Man I was 8 but still remember it clearly, the cousins I hung around with were 4-6 years older than me so I loved this kind of satire. Must have been super cool at 14 in 74’, dirt bikes were how all the pre driving age/ too old for bicycles age kids got around in my area. Most muscle cars were still less than 10 years old and still everywhere, CB’s were our cellphones and always had service be it only 10 miles lol I’d go back in a heartbeat damn all the new conveniences. Sorry I ramble I just miss it.
@Zolar Czakl Born in '53 - I remember "25¢ Cheap" in the 60s; also when Sgt Fury was a white cigar chompin' Nazi killin' WWII guy & his Howling Commandos were multi-ethnic bad asses; I have no CLUE what and why Sgt Fury is what he is today-but I digress. These Mort Drucker characters in the car bit (Walter Cronkite) and Oddfather are genius. 📺
That's the thing, this special is really neat because it never actually aired officially; no network would take it. You can see this in the special actually because there's a couple seconds of silence in the opening where they would've mentioned the sponsors, had there been any. Though I'm not sure how it ended up online. Maybe someone involved still had a copy laying around? Regardless, I think it's super cool that we have lost media like this that we never could've known about otherwise.
The car factory sketch is about a specific situation in the American auto industry in the 70s, when they decided they could offer any piece of crap to the public and Americans would have to buy it. American cars were utter garbage in that era. Unfortunately, the rich industrialists forgot that the rest of the world also exists. Foreign makers aggressively penetrated the US market with decent cars (note that the CEO in the segment doesn't drive his own make - it's a VW) and by the end of the decade the nation, which at the start had very few foreign cars on the road, was full of them. Remember that next time some sad case tells you that big business is the answer to all our problems. My parents bought a brand new 1970 model Chevy wagon. It practically fell apart driving it off the lot. By 1980 we had 7 drivers in the house and not one American car between us. Anyway, that's the point of that segment.
Since this was never picked up nor aired anywhere it's kind of remarkable that a copy of it still even exists at all. Would love to know the backstory of how this old tape was re-discovered.
I was 14 in 1974 and would have killed for this! Now I'm watching it here and seeing all the greats. Geo Woodbridge, right off the bat! Remember Mad's "Cradle to Grave Primer" ? This goes straight into favs!
"This was a pilot that never aired. Network executives deemed the humor too crude and adult to air on television." -My, how much changes in two decades.
But that was the MAD humor everyone grew up since the 1940s. Are the exectives dumber? What did they expect? That's why the CN version sucked, they had to tone down the humor, making it lame to amuse the kids
It was pulled mainly because of the “MAD’s Auto Manufacturer Of The Year” segment which was a blatant parody of Ford who was one of the main sponsors. Anyone remember the Edsel and the Pinto?
Mad's first attempt at TV crashed and burned yet one year later, the rival National Lampoon magazine would spawn Saturday Night Live which was pretty much Mad magazine on TV.
Being from Panama in Latin America, I just want to say that I learned English so fast as I wanted to understand the reading of Mad Magazines. That movie is a treasure today. Thanks for sharing it.
Well, Madtv ran from 1995-2009 (they revived it for one season in 2016 but it wasn't very good) although it drifted more and more from the magazine after about the 3rd season. They also made the animated show Mad following that. Also, if ti weren't for Madtv we might not know who Key and Peele are.
Mad Magazine & Cracked were my babysitters when I was growing up. I even saw Mad Magazines’ Up The Academy, in theaters. It was the greatest time to be a kid ….😂
I discovered Mad magazine in 1973. My mom wouldn't let me get it, so I would read it in the magazine aisle while she did her grocery shopping. Mad magazine was THE SHIZNIT back then! When I got older and started making my own money, I bought it for myself.
I was that one oddball kid who always preferred Sick to Mad, but nonetheless this may be the single greatest gift RUclips has ever bestowed upon humanity.
