I Remember JFK

« I Remember JFK's Advertising Policy and Terms | Main | The AMC Gremlin »

Add to Google

MAD's TV and Movie Satires

A typical MAD coverI remember a reader writing a letter to the editor of MAD sometime in the 1970's. He said, and I quote from distant memory, "I watch a movie because I like it. And then, I read the MAD satire to let me understand it."

That sums up exactly why the MAD satires were some of the most brilliant examples of journalism during the 60's and 70's. They were well thought out, biting satire that nailed the weak points of films and TV shows that needed nailing.

A few of the satires that I fondly recall, along with translations of the more subtle ones, include Star Blecch, Crymore Vs. Crymore, A Crock of (blip) Now, What's the Connection? (The French Connection), Balmy and Clod, The Zing (The Sting), and, most telling, Up With the Academy.

Up With the Academy was a very brief admission by MAD that it had made a mistake in lending its name to a typical 80's R-rated trashfest comedy called Up the Academy. MAD admitted publicly that the movie sucked. The "satire" was a single page long, a telling statement in itself.

Now, who can't respect straightforwardness like that?

I have to admit that I've lost recent contact with MAD. Perhaps they are still letting the air out of of grossly overinflated Hollywood egos. But I know that when I grew up in the 60's and 70's, they shed a new light on movies that the critics and the general public went ga-ga over. I try to maintain the same tradition meself.

Recommend I Remember JFK to your friends!

Get emailed notifications of new articles!


NOTE: I will not sell any email addresses I receive, and will not send any unsolicited emails, either. If you sign up for new article notifications, that is ALL you will receive, and you can cancel at any time. You have my word.
--Ron Enderland

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.baldguyweb.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/47

Comments (4)

Linda Carrico:

Mad Magazine was used by our advanced journalism course as 'textbook' because of its great satire. Our senior class could not get over approval of an old man (35-40?) enjoying something we hid from our parents and even using it to teach us how to write satire, wow!

Sam:

Mad Magazine. The Usual Gang of Idiots.Alfred E. Nueman. EVERYONE Knew that Alfred's Middle Name E. Stood For, Clarence! His Tooth Missing Grin Made Deranged Psychopaths Change Professions, when They had a Choice between Turkey Farming,and being a Politician,and They Chose to run for Office! Mad Magazine was Our Instruction Manual, on How to get Through The Difficults Times by the Chinny Chin Chin on Our Hair! Our IQ's SOARED to The Staggering Heights of THIS Side of a Moron's F...But, We were TOUGH! So Tough...Scare M'Self! :B

Scott Irving:

Its hard to comment on how important MAD was to me in early 70s. The humor, satire and sarcasm, was precious. They lampooned everything. I loved the typical sort of "You know you're in trouble when . . ."
Don Martin was my favorite. His books with Captain Klutz were hysterical. so much we cold talk about with this one. What a difference tween the public reaction to the early 50s MAD Comics and the later 50s format the endured after.
I am glad we changed from the overactive early 50s. But maybe we went too far at some point, no?
Long live MAD!

Rivers End:

Iremember them well and always liked the cover featuring one of those satires! Classic stuff from the days of my youth!

Post a comment

Like the site? Buy Ron a cup of coffee! Note to those who would use my images
You may use any images you find on my site on your own personal site. COPY the images to your own server, PLEASE. If you link directly, you will likely get a logo encouraging others to visit I Remember JFK instead of the graphic that you expected. In return, I request that you include a link back to I Remember JFK. Fair enough?

Add to Google
Visit I remember JFK's Forum!
9 users currently visiting I Remember JFK
Get Emailed Updates of New Articles!
NOTE: I will not sell any email addresses I receive, and will not send any unsolicited emails, either. If you sign up for new article notifications, that is ALL you will receive, and you can cancel at any time. You have my word. --Ron Enderland, webmaster

My Policy on Advertisements

You will never see a Flash ad, a popup ad, or a banner ad at I Remember JFK. What you will see are unobtrusive, friendly text ads. If you get popups here, the problem is that you have adware or spyware on Microsoft Windows. I recomment you download and install Ubuntu Linux and enjoy safe, adware-free surfing. Barring that, install Spybot and Ad-Aware to kill the bugs.

With that, if you have ad-disabling software such as AdBlock Plus, I respectfully request that you make an allowance for my website in its settings. You have my personal guarantee that there is no intrusive advertising here.

Ron Enderland, webmaster

This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on December 18, 2006 12:28 AM.

The previous post in this blog was I Remember JFK's Advertising Policy and Terms.

The next post in this blog is The AMC Gremlin.

Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.