SCTV, Volume 1 - Network 90 (5 Disc Set)

SCTV was one of the greatest comedy shows on TV. It was, unfortunately, only offered very late night, after Saturday Night Live starting at 1 in the morning in the NYC area. As such, many are unfamiliar with the show itself though they are very familiar with the actors, almost all of whom have gone on to star in movies and tv. As would be expected from a 90 minute show, not every skit is hilarious. However, many are. Despite the dated look (this is from the 70's ) the excellent take-off's on celebrities and tv/movie shows are acutely funny with outright laughter spontaneously occurring. The cast is fabulous. The skits are sharp witted and far ahead of prime time tv. In fact the only show that comes close is the old Saturday Night Live with many SCTV alumni in their cast. This is terrific tv for those who can appreciate comedy on a high satiric level.

Growing up I recall watching SCTV every Saturday night before SNL. That is why I purchased this first volume. Positives: This boxed set contains some really funny skits with all of the actors you now see as successes in other shows. John Candy, Dave Thomas, Catherine O'Hara, Rick Moranis, Andrea Martin, Joe Flaherty, and Eugene Levy.Negatives: This DVD set took skits from the shows and sandwiched them between the SCTV logo and jingle. In some cases they play the logo two or three times which implies that they wanted to insert a skit but did not. This gets annoying after a while. Also, some of the skits are dated and therefore not very funny. But these are far and few between. If all of the skits were hysterical gems the show would have been on the air longer than three seasons.In General: I still laughed and in some cases recalled pleasant memories of Saturday nights in front of the TV growing up.That made it well worth the money.

SCTV was simply the best comedy sketch show ever aired. Its conceptual brilliance and respect for viewers' intelligence exceeded even Monty Python's Flying Circus, and the cast of its Golden Period--John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara, and Dave Thomas--was better and stronger than any cast in the history of Saturday Night Live. This 5-CD set captures the first of its glory years, and boy these sketches ARE glorious! This set has several of the long-form sketches for which SCTV was justly famous--such as Polynesiantown, Play It Again Bob, and the parody of Fantasy Island--but there are also the regular characters that brilliantly skewered all the show-biz phonies rampant in the 1980s. Mrs. Falbo, Count Floyd, Lola Heatherton, Dr. Tongue & Bruno, the McKenzie Brothers, Guy Caballero, Bobby Bittman, the 5 Neat Guys-- what a truly glittering bunch of weaselly little losers they were! The set's extras include an informative booklet and several fascinating backstage interviews with the show's stars, writers, producers and crew. There's also a hilarious panel discussion from the 1999 Aspen Comedy Festival, with Conan O'Brien interviewing several surviving members of the cast. Aside from some rough sound quality on the final disc, this CD set is an impeccable tribute to one of the greatest shows in the entire history of television.

Unlike many who have watched this set, I am a new convert to SCTV. This never aired where I lived when it was a first run show, so I had only heard of the understated Canadian brilliance that is SCTV until this set was released. Although expensive, this DVD set is one of the true gems in my collection, and I already have had my money's worth out of it.The entire cast is great (although I am not much of a John Candy fan, he is generally excellent in SCTV, particularly doing impersonations such as Alfred Hitchcock), but I think the standouts are easily the two women, Andrea Martin and Catherine O'Hara, who never fail to make me laugh. In particular the recurrent character of non-English speaking Vice President of Program Coordination Pirini Scleroso (Martin) is the single funniest feature of the set. I especially enjoy the guest editorial by Pirini when crabby manager Guy Caballero is out of the room (at one point she answers the phone with "Sell forty shares!"), and her visit to the English for beginners classroom. Martin also excels in the musical "Indira" and with O'Hara in the hilarious episode of "Monster Chiller Horror Theatre" (another recurring favorite) featuring the "Ingmar Burgman" film "Whispers of the Wolf," which is a devastatingly accurate send-up of Bergman. The other Martin bit that I prize is "Mrs. Falbo's Tiny Town," which is the most surreal children's show ever conceptualized. Eugene Levy also proves excellent in virtually every sketch: watch for him as Gino Vanelli and as the host of "Mel's Rock Pile," which features the funniest presentation of "MacArthur Park" in history. I also love Joe Flaherty as Slim Whitman, who sings with everyone from Indira Gandhi to Barbra Streisand to great comedic effect.My favorite sketches include the Guy Caballero and Pirini Scleroso dialogues, "Monster Chiller Horror Theatre" ("Doctor Tongue's 3-D House of Stewardesses" and "Whispers of the Wolf"), the Edith Prickley monologues, "The Larry Siegel Show," "The Great White North," "Farm Film Report," "Mrs. Falbo's Tiny Town," "Spray-On Socks," "High-Q," and "The Brooke Shields Show."Of course along with the winners come a few clunkers. My least favorite storyline was the "Polynesiantown" spectacle, which was never really all that funny and was extremely long. I found the "Leave It to Beaver 25th Anniversary" sketch to be boring and not especially entertaining, either. The only recurring character I disliked was that of Bobby Bittman, which is surprising because I generally like Levy so much. I just think it is repetitive and falls flat quickly.In summary, I am delighted that I have finally been introduced to SCTV. It is brilliant, far funnier than Saturday Night Live, and is now available to comedy lovers everywhere. Buy this set if you want to laugh for a long time.

Perfect!!

A great group of talented entertainers which gave SNL the idea to do much the same, but without the same level of talent.

Movi

great addition to my son's collection

Great show