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Television · 1999

The Martin Short Show

The Martin Short Show

About

Mel went on The Martin Short Show for an interview on March 22, 2000.

From TV.com:

The Martin Short Show was conceived as and alternative to and competition for daytime talk shows of the late 1990s: it had celebrity interviews but also mixed in tiny scripted bits of farce and parody and outrageous nonsense....but, as often happens when former Second City members are involved, matters start to deteriorate into extended "in" jokes and characters, and the humor becomes that curious type that has great appeal to a very tiny, cultish audience. However, Martin Short had gone more mainstream than some of his SCTV alums, what with a stay on Saturday Night Live and several general release, moderately successful films, and King World Syndicate had held out high hopes for his performance in the daily talk/variety show genre, but The Martin Short Show never quite took off in the ratings.

In an effort to make the show stand out, more producers came in, more writers came in...but the problem was that they were more Second City and "Second City Circle" people. The show began to be mostly about the many weird (and all-too-often UNFUNNY)characters Martin Short and his cohorts could conceive and play with (oft-times) creepy make-up. This further alienated the potential audience and led to its cancellation on an actual taping date: March 12, 2000; only one of the four episodes "in the can" at the time aired after that date.

The one "break-out" character of Short's to see life after this show was JIMINY GLICK, who had his own Hollywood-themed half-hour on Comedy Central for two seasons.

If you have any information to contribute about this program, or maybe photos or videos, please contact me.