I'm pretty sure the networks rejected it, not because the humour was crude & adult, but because it would have caused sponsors, particularly car companies, to pull their advertising. Back then, sponsors had much more control over content, and the networks were terrified of offending them. Back then, MAD Magazine could get away with anything in print, because it very proudly refused to carry ads.
Maybe WB would immediately greenlight a new long-form 2d animated series for Cartoon Network, HBO max and TBS that brings some of the lamest MAD movie spoofs to life.
This is cool. That's where I could be found as a kid, at the grocery store magazine rack while mom shopped. Love me some Mad. Was a different Era. Before smart phones and web. There were dozens of magazines. I never saw this show. Was a real treat. Thank you.
0:53 - One reason this didn't air is 'cause Mad could NOT find anyone willing to sponsor it! Hence "Brought-to-you-by..............................(dead silence!)"
According to Maria Reidelbach's 1991 book, "Completely Mad," a major American automobile manufacturer agreed to sponsor "The Mad Magazine Special" but unsurprisingly declined just prior to its premiere date due to the tastelessness of many of the vignettes in the special, particularly the "Automobile Manufacturer Of The Year" sketch.
What a treasure! Thanks so much for sharing! (This is one of many aspects that makes RUclips so great! - - for us to be able to see this, finally! I was 9 in 1974, but my whole family would have laughed our asses off if we had seen this at that time! (It's too late for my mom and dad, but I'll make sure my brothers see this!) And the animation is superb!
I recognize the names of five of the animators -- John Gentilella, Frank Endres, Jim Logan, Gerry Dvorak and Gordon Whittier all did animation work for Paramount.
This is the first time I'm seeing this. I absolutely loved MAD and was 11 years old when this was made. I was always drawn to (pun intended) Al Jaffe's work. It was just so "out there" and disregarded realism in a way that made it cool 😎.
The "Now wake him up and give him his sleeping pills" part at 12:55 is uncanny as it was only last night when I said a similar thing to my elderly mother who dozed off before I gave her sleeping pill! Also cool to see Don Martin's style come alive in animation form. I'm at the UK and love Martin's work.
Man I love this Mad cartoon and Magazines bring this back on TV no BS wow the memories just know by just watching this one episode OMG thank you so much for this really forgot all bout MAD love it ❤❤
acholl980 plus I read that Bill Gaines offered to pay moviegoers their money back because the movie was total shit, and he pulled the association of Mad Magazine from Up The Academy. At least we got to see a young Ralph Macchio in it. And Ron Liebman was smart for not having his name in the credits.
I loved MAD magazine as a kid! It was my first ever comic book subscription. Never knew this existed. I would have gone bananas for this! lol I can see why it wasn't picked up though. I definitely like it in comic book form, better. Plus, I can't fold the back cover of a TV show! That was my favorite part! lol
This was fantastic! I remember buying a MAD magazine at the 7-11 in the early 70's as a kid and Mom taking it away from me and saying, "You can't have that!" So, I got them from my Uncle, after he did the Fold-In of course!
Definitely not a kids show. Tarzan moving out of the neighborhood because blacks are moving in. Humor as it is suppose to be served, honest, bitter, and stingy, just how I like it.
@@estebansteverincon7117 No whites just riot when their favorite team loses. Or their favorite team wins. Or a pedo enabling coach gets fired. Or they see scapegoats getting too far in this shitty world.
MAD TV Narrator: *Sponsor by!* Me: Ehhh, sponsored by??? Probably no one cause no one company probably wanted to put a sponsorship attached to this. But it's remarkable MAD lasted in to the mid slightly late 2000s.
I remember reading about this in the TV Guide Fall Preview and being disappointed when it didn’t air. Also, “The Oddfather” was the nickname the NYC tabloids gave Vincent Gigante, the mob boss who tried to feign incompetence when he was on trial for murder.
I was 14 in 1974, I've never seen this. In 2022, I still collect MAD Mags from the 70s.
