment, though it is the hours invested in rewatching awaiting those never-coming riotous moments, rather than the modest cost, that disappoint most. July 16, 2008

Artie on MadTv

If you are a fan of Artie Lange, you need to get this box set. I wish they had released the 2nd season, but this is a must-have for any fan of Artie Lange or MadTv. May 27, 2008

MAD TV season 1

This is odd, I actually don't remember purchasing this online, I do have this, but I think I purchased it in store. Anyway, since it is the 1st season, i thought the humor was very different from now so I didn't really enjoy it. February 17, 2008

The best comedy show on TV

I wrote this review originally on Auh 21 2004, then Amazon changed the item number to the original review was under a "This item is currently unavailable" label. Amazon should automatically transfer the reviews in cases like this one.
Unfortunately Fox being Fox they didn't take into consideration the fans demand to release the rest of the Seasons (do they ever listen to fans, look how many great shows Fox has killed), too bad, Season 1 was released 4 years ago and all that followed was a "Best of Seasons 8,9,10".

Here it is again:

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I started watching this show many years ago while still in college after hearing my roommate laugh like a crazy man. I suddenly started taping all episodes and boy am I happy to see it on DVD. I have been requesting it to the studio for years and I'm glad all those emails weren't wasted. I used to be a big fan of SNL but through the years I just fell it got more and more boring and I couldn't watch it anymore.
Many of my favorite actors on MadTV have left but the show hasn't lost its vibe. It's impossible not to laugh at Lorraine Swanson, Miss Swan, Will Sasso's interpretation of Steven Seagal and many more memorable characters.
I even been on the set of MadTV once and was invited on the taping of a weird discussion panel. It was an amazing experience, got to meet many of the actors and they were all nice and pleasant to be with, especially Mo Collins, she rocks! She's one of the nicest and sweet people you can find in Hollywood.
I really can't wait to have all the DVD's in my collection. January 30, 2008

Where are the rest of the seasons on DVD?

This show took over where SNL left off (SNL was great for the most part up until the late 1990s, it is very bad these days) MAD tv had it's best seasons by far from 1998 to 2005, the seasons before 98 and after 05 are not very good, my question is where are the other complete seasons, they give us season 1 and then leave us hanging, do these dolts not know how many millions of fans there are for this show and how well the complete season sets would sell, some corporate toad needs to learn a little something about consumers and a little less about what they picked up in a text book about marketing and sales. GIVE US OUR MADtv !!!! October 10, 2007

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