Cassy_Rose
SCTV is now on the air! and I LOVE IT!! I'm only 18 yrs old, so naturally, I was born after the show ended, but I've been watching reruns for quite a while now, and I have to say that I know the show pretty well. There's so much to say about it. Like most of the other posters stated, SCTV surpassed SNL in every aspect. I'm not much of a fan of SNL just because I find it's humour too simple, too forced. I like the wit. For example, this may seem to be stupid, but when you think about it, it's very ingenious: The Days of Our Lives becomes The Heys of Our Lives and everyone says "hey" all the time!! I mean, it's corny, yes, but it works! Oh, I love of the actors so much! They're so awesome at what they do! John Candy's sleazy Johnny LaRue, Joe Flaherty's equally sleazy and money-hungry Guy Caballero, Eugene Levy's funnyman Bobby "How are ya?!" Bittman, Andrea Martin's loud-mouthed, cackling Edith Prickley, Rick Moranis's super (as in the supers on his show) crazy Gerry Todd, Catherine O'Hara's spoiled, man-crazed performer, Lola "I want to bear your children! HA!haha!" Heatherton and Dave Thomas's opinionated Bill Needle. Yes, SCTV had it all, and all the actors had caliber. There are so many more characters and impersonations worth naming and remembering: Floyd Robertson, Count Floyd, Earl Camembert, Bob and Doug McKenzie, Dr. Tongue, Woody Tobias,Jr. aka Bruno, Alex Trebel, "Rockin'" Mel Slirrup, Mrs. Falbo, Big Jim McBob and Billy Sol Hurok, Yosh and Stan Shmenge, Harvey K-Tel, Lin Ye Tang, Richard Harris, Bob Hope, Rabbi Karlov, Crazy Hy, Ricardo Montalban, Don Strom, Sid Dithers, Moe Green, Ed Grimley, Jackie Rogers,Jr., Pierre Trudeau, Hugh Betcha, Alistair Cook, Larry Siegel, Merv Griffin, Sammy Maudlin, Lou Jaffe, William B. Williams, Brock Linehan, Harry (The Guy with a snake on his face), Skip Bittman, David Brinkley, Lorna Minelli, Barbra Streisand, Divine, Brian Johns, Mayor Tommy Shanks, William F. Buckley, Mother Theresa, Angus Crock, the 5 Neat Guys, Brooke Shields, Raoul Wilson, Joyce DeHalfWitt, Jack Klugman, Tex and Edna Boil, Liberace, G. Gordon Liddy, Gus Gustofferson, Al Peck... oh! there are SOOOOOO MANY!!! All of them memorable. One of my favourite skits is when Richard Harris (Dave Thomas, of course) guest stars on Mel's Rock Pile and sings a re-mix of MacArthur's Park. Actually, anything with Dave Thomas as Richard Harris is hilarious. There are so many sketches I could name, but I won't, because it would literally take me a full day, if not two. How can anyone NOT enjoy this show? I mean, if you've seen it at least once, be you Canadian or American, there had at least one sketch that made you chuckle! I am glad that it never became as popular and widely known as SNL... and that it didn't as long. For those who knew and loved SCTV, they know that it was never bad comedy and that it went out with dignity... and humour! This show is a timeless classic and I hope that it's memory will live on with the DVD box sets. I am glad to have stumbled upon this treasure... it's too bad that more people don't appreciated the comedic talent of these fine, fine actors.
MiloMindbender
I always waited anxiously for the weekend when my parents would go out with friends & I would stay up late & watch tv. We were lucky to have very good cable (despite the fewer # of channels available then today), getting the indie stations from NJ, NYC & Philly on top of the cable channels. My parents probably would have been horrified to discover what I was watching (Monty Python, The Kenny Everett Video Show, Benny Hill, SNL and eventually the 1st few years of the USA Network's Late night programming before it devolved into Gilbert Godfrey & cheezy movies).SCTV was always got top bill, the others were usually a mixed bag as far as quality was concerned (at least to a pre-teenager). As time went on, I was disappointed that SCTV faded in SNL's shadow, since SCTV was far superior. I was also disappointed to see the men of the show (John Candy, Martin Short...) go on to bigger careers in film, but the women, who had much stronger characters, only popped up on an occassional tv show.My all-time favorite skit had to have been Catherine O'hara playing Brooke Shields on The Farm Report doing her rendition of Devo's "Whip It"....I haven't ever laughed so hard at a single tv joke since (Jim & Tammy Bakker weren't intentionally funny, so they don't count). Of course there was also the skit w/ the 2 women doing a women's tv chat show while seated on pillows arranged on a sound stage, and of course 3D Horror Theater...I hope the complete series makes it to DVD.
