MADtv (season 12)

The twelfth season of "MADtv" aired from September 16, 2006, to May 19, 2007, with 22 episodes.

ummary

A few minor cast changes were made during season twelve. The only cast members who did not return were Stephnie Weir (who left midway through season eleven), Frank Caliendo (who chose not to renew his contract), and Daniele Gaither (who was let go by FOX executives). Frank Caeti and Nicole Randall Johnson, featured performers from season eleven, were promoted to repertory status. Lisa Donovan made her first appearance as a featured performer in the season's fourteenth episode.

Season twelve featured some format changes. Previous seasons featured a sketch before the opening credits, but this was dropped for season twelve episodes; instead, previews of sketches from that particular episode appear. As in the show's early years, sketches were shorter and were sometimes split into separate parts to prevent them from dragging (such as a three-part filler piece about apropos TV shows saved on the TiVos of Tom Cruise, Tommy Lee, and George W. Bush).

After Frank Caliendo's departure, political sketches about George W. Bush stopped appearing as often. Season twelve also featured more TV and movie parodies, celebrity-based sketches, one-off situational comedy sketches, with recurring character sketches comprising the rest. Still, "MADtv" continued to air vaguely political sketches such as the "Steve Jobs Presents the iRack" sketch, featuring Michael McDonald as the Apple executive unveiling the iRack at a trade show. Test audiences tell him that the "iRack is falling" and to "take things out of the iRack" (thereby riffing on the word as a pun for Iraq).

Michael McDonald reprised a character from season eleven, Larry Felmer, an obsessive fan who gets extremely angry when celebrities are mocked. Other returning characters were Crista Flanagan's Luanne Lockheart and Wendy Walker ("Three Minute Meals"), Nicole Parker's Disney Girl, Nicole Randall Johnson's Ka-Son, Keegan-Michael Key's Coach Hines, and Michael McDonald's Stuart Larkin.

New sketches in season twelve included a Korean soap opera spoof called "Attitudes and Feelings Both Desirable and Sometimes Secretive", starring Bobby Lee. "Attitudes and Feelings", spoken in fluent yet random Korean words and subtitled in comical broken English (the dialogue and subtitles are not related), consists of rather bizarre soap opera clichés about the twisted life of Dr. Poon Ji Sum, his sexual antics, and his enemy, Korean crimelord "Mr. President." Each sketch ended with a cliffhanger. (The sketches were usually shown about five episodes apart.) Lee also played Johnny (Xian Hi) Gan, a Korean millionaire who hosts a rather odd talk show where him and his assistant, Pongo interview celebrities.

Animated sketches returned to "MADtv" after being absent for several years. Claymation also appeared for the first time in seven years with the recurring sketch "Celebrity Pets", in which pets of celebrities talk about their daily lives with their celebrity owners. The show also featured some non-sequitur claymation sketches such as "Red Snow" (a "Happy Feet"-meets-"Saving Private Ryan" movie trailer), a Valentine's Day cartoon where Cupid murders two would-be lovers with hollow point arrows, "Real Police Video: Immigration", "Cartoon Network Rejects", and a Christmas short where George W. Bush blackmails Santa into killing his enemies. "MADtv" also developed a popular recurring animation sketch called "Weekly News with Toby", in which first grader Toby (voiced by Frank Caeti) talks about his view on current events.

Opening montage

The twelfth season features a new title sequence with shots of the performers as they prepare for the show. The screen divides into three different live-action shots. When the theme music starts, the announcer introduces each cast member alphabetically. After the last cast member is introduced, the whole cast is shown in a live-action shot. The music stops and the title sequence ends with the phrase "You are now watching "MADtv"." The sequence also features a new announcer.

Cast

*Ike Barinholtz
*Frank Caeti
*Lisa Donovan
*Crista Flanagan
*Nicole Randall Johnson
*Keegan-Michael Key
*Bobby Lee
*Michael McDonald
*Arden Myrin
*Nicole Parker
*Jordan Peele

Episodes

DVD releases

Season twelve of "MADtv" has not been released on DVD.

External links

* [http://www.madtv.com/ "MADtv" - Official Website]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt{1|0112056}/ "{2|MADtv}"] at The Internet Movie Database
* [http://www.tv.com/madtv/show/725/summary.html "MADtv"] at TV.com
* [http://www.jumptheshark.com/topic/mad-tv-general-comments/1226 Jump The Shark - "MADtv"]