2007 Fall TV Preview: MADTV On Fox

MadTV - Season 13

Premieres: Saturday, September 15th at 11:00 p.m. EST
Network:Fox
Creator(s):Fax Bahr and Adam Small
Starring:Bobby Lee, Crista Flanagan, Arden Myrin, Jordan Peele, Keegan-Michael Key, Michael McDonald, and Nicole Parker
Website: madtv.com

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Though Saturday Night Live has always been and will likely always be the king of late-night sketch comedy shows, MadTV deserves credit for being the only show to come even close to competing. This year marks its 13th season(!) in the Saturday night comedy landscape, and during its time MadTV has produced some memorable characters, like Stuart and Miss Swan. No hosts have been announced for the upcoming season, but there are reportedly a lot of changes on board. Four cast members were let go after the last season wrapped. There’s also supposed to be a change in the shooting schedule and show format, but no word yet as to what exactly that would entail.


Although it has its moments, MadTV generally isn’t consistent enough, nor does it attract big enough stars to warrant staying home on a Saturday night—and if I’m home already, even the allure of a new episode wouldn’t be enough to tear me away from Criminal Intent reruns. But to be fair, I have a really bizarre crush on Vincent D’Onofrio. Now if they got D’Onofrio to host...that may be a different story.

Barring D’Onofrio or an equally awesome host, I’m content to just catch the reruns on Comedy Central. Besides, the older episodes have Debra Wilson’s cracked-out Whitney Houston impressions, and those are legitimately hilarious.