The New Show

Though it popped up in other places and other shows, 1 sketch from this show is the famous Steve Martin "Billie Jean" video parody of Michael Jackson's big hit. Beyond that, I recall a skit that mocked Orwell's 1984 (an old book that appropriately was getting renewed media attention that year) torture chamber scene where people were asked what they were afraid of and they were tortured with it. The example I remember was when the shackled actors said "spiders," and people dressed in huge muppet-like spider outfits attacked them. Contrary to other reviews, these 2 skits were funny at the time. Of course, I was 10 years old.

and SNL was HORRIBLE all season, fumbling, bumbling, badly written. When Lorne was shown the door, they handed producing duties to the woman who had arranged for the bands that performed on the show. I feel sorry for the cast members who replaced the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. I'm sure they were very talented. What happened, as I understand it, was that Al Franken played a little prank on the president of NBC, something involving a limousine. In the telling, it's funny, until you realize how many lives it messed up (including mine--I had to sit through a year of SNL without Lorne). Al was let go, Lorne was let go. Word to the wise: Don't mess with the limo of the president of NBC. So Lorne did this little thing (he's done a lot of little things--like Kids in the Hall) that was occasionally hilarious, but seemed to have no budget and lacked the thrust of SNL (it was too short, for one thing). I loved it when it was on, missed it when it went away. Some people though it was a waste, but really there was nothing like it on television at the time. Anyone who thinks it's easy to make skit comedy funny should sit through the entire run of FRIDAYS on ABC and Kelsey Grammar Presents the Sketch Show.

I remember a skit where buck henry and a female (playing his wife) were driving along a deserted road. Buck Henry notices something odd, a waterfall or something relatively common. He tells his wife to take a picture, but the wife forgot the camera. As he is yelling at her because of this, they drive by increasingly odd items. Bigfoot first, and then a unicorn?, the loch ness monster, and finally aliens. The aliens even invite them out of the car to pose for a picture, but once again, the wife has forgotten to pack the camera. Hard to remember details, but funny stuff even still. Thanks to everyone else for bringing back some long lost memories. A DVD release would be much appreciated.

I only remember a couple of episodes of this. The best skit I saw was the Steve Martin "Billie Jean" parody (which I could not find under the Steve Martin Television Appearances section on IMDB).

Another skit that stands out was the "Cartoon Bloopers" skit. The idea was so original and ridiculous at that time, although the idea has been somewhat over-used in recent years. Like, "The Jetsons", George is supposed to enter a room, and the space-age door slides up half way and gets stuck, and you can hear him laughing on the other side of the door. Great stuff!

Would love to see a "Best Of" DVD for this show!

8 out of 10 stars.

I remember seeing this short-lived series on Friday nights on NBC just after "The Master". It was sketch comedy featuring a lot of alumni from "Saturday Night Live" and SCTV. I used to watch it weekly, however 20 years later, I can only recall some gags with any clarity.

Steve Martin and (I believe) Catherine O'Hara appeared in one cafe setting where the extras in the table behind them keep on interrupting their performance. For a breath or two, Catherine isn't saying anything- one of the people in behind turn around to remind her of her next line. She retorts, "I was making a dramatic pause!"

Other funny bits include a 1984 parody where a face on a jumbotron is telling people what dance moves they should make in a discotheque (and being in a dance club listening to music from the year 1984 was truly an Orwellian nightmare). John Candy had a skit as a food repairman- he tells one potential client of the long hours and labour costs that would be involved in having to put all the salt back onto his pretzels! Plus, I remember a funny ripoff of the movie WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (still a cable favourite in those days).

I had long written off "Saturday Night Live" as having anything of worth, so it was a delight seeing famous alumni from that show, and Canada's own SCTV (which NBC had aired and then canceled), working together with material worthy of their talents. Too bad it didn't last long. I'd love to see if it still held up after all these years. DVD, please?