User reviews

Too bad they don't Write shows like this any longer. Canada truly Delivers With Comedy and it's Actors!

Unlike Fridays, which had great music but mostly forgettable if not downright awful comedy, SCTV had some of the best music guests on top of brilliant satire:

The Plasmatics, Jimmy Buffett, Levon Helm, the Tubes, Talking Heads, Hall & Oates, The Plastics...how rare was it for the Plastics to be on American TV? Where else could you see The Boomtown Rats, including in a comedy skit?

Where else could you see Jackie Kennedy (seriously?) doin comedy? Carol Burnett as a guest star? Spoofs of Evita and Dirty Harry? Dr. Tongue's House of Stewardesses in 3D?

And future comedy giants, Eugene Levy, John Candy, Rick Moranis. Unlike both Fridays and SNL, SCTV was consistently funny.

Packed with bonus features and lots of great comedy, the five-disc DVD is amazing, albeit over-priced at a retail value of $89.99. Who can afford THAT? Luckily I got a discount through Wal-Mart's website.

SCTV remains as poignant and funny as it was when it first aired during the '70s on local Canadian television stations. It was in 1981 when the show moved to NBC, featuring extended 90-minute episodes. These are largely considered to be the best by the fans and members of the cast.

To say that the show relied solely on John Candy for success is unfair, although partly true. First billed, arguably the greatest actor on the show, Candy's legacy remains a stirring picture of loneliness -- he turned down roles on SNL, citing devotion to fellow SCTV pals. Incidentally a few of them, most notably Martin Short, did indeed make the move to SNL where their careers hit a rock in the road. I never enjoyed Short on SNL although he is hilarious here. Dave Thomas, who recently turned up in the horrendous BEETHOVEN'S 5TH (please, Universal, no more!) is funny as are Flaherty, Levy and Moranis. If you're not familiar with these actors, you'll probably notice their faces as you watch - Flaherty was in BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II, Levy was Jim's Dad in AMERICAN PIE, and Moranis was in HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS.

Overall this DVD set, which Conan O'Brien claims very well may be the funniest you will ever own, and Ben Stiller raves about in a dedication pamphlet included in the DVD, is a good place to start if you're new to the world of SCTV and have only heard of it recently - or if, like me, you've been waiting forever for them to (finally) release it on DVD!

P.S. If you're a fan of John Candy, you probably know that he didn't have a "great" film career, although under the supervision of John Hughes (his De Niro/Scorsese-esque collaborator) he made what is arguably the funniest comedy of the '80s, and my favorite of all time, PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, widely considered to be one of the best comedies ever made, adored by many, featured on Roger Ebert's great movies list, boasting 100% positive reviews on RottenTomatoes.com with over 20 reviews (average rating of 8.2/10 - extraordinary!) and which was yet again featured on AFI's list of 100 great comedies. I've never met a single person who dislikes SCTV or PLANES...

Check them both out if you want a good laugh and a good time.

Finally SCTV on DVD. The first 5 DVD's released contain the first 9 episodes from the 90 minute series on NBC. Thirteen and one half hours.

There are more to come. HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mine arrived today. Already I have watched the first three episodes. Talk about holding up. After 23 years, these shows are just as funny and refreshing as they were in 1981. In fact, I think I laughed harder today then I did a long time ago. SCTV never took cheap shots or the easy way. Their sketches had wit, charm, and intelligence. They never played down to the viewers. For example, I remember their version of T S Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. Except they set it around a space shot at Cape Canaveral. One of my sons and I once tried to list all the characters each person played. Try it yourself. You may never get to the end. I could go on and on, but the time I spend writing this is keeping me away from the next episode.

PS

I'm glad my Spam blocker let the e-mail notice for these DVD's from Amazon come through. I bought 6 sets. One for me and one for each of my grown offspring. When they were little I let them stay up late on Friday nights for SCTV. Probably the best thing I ever did for them.

SCTV was always a great show, but during the brief rein of "Network 90," the series really hit its stride. Mired in an awful time slot (12:30 a.m., just after the "Tonight Show"), it nonetheless built a loyal audience. The ensemble cast of "Network 90" was SCTV's strongest, especially for the handful of brilliant shows when Martin Short first joined the cast, and Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis hadn't left yet. All cast members perfected stunning imitations of noted celebrities, but most people probably recall the original characters even more fondly. Dr. Tongue, Count Floyd, Lola Heatherton, Sammy Maudlin and every member of "Pre-Teen World" and "Five Neat Guys" are some of my favorites. I'd love to see a great box release of SCTV's best on DVD.

It's so darned funny! Who couldn't love "I Was A Teenage Communist"? There are millions of fans I suppose, but I felt like it was like an inside joke I shared with the cast. Silly, nonsensical, insane, insanely funny, comedy as high art.

