38 of 38 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great show, AWESOME release quality! I'd rate this 6 stars., Oct 7 2004
By Twiddles42 - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: MADtv: The Complete First Season (DVD)
19 hour long episodes, one three double-sided/dual-layer discs, at a reasonable price that's not out to fleece the customers, unlike so many other season sets of hour-long shows (or, indeed, the multitude of half-hour shows where they stuff 8, 9, or 10 half-hour episodes on a single-sided/single-layer disc and look like crap and have the unmitigated audacity to sell for the same ~$33 price.)
Not just that, the bloopers and 200th episode extras were a great joy to watch, as were the 'best of' clips and unreleased skits. Not to forget knowing that Warner Bros (the distributer) has enough faith to announce on disc 3 that season 2 will be coming!!
These episodes look and sound great as well (how could they not?)
No other TV show has been given this excellent level of treatment on DVD, and MadTV itself is a worthy enough of a show (at least to me).
Big kudos to Warner Bros on the quality of this release! Now if only they would release their 'Doctor Who' titles in dual-layer. :-)
While I tend to look more at disc quality, I should say something about the show's quality. MadTV was FOX's latest attempt (1995) to create an edgy show, after In Living Color was put to sleep and The Edge not meeting expectations. Many skits are brash and envelope pushing, but only in a good way. (okay, some are distasteful, as is typical for the genre, but most will leave you with a smile on your face.)
The show also has a modern day feel to Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In (1968). Naturally, as Laugh-In paved the way for all subsequent skit shows, including Saturday Night Live. (Indeed, Lorne Michaels of SNL fame started with Laugh-In as well.)
Standout actors are Orlando Jones, Debra Wilson, and Nicole Sullivan, but there's not a bad actor of the bunch.
Am looking forward to seeing more seasons released, hopefully with the same amount of quality and extras put into them!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
The beginning, Jan 8 2005
By N. Durham "Big Evil" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: MADtv: The Complete First Season (DVD)
When Mad TV premiered on Fox in 1995, it provided a great alternative to a then duller than usual Saturday Night Live. While there are a number of skits that are as equally dull on this first season set, Mad TV made a name for itself with it's scathing and irreverant sense of humor and parodies of commercials and general pop culture. While the first season's cast didn't feature many of the familiar and hilarious faces that fans of the show would come to love (Michael MacDonald, Alex Borstein, Mo Colins, Aries Spears, and Stephanie Weir would come in later seasons), it did feature some breakout talent like comedians Orlando Jones and Phil LaMar, Howard Stern sidekick Artie Lange, fan favorites Nicole Sullivan and Debra Wilson, and Office Space's David Herman. Dull moments aside, the cast mostly does some great work, and the claymation and animation shorts are laugh out loud hilarious. All in all, longtime fans of the series will want to check this out for a nostalgia trip down memory lane, and new viewers will want to give this a look as well to see where it all began.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than SNL, Nov 29 2004
By Paul I. - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: MADtv: The Complete First Season (DVD)
This is one of the funniest late night sketch shows in the world. Who cares about SNL. I mean SNL's funny but not as good as MAD TV. Plus the MAD magazine came out in 1952 and SNL came out 1975. I didn't see this DVD season 1 but I see it LIVE on Fox every Saturday nights at 11/10 PM central. My favorite character is Michael McDonald. He's real funny in the show. I like those episodes where he plays as Stuart. And sometimes, he comes out in his underpants. I hope they make a MAD movie one day. If they do, they should call it "The MAD movie." And they should show the picture of the original guy on the MAD magazine Alfred E. Neuman but they should have the original characters playing in it. But I'd have to say, this is 10x better than SNL.