SCTV, Volume 2 (5 Disc Set)
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Movie Reviews of SCTV, Volume 2 (5 Disc Set)
Movie Review: "You're giving us nothing but borsch!"
Summary: 5 Stars
Having just received my copy of season 4 the previous month, and this set today, I immediately set out to write this review. I speak as a hardcore fan but also as a severe critic of comedy when I say that this is as close to perfection as comedy has ever got.
The skits are nothing if not genius pulled out of thin air--"The Godfather" (also starring John Marley who reprises his roll as 'Woltz' [albeit re-named]}, "Money Talks", "The Fishin' Musician w/ The Plasmatics", "The Christmas Show", "3D House Of Beef".... this is really the tip of the iceberg.
Perhaps the most brilliant of the wraparounds is here in the second NBC set--"The Russian Show"--an amazingly tight parody of low-rent Soviet production values on what's already a cheap network (dig the new 'Soviet Minicam').
The extras aren't bad; 'SCTV Remembers' with Joe and Eugene includes portions of a sketch from the earlier Canadian shows with Harold Ramis ("Madame Blitzman"), but is mostly a bit of fluff.
The commentary done by Andrea and Catherine on the "Christmas Show" is a lot of fun--note to Shout (or whoever will be taking care of the remaining seasons); more of these talented ladies, please.
SNL, Fawlty Towers, or SCTV; whatever your personal preference, this is a must-own set. Make your own Christmas a hell of a lot brighter and chuck this in your shopping cart.
Movie Review: Some Very Funny Young Comic Actors
Summary: 5 Stars
Once again I enjoyed the whimsy, the silliness, Eugene Levy's and Andrea Martin's strong characters, John Candy's incredible metamorphoses, Catherine O'Hara's dead pan goofiness. It is, I think, fresher and funnier than SNL has been for years.
I am still waiting for two episodes to be released:
One in which John Candy portrays Divine as the guest star in the Mellonville summer theater's production of Peter Pan. I still wonder how he did it.
The other is the classic parody of "The Towering Inferno", the Charlton Heston disaster film in which a lot of very important rich people are trapped in posh restaurant atop a burning office tower in San Francisco. They are there to attend the grand opening of the building, designed by architect Heston, who runs around with with blueprints trying to find an escape route. In the SCTV version, a fire breaks out in the cocktail lounge atop the new SCTV mile-high television antennae, filled with the elite of Mellonville, which is already swaying quite a bit in the wind when the fire breaks out. When the little Mellonville fire truck arrives down below, the fire chief (John Candy) stands scratching his head as dummies start plopping around him. Plop. "Ooooh! Plop. "Oooooh!" It is of course a send-up of the phony Hollywood film and phony emotion.
Movie Review: It Doesn't Get Much Better
Summary: 5 Stars
This boxed set of SCTV episodes is an absolute classic and a must-buy for everybody.
Seeing Eugene Levy's "Perry Como: Still Alive" promo is worth the price of the set alone. I thought it was hysterical when I saw it originally in the 1980s, and it still makes me laugh today.
There's also the brilliant switch on "The Jazz Singer" in which soul/jazz singer Al Jarreau wants to be a Jewish cantor instead of an R&B star, much to the distress of his father, played by Eugene Levy's hysterical short Jewish character, Sid Dithers, who sports cornrows for the duration of the sketch.
Then there's Catherine O'Hara's Lola Heatherton interviewing Andrea Martin's Mother Theresa. If Ms. O'Hara's constantly calling Mother Theresa "Mommy" doesn't make you laugh, then Ms. O'Hara's singing Steve Miller's song "The Joker" to her will.
I have to mention another sketch that's on these disks. It's a promo for a 1970s-like action TV show entitled "Fish Police" that's so dumb and silly, it's unforgettable. The ironic thing about the sketch is that 11 years later, there was actually an animated series entitled "Fish Police"--and it too was dumb and silly.
Movie Review: Rather Incredible
Summary: 5 Stars
That amazing cast that we saw in Cycle 1 are all back, but now the writing staff has their act together as a unit and the show is cranking out good, solid, structured satire to go with the wonderful impressions and the ever-present surrealism. These were the most even, most laugh-packed shows and also the most incredible ones, pound for pound.
When this hits a peak, the highest points are unlike anyone else's comedy, and really incredible - Floyd the Barber asking Godfather Cabellero for a favor, Bill Needle trashing Libby Wolfson's play on-air, the Russian television parodies ... the level of imagination is so high. It's a peak in modern comedy, for sure. The show was always great in places, but at this point it was at its greatest and most consistently funny.
Movie Review: Great comedy material
Summary: 5 Stars
Early Saturday Night Live seemed to rely on drug addled humor and the force of the personalities (Belushi, etc.) rather than the writing. I found most of it obvious and only mildly amusing. SCTV had great scripts, was not limited to live sketches, and drew on a wealth of knowledge about pop culture - both good and bad. SCTV had a far better group of actors - these guys and gals could do takes on almost any celebrity. Years later, the early Saturday Night Live shows seem juvenile and forced. SCTV has some dated material (because it was topical at times) but the sketches are loony enough and the characterizations are wild enough to still provoke laughs. Excellent set.