Man I was 8 but still remember it clearly, the cousins I hung around with were 4-6 years older than me so I loved this kind of satire. Must have been super cool at 14 in 74’, dirt bikes were how all the pre driving age/ too old for bicycles age kids got around in my area. Most muscle cars were still less than 10 years old and still everywhere, CB’s were our cellphones and always had service be it only 10 miles lol I’d go back in a heartbeat damn all the new conveniences. Sorry I ramble I just miss it.
@Zolar Czakl Born in '53 - I remember "25¢ Cheap" in the 60s; also when Sgt Fury was a white cigar chompin' Nazi killin' WWII guy & his Howling Commandos were multi-ethnic bad asses; I have no CLUE what and why Sgt Fury is what he is today-but I digress. These Mort Drucker characters in the car bit (Walter Cronkite) and Oddfather are genius. 📺
no one ever saw it...the description says that it was never aired.
That's the thing, this special is really neat because it never actually aired officially; no network would take it. You can see this in the special actually because there's a couple seconds of silence in the opening where they would've mentioned the sponsors, had there been any. Though I'm not sure how it ended up online. Maybe someone involved still had a copy laying around? Regardless, I think it's super cool that we have lost media like this that we never could've known about otherwise.
We need this humor today about manufacturers. This is more true now than back in the day!
Times change but most things do not!!!!
The car factory sketch is about a specific situation in the American auto industry in the 70s, when they decided they could offer any piece of crap to the public and Americans would have to buy it. American cars were utter garbage in that era. Unfortunately, the rich industrialists forgot that the rest of the world also exists. Foreign makers aggressively penetrated the US market with decent cars (note that the CEO in the segment doesn't drive his own make - it's a VW) and by the end of the decade the nation, which at the start had very few foreign cars on the road, was full of them.
Remember that next time some sad case tells you that big business is the answer to all our problems. My parents bought a brand new 1970 model Chevy wagon. It practically fell apart driving it off the lot. By 1980 we had 7 drivers in the house and not one American car between us.
Anyway, that's the point of that segment.
Not really. Cars are far more reliable than in the 70s and 80s.
That's idiotic. Cars used to be broken down on the side of the road all the time. Now it's rare.
Since this was never picked up nor aired anywhere it's kind of remarkable that a copy of it still even exists at all. Would love to know the backstory of how this old tape was re-discovered.
ABC originally going to air the special but the network decided not to do it due to adult themes
I saw this on tv in the 80s so whachew talkin' bout Willis
I hope the backstory involves smuggling.
@@animemangafan1987 I think it was aired on prime time
@@animemangafan1987 Ford execs probably screamed bloody murder and threatened to pull all of its ads if ABC aired this show.
I was 14 in 1974 and would have killed for this! Now I'm watching it here and seeing all the greats. Geo Woodbridge, right off the bat! Remember Mad's "Cradle to Grave Primer" ? This goes straight into favs!
"This was a pilot that never aired. Network executives deemed the humor too crude and adult to air on television."
-My, how much changes in two decades.
But that was the MAD humor everyone grew up since the 1940s. Are the exectives dumber? What did they expect? That's why the CN version sucked, they had to tone down the humor, making it lame to amuse the kids
It was pulled mainly because of the “MAD’s Auto Manufacturer Of The Year” segment which was a blatant parody of Ford who was one of the main sponsors. Anyone remember the Edsel and the Pinto?
Italians didnt like the take off on THE GODFATHER
14:24
my oh my...how time have RE-changed since your comment
Mad's first attempt at TV crashed and burned yet one year later, the rival National Lampoon magazine would spawn Saturday Night Live which was pretty much Mad magazine on TV.
No, SNL isn't anything like MAD. MADTV is VERY close to the humor of the magazine, and so superior to SNL
@@linjicakonikon7666superior because you say so and it must be the absolute and total truth.
Being from Panama in Latin America, I just want to say that I learned English so fast as I wanted to understand the reading of Mad Magazines. That movie is a treasure today. Thanks for sharing it.
they've GOT to make this show happen! i mean, who doesnt wanna see a magazine practically come to life!?