Dave Thomas playing Bob Hope as if he were Bob Hope in a parallel universe on parole with a shiv tucked in his pants.

There was something dangerous about that show. Early on "Saturday Night Live" had an air of danger. As if I was watching something that threatened to spin loose and leave large bloody gashes in the audience. Later SCTV struck me in similar way. The difference was I was getting older and my sense of humor became sardonic.

I remember back in the seventies when SCTV first aired. There was nothing like it then, and it hasn't been equaled since. SNL was good but much more erratic. I especially remember the spoof of Fantasy Island, and How the Middle East Was Won. It was hilarious from start to finish. The original cast was truly special, with Harold Ramis soon stepping back to direct from behind the scenes. I was thinking the other day that John Candy never had an over-the-top movie, they didn't seem capable of casting him where he could have really plied his talents. I would like to have seen him do a no holds barred film starring as Louisiana governor Huey Long. He would have been a natural.

With that said, I loved SCTV and everything about it. With THAT said, why on earth did NBC, when they took it from the Canadians, have to add a laugh track. SCTV when syndicated was absolutely brilliant and needed no crutches. For some bizarre reason, the morons running NBC felt a need to add a laugh track. It's on the DVD. WHY? It didn't NEED one. Even idiots could understand when it was funny and didn't need prompting.

OK, I understand, TV execs are a special kind of idiot who need to be show how to use a urinal every time they have to use one, I get that. But the viewing public, as a rule, got the humor and didn't need prompting. I found the prompting insulting. But I digress.

John Candy, Joe Flaherty and, well, the whole bunch were brilliantly off beat. As the station boss, Joe Flaherty played Guy Caballero, the station boss who always used a wheelchair. He didn't need it, he just used one. He HATED PBS and in an episode where the networks were at war, he ordered a hit on PBS. When told they had already hit them, he replied, "Well, hit 'em again. I hate that egghead network!" This is just ONE of the out of this world, insane characters who populated SCTV and there were so many.

It translated well into a 'network' show in the US, but you could see there was a slight lack of edge, and of course the damn laugh track.

If you've never seen it, do yourself a favor and watch an episode or two. It'll never hurt. It can't do justice to watch only a few, but you'll be glad you did...even with that damn laugh track. PLEASE, try to find one without it.

On a side note, to the editors at IMDb, capitalization is not always yelling. Since it's impossible to emphasize things with underlining or bold type, caps is all that's left.

END...sorry $end$ repression and censorship!

I just finished watching Season 3 of SCTV, and have to say that show was truly inspired. Just goes to show the power of giving creative control to the actors themselves, and allowing them to develop their characters and ideas as a group. That, and I'm amazed by how ambitious this show was. The time-slot was actually very long for a comedy show, and it's remarkable that they could come up with so much great material. If you remember the era this was created in and the pop-culture that goes along with it, this is a real treat. And, for film buffs that weren't yet born when the show first aired, you're sure to catch the references to the landmark films and TV shows of the time that you may have seen or collected. As a fan of pop-culture and satirical comedy, this series is a real gem. Highly recommended.

Toronto's comedy scene in the 1970s had become intensely vibrant. So great that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) once devoted the awkward Saturday night half-hour+ time slot following "Hockey Night In Canada" and preceding national news, to the spirit of what would one day become the SCTV phenomenon.

Speaking of which, IF anyone out there has a video copy of their hilarious version of the 1958 film, "Queen Of Outer Space", starring Paul Birch, LET ME KNOW! I remember Eugene Levy's voice and those of others dubbed over the actual soundtrack. This was the predecessor to the brilliant Mystery Science Theatre 3000! The spoof had to be just about the most brilliant, if not the funniest, thing I had seen to that point in my young life - it played some time in the mid to late 1970s. I've been told by reliable sources the show was called "Stay Tuned."

It seems John Candy was the man NBC was originally interested in to form a new sketch comedy series, but this generous and kind giant invited his friends and colleagues from 1970s Toronto Second City to be involved and we comedy aficionados can be thankful he did. The result was the most intelligent, creative and funny television series on the North American continent.

At this point in time, comedy in Canada had finally become comparable to anywhere in the world. For the writing/performing ensemble on "SCTV Network 90," they had reached the apex of brilliance during this time. Most of the cast went on to greater fame in later projects.

The series raised the confidence for Canadians who pursued comedy as a career and now the nation can boast many top notch domestic comedy series. Comedy is now an industry in which Canadians rival the best in the world and the development of SCTV Network 90 was an important part of that process.

