The premise is simple: take a movie, probably within the public domain or has a lot of copyright problems and can be obtained cheaply, trim it down to half an hour and dub in new lines. It's not a new premise, so, its success rests on the quality of the writing. And, Mad Movies certainly succeeded!
Back in my Beta days, I wore my tapes to death with repeats. The only episode I nearly completely (Missing credits.) have transfered to VHS was, thankfully, what is probably the best: "Night Of The Living Dead." ("I'll hide in the trash!") There was also some old cowboy movie that was interrupted intermittently by a song of praise for a jelly sandwich and a fresh rhubarb pie. ("Lost my sandwich, jelly sandwich, now a sad guy am I!") from its cast, including the lead horse. I think there was also a rif on some Carmen Miranda movie. Unfortunately, it's hard to review a series like this, because it depends on actually hearing the gags. Thus, you must see the episodes, which are probably locked in TV Land's vaults somewhere, never to be seen again.
The show aired on Nick@Nite, Sunday, around 10 PM or 10:30, for only a year. A few years later, I believe the L.A. Connection made Blobbermouth, where they spoofed the entire original "The Blob" for theatrical release, but, I've not seen it. After that, the Mad Movies concept and the L.A. Connection appeared to have just disappeared.
Mad Movies should appeal to fans of other similarly themed shows like: Dynaman, Samurai Pizza Cats, and Tokyo Pig.