Well, Madtv ran from 1995-2009 (they revived it for one season in 2016 but it wasn't very good) although it drifted more and more from the magazine after about the 3rd season. They also made the animated show Mad following that. Also, if ti weren't for Madtv we might not know who Key and Peele are.
Incidentally, the 'Oddfather' bit was taken virtually line for line from the magazine parody.
xaenon Well,an edited version,anyway....and the Gene Hackman and Steve McQueen cameos,amazingly,weren't in the original article.
@@snarkus63 All of these were from the magazine.
Interesting
Ahhh, the good old days- 8 years ago. When no one abused the word _literally_
Wow, I was 14 in 1974,,, I would have loved this.
Mad Magazine & Cracked were my babysitters when I was growing up. I even saw Mad Magazines’ Up The Academy, in theaters. It was the greatest time to be a kid ….😂
Mad Magazine was a staple for me, I had a huge collection.
Thanks for posting this!
Damn I never heard of this till right now (2021) I read Mad constantly in 1974, I would've loved this show.
Same here.
I discovered Mad magazine in 1973. My mom wouldn't let me get it, so I would read it in the magazine aisle while she did her grocery shopping. Mad magazine was THE SHIZNIT back then! When I got older and started making my own money, I bought it for myself.
this show would have been huge!
WoW! It was great to see my fav MAD artists animated, it looked like they really provided (at least) key frames.
thank you for putting this up i'd never heard of this before
I was that one oddball kid who always preferred Sick to Mad, but nonetheless this may be the single greatest gift RUclips has ever bestowed upon humanity.
I grew up with the 2010’s Cartoon Network series, but this is honestly a lot more funnier. 😂
I'm pretty sure the networks rejected it, not because the humour was crude & adult, but because it would have caused sponsors, particularly car companies, to pull their advertising. Back then, sponsors had much more control over content, and the networks were terrified of offending them. Back then, MAD Magazine could get away with anything in print, because it very proudly refused to carry ads.
Yet years later, we have a cartoon of it airing on Cartoon Network which has reached 100 episodes... life is funny that way!
But there is MADtv and Mountain Dew before Cartoon Network
Not anymore, and even the mad magazines ended as a whole.
Maybe WB would immediately greenlight a new long-form 2d animated series for Cartoon Network, HBO max and TBS that brings some of the lamest MAD movie spoofs to life.
This show should have been ongoing like the magazine.
What makes this pilot so rich for me is how it reflects the artists and writers from Mad Magazine's heyday.
This is cool. That's where I could be found as a kid, at the grocery store magazine rack while mom shopped. Love me some Mad. Was a different Era. Before smart phones and web. There were dozens of magazines. I never saw this show. Was a real treat. Thank you.
This is what the mad magazine show on cn should have been like
0:53 - One reason this didn't air is 'cause Mad could NOT find anyone willing to sponsor it! Hence "Brought-to-you-by..............................(dead silence!)"
I'm sure that was placed there so that actual advertisers could have a plug in the beginning, should it air.
sponsors didn't want to be spoofed
According to Maria Reidelbach's 1991 book, "Completely Mad," a major American automobile manufacturer agreed to sponsor "The Mad Magazine Special" but unsurprisingly declined just prior to its premiere date due to the tastelessness of many of the vignettes in the special, particularly the "Automobile Manufacturer Of The Year" sketch.
this is how mad tv should of been
Or the MAD sketch show that Cartoon Network aired in the early 2010s. They almost got it right.
Canais Young it really didn’t this feels more natural
*should have
@@michaelhull1813 thank you
What a treasure! Thanks so much for sharing!
(This is one of many aspects that makes RUclips so great! - - for us to be able to see this, finally!
I was 9 in 1974, but my whole family would have laughed our asses off if we had seen this at that time! (It's too late for my mom and dad, but I'll make sure my brothers see this!)
And the animation is superb!
Mort Drucker's caricatures are the best!
A treasure of lost media
Wow I like this. I would’ve liked this better than the sketch show in the 90’s.
