The eighty-fifth TV show: #407 Mystery Science Theater 3000
MST3k has been a mainstay of our viewing for nearly a decade now, though not at great speed - we're still not past season five and so haven't seen all the different groups of actors. I have seen a lot of bad movies be made most bearable through the commentaries of Joel, Tom Servo and Crow, together with some bizarre sketches filling time around commercial breaks.
Aside from licensing, the original concept feels cheap - put a few people (or their puppet representation) in front of a film and have them comment. Improvised at first, but for the most part prewritten (and it's better that it was, so there weren't the quiet periods that punctate "season 0"). Somehow, these personalities connected, especially when you share the pop culture knowledge, and it feels like you're watching and riffing a movie with your friends - even if they are far more quick witted and funnier than you'd be. It's a great formula that's worked for some time.
But the characters themselves make an impact beyond the movies. The Mads - the bad guys who make Joel (or Mike) and the bots watch the movies are great joke fodder (and I already know I'll miss TV's Frank) and the sketches are great to watch. Sometimes they're more relevant to the movie, sometimes they're non sequitors that are just weirdly funny, and sometimes you get Crow doing a one man show of the Match game that gets dark. And yet, these characters are goofy enough to pull it all off.
The show recently got new seasons made with yet another new cast, and while that might have seemed off to some, they've shown these cast changes can work. Oddly enough, I suspect the reason here is the same as today's other TV show, Doctor Who - the show is malleable enough to fit around shifts in characters, but allows the basics to stay the same.