SCTV is back on the air...

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...on TVLand! Yay, i thought i was imagining things but no...looks like they're showing just an hour of it on weekends, man, what a show...

― Phil Dokes (sunny), Saturday, 19 March 2005 06:59 (twenty-one years ago)

dammit, and me with no cable!

― kingfish van pickles (Kingfish), Saturday, 19 March 2005 07:04 (twenty-one years ago)

WICKED
even though i can't watch it, my joy is genuine.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Saturday, 19 March 2005 09:23 (twenty-one years ago)

i watched it last night!

― sexy waitress connie stevens (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 19 March 2005 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Awesome! What time? They should show more. My cable box died.

― Shatterproof Glass (dymaxia), Saturday, 19 March 2005 15:28 (twenty-one years ago)

donut debonair scarfed the DVD sets and viewing bits of them during my Seattle visit was a pleasure and a half. Great, great show.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 19 March 2005 15:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I've yet to make it to Chariots Of Eggs on Volume 3 here.. I'll rectify that sometime this week.

― donut debonair (donut), Saturday, 19 March 2005 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Has the real old stuff with Harold Ramis as Moe Greene ever resurfaced?

― Ken L (Ken L), Saturday, 19 March 2005 21:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I hope it will, but not yet, at least on DVD.. the current DVD sets start with SCTV's debut on NBC... circa 1981, when they did the 90 minute shows late at night. There are the half hour shows before the NBC deal that date back to 1976 (that do stare Harold Ramis, Robin Duke, and others.. and presumably were either shown only in Canada or occasionally syndicated on the lesser networks in the U.S.), but apparently, according to the original surviving cast members, the quality of the shows back then wasn't as good. I don't remember SCTV enough as a kid to say if the shows back then were not as good or not, personally.

I do hope that they release at least an "SCTV: Best of the Early Days" DVD set, so I can finally see the entirety of the "INDIRA!" skit.

― donut debonair (donut), Saturday, 19 March 2005 21:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I saw this last night too. Was glad to finally see it - seeing as I've heard so much about it. Reminded me how funny Rick Moranis can be. Also whoever was doing that William F. Buckley Jr. impersonation was dead-on.

― o. nate (onate), Sunday, 20 March 2005 00:16 (twenty-one years ago)

so happy the DVDs are out

I bought the Shmenges special on VHS tape the other day. So incredibly good. We rewound the tape to watch The Tuba Solo and the Lemon Twins three more times, laughing hysterically

― milton parker (Jon L), Sunday, 20 March 2005 00:26 (twenty-one years ago)

wow, I never knew SCTV was on any non-Canadian's radar... awesome.

― scout (scout), Sunday, 20 March 2005 01:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Are you crazy? 30-min episodes of SCTV were rerun on Nick-at-Nite during the late 80's. i remember staying up late and recording the all-night marathon they ran at the beginning,

― kingfish van pickles (Kingfish), Sunday, 20 March 2005 01:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Late eighties! Let's talk original broadcast run. The "Chariots of Eggs" bit donut refers to above -- from the Hall and Oates episode, and starring them no less (they did a brilliant job!) -- is a sweet memory of my youth, as was all of that particular episode (the only one I think I saw in full at the time).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 20 March 2005 01:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Friday nights ca. 1980-83 oh the memories...
Monster Chiller Horror Theatre: Count Floyd presents Dr. Tongue's 3D House of Video Vixens...SCARY (shivers)

(fumbling to see if we get TVLand on cable)

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Sunday, 20 March 2005 01:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I hope Shout Factory is making enough money off the DVDs to keep going now that Season Four is out. It's heartbreaking that they couldn't get the music clearance to include the "Stairways to Heaven" commercial.

― Curious George Finds the Ether Bottle (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 20 March 2005 02:19 (twenty-one years ago)

The next step -- WKRP on DVD.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 20 March 2005 02:26 (twenty-one years ago)

with original music!

― j blount (papa la bas), Sunday, 20 March 2005 02:28 (twenty-one years ago)

MY POINT. There was some campaign to suggest Shout Factory should try for this precisely because that's their area of expertise, music clearance.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 20 March 2005 02:28 (twenty-one years ago)

There was recently an article -- I forget where probably NYT or WSJ -- explaining how full epdisodes of WKRP in Cincinnati couldn't be released on DVD because the music clearance is so prohibitively expensive. Any snatch of a song in the background has to be paid for.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Sunday, 20 March 2005 02:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I have been meaning to check out the first DVD with the earlier stuff on it. I have great memories of the show - my brother and I used to actually make audio tapes of it by putting a crude tape recorder next to the T.V. - I still have one of these tapes, in fact. But I do remember the quality of the show declining as time went on and seems to me they started adding canned audience noise, stuff like that.

