The satirical comedy sketch program SCTV inhabited a universe unto itself, a small-town TV station that broadcasted mostly second-rate programming. A contemporary of Saturday Night Live, the program won two Emmy Awards for writing, including one for an episode titled “Moral Majority,” which satirized conservative Christian groups who placed economic pressure on television sponsors to withdraw advertising from programs they objected to on moral grounds
by Pierre de Plume
“For us, art is not an end in itself, but it is an opportunity for the true perception and criticism of the times we live in.”— Dada poet Hugo Ball
If we entertain the notion, for a moment, that art mirrors contemporary society, we may find that the satirical sketch comedy series SCTV reflected —even uniquely so — the social and political upheavals of Western culture that took hold during the 1970s. This historical period underwent fundamental shifts in attitudes, for example, on social mores, marriage and sexuality. In North America, where memories of the Senate Watergate hearings and the downfall of President Nixon were fresh in people’s minds, we grew to regard our political leaders and institutions with not just cynicism but also as an absurd joke.
Overlaying these phenomena were fundamental changes in the delivery of our news and entertainment. Reporters like Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein popularized investigative journalism to a degree not seen before. Films like All the President’s Men, Network, and Harlan County, USA each highlighted in some way the dichotomies of our prosperous, free society.
For television audiences in particular, our landscape of options took a leap upward as cable and satellite TV services, along with multiple basic cable and pay networks, became widely available. Augmenting this effect was the fact that vanguards like SCTV and Saturday Night Live placed on our screens — for the first time — artistic efforts of actors and writers who had grown up watching television. This generation was the first whose views and sensibilities had been imprinted by the new and ubiquitous medium, television.
SCTV’s Comedy Roots
Neither SCTVnor its slightly older half-sibling, SNL,was the first TV program to feature satirical sketch comedy. During the 1950s, Sid Caesar’s shows (whose writers included Woody Allen) poked fun at films of the moment (From Here to Obscurity) and real-life situations. Not until 1962, however, did a satirical program emerge — England’s That Was the Week That Was — to take aim squarely at contemporary politics and social mores. Hosted by David Frost, TWTWTS, as the show was known, led to an American version that, unfortunately, was cancelled by network executives who found it to be too political to air during the 1964 presidential campaign.
By 1968, a shift in mores accommodated the arrival of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. This show, though, seemed more attuned to the “let’s party” aspect of social change than to such matters as war in Southeast Asia. Like Laugh-In, the flavor of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour focussed often on silliness while funnelling most of its sociopolitical commentary into segments in which the tone usually became more serious. Troubled by conflict and controversy, the Smothers Brothers show was cancelled.
In this climate, TV comedy returned to tamer fare such as Mayberry RFD, Here’s Lucy and Family Affair, all of whose stars had been around for two or more decades. These shows gradually gave way to more culturally relevant situation comedies that included All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Sanford and Son. One notable standout, the variety program The Carol Burnett Show, later would serve as a reference for many of SCTV’s parodies of movies, TV shows and society in general.
SCTV’s most popular ongoing segment, “Great White North,” featured Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as beer-drinking Canadian homeboys Bob and Doug McKenzie. The idea for the segments — most of them improvised — stemmed from a programming requirement from Canadian network CBC that each show have at least 2 minutes of “identifiably Canadian content.”
SCTV’s most popular ongoing segment, “Great White North,” featured Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as beer-drinking Canadian homeboys Bob and Doug McKenzie. The idea for the segments — most of them improvised — stemmed from a programming requirement from Canadian network CBC that each show have at least 2 minutes of “identifiably Canadian content.”
Birth of the SCTV Universe
One aspect of SCTV’s burgeoning cult status was the show’s unique format and premise, which can be traced to the improvisational comedy troupe Second City. Founded in Chicago in 1959, the group launched a second theater in Toronto in 1973 with Andrew Alexander as its producer. Hoping to expand to television, Alexander teamed with Bernard Sahlin, a founder of the original Second City, to create a TV series. The project’s members included Harold Ramis and Dave Thomas, both of whom went on to write material for the show as well as to perform on it.
Although details of SCTV’s gestation period remain unclear, the team formulated a central conceit and, therefore, the show’s format: SCTV would exist as its own universe, a fictitious TV station in a fictitious town named Melonville. Each show would depict a typical “broadcast day” in which a mis en scène could occur as either on-air programming or action behind the scenes. Characters could include on-air talent or off-camera personnel.
Episodes usually consisted of 6 to 8 cast members portraying caricatures of real-life luminaries such as renowned comedian Bob Hope, opera star Luciano Pavarotti, Indian politician Indira Gandhi and veteran actress Katharine Hepburn. The actors also would portray fictionalized characters resembling real-life celebrity composites. These included emotionally turbulent, drug-dependent singer/performer Lola Heatherton (Catherine O’Hara) or characters such as second-rate talk show host Bobby Bittman (Eugene Levy), smooth-talking and corrupt small-town mayor Tommy Shanks (John Candy) and New Age consciousness advocate worried about her underarm odor, Libby Wolfson (Andrea Martin).