They should actually do this show... What I thought MAD TV was going to be I was pretty disappointed it wasn't more of this
"It never aired" Now I know why I never saw it. I remember reading the Oddfather in the magazine.
Mort Drucker Artwork. He was great at Actor Likenesses.
I recognize the names of five of the animators -- John Gentilella, Frank Endres, Jim Logan, Gerry Dvorak and Gordon Whittier all did animation work for Paramount.
A lot of East Coast talent on this as well as West Coast.
Mad magazine, especially in this form seems like a prime influence on the Simpsons
MAD is fantastic at misdirectional humor. Sometimes it seems that's all they do, but they do it so well.
Really grateful to be able to see this. That said, a far cry from the magazine. Thank you for the opportunity!
The auto manufacturers parody is spot on for the time 😆 🤣 😂
This is the first time I'm seeing this. I absolutely loved MAD and was 11 years old when this was made. I was always drawn to (pun intended) Al Jaffe's work. It was just so "out there" and disregarded realism in a way that made it cool 😎.
The "Now wake him up and give him his sleeping pills" part at 12:55 is uncanny as it was only last night when I said a similar thing to my elderly mother who dozed off before I gave her sleeping pill! Also cool to see Don Martin's style come alive in animation form. I'm at the UK and love Martin's work.
Actually, that happened to me, in the hospital.
The nursing home staff did that to my great-aunt too.
2:28 And there it is, the first Spiro Agnew reference.
Boy, they really socked it to that guy.
Mad Magazine were OBSESSED with Spiro Agnew
Futurama seemed pretty interested in him also
I would've loved this as a kid.
That is one beautiful 😻
Yeah I did
Wow! I never knew this even existed. Pretty cool, since I grew up reading the magazine.
WoW so this was the only REAL MAD MAGAZINE SHOW ? Wish they did more the Artists were Absolutely Brilliant! 🍻 🐨
I remember when Mad Magazine would sometimes be on television. We never missed watching it. I miss this kind of stuff !
Amazing to see Mort Drucker's style in animation, he was such a master
Today, this would go down as family programming.
It wouldn't make it to air today for simply not being funny enough. Put this next to modern animated comedies and it's just shit by comparison.
@@richsackett3423 Well, it does have a certain quaint charm.
@@earlsmith7428 without doubt.
Lol the hospital scene is hysterical
And then years later, it finally became the show MAD TV.
This is exciting! 😄
I love Mad Magazine, and I was born in '74.
Ditto lmao
The cartoon graphics remind me of those cheesy but unforgettable 70's K-Tel commercials.
totally 70's vibe here!
Oddly enough, this is the only Paul Cocker animation, that isn’t a Christmas special
Wow. Fantastic quality. Ha! Did Tarzan just do a bit of White Flight after seeing a Black Man in the jungle?
Thanks for uploading
And in Africa of all places, makes you wonder where Tarzan was living all this time.
It’s possible I’m missing some cultural context, but that’s what it looked like to me… 🧐
Would be hard to imagine any other interpretation of the bit.
This aired on the East Coast. I watched it when I was 9.
This is a great find.
“Boy, they’re really socking it to that Spiro Agnew guy…he must work there or something.”
He was vice president.
wow! never knew this existed.
Growing up, the magazine was treasured. Relative to the quality of the magazine, I can't see how the people at MAD would have allowed this to air.
yes, the show is crap and not really funny. Shelving it protected Mad's reputation.
Utter crap you two, this show is great
That was gold! It's a shame it never got picked up by any station
Shame they didn't give this a chance. I could never walk past a MAD Magazine.
Three Years before I was Born.
GOLD !! still valid and real today ... 35 years on
Too bad your math skills are not.
Its kinda cool seeing one of their movie parodies set to animation. I always wished Mad created a TV series centered on that.
Awesome , classic old school Mad.
This is great.
