From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Celebrity Deathmatch is a claymation parody television show
that pitted celebrities
against each other in a wrestling ring, almost always ending in
the loser's gruesome death. It is known for its excessive amount of
blood used in every match and exaggerated physical injuries (e.g.,
one person pulls off a participant's foot, living through
decapitations, impalement, etc.).
The series was created by Eric Fogel; with the pilots airing on MTV on January 1 & 25 1998. The
initial series ran from May 14, 1998 to October 20, 2002, and
lasted for a 75-episode run. There was one special that did not
contribute to the final episode total, entitled "Celebrity
Deathmatch Hits Germany", which aired on June 21, 2001.
Professional wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin gave
voice to his animated form as the guest commentator. Early in 2003,
a film was announced by MTV to be in the making, but the project
was canceled by the end of that very same year.
In 2005, MTV2 announced the
revival of the show as part of their "Sic 'Em Friday" programming block.
Originally set to return in November 2005, the premiere was pushed
back to June 10, 2006 as part of a new "Sic'emation" block with two
other animated shows, Where My Dogs
At and The Adventures of Chico
and Guapo. The show's fifth season was produced by Cuppa Coffee Studios and the premiere drew
over 2.5 million viewers, becoming MTV2's highest rated season
premiere ever.
Characters
Main
characters
- Johnny Gomez (Maurice Schlafer (1998-2002), Jim Thornton
(2006)): Co-commentator on Celebrity Deathmatch,
Johnny is the more professional one, and a loyal friend of Nick's
despite his constant blunders. Johnny's hair has noticeably changed
from black to brown in the new season. Judging by a comment made by
interviewer Tally Wong during one episode, he may be wearing a hairpiece.
- Nick Diamond (Len Maxwell (1998-2002), Chris Edgerly
(2006)): Johnny's co-host, a perceived alcoholic and divorced
father of one, he is always screwing up. He harbors an intense
hatred for interviewer Debbie Matenopoulos and has also
participated in and won several matches by himself. Nick is
apparently so hapless that when he mentions having an uneventful
weekend, Johnny spends the show preparing for the inevitable
disaster to befall his co-commentator.
- Mills Lane
(himself (1998-2002), Chris Edgerly (2006)): The official
referee of the Deathmatch ring; he always starts matches
by saying "Let's get it on!" and shows that this is one
ref you can't knock down with one hit. Another catch phrase is when
there is a disputable move by either fighter, like using foreign
objects, and he says "I'll allow it!", implying that just
about anything is legal in the ring. Biting is his only
reservation(though he once made an exception to this.)
Unfortunately, due to his suffering a stroke in 2002, the real Mills no longer voices
his own character.
Minor
regular characters
- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
(himself): World Wrestling
Entertainment (WWE) Wrestler and guest commentator on
Celebrity Deathmatch. Also the scientist, doctor and
weapons expert on the show. He also fought and won a match against
Vince McMahon
(voiced by McMahon himself, and whom Austin would actually wrestle
with on several WWF events in real life). Austin did not shown up
in the later seasons, for Nick has once stated that he was too
expensive to bring back.
- Stacey Cornbred, (Mz. L): The first interviewer on
Celebrity Deathmatch, Stacey maintained a more
professional air than Debbie. She kept her interviewing job until
her untimely demise from spontaneous human
combustion. Though she had exploded, she briefly returned in a
Halloween episode as a zombie
to challenge Debbie in the ring only to be soundly (and messily)
defeated.
- Debbie Matenopoulos (herself): The
interviewer that succeeded Stacy Corbred after her death. She hates
Nick and doesn’t prepare for any interviews, usually just asking
whatever she feels like. She often believes herself to be smarter
than she really is. Left the show late in the last season on
maternity leave.
- Tally Wong (Masasa Moyo): The new interviewer from
Season 5 onward. Before most of the matches, she interviews the
combatants in a segment called "Tally's Korner". Tally is very
self-centered, and usually spends most of her interviews insulting
the celebrities rather than asking questions. She often makes rude
remarks about the celebrities, and at times Nick and Johnny, during
matches. Whenever Nick or Johnny gets mad at her for it, she taunts
them by daring them to "bring back Stacey Cornbred." Tally harbors
an intense hatred toward Johnny Gomez. Ironically though, this was
the inverse in the previous show with Nick Diamond hating on Debbie
Matenoupolis.