I use to watch reruns of this when I was younger and I remembered it as being funny.That proves that kids don't know anything.Everything about this show is extremely dated.They constantly make pop culture references(possibly Canadian, probably just half a century old) that I do not get.They did a ten minute bit about the guy on the K-Tel commercials being named Harvey K-Tel and it was brutal.Sadly, that was one of their better sketches.They couldn't even get any real bands.Dr. John was literally the biggest name they ever got.I must admit I did like how they mixed the band into the story but it wasn't enough to make this a watchable show.

Sorry to pose the question, since I have to say I don't know myself. This was easily the cleverest show I have seen. And it's the only TV comedy I know that is sometimes really fascinating.

In the episode where the broadcast is jammed by the Soviets, I found that along with the funny premise and its very funny execution (the stroboscopic image, the "new mini-cam", "Uzbeks"), there was a genuinely creepy vision of media under state control.

But it would give entirely the wrong impression to suggest that the show was ever preachy, even though it belittled the socially irresponsible from time to time. It was always exuberant fun.

Just so everyone understands, this was the series made for NBC, not the original lower-budget (but very good) years, nor the following year on Cinemax, which I didn't see.

Unfortunately I haven't seen any of them in over ten years. This is one of the very few things I would own on DVD if it were available.

"Battle of the PBS Stars", "Chariots of Eggs", Guy Caballero forgetting to stay in his chair, the frightening lust of Edith Prickly, and of course "Great White North". They deserve to be preserved.

I can't tell from looking, but I believe this is the Cinemax show, from the appearance of Happy Marsden. Like I said in the syndicated SCTV listing, over the years, a lot of good writers stole some great ideas from this show. Those who didn't steal from SCTV weren't smart enough and are probably writing crap!

Everyone on this show has gone on to do bigger and better things...they were that talented, and the show was that funny. If NBC didn't bury this show in the post-SNL timeslot on Saturdays or 12:30 on Friday, more people may have seen it and recognized its genius.

The early years had a lot of funny stuff going on, but once Moranis got on board and the show went 90 minutes, its place in History was sealed. There has NEVER been a more witty, intelligent, funny 90 minutes in TV history.

As for the Cinemax years...there was a lot of funny stuff, but overall, it didn't match up with the SCTV heyday on NBC. But hey...bad SCTV is still better than most TV.

Thanks in large part to Comedy Central, sketch comedy is all over the place now. SCTV's influence can be seen in many of these new shows. Look at the cast -- just about all these talented actors have become household names and legends in the world of comedy. Their second to last season was their best; at that point, the writing was simply amazing and the ensemble work of the cast was at its best. Every character the many-faced actors came up with was hilarious and strangely believable.

Unlike SNL, which is 30 minutes of comedy crammed into 90 minutes, the entire hour and a half of SCTV was hilarious. In fact, the shows intricate plot lines usually built and built and built upon themselves, rewarding the dedicated viewer with great comic payoffs near the END of the show.

It's truly unfortunate that when the shows are re-broadcast, these 90 minute gems are chopped up into 30 minute "episodes". The pacing and the build-up of comic energy, that was so integral to the original show, is completely lost. Indeed, I feel very fortunate to have watched the original airings. I doubt we'll see anything like it again.

In an alternate universe, SCTV is still on the air after 30 years, and SNL was cancelled after the 1979 season. And the people living in that alternate universe are both much happier and better off than we will ever be.

SCTV is simply one of the greatest television programs ever. Surreal, topical, and laugh out loud funny, it simply must be experienced to be believed. And the performers were easily the most talented bunch ever to work on a television comedy. Now an entirely new generation can behold and enjoy this gem.

Thank God for DVD!

What more can I say? Maybe it just came along at the right time in my life, but SCTV really expanded my mind and my conception of what was possible with comedy. Never as self-consciously hip as Saturday Night Live. Just funny.

When NBC hired the producers and cast members of "Second City Television" for "SCTV Network 90," they provided them with a larger budget and longer programming time than the original show had. As a result, the performers/writers elaborated on the show's original premise of a cheap TV station. Established characters like Joe Flaherty's Guy Caballero and Andrea Martin's Edith Prickley were deepened with more quirks that often thematically unified the sketches, such as an episode when Guy's job as station owner is threatened when he forges a check. The sketches became lengthier and more layered, exploring further possibilities in television satire, such as a "Godfather" parody likening TV executives to mob bosses. And SCTV still maintained its comic bite, thanks to both the writing and the performers. The humor remained intelligent and insightful and unlike SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE never became self-consciously hip or stale. SCTV 90 provided some of the greatest TV comedy ever, the like which we may never see again.

Manic comedy series that continued in the same hilarious vein as the original SCTV comedy show. Stars Candy, Martin, O'Hara and Levy continued their string of off the wall antics and constant characterizations of what is truly comedy.