Mad TV

The Good
Well... despite the quirky name, and silly graphics on some places (like those notable 'useless' rooms in the building) there is nothing 'mad' about this except for the fact that they're 'mad' about making it very realistic! The game is hard, challenging, yet very interesting game featuring a very good simulation of managing a TV station while at the same time giving it a nice touch by giving the main character (by the default name of Arnie) a love interest who is passionate about her shows... yet they bring no great deal of ratings, a dilemma that would make any lovestruck Real Life TV station manager smile... by putting her shows on, she'll like you more, but your station might take a financial hit since your ratings would drop and people might not want to air commercials on your station.

Other than that, one thing that is so good is handling the expansion of your station after you've gotten enough money. have either the option of getting satellite coverage, as well as setting up more stations with a smaller range... but might cover areas that even satellite would not cover, leaving you with a total of over... 291 million potential viewers! Of course since it's nearly impossible to get everyone to look over at your station, it's a challenge to put in the stuff that would be found likable by everyone and get enough ratings for every single business in the country to want to air their stuff on your channel.

Another great thing is the selection of the movies and series that you can put on your station... they're all real TV shows and real movies! How cool is that? I found myself playing the game and keeping the IMDB on another webpage in order to look up information on those shows. It's a nice touch, but not only do they include real movies, but much of news that you can put on in the air usually has some kind of relation to TV and sound strangely... relevant, even though the game was released over 18 years ago!

Also the other great thing you can do is to make your own shows if you find out that you don't like whatever other shows that up for sale... but there's a catch, miscast your actors and put in too small a budget, and your show could tank. There's even an equivalent of the Emmy's in it for various accomplishments.

The game is hard, since it does require some very real thinking as to what to put on, when to put it on, and able to still make enough money to pay back the loans you would take from your own boss, and get the girl to like you more than the other station managers who're competing both against you and for her affections. Making for a nice strategic challenge.

The Bad
The only bad thing I find about the game is simply that there aren't that many English Language TV management simulation games out there. I did manage to find another, more recent game, but it was in French. At any rate, games in this genre are rare and I think it is a shame that not more others like it exist.

The Bottom Line
Well... since you can change the name of the station to anything you want, you could change it to 'U62' pretend to be Weird Al Yankovic's character from the cult classic 'UHF' and run it accordingly. ;) It'll make the game that much more interesting.

The Good
Everything! The game is very funny - nevertheless it is a really hard business-simulation. You can produce tv-series, shows and other things. But the most funny thing is to plan the program of your tv-station. Buying real-named movies is also a great aspect in this classic. And - don't forget the sabotage. Summary: This game is one of my all time favorite.

The Bad
Sometimes the game crashes down.

The Bottom Line
Everyone who loves movies must play this game. A MUST HAVE!