- Marv Albert
(Himself): CDM's first guest commentator. He only appeared
in the pilot episode before being replaced with
Stacey Cornbred. Best recognized for wasting one show watching the
slow-motion replay of Pamela Anderson's implant-laden breasts
jiggle repeatedly.
- The Popcorn Vendor: The name pretty much sums up his job.
Basically, he's something of a running gag, as he is usually among
the first victims in the audience when a Deathmatch gets too brutal
to stay in the ring. Since his second season appearance, the vendor
has been burned, chopped up, and even possessed by a demon at
various points, only to come back again healthy in his next
appearance.
- Nicky Diamond Jr., (Brendan Muller): Nick's son, who
appeared in several episodes. In one episode he was possessed
by a demon called "Captain
Doody", but was delivered when The Undertaker executed a Tombstone
Piledriver on the possessed Nicky during their bout, causing the
demon to leave Nicky and enter the hapless popcorn salesman.
History
Celebrity Deathmatch started on MTV's Cartoon Sushi
as a short that featured serial killer Charles Manson and shock rocker Marilyn Manson
fighting to the death. Deathmatch was brought back in 1998
for MTV's Super Bowl XXXII halftime special,
which became the highest-rated special in the history of MTV. Just three months later,
Celebrity Deathmatch had entered MTV's main lineup. The
show was popular enough for show creator Eric Fogel to be named one of the most
creative people in the TV industry by Entertainment Weekly.
During the next four seasons, Celebrity Deathmatch
became more popular in other countries and gained viewers from all
over the world, but four seasons and 75 episodes later in 2002, MTV decided to cancel the show.
Revival
New episodes of the show, which began production in 2005, were
produced by Cuppa Coffee Studio as opposed to
MTV's now-defunct animation department. The show featured an
all-new voice cast and a new look. Johnny, Nick, and Mills Lane returned,
though all with new voices. Mills Lane, who used to be played by
himself, was played by Chris Edgerly due to the real Mills
Lane's 2002 stroke. Debbie
Matenopoulos was replaced by Tally Wong. Eric Fogel
chose not to get very involved with the new seasons due to his
involvement on his show Starveillance for the E! network. The show was directed by Jack Fletcher and
Dave "Canadian"
Thomas.
Clips of the new Celebrity Deathmatch are available at
Cuppa Coffee Animation's official web site, as well as at
MTV2.com.[1]
It can be seen that some of the audience members are celebrities
used in the older seasons of Celebrity Deathmatch. In one
fight, one can see in the audience Haley Joel Osment from his fight
against Macaulay
Culkin. Celebrities who were shown in previous episodes include
Bono, Bruce Willis, Robert De Niro, James
Gandolfini, Charlie Sheen, Demi Moore, Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashley Olsen, Missy Elliott, Justin
Timberlake, Rodney Dangerfield, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Sean Penn, Ricky Martin, Pamela
Anderson, Tommy Lee,
Johnny
Knoxville, Lil' Kim,
Anna
Kournikova, Axl Rose,
and Slash.
During the 2006 season, fans were able to vote on MTV2.com for
future matches by choosing one of three matches and by sending a
write-in request.
Reception
In a clip show episode that aired, Janeane Garofalo was shown to be
unhappy with the show when they showed her in claymation-form how
she would look if she lost fifty pounds. In the same episode, Tommy Lee expressed his
gratitude for the show's portrayal of him and imitated the special
move he used to defeat Ron
Jeremy.
Criticism
The show was called insensitive when George Taylor, the father
of Compton rapper The Game (real name Jayceon Taylor) told
Playahata.com, apparently without irony, in late March 2007 he was
not happy with Celebrity Deathmatch showing his son being
killed by bullets, especially as George Taylor had previously lost
a son in such a fashion.[2]
See also
References
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