"Second City TV" (1976) TV series 1976-1981

Creator:

Andrew Alexander

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:

Second City | Satire | Spoof | Actor Playing Multiple Roles | Number In Title

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)

Also Known As:

SCTV (Canada: English title) (new title) (USA)
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:

Old Firehall Productions

Trivia:

The names of the SCTV News anchormen, Earl Camembert (played by Eugene Levy) and Floyd Robertson (Joe Flaherty), are derived from broadcasters Earl Cameron and Lloyd Robertson who appeared on CBC Television's nightly news broadcast '"National, The" (1970)' in the 1970's.

Quotes:

Station Manager Harold Ramis: This is Harold Ramis speaking for the management of Second City Television. SCTV recognizes its responsibility to the community, and condemns the excessive use of explicit sexual material in television today. We do, however, love violence, so parental discretion _is_ advised in viewing the following program...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Spin off "The Animated Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie" (2003)

Soundtrack:

Dance of the Hours

Coo roo coo coo coo coo coo coo

All of the user comments are great but they leave out some of the best contributions from SCTV - The McKenzie Brothers and the Redneck Movie Critics.

From the beginning of the opening credits where it was announced that "SCTV is on the air" followed by t.v. sets being thrown out of windows to crash on the sidewalks below, the laughs ensued.

I understand that Canadian Television had an extra two minutes more than U.S. television, so they asked Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis to come up with an extra two minutes of material that would air on Canadian Television. Their contribution? The Mackenzie Brothers, eh? It was all ad-lib. The Great White North sketch was eventually added to the American version.

Each week would be a different topic - "This week, our topic is how to stuff a mouse in a beer bottle, eh?" "Take off, eh?" "No, you take off, you hoser." "How do you like my new toque (rhymes with kook), eh?" "It's a beauty way to go, eh?" These guys were absolutely hilarious! They had the entire country doing Canadian-speak," eh?

The other guys I loved were the Red-neck movie reviewers. Dressed like Elmer Fudd on a wabbit-hunt, Joe Flaherty and John Candy rated movies based on whether they "blowed 'em up real good," or not. You guessed it - if the movie "blowed 'em up real good" (followed by lots of guffaws and yuks), it was a good movie. If there were no car crashes or explosions, well, it was a bad movie.

This was an extremely clever show and launched the careers of some powerful comic geniuses (Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara included among those already mentioned). It's definitely worth the late-night t.v. watch on T.V. Land.