Product Description

This volume offers nine 90 minute shows from the fourth season to feed the demand for more SCTV. Broadcast on NBC in 1982, these episodes introduce new cast member Martin Short and Chronicle the height of success for characters Bob & Doug. It is here where the Shmenge Brothers (John Candy and Eugene Levy) make their first appearance and the Great White North gets the special Treatment in the "Great White North Palace" featuring Tony Bennett. Celebrities Bill Murray and Carl Perkins join the fray and musical guest Bennett, Jimmy Buffett and Hall And Oates offer classic performances.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5097 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-03-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 720 minutes

Amazon.com
The third cycle of SCTV's "Network 90" incarnation begs the question: Would success spoil SCTV? By this time, this Canadian cult favorite was flirting with mainstream success, with an Emmy Award for writing to its credit and nation-wide "Hoser-mania" triggered by the surprise breakout success of "The Great White North" segments featuring Bob and Doug McKenzie. But rather than sell out, SCTV stayed loyal to its smart muse. The first episode addresses the McKenzie phenomenon with "The Great White North Palace," the inevitable (and hilariously) ill-fated exploitation of the touque-wearing brothers. And, as Tony Bennett himself serenades the boys, "The Best Is Yet to Come." This batch of nine episodes includes brilliantly conceived sketches that deliriously push cross-parody boundaries. Taking its cue from Steven Spielberg's enhancement of Close Encounters, SCTV offers its own "Special Edition" of "The Merv Griffin Show," an old school talk show which somehow ends up in outer space with George Plimpton taking on George Lucas in an Atari vs. Intellivision video game battle (how '80s can you get?).

SCTV was at its best when skewering show business and television convention, as witness the lavish "People's Global Golden Choice Awards" (the Five Neat Guys' medley of faux motion-picture theme songs anticipates Billy Crystal's Oscar-night showstopper), and "The Battle of the PBS Stars," which pits Julia Child against Mr. Rogers in the boxing ring. This cycle also introduced the pitch-perfect soap-opera parody, "The Days of the Week" (former Second City member and Saturday Night Live superstar Bill Murray brings his considerable cachet to one installment), as well as the polka meisters, the Schmenge brothers (a classic sketch marred somewhat by the absence of "Stairway to Heaven," apparently due to rights issues).

Martin Short, momentously joins the seamless ensemble, and makes an instant impression, with such masterful bits as his devastating "Jerry Lewis Live on the Champs Elysees." Throughout, even when a sketch falls flat ("The Pre-Teen World Telethon"), the cast's commitment to character is exhilarating to watch. SCTV fans who have long suffered the show's intrusive laugh track will want to check out the bonus feature on disc 5, a 1997 reunion of the surviving cast at the Museum of Television & Radio. Rick Moranis reveals that the technician responsible was--no joke--a moonlighting chicken farmer who didn't get the jokes and was simply looking for lulls in which to place the canned laughs. Not even SCTV's brilliant writing staff could have made that up! --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

The People's Global Golden Choice Award-winning show
Another great box from Shout! Entertainment. Some excellent skits are contained within. Specifically:
* The Pre-Teen World telethon (with Rick, Eugene, and John as the pre-teen band The Recess Monkeys doing a cover of Chiliwack's "My Girl")
* The first Schmenge Bros. sketch (including commercials for Schmenge Travel and Schmenge Records)
* "Chariots of Eggs" with Hall & Oates.
* The first Al "No Song and Dance Here" Peck Used Cars ad
* The People's Global Golden Choice Awards
* "The Days of the Week" soap, in six parts. ("Didn't you have amnesia?" "Um...maybe. I don't remember.")
* The Battle of the PBS stars

If you've read Dave Thomas' book, watching the last 3 or 4 of these shows will remind you of how burned out he said he was, and it shows in a few pieces. (e.g. "Charlie's Kitchen.")..but the addition of Martin Short to the cast gave the show a great shot in the arm, and this box set contains the only three shows where Short, Moranis, Thomas, and O'Hara are all together.
Martin Short isn't utilized as much as he became later in the run of the show, but he does shine in "Jerry Lewis Live On the Champs-Elysees"

Overall, the production values are at their best here. The makeup, costumes, sets and camera work are much improved in this cycle.

The DVDs have the same great navigation as Vol. 2, with titles to the shows, and chapter stops on the sketches. I even found an easter egg on disc 3, which is the first I've found on any of the volumes (silent home movies from backstage at Edmonton.)

Two new commentaries: one from Joe Flaherty with Paul Flaherty and Dick Blasucci (not very entertaining, although they allege that Eugene Levy is a billionaire after making "New York Minute" with the Olsen Twins). Another from writers Dick Blasucci and Mike Short (more informative and less rambling than the other one.)

