Mad TV
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MADtv
Format	Live action, comedy, variety television series
Created by	Quincy Jones, Fax Bahr and Adam Small.
Starring	See the MADtv Complete Cast List.
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	14
No. of episodes	308 as of October 4, 2008
Production
Running time	44 Minutes Per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	FOX
Picture format	480i SDTV
Original run	October 14, 1995 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

MADtv, is an American sketch comedy television series based on the humor magazine, Mad. It was first broadcast on October 14, 1995. The one-hour show airs Saturday nights on Fox and is in syndication on Comedy Central. It was created by Fax Bahr and Adam Small, who wrote for In Living Color, and are also responsible for Gary & Mike and Blue Collar TV. The series was originally produced by Bahr/Small Productions and Quincy Jones/David Salzman Entertainment (QDE) in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Since Bahr and Small left the series at the end of the third season (they are currently credited as "executive consultants"), the series has been handled by QDE and Warner Bros. Television (Warner Bros.' parent company Time Warner owns Mad magazine through its DC Comics subsidiary).

Format

MADtv is taped in front of a live audience and consists of sketch comedy skits and musical performances. Much of its comedy parodies popular television shows, movies, music, and covers topical political and pop cultural humor.

MADtv cast

Current Cast

See also: List of MADtv cast members

Repertory members

• Crista Flanagan (2005-present)
• Keegan-Michael Key (2004-present)
• Bobby Lee (2001-present)
• Arden Myrin (2005-present)
• Nicole Parker (2003-present)
• Johnny A. Sanchez (2007-present)

Featured members

• Erica Ash (2008-present)
• Matt Braunger (2008-present)
• Eric Price (2008-present)
• Lauren Pritchard (2008-present)

Notable tenures

Tenure by seasons

Although MADtv has a rapid turnover of supporting players, some performers have had long tenures with the show. Few have broken the seven-year barrier. Among the longest-serving cast members are:

Tenure by seasons

Although MADtv has a rapid turnover of supporting players, some performers have had long tenures with the show. these are the cast members who did 6 years on the show. Among the longest-serving cast members are:

Tenure by episodes

There have been twelve MADtv cast members who have broken the hundred-episode barrier. Among the cast members who have appeared in the most episodes are the following:

History of MADtv

Historical synopsis

The following are a series of links to pages which give a detailed account of the history of MADtv.

MADtv era breakdown

For a historical overview with a detail analysis of each era of MADtv (cast members, sketches, animation, etc.) please see one of the following links below:

• 1995 – 2000
• 2000 – 2005
• 2005 – Present

MADtv season breakdown

For a detailed description of each season of MADtv, with cast members, sketches, animation, etc., see:

Popular recurring characters and sketches

For more details on this topic, see MADtv recurring characters.

Cast becomes crew

The cast members often write their own sketches. If a cast member wishes to write their own sketch, they submit it to the producers, who then decide whether the sketch is worthy of airing on television.

DVD releases

Warner Home Video released The Complete First Season of MADtv in 2004. However, due to poor sales, the release of the second season was cancelled (despite a preview for it in the first season DVD). MADtv: The Best of Seasons 8, 9, and 10 was released in 2005, featuring the most popular sketches from those seasons.

Reruns

Comedy Central added re-runs of MADtv to its line-up in 2004 (replacing repeat episodes of Saturday Night Live, which had moved to the E! network). Comedy Central initially had the right to air Seasons 1-8. In late 2004, the channel obtained the rights to Season 9, and in 2005 obtained the rights to Season 10. In 2006, the network picked up the rights to season 11 and has begun airing those episodes as well. TNN (now Spike) aired MADtv from 1999 to 2001, and aired the first six seasons of the show. All episodes were cut from one hour to 30 minutes when aired on TNN. Comedy Central will end reruns of MADtv on December 31, 2008. Some local stations (Such as MyNetworkTV, CW, Fox, and WGN America) added one hour reruns of MADtv on January 1, 2009.

See also

• List of late night network TV programs
• List of MADtv Music Video Parodies

External links

• MADtv - Official site
• MADtv - Official MySpace
• Mad TV at the Internet Movie Database
• MADtv at TV.com
• Planet MADtv
• MADtv - Jump The Shark
• MADtv Streaming episodes on theWB