The first time I ever heard Whiter Shade of Pale was on SCTV when Rick Moranis was playing at being some kind of blissed out keyboard rock god or something.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Sunday, 20 March 2005 11:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Favorite SCTV moment: "Sunrise Semester" with Salvador Dali giving painting lessons. "Two farm fresh AIGS!" [crushes eggs into canvas]

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Sunday, 20 March 2005 11:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't remember the earliest shows, Bimble, but since NBC, SCTV has always had canned audience laughter.. it was all done in studio in Edmonton, until Dave Thomas volunteered to step down as head writer (to concentrate on the Mackenzies future career) and Don Navarro (SNL) took over.. they then moved to Toronto... once Thomas stepped down as head writer, imho, I've noticed a very steady slow decline in show quality, though with great moments (though I've yet to finish Volume 3, and the upcoming Volume 4, if it's planned)... (and the decline is not Toronto's fault of course)

― donut debonair (donut), Sunday, 20 March 2005 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Did anyone notice if they had the sketch where Earl is doing an editorial on noise pollution and it gradually becomes clear to the audience and to Floyd that he is complaining about his own noisy neighbor: "Mrs. Karminsky, if you insist on having loud parties on weeknights..."?

― Ken L (Ken L), Sunday, 20 March 2005 21:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Well all I can say is I remember shows without the canned audience laughter and I thought they were that much funnier for being that way.
It concerns me that maybe none of that made it onto the DVDs. :( Regardless I really should check out at least one of them, and I'm going down to Scarecrow today anyway. It sure is nice to be on spring break and have time to explore these things finally!

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Sunday, 20 March 2005 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

well, all of the SCTV stuff on DVD has been NBC era stuff (i.e. canned laughter), so you'll probably be disappointed.

― donut debonair (donut), Sunday, 20 March 2005 22:10 (twenty-one years ago)

>so I can finally see the entirety of the "INDIRA!" skit.

What have you seen? Cuz I think the sketch runs 90 seconds tops. It's a precise parody of a TV ad for the Broadway "Evita" that ran ad nauseum in the New York area circa 1980.

At my college humor mag, we always did a Monday postmortem on Friday's SCTV.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 21 March 2005 15:06 (twenty-one years ago)

ten years pass...

Headline in the Toronto Star today:

http://www.pressreader.com/canada/toronto-star/20160304/282454233080556

Intentional, I would think.

― clemenza, Friday, 4 March 2016 22:49 (ten years ago)

Levy suggests there could be a 40th anniv special.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/blog/bc-beat/sctv-40th-anniversary-special-may-happen-says-eugene-levy/154284

― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 8 March 2016 20:36 (ten years ago)

Levy's Bobby Bittman origin special

http://www.avclub.com/article/dark-twisted-backstory-eugene-levys-bobby-bittman--233552

― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Friday, 11 March 2016 21:11 (ten years ago)

two weeks pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRShqOOmHNw

― 빨간 럼 ఎరుపు రమ్ רום אדום (Eisbaer), Tuesday, 29 March 2016 22:19 (ten years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fztm-AzHmls

― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 30 March 2016 14:58 (ten years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Slg9ox-9Q

― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 30 March 2016 19:59 (ten years ago)

nine months pass...

the full run of this isn't streaming anywhere is it

― na (NA), Wednesday, 25 January 2017 18:17 (nine years ago)

No only Shout Factory DVDs. I'll PayPal someone $5 if they can find "Canadian Gaffes and Practical Amusements" online

― kurt schwitterz, Wednesday, 25 January 2017 18:24 (nine years ago)

three years pass...

Am I remembering incorrectly or did Eugene Levy once sing “Papa Loves Mambo” in Perry Como character, maybe at a roller disco.

― Lipstick Traces (on a Cigarette Alone) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 15 March 2020 15:54 (six years ago)

I guess that song was not part of “Perry Como: Still Alice.” Seems like that was the only time Eugene Levy did that character, is that correct?

