For the first time since season four, MADtv saw not just a change in cast members, but also a change in format. On the cast member front, Stephanie Weir, Danielle Gaither, and Frank Caliendo were gone. In their places, Frank Caeti and Nicole Randall Johnson were promoted to repertory status while Lisa Donovan was hired, starting with the fourteenth episode of the season, then fired by season's end. On the show's format front, the cold opening sketch was replaced by show announcer, Brian Fairlee, giving a preview of the sketches and guest stars that would appear in the episode. The sketches themselves became shorter, often shown in several parts so as to preserve the humor. A lot of political sketches centered on George W. Bush and his administration were nearly non-existent. However, sketches with political undertones and sketches that focused on the then-recent 2008 election, featuring Nicole Parker as Hillary Clinton and Keegan Michael-Key as Barack Obama would make up for the lack of Bush-related political satire. More focus was put on TV show and movie parodies, celebrity-based sketches, music video parodies, one-shot situational comedy sketches, and recurring character sketches. Animated sketches also made a comeback after being phased out since season five with the appearance of the recurring sketch, "Celebrity Pets", a glut of non-sequitur shorts, "Weekly News with Toby" and a three-part sketch called, Cartoon Network's Rejected Superheroes. Notable guest stars this season include: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Eva Longoria, Seth MacFarlane, the Los Angeles Kings, Tom Bergeron, Efren Ramirez, and Fred Willard.
Opening montage
The 12th season had a new title sequence with shots of the performers as they prepared for the show. The screen divides into three different live-action shots. When the theme music starts, the announcer introduces each cast member alphabetically. After the last cast member is introduced, the whole cast is shown in a live-action shot. The music stops and the title sequence ends with the phrase "You are now watching Mad TV". The sequence also has a new announcer, Brian Fairlee.