Man I love this Mad cartoon and Magazines bring this back on TV no BS wow the memories just know by just watching this one episode OMG thank you so much for this really forgot all bout MAD love it ❤❤
If this was made in 1980 instead of 'Up the Academy' they might not have been (deliberately) embarrassed.
acholl980 plus I read that Bill Gaines offered to pay moviegoers their money back because the movie was total shit, and he pulled the association of Mad Magazine from Up The Academy. At least we got to see a young Ralph Macchio in it. And Ron Liebman was smart for not having his name in the credits.
“Say it AGAIN!”
this brings me back!
*¡enjoyed at 5:47 am Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, 9 November 2022! - 38 years ago i graduated from Fort Benning Georgia 31905*
I never knew this existed. This is great!
Looks real good and humorous just like the magazine,fun and satire thanks for posting.
mr edsel lemon, when i was a kid i never got the jokes because i hadn't been around long enough to know anything, this is really for adults.
I loved MAD magazine as a kid! It was my first ever comic book subscription. Never knew this existed. I would have gone bananas for this! lol I can see why it wasn't picked up though. I definitely like it in comic book form, better. Plus, I can't fold the back cover of a TV show! That was my favorite part! lol
The truth is depressing and funny at the same time.
Blunley...so good.
Great that this video got out. I have the promo photo they created for the oddfather. I have a review video that I will release it in a few weeks.
The Mommy awards is great.
In 2020 it still applies.
It was way ahead of it's time and maybe too risque for television.
Damn they sure had the concept accurate to today's standards when it comes to automobile's
Made to fail
This was fantastic! I remember buying a MAD magazine at the 7-11 in the early 70's as a kid and Mom taking it away from me and saying, "You can't have that!" So, I got them from my Uncle, after he did the Fold-In of course!
oh man, i forgot about the fold-ins! i was 7 when i did my first one and kept at it until i was 20, jeeze, time flies
Used to walk to King Kwik to get new copies of Mad Magazine:)
Definitely not a kids show.
Tarzan moving out of the neighborhood because blacks are moving in.
Humor as it is suppose to be served, honest, bitter, and stingy, just how I like it.
forfluf haha
Thanks For Nothing Whites aren't the ones rioting whenever one of their own resists arrest, and then gets killed for it. So _you're_ the real clowns.
Esteban Rincon
Yea but your the ones getting your ass kicked _Clown_
@@estebansteverincon7117 No whites just riot when their favorite team loses. Or their favorite team wins. Or a pedo enabling coach gets fired. Or they see scapegoats getting too far in this shitty world.
@@thanksfornothing5636 Nobody kicked our asses' moron.
THE GREATEST MAGAZINE OF ALL TIME ❣️👍
this would have been a classic! what might have been...
DON MARTIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THX !!!!
MAD TV Narrator: *Sponsor by!*
Me: Ehhh, sponsored by??? Probably no one cause no one company probably wanted to put a sponsorship attached to this. But it's remarkable MAD lasted in to the mid slightly late 2000s.
anpanman!
Awesome 😎 thanks brother !!🙏
I love this shit.
I love this
Man, they're really socking it to that Spiro Agnew guy again....
I remember reading about this in the TV Guide Fall Preview and being disappointed when it didn’t air. Also, “The Oddfather” was the nickname the NYC tabloids gave Vincent Gigante, the mob boss who tried to feign incompetence when he was on trial for murder.
Michael was in Exile in the Bathroom....Bwhahahahabahaa
The Mad Magazine TV Special is brought to you by... Kellogg's! Your best choice in cereals, the best to you each morning!
TOO much TRUTH is why this never hit TV.
My left ear loved it.
This is interesting, never heard of it before.
Collectively this is what I think of color-wise when I think of the 70s
The next MAD TV series should be like this!
I agree.. when i heard madtv was gonna be on tv, i was disappointed it wasnt a cartoon
@@privateprivate1865 At least it had the Spys.
It's great I love it. Too bad you didn't make more... 😊
Ah yes. the Pilot before MadTV
this is so rare
This is Fantastic! Well Done :)