― Lipstick Traces (on a Cigarette Alone) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 15 March 2020 16:01 (six years ago)

three years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPPKtYmCpJ4

― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 23 December 2023 23:08 (two years ago)

Is that Scorcese documentary ever going to air?

― Expansion to Mackerel (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 24 December 2023 00:25 (two years ago)

It’s that time of year to rewatch Lola Heatherton’s LOVE SPIRIT Christmas special

― Josefa, Sunday, 24 December 2023 01:06 (two years ago)

They should have played it at Morbs’s memorial.

― The Glittering Worldbuilders (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 24 December 2023 01:19 (two years ago)

three months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMVrMHQk95s

― Sometimes It POLLS in April (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 11 April 2024 20:30 (two years ago)

Awesome! What time? They should show more. My cable box died.
― Shatterproof Glass (dymaxia), Saturday, March 19, 2005 10:28 AM (nineteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Thursdays at eight eightthirtyinnewfoundland

― m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Thursday, 11 April 2024 20:54 (two years ago)

three weeks pass...

Found out this morning that Rosemary Radcliffe, who was part of SCTV for a few years but not the TV show (she was on King of Kensington--ultra-Canadian thing), lives in St. Marys, where I am--slightly larger than Melonville.

https://i.postimg.cc/rFwXWzJD/sctv.jpg

― clemenza, Friday, 3 May 2024 15:54 (two years ago)

Eugene looking suave there

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 3 May 2024 16:22 (two years ago)

MARTIN, I REALLY THINK YOU OUGHT TO CALM DOWN, TAKE A STRESS PILL AND FINISH THE SCTV DOC

― Ippei's on a bummer now (WmC), Friday, 3 May 2024 16:49 (two years ago)

Candy looks great!

― Billion Year Polyphonic Spree (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 3 May 2024 19:58 (two years ago)

one year passes...

...back on the air on Prime, at least in Canada at the moment.

Watching one a day since they dropped on Monday. Great to have them streaming, of course, but they're not completely intact: licensing issues mean that some of the music is different (I'm told this was an issue with the old DVD releases as well) and some "problematic" sketches are cut. The s1e3 is only 15 minutes long on Prime, with a "Theatre North American" segment cut almost certainly because of a yellow face gag and maybe because of some gay stereotyping (I was able to find the sketch on YouTube)? A perennial issue at this point, I realize, but why not just put a disclaimer in front of the show and leave the episodes as is?

― cryptosicko, Wednesday, 4 March 2026 15:07 (three months ago)

and some "problematic" sketches are cut

Must have been a different thread, but exactly what I was wondering after watching all that old SNL stuff last year during the anniversary shows. I did give them credit at the time for not hiding from their past, and Tom Hanks had that one great line (paraphrase): "Remember, you loved it all, so maybe you should be cancelled." First thing that came to mind for me with regards to SCTV was Dave Thomas's Lin Ye Tang, which always steers me away from linking to their On the Waterfront Again Sammy Maudlin episode.

― clemenza, Wednesday, 4 March 2026 15:20 (three months ago)

Watched the first episode. Dispassionate observation: they left a lot of that problematic stuff in. I thought the Freud sketch was good (and weird) till they ruined it with the meta-Johnny LaRue entrance. The only other thing that stood out was Andrea Martin's hippychick over the end credits.

― clemenza, Sunday, 8 March 2026 04:56 (three months ago)

I went back to have a look at their sketch with Eugene Levy playing Neil Sedaka to see if that was problematic. It was pretty standard stuff for the time, with Candy and Flaherty telling Levy's Sedaka "You talk real high like a girl!" No outright slurs, though.

― Josefa, Sunday, 8 March 2026 12:11 (three months ago)

The shortened s1e3 episode is especially strange as the Lin Ye Tang stuff is cut, but the episodes through line--Romani (not called that here) steal everything--remains intact.

― cryptosicko, Sunday, 8 March 2026 14:11 (three months ago)

some "problematic" sketches are cut

guessing the Liberace Christmas Special will be "cancelled" so to speak

― mom jeans VS yacht rock (m coleman), Tuesday, 10 March 2026 20:23 (three months ago)

are the whole cast gonna die before we get the doc?

― congragulations (stevie), Tuesday, 10 March 2026 23:23 (three months ago)

probly

― WmC, Tuesday, 10 March 2026 23:33 (three months ago)

only Marty has to die

― Mollusk, Virginia (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 11 March 2026 00:27 (three months ago)

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