Mad starts its second season on Cartoon Network. The Magazine lasted decades through nearly all upheavals of culture and taste. Mad TV lasted an improbably long time on Fox. The name of "Mad" has become like the Martha Stewart of bad taste and juvenile humor. This is not a bad thing if the bad taste is also sharp and biting and the juvenile humor is actually funny.
The cartoon tries hard but it is very hit or miss. The magazine was too, but here the gulf is greater. The opening joke animated via stop animation was a complete non joke. A godzilla monster attacking a city and then the news reporter saying something to the effect, "You ever notice monsters never attack the suburbs." Maybe if the joke was developed it could have gone somewhere but it is just stopped cold to go on to the next sketch.
On the other hand I quite liked their Scott Pilgrim sketch. Here he's "Snot" Pilgrim and now he's dating Snow White and must face her seven evil ex-dwarves. It's stupid but in a delightful manner, and the last bit where he's dating the little mermaid and must fight the seven seas left me with a smile.
The show needs better writing and clean up the animation. I know they are going for a rough and tumbled look, but one reason why the magazine lasted so long was it didn't skimp on the art. Don Martin and Dave Berg were complete professionals.
A brief note: Adventure Time once again hit the heights of weirdness when Finn and Jake had to fight an army of EARCLOPS. Yes, big giants with just one big ear for a head. I don't know what creators of Adventure Time are taking, but bartender I'll have one!
STRANGE SPANNERS being an accounting of strangeness of the warp and woof of my mind For those of you new here, think of this as 1/2 "Night Gallery" Our Motto: Nos somnium quisnam es futurus fatum quod insolitus tutus vos!
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