Product Description

SCTV's best half-hour episodes from 1978 - 1980 are showcased in this 3-DVD collection. From its humble beginnings in 1976, SCTV transformed from a half-hour comedy airing monthly in Canada on the Global Television Network to a widely embraced series that, by the third season, was airing weekly on the CBC and syndicated in the U.S.

Guy Caballero and Edith Prickley were born in the early years. The McKenzie Brothers started here. Earl Camembert, Floyd Robertson, Johnny LaRue, Sammy Maudlin and Bobby Bittman—characters destined to become household names—were first beamed into consciousness here.

Starring: John Candy, Robin Duke, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara, Tony Rosato and Dave Thomas

Special Features Include:

Commentaries by Robin Duke, Joe Flaherty and executive producer Andrew Alexander

The featurette "Looking Back With Andrea Martin,"

CBC news magazine segment "The McKenzie Brothers - Take Off, Eh"

Examining the impact The Great White North had on Canada

"Andrew Alexander Answers Fan Mail."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13882 in DVD
• Brand: Uni
• Released on: 2006-10-24
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: .60 pounds
• Running time: 415 minutes

Amazon.com
Even the worst of SCTV would be superior to much of what passes for contemporary sketch comedy. This three-disc set collects 15 of the now-legendary 30-minute syndicated episodes from 1978-80 that initially formed the bedrock of SCTV's Network 90 incarnation (now available in its entirety on DVD). There are but three episodes from season 2, which feature SCTV's most popularly known ensemble: John Candy, Joe Flahrety, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara, and Dave Thomas. Arguably the best of these is "On the Waterfront Again," with Levy's old school and out of touch comedian Bobby Bittman and O'Hara's B-list entertainer Lola Heatherton appearing on "The Sammy Maudlin Show" to promote their hopeless remake of the Brando classic. The bulk of this collection hails from season 3, which lamentably saw the departure of Candy and O'Hara, but also the auspicious arrival of Rick Moranis. Also joining the cast were the unsung Tony Rosato (who does a wicked Lou Costello in "Midnight Express Special") and Robin Duke. They would later make the jump to Saturday Night Live, which gets an upstart thumping in the episode, "Thursday Night Live." One of the season's running gags is a series of promos for Taxi Driver, recast with Woody Allen, Dick Cavett, Gregory Peck, and even Bob Hope ("You talkin' to me? Nobody talks to me that way. I didn't let Darryl Zanuck talk to me that way."). Thomas's definitive Hope also pops up to upstage Bittman on "The Sammy Maudlin Show" to promote "I Owe Peking 2000 Dollars," and alongside Moranis' uncanny Woody Allen in the masterpiece, "Play It Again, Bob." Thomas and Moranis make their momentous first appearances throughout this season as bickering, beer-swilling brothers Doug and Bob McKenzie, SCTV's breakout characters. "The Great White North" (a.k.a. "Kanadian Korner"), their sublimely silly improved segments, introduced such Canadian patois as "Take off," "Hoser," and "Beauty, eh?" into the pop culture lexicon.

SCTV mastered the art of cross parody. "My Factory, My Self," one of Martin's finest half hours, somehow combines An Unmarried Woman, Coming Home, Norma Rae, Kramer vs. Kramer, and The China Syndrome. It's unfortunate that The Early Years represented in this collection do not extend to the first season (Harold Ramis fans, arise!). But these gems are dazzling in their--to quote the hilarious "The Trial of Oscar Wilde" sketch--"sparkling wit and unbelievable intelligence." Some of the references are dated (anyone remember gossip columnist Rona Barrett, transformed here into sportscaster Ronny Barrett?). But we agree with SCTV station manager Guy Caballero. This is "the hippest comedy you'll ever see." --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

Wait on the real thing!
The people that released this DVD make me want to throw my DVD player out my window (my big screen TV is too heavy to lift) and land it on their heads. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

Any true fan of SCTV is willing to wait as long as it takes to get all of the original series INCLUDING Harold Ramis in chronological order the way they SHOULD be released.

I bought all of the previous 90-minute volumes, but until you people release this fabulous series the right way, you WILL NOT get any more of my money, you HOSERS!

Good but not great
First of all, the cover of this set is misleading because it lists John Candy and Catherine O'Hara as though they were on equal footing with the rest of the cast. But if you're a big fan of either, you'll be disappointed because there's hardly ANY of their material on these disks. Tony Rosato and Robin Duke are funny. So was Shemp Howard. But we all know how we feel about those Shemp episodes! Not quite what we paid the admission price for.

Secondly, as others have pointed out, this is a random selection of the early half-hour shows, with some overlap of later "best of" shows which are already out on DVD. And not one bit of Harold Ramis. (Some ads for this set even mention Martin Short, who was nowhere near this project!)

But thirdly, this still is a very, very funny set. If you love SCTV, you will laugh your way through these discs, with lots of Bob & Doug, Count Floyd, and movie parodies such as Taxi Driver as done by Dick Cavett, etc. This may be all we ever get of the early years, so if you're a fan, grab them while you can. What's next? SCTV...the Cinemax years??

No Harold Ramis???
How the producers of this set could leave off the star of the show, is beyond fathomable. Any true fan of SCTV knows that the early years, the half hour shows, were the best. When it moved to NBC, it lost it's edginess and never was quite the same. The star that made those early years so great was Ha-Harold Ramis. C'mon! Officer Friendly? Moe Green? It's a crying shame. They wonder why sales tailed off for the later DVD's, and they do something as dumb as this. Sad. Why don't they ask the FANS what they want?