"SCTV" (1976) "Second City TV" (original title), TV series 1976-1981

Creator:

Andrew Alexander
(more)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3

Release Date:

1 September 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Don't touch that dial! Don't touch that one either! And stop touching yourself! SCTV is on the air!

Plot:

The staff of Melonville's TV station put on programming that is unique in its own silly way.

Plot Keywords:

TV Station | Television | Parody | Sketch Comedy | Cult TV

Cast

Joe Flaherty	...	Various / ... (76 episodes, 1976-1981)
Eugene Levy	...	Various / ... (75 episodes, 1976-1981)
Andrea Martin	...	Various / ... (75 episodes, 1976-1981)
Dave Thomas	...	Various / ... (75 episodes, 1976-1981)
John Candy	...	Various / ... (50 episodes, 1976-1979)
Catherine O'Hara	...	Various / ... (50 episodes, 1976-1979)
Tony Rosato	...	Various / ... (36 episodes, 1977-1981)
Robin Duke	...	Various / ... (28 episodes, 1976-1981)
Harold Ramis	...	Various / ... (28 episodes, 1976-1978)
Shelley Long	...	Various Characters (26 episodes, 1976-1977)
Rick Moranis	...	Various / ... (25 episodes, 1980-1981)

Series Directed by
George Bloomfield		(39 episodes, 1977-1979)
Milad Bessada		(26 episodes, 1976-1977)
John Blanchard		(26 episodes, 1980-1981)

Series Writing credits
Joe Flaherty		(78 episodes, 1976-1981)
Eugene Levy		(78 episodes, 1976-1981)
Andrea Martin		(78 episodes, 1976-1981)
Dave Thomas		(78 episodes, 1976-1981)
John Candy		(52 episodes, 1976-1979)
Catherine O'Hara		(52 episodes, 1976-1979)
Harold Ramis		(48 episodes, 1976-1979)
Brian Doyle-Murray		(34 episodes, 1976-1979)
Sheldon Patinkin		(26 episodes, 1976-1978)
Dick Blasucci		(26 episodes, 1980-1981)
Robin Duke		(26 episodes, 1980-1981)
Paul Flaherty		(26 episodes, 1980-1981)
Rick Moranis		(26 episodes, 1980-1981)
Tony Rosato		(26 episodes, 1980-1981)
Michael Short		(26 episodes, 1980-1981)
Jim Fisher		(10 episodes, 1978-1979)
Jim Staahl		(10 episodes, 1978-1979)
Andrew Alexander		(1 episode, 1976)

Series Produced by
Andrew Alexander	....	executive producer / producer (78 episodes, 1976-1981)
Jack E. Rhodes	....	executive producer (78 episodes, 1976-1981)
Len Stuart	....	executive producer (78 episodes, 1976-1981)
Patrick Whitley	....	line producer / producer (52 episodes, 1978-1981)
Joe Flaherty	....	producer (50 episodes, 1976-1979)
Bernard Sahlins	....	executive producer / producer / ... (45 episodes, 1976-1979)
Scott Baker	....	executive producer (39 episodes, 1976-1978)
Dave Thomas	....	producer (39 episodes, 1977-1979)
Charles Allard	....	executive producer (39 episodes, 1978-1981)
Sheldon Patinkin	....	associate producer (26 episodes, 1976-1977)
Jerry Appleton	....	executive producer (26 episodes, 1978-1979)
Milad Bessada	....	supervising producer / producer (26 episodes, 1978-1979)
Bob Gibson	....	senior producer (26 episodes, 1980-1981)
Doug Holtby	....	executive producer (26 episodes, 1980-1981)
Alan Rucker	....	producer (26 episodes, 1980-1981)
Harold Ramis	....	associate producer (14 episodes, 1976-1977)

Series Cinematography by
Robert C. New		(unknown episodes)

Series Film Editing by
Sheldon Patinkin		(26 episodes, 1976-1977)

Series Production Design by
Scott Dobbie		(unknown episodes)

Series Set Decoration by
Clive Edwards		(unknown episodes)

Series Costume Design by
Juul Haalmeyer		(1 episode, 1981)

Series Makeup Department
Barbara Palmer	....	makeup artist (78 episodes, 1976-1981)
Robert Palmer	....	makeup artist (78 episodes, 1976-1981)
Christine Hart	....	makeup artist (52 episodes, 1978-1981)
Beverly Schechtman	....	makeup artist (52 episodes, 1978-1981)
Judi Cooper-Sealy	....	hair stylist (26 episodes, 1980-1981)
Murray Gills	....	hair stylist (unknown episodes)

Series Production Management
Marc Giacomelli	....	post-production supervisor (26 episodes, 1980-1981)

Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
John Bell	....	second unit director (1 episode, 1981)
David McAree	....	assistant director (1 episode, 1981)

Series Art Department
Laurie Dobbie	....	painter (unknown episodes)
Ed Hanna	....	set dresser (unknown episodes)

