MADtv was an American sketch comedy television series based on Mad, and contained animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts as well as images of Alfred E. Neuman that the show featured during the late 1990s. Its first TV broadcast was on October 14, 1995. The one-hour show aired Saturday nights on Fox, and was in syndication on Comedy Central. In Australia the show screens on satellite and cable TV channel The Comedy Channel and in late-night timeslots on free-to-air broadcaster the Nine Network and its affiliates.
It was created by Fax Bahr and Adam Small. The series was originally produced by Bahr/Small Productions and Quincy Jones/David Salzman Entertainment (QDE). Since Bahr and Small left the series at the end of the third season (they are currently credited as "executive consultants"), the series has been handled by QDE and WB Television Distribution (its parent company Time Warner Entertainment owns Mad magazine through its DC Comics subsidiary). The series was directed by Bruce Leddy (196 episodes), as well as David Grossman, and Amanda Bearse (known as the actress who played Marcy Rhoades-D'Arcy on Married...With Children).