The following is a history of the FOX sketch series MADtv from the 2005 television season to its end in 2009.
[edit] MADtv New Era (2005-2009)
[edit] Overview
[edit] Season 11
As MADtv entered its second decade, stars from previous seasons, like Ron Pederson, Paul Vogt, and Spencer Kayden, were released from the show at the start of season eleven. Longtime cast members Stephnie Weir and Aries Spears announced in the spring of 2005 that they would leave the show at the end of MADtv's tenth season. However, in order to provide a sense of continuity, FOX executives persuaded Weir to remain on the cast for part of the eleventh season[citation needed]. As for Michael McDonald, Bobby Lee, and Frank Caliendo, it had been announced in February 2006 that their contracts had expired, meaning they had an option to renew their contract for further seasons or leave the series after season eleven. Caliendo left while McDonald and Lee returned.
With the departures of cast members from Season 10, a new group of cast members were hired. Joining MADtv for its eleventh season as a repertory player, was The Groundlings alumnus and movie actress, Arden Myrin. The featured players included Chicago native and The Second City alum, Frank Caeti and Groundlings alumnus and television actress Nicole Randall Johnson. Season eleven was also the last season for Stephnie Weir (who left midway through the season), Frank Caliendo (who chose not to renew his contract), and Daniele Gaither (who was let go by FOX executives).
[edit] Season 12
When MADtv returned for its 12th season, it underwent several changes in show format. The cold opening sketch was replaced by an announcer highlighting what sketches are going to be featured in the episode. The sketches itself became shorter and aired in multiple parts so as to preserve the humor. Due to Frank Caliendo's departure, political sketches centered around George W. Bush were nearly non-existent (the only sketch with a George W. Bush caricature that aired this season was a claymation short where George W. Bush threatens to blackmail Santa Claus if Santa doesn't help Bush defeat his enemies). There were, however, sketches that contained slight political innuendo (such as "Steve Jobs' The iRack", where Steve Jobs' mismanagement of his latest invention is compared to America's invasion of Iraq in 2003) and some sketches centered on the then-upcoming 2008 Presidential Election with Nicole Parker as Hillary Clinton and Keegan-Michael Key as Barack Obama. More TV and movie parodies, celebrity-based sketches, one-off situational comedy sketches, and recurring character sketches began airing. Clay-animated sketches made a comeback after being absent for several years, with the appearance of the recurring sketch, "Celebrity Pets", and a glut of non-sequitur pieces. The only non-claymation animated sketches to appear this season were "Weekly News with Toby" (featuring Frank Caeti giving a first grader's point of view of current events) and a three-part sketch about rejected superhero shows from Cartoon Network. In addition, Frank Caeti and Nicole Randall Johnson were promoted to repertory status. Lisa Donovan was hired as a feature player, but didn't appear until the 14th episode of the 12th season.
[edit] Season 13
The 13th season of MADtv saw more changes in format and castmembers. Repertory players Ike Barinholtz, Frank Caeti, and Nicole Randall Johnson and feature player Lisa Donovan did not come back to the cast. Johnny Sanchez joined the cast as a repertory player, while Dan Oster, Anjelah Johnson, and Daheli Hall were hired as feature players. In addition, MADtv moved to a new studio (The Henry Fonda Music Box Theater) in order to give the show the feel of a live event. Due to budget cuts, many of MADtv's sketches in season 13 were filmed on location with little to no use of props or costumes. Between November 24 and February 2, MADtv became one of many television shows to be put on hiatus due to the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike. Even though the writers' strike didn't end until February 12, three "new" episodes aired on February 2, February 9, and February 16. These "new" episodes were nothing more than pretaped sketches from episodes that got cancelled due to the WGA strike and repeats of old sketches from seasons eight to ten (with no segments from the Music Box Theater). The show returned to its normal format on March 29, 2008.
[edit] Season 14
MADtv returned for a 14th season on September 13, 2008. The repertory cast got smaller, as longtime castmembers Jordan Peele and Michael McDonald left the show (though McDonald remained active as a director and contributing writer). Feature players Daheli Hall, Dan Oster, and Anjelah Johnson were fired by FOX executives and replaced with newcomers Lauren Pritchard, Eric Price, Matt Braunger, and Erica Ash (a former castmember from Logo's The Big Gay Sketch Show).
On November 2008, it was announced that, after 14 years on the air, FOX was cancelling MADtv. Even though 22 episodes were scheduled to air, FOX only aired 17. Between January 17, 2009 and February 21, 2009, MADtv was moved from its 11:00pm time slot to midnight on FOX affiliates and aired 30-minute reruns of their episodes that have previously aired from September to December 2008. Meanwhile, the show that precedes MADtv (Talkshow with Spike Feresten) was moved to MADtv's 11pm time slot and expanded to an hour. The 14th season saw the departure of Nicole Parker (who had been with the show for six years), Keegan-Michael Key's Coach Hines character, and everyone in the current feature player cast. The show ended on May 2009. Despite this, producer David Salzman announced that the show would be revived on cable TV.
[edit] The Return of MADtv
While a live-action cable version of the show hasn't come to fruition, MADtv did see new life as an animated series. In early 2010, Cartoon Network announced that with the help of Warner Bros. Animation, they would resurrect MADtv in September 2010. The resurrection brought major changes for the show: MADtv was retitled as MAD, the show became a 15-minute animated sketch show instead of an hour-long live-action show (with the occasional animated sketch), its humor was toned-down (but still showed shades of being risque and included a lot of parodies of movies and TV shows deemed unsuitable for younger audiences, such as Two and a Half Men, Unstoppable, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Jersey Shore, District 9, CSI: Crime Scene Investigations, 2012, Grey's Anatomy, Cloverfield, and Man vs. Wild), the humor and style were more in-line with MAD magazine (MAD, like MADtv in its early years, also has Spy vs. Spy sketches), and its TV content rating was toned down from TV-14 to TV-PG. MAD is currently in its second season.
[edit] MADtv sketches (2000 - 2009)
[edit] Recurring characters
[edit] Season Twelve - (2006 - 2007)
[edit] Recurring celebrity impressions
[edit] Recurring public figure impressions
[edit] Recurring sports figure impressions
[edit] Season breakdown
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[edit] Sources
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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