Series Sound Department
Larry Baker	....	sound (unknown episodes)
Steve Convery	....	sound mixer (unknown episodes)
Terry O'Bright	....	sound effects editor (unknown episodes)

Series Special Effects by
Warren Keillor	....	special effects (10 episodes, 1976-1980)

Series Camera and Electrical Department
Wayne Clarke	....	camera operator (unknown episodes)
Simon Dalrymple	....	camera operator (unknown episodes)
Steve Durant	....	camera operator (unknown episodes)
Ted Hart	....	camera operator (unknown episodes)
Stan Hodson	....	camera operator (unknown episodes)
Brent Holman	....	camera operator (unknown episodes)
Les Medon	....	camera operator (unknown episodes)
Norm Michaelis	....	camera operator (unknown episodes)
John Whyle	....	camera operator (unknown episodes)

Series Music Department
Russ Little	....	composer: theme music (unknown episodes)

Series Other crew
Moe Green	....	stage manager (26 episodes, 1976-1977)
Rosanne Ironstone	....	script supervisor (26 episodes, 1976-1977)
Dave Proc	....	technical coordinator (26 episodes, 1980-1981)
Jamie Paul Rock	....	floor director (26 episodes, 1980-1981)
Norm Vale	....	switcher (26 episodes, 1980-1981)

Production Companies

• Second City Entertainment
• Old Firehall Productions

Distributors

• CanWest Global Television Network (1976-1980) (Canada) (TV)
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) (1980-1984) (Canada) (TV)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1981) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Rhino Home Video (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Rhodes Productions (USA)
• Shout! Factory (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• Western International Communications Ltd. (2001) (worldwide) (TV)

Also Known As:

"Second City TV" - Canada (original title)
"Second City Revue" - Canada (English title)

Runtime:

30 min (78 episodes)

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Company:

Second City Entertainment

Trivia:

The MacKenzie Brothers sketch was originally created and included in the show as a protest against "Canadian content" governmental regulations that required a certain amount of Canadian "cultural" subjects to be included in the show. The network was demanding that the show adhere to the rules, the artists resisted and the MacKenzie Brothers resulted. Never meant to be anything more than satire, the routine became one of the most popular of the series and, ironically, was one of the most popular known Canadian acts of the period, both domestically and internationally.

Quotes:

[repeated line]
Lola Heatherton:I love you! I wanna bear your children!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: Episode #26.89" (2010)

Soundtrack:

Dance of the Hours

Different from SNL in that it's actually funny . . .

As a previous poster has said, SNL and SCTV were both comedy sketch shows, but that's where the resemblance ends. SNL far too often descended into juvenile, and sometimes even infantile, humor and its casts were way too uneven. It had the brilliant and manic John Belushi, but it also had the mediocre Garrett Morris, who really didn't do much of anything. It had the gifted Gilda Radner, who could do damn near anything, but it also had Laraine Newman, who didn't do all that much, either, and many of the cast members in its later shows really had no business being there. SNL's cast did various running characters, but, with few exceptions, each person's character wasn't really distinguishable from the actor himself. SCTV had no such problems. John Candy's Johnny LaRue, Josh Shmenge and Gil Fisher ("The Fishin' Musician") were about as different from each other and Candy himself as you could possibly get, as were Rick Moranis' Doug McKenzie and Rabbi Yitzhak Karlov, Andrea Martin's Edith Prickley and Mrs. Falbo, etc. Another big difference between the two shows was the writing. Virtually every episode of SCTV was as sharp, incisive and devastatingly funny as anything that ever came out of television; SNL on the other hand could go for weeks without having a decent show, and in fact went for several YEARS in the '80s without having any even HALFWAY decent shows. SCTV integrated all of its guest stars into the actual storyline of the episode itself, with often surprising results (musicians Dr. John, Tony Bennett and Fee Waybill of the Tubes, for example, turned out to be quite good). SNL put its guest hosts into some of the sketches--with many of them obviously reading their lines off of cue cards--and most didn't acquit themselves particularly well.

One of SCTV's main strengths was that it gave its audience credit for having the intelligence to understand what it was trying to say and do, which was something that SNL often lost sight of, especially in its later years. And how could anyone forget such brilliant pieces as "Abbott and Costello in a Turkish Prison"; "Dr. Tongue's 3-D House of Stewardesses"; the side-splitting parody of "Ocean's 11" with the monumentally untalented Vegas schlock comic Bobby Bittman and his even less talented idiot son Skip; the hapless Count Floyd of "Monster Chiller Horror Theater", who--no matter how pathetic the movie ("Tonight's film: 'Bloodsucking Monkeys from West Mifflin, Pennsylvania'!") he was showing--always stubbornly claimed, "Oooh, wasn't that scary, kids?"; "The Sammy Maudlin Show"; "Farm Film Report" ("They blowed up real good!"); the list goes on and on. Most of the sketches are so sharp, witty and clever that they don't date at all, even though they're almost 30 years old. SCTV set a high standard for sketch comedy, and so far no other show has measured up.