SCTV Network 90

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.