I still believe that SCTV was the best ensemble show on television. The writing was consistently clever, the characters were hilarious and most of all, they weren't "writing down" to the audience. They could have gone the "Carol Burnett" route and started pandering to the 12-18 age group, like Saturday Night Live did once Eddie Murphy joined the cast. They could have done the "hip" humor and drug references that were so popular during that time period. They could have made it into an "ego" show, with one performer getting preferential "star" treatment over the others. (Again, see SNL and witness the shows when Chevy Chase and Eddie Murphy were on the verge of breaking out as Hollywood stars. See how much air time the other cast members get.) They could have treated the wonderfully talented Catherine O'Hara and Andrea Martin like appendages simply because they were women. (The unspoken SNL rule: women and minorities must stay in the back seat. Even Gilda Radner only became a star because she played to the audience and kept doing familiar characters instead of anything new. Poor Jane and Laraine often got stuck playing bimbos or the "straight" women who were there to feed lines to the funny men. As for any female cast members on later shows that made a splash, forget it. There weren't any, and they were never given a fair chance.) SCTV had classic episodes that were funnier than a lot of the SNL sketches that usually go on too long. Yes, SCTV faltered a little when it went to Cinemax with only 4 remaining cast members, but what a cast! I love them for being so un-hip and just a group of people having fun. I love them for having the guts to keep doing what they wanted, even if it meant the show was going to be canceled. Most of all, I love them for not making any of the mistakes that SNL did. Who can forget the news team of Floyd Robertson and Earl Camembare? Eugene Levy is one of the funniest people on the planet. It jumped when it became Americanized on NBC. SCTV became Americanized? They were doing Lowell Thomas Remembers and Grapes of Wrath jokes on Canadian television; they did parodies of Canadian and Soviet Union television on NBC. Until there were only 4 left on Showtime, they were the most insanely overachieving satiric show in television history. The greatest skit was T.S. Elliot's "Murder in the Cathedral" performed by NASA astronauts in their spacesuits directed by Mission Control; the funniest (meaning funniest ever): the game show parody, "Night School Hi-Q." Disconnect his buzzer! This show was all about a group of extremely talented people "jamming" with each other. They never really jumped, they just had bad days sometimes. It was always worth tuning into. I especially liked the episode dedicated to the station's battle with the Soviet channel. I didn't even watch SNL during the years SCTV was at its peak. Around most of America, "SCTV" followed "Saturday Night Live"...and I often found "SCTV" superior to "SNL"...even during the heyday of the Not Ready For Prime Time Players. However, when NBC swallowed up "SCTV", and the creative team was forced to crank out 90 minutes of material per week rather than 30, the resources were spread very thin...and that's when the show really lost its focus, and a lot of its sting. Also, when the opening credits introducing the ensemble members started resembling the opening of a cheesy '70's variety show (another NBC "innovation", I'm sure), that's when the end of this show began. SCTV was the greatest television show of all time! It featured a crackerjack cast performing what amounted to an insiders' job against the banality of much of television. Even when it was bad, it was great! No other show can hold a candle to SCTV! Mellonville Forever! The greatest, funniest television show of all time. SCTV was brilliantly satirical, exceptionally performed, and incredibly well written. It's a shame that Saturday Night Live limps on, when the superior late night comedy is with us no more. Heck, reruns of SCTV would be preferable to the SNL of the past 5 years or so. I wish they would repeat this show more often than they do. Who can forget "The Critics Special" with Siskel & Ebert, Rona Barrett and Gene Shalit? And how about when Floyd sold the Mister Earl Doll during the program, in which he beat up the doll like Mister Bill and even did Mister Bill like voices? I can go on forever. Never jumped. Where do you begin? "3-D House of Stewardesses?" "The Towering Inferno" with the nuclear reactor/rotating restaurant on top?(What're you gonna do? smother it with cheeseburgers? Hahahaha!) The Godfather take off with the Mob War between the networks? I think it was being unable to sleep because I was still laughing about John Candy playing the evil leprechaun in the "Finian's Rainbow Meat" commercial that convinced me it was the best t.v. show ever. Thank you NBC for putting it on at 12:30 in the A.M. so to this day, I know one other person who has ever even seen it. He, by the way, agrees with me. Is the any way to get COMPLETE episodes on tape? http://www.jumptheshark.com/s/sctv.htm
I used to watch it a lot the early shows were really funny = actually i though the early stuff was better than SNL .
