Country of origin United States Original network Fox | No. of episodes 22 | |
Original release September 21, 1996 (1996-09-21) – May 17, 1997 (1997-05-17) | ||
The second season of Mad TV, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on the Fox Network between September 21, 1996, and May 17, 1997.
Contents
Season summary
Despite some minor cast changes—Tim Conlon and Pablo Francisco joined as featured players and Artie Lange quietly left mid-season due to a drug scandal—the second season of Mad TV was not a radical departure from season one (largely the same cast, the same humor, and the same format).
The addition of a weekly guest host was the most notable difference of season two, the only season of Mad TV to feature one. Although every season has had several guest stars, season two's guest stars were referred to as "hosts" and appeared in nearly every sketch. Every episode had a new host, whereas in other seasons, not every episode had a guest star and the guest star usually only appeared in a few sketches. The guest host format was similar to Saturday Night Live's, but Mad TV ended this format after season two (though later seasons do have special guest stars who appear in sketches or do monologues).
Opening montage
The title sequence for season two is exactly the same as the previous season, except the theme song features more bass. The sequence starts with several fingers pointing at a bomb. The bomb explodes and several different pictures of Alfred E. Neuman appear, followed by the Mad TV logo. The theme song, which is performed by the hip-hop group Heavy D & the Boyz, begins. Cast members are introduced alphabetically with their names appearing in caption over live-action clips of them. More pictures of Alfred E. Neuman appear between the introduction of each cast member. When the last cast member is introduced, the music stops and the title sequence ends with the phrase "You are now watching Mad TV."
Home releases
Despite a preview on the special features disc of the Mad TV: the Complete First Season DVD box set, season two of Mad TV was not initially released on DVD due to poor sales of season one. Shout Factory finally released the complete second season on March 26, 2013.