The bonus features
* SCTV -The Producers. Not as entertaining nor as informative as I would have imagined.
* That's Life w/ John Candy - a "PM Magazine"-type segment, showing John Candy at home. Short and sweet.
* SCTV Remembers, Pt 3 - Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short are very entertaining in this 20 minute segment.
* John Candy photo gallery - nice photos from the sets taken by his wife.
* SCTV at the Museum of TV & Radio - very nice segment. I wish it was longer than an hour. Rick Moranis was among the cast members at this event, and it is the first "extra" on any of the volumes to include is recollections.
* The booklet includes a nice little intro by Jennifer Candy (John's daughter) and the script to the Jerry Lewis sketch.

If you have the first two volumes, you won't be disappointed with Vol. 3. Good stuff.

(note: I have one beef with Vol. 3. The packaging is different: Vol. 3's DVDs overlap to save space....This makes the width of the box set about 1/16th of an inch narrower than the other two, which is nice - but the overlapping DVDs are a pain. - You need to remove Disc 2 to get to Disc 1.)

Remember - The SC Stands For Second City!
After decades in legal limbo, the classic SCTV episodes are finally available to the public on an ever-growing assortment of DVD box sets. This third volume documents the various changes that occurred over a crucial ten-month period in 1982. The most obvious change was the arrival of Martin Short, which coincided with the departure of Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas and Catherine O'Hara. A less noticable change was the gradual disappearance of the laugh tracks; this was a subtle indication that the cast was becoming more attentive to style and craft.
During a ten-month period in 1982, only nine original episodes were aired, and that's a lot of reruns. The writers were simply not prolific enough to satisfy the demand for more high-quality material. In addition, the cast now seemed reluctant to indulge in physical humor, preferring the quiet character-driven comedy that was Second City's trademark. The only time you saw an energetic performance was when they were making fun of energetic performers, such as Eugene Levy's manic impression of Borscht Belt comic Jack Carter, Martin Short's brutal take on Jerry Lewis, or Andrea Martin's blaring imitation of Ethel Merman's singing voice.
The bonus features in this box set include a CD of live sketches and songs from the Second City archives (now the property of Sony) with narration from Second City alum Robert Klein. The sound quality varies from track to track, but it's still fascinating listening for comedy historians. Fans may be surprised to learn that Martin Short and Catherine O'Hara only worked together in a handful of episodes; this box set includes a hilarious new interview where the two crack each other up with impromptu impressions.
The last episode in this box set features Rick Moranis' swan song for SCTV; his "Soapy Maxwell" piece ends with him walking off the set after an awkward pause because the scene has no ending. Dave Thomas as Bill Needle exits sentimentally, Jimmy Durante-style, after announcing his retirement from TV. Catherine O'Hara would return for guest appearances along with Thomas, but she chose not to make a grand farewell in this final episode. Her performance in "Love Slaves Of The Southwest" is a fascinating character study.
Technical note: three major edits have been made because of publishing rights issues. A John Belushi farewell tribute has been deleted from the "Great White Palace" episode, Rick Moranis' polka version of "Stairway To Heaven" has been awkwardly edited from the "Happy Wanderers" piece, and Bill Murray's scene from "Days Of The Week" no longer uses "Mrs. Robinson" as its theme. Despite these deletions, I'm still recommending this box set as high-class entertainment - just don't throw out your old videotape copies yet.

Very Funny, Mostly
The "Stairways To Heaven" sketch that has been cut for music rights issues is a hilarious sketch. Boo to Led Zeppelin or their management for not letting it be seen.

On the plus side, the bonus CD of Second City stage material is great - funny and smart.

The show was becoming more refined in this "cycle", and gentler. Two performers whose manic energy had always been an asset, Dave Thomas and Catherine O'Hara, were soon to depart along with Rick Moranis. They each do good work on here, but less of it and Thomas and Moranis do write a couple of long, insipid sketches near the end that appear to be tryouts for writing bad Hollywood movies. And a lot of other mediocre stuff ("Shake and Bake" for example, is pretty sad. These guys had been so brilliant in seasons/cycles past).

Personally I prefer the previous cycles. But when the good gags came here, they were pretty amazing. Eugene Levy's "The Days of the Week" pieces are a highlight of nearly every episode, and great. Levy's Howard Cosell imitation, seen here in "The Battle of the PBS Stars", will bring tears to your eyes. "I Was A Teenage Communist" is perfection in brainy satire.

Like every other season or cycle of SCTV, there is some great, amazing stuff on here.