SCTV is an acronym (yes, another one) for Second City TeleVision - a program that lasted 7 years (combining Global, CBC, NBC and Cinemax incarnations) and was based on the Second City style of comedy. Second City is the name of two improvisation comedy clubs - the original in Chicago, the second one in Toronto (on Lombard St. at the Old Firehall [it's called the old firehall because it was a firehall before the city sold it]). The style was described this way by late SNL/SC alumnus John Belushi: "In L.A. or New York, people look into the camera and forget to relate to the other performers. Here, it's a family. Ensemble acting, that's what Second City teaches you." The troupes took their name from a negative article called "Chicago, the Second City" by A. J. Liebling (_New Yorker_, 1951). 1.4 How many shows were there? Between 1976 and 1983, there were 72 30-minute episodes, 42 90-minute shows and 18 45-minute shows. 1.5 Where can I find reruns of the series? I can only speak for Toronto (if you know of broadcast info elsewhere, send it to the FAQ maintainer). Showcase airs 30-minute episodes M-F at 7:30 PM. CITY-TV airs 30-minute shows M-F at 3:00 PM. 1.6 Where can I find scripts of the skits? There are three scripts in Allan Gould's _The Great Big Book of Canadian Humour_ (Macmillan: Toronto), 1992. "Canadian Play" (pg. 51-55), "Wheetabix" (pg. 94-97) and "Scraborough Bluffs" (pg. 231-234). Once in a while, there will be a TV special that has alumni redoing old skits. A Canadian special about a _Godspell_ production had a few. 1.7 What awards has SCTV won to date? SCTV has garnered 13 Emmy nominations, 2 Emmy awards for best writing for a variety, musical or comedy, 3 ACTRA nominations, 2 ACTRA awards and in 1995 won a special Gemini award (Lifetime Achievement?). 2.0 Cast 2.1 Who was in the cast of SCTV? The original performing cast of SCTV was the late John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Harold Ramis and Dave Thomas (who did the roll call). Around the second season, Harold Ramis left and JC, CO'H, and AM became less available. Tony Rosato, Robin Duke and Rick Moranis were brought in. Around 1982, Martin Short also joined the cast. 2.2 What is the "Godspell" connection? "Godspell" was a musical that played at Toronto's Bayview Playhouse in 1973. Among its cast were Paul Schaffer (David Letterman's band leader), Gilda Radner (who went on to SNL), Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas and Andrea Martin (who was called in as a replacement). Author Donna McCrohan sees an additional significance besides the "meeting of comedic minds": "_Godspell_ would prove an excellent training ground for Second City hopefuls - improvisation and mimicry were encouraged during rehearsals." 2.3 What are the "Saturday Night Live" connections? RD and MS were cast members of both shows. SNLer Bill Murray guest starred on SCTV. SCTVers have guested on SNL. Dan Ackroyd and JC joined SNLer Gilda Radner, EL, JF, CO'H, DT and AM in Toronto's SC. Oh, and like both shows were successful 'cause they had so many Canadians in them, eh? (Lorne Michaels produces SNL). For a look at a great SNL page, point your web browser to http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~serpas/snl.html. 2.4 Who has guest-starred on the show? (not complete) Hall & Oates, Bill Murray, Robin Williams, Carol Burnett, Kenny Loggins (?), Al Jereau (?)
love that show! I have seasons one and two on DVD and I watch them constantly. I looove Great White North, Johnny LaRue, Fantasy Island, and Bobby Bittman... Dave Thomas is my hunny! And Joe Flarety is sooo funny! Actually, they all are! I'm so glad someone else besides me appreciates SCTV. Rawk on.
They were funny The Great White North was a riot who was the girl with kind of big nose she was good too.
HOW ARE YA?!?!? Yeah, I remember that show, you hoser. Pretty good, especially the young John Candy. I liked the episode where Candy played Tatoo of Fantasy Island. They did camera tricks to make him look small. He ended up smashing the beautiful stratovarias violin that Boss owned while making love to it. Boss kicked Tatoo across the whole island. Those hippies on the island said, "Where's that little dude going? I don't know, man. Must have been 4th and long." .
Andrea Martin was the one with the long nose. I liked her Indira Ghandi sketch. Catherine O'Hara did Lola Falana. "I want to marry your children! HAAAAaaaaa!!!!!!!!!" .