Other recurring segments included “Mel’s Rock Pile,” a less polished variation of “American Bandstand,” and “The Days of the Week,” a soap opera spoof inhabited by such characters as a dreamy but terminally ill rock star (Rick Moranis), a wealthy but lonely socialite (Catherine O’Hara) and a duplicitous, money-hungry ex-con (Joe Flaherty).
Surprisingly, the show’s most popular recurring feature turned out to be the casually prepared segments titled “Great White North,” which featured Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas as Canadian homeboys Bob and Doug McKenzie. These sketches were conceived as a sardonic response to the CBC network’s request that episodes of its shows contain at least 2 minutes of “identifiably Canadian content.” To comply, Moranis and Thomas decided to improvise these short segments by exploiting a Canadian stereotype: dim-witted brothers dressed in outdoor winter clothing who kill time engaging in aimless conversation, swilling beer, and all the while speaking in thick Canadian accents. The duo’s popularity triggered a media sensation that led to a Bob and Doug movie spinoff, two comedy/musical albums and several TV commercials.
Catherine O’Hara is seen here as fictional singer/sex kitten Lola Heatherton, a character based on starlets Joey Heatherton and Lola Falana. O’Hara created many impersonations of such famous personalities as Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball, and TV evangelist Tammy Faye Baker. The following clip presents O’Hara as Lola in a segment titled “Way to Go, Woman” in which she not only sings but also interviews Mother Teresa (Andrea Martin). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCKH-TrMhPY&feature=youtu.be
Use of Cultural Icons for Target Practice
The SCTV writing staff continuously took maximum advantage of the show’s premise by poking fun at show business cliches and cultural tropes. For example, the character of SCTV owner and president Guy Caballero (Joe Flaherty) was presented as a shifty, gruff and sexist cheapskate in a white suit and Panama hat who sits in a wheelchair, we learn, merely to get sympathy from the audience as he peddles bootlegged cassettes of Star Wars.
One of the show’s best ongoing narratives centered on the personal tribulations and shaky career of musical entertainer Lola Heatherton, a character based on real-life starlets Joey Heatherton and Lola Falana. After a one-night stand with Caballero, Lola carries the scars of unrequited love as she feeds her self-destructive compulsions with pills and liquor. On the day of her heavily promoted live variety special (“Lola Bouncing Back to You”), Caballero finds Lola passed out in her dressing room. Just hours and a couple pots of coffee later, she melts down on camera, halts her choreographed opening number (“New York, New York”) and launches into a self-pityingly maudlin ballad (“You don’t care … you don’t love me … I might as well be dead! … AND YOU KNOW WHO I’M TALKING ABOUT MISTER GUY CABALLERO!”).
Many of SCTV’s parodies succeeded in being sharp while still maintaining lightheartedness. Those individuals who survived caricature well enough include newscasters Walter Cronkite and David Brinkley, singers Perry Como and Gordon Lightfoot, flamboyant pianist Liberace and actress Meryl Streep, the latter of whom, nonetheless, was exploded into smithereens (“blowed up real good!”) during a parody interview of her on “Farm Film Celebrity Blow-Up.” TV star Carol Burnett herself guest starred in a courtroom scene for the show’s soap opera spoof while singer Crystal Gayle accepted a rare acting role to perform in a parody of the Streisand/Kristofferson remake of “A Star Is Born.” In another sketch, singer Tony Bennett appeared as himself and later credited the gig as a boost to his then-lagging career.
There were times, however, when SCTV’s writers showed no hesitation in injecting their parodies with scathing tones. Martin Short’s impersonation of Jerry Lewis, for example (“Live on the Champs Élysées”), took on the sometimes bitter and prickly undercurrent of Lewis’s persona. Similarly, the highly regarded Bob Hope, whose reputation recently had been tarnished by his outspokenly hawkish views on US military policy, was played by Dave Thomas as a bit of an asshole.
In a cooking show segment titled “The Cruisin’ Gourmet,” Dave Thomas parodies Al Pacino in the gay-themed movie Cruising. The segment shows Thomas preparing to stuff a turkey by tenderizing it with a whip.
Novel Premise + Talent and Luck = Success
Never a ratings juggernaut, SCTV still attracted critical acclaim and a fervent core following. Launched shortly after SNL’s 1975 premiere, the Canadian-produced SCTV never attained the financial reward and status of its more urbane counterpart. The production budget for SCTV’s entire first season was $35,000, small change compared with SNL’s hefty allottment. A natural rivalry existed between the two shows not just because of their similar and shared styles but also because actors and writers for both programs were being drawn from the same source, Second City.
Regardless, key distinctions separated the two. Perhaps because of these differences, SCTV during its lifetime (6 seasons over 8 years) eventually surpassed its American counterpart in terms of artistic merit. By the early 1980s, SNL had begun to lose its satirical edge and viewership had fallen into a slump. At the same time, SCTV enjoyed widening popularity among the young and hip accompanied with increasingly positive reviews from critics. By the early 1980s, SCTV had made it to the top when the show was picked up by NBC. Perhaps a combination of factors elevated SCTV above its artistic competitor SNL:
A broader model for creative control. The actors at Second City/Toronto were accustomed to performing and improvising in a live, intimate setting. Experience in these areas helped facilitate an ability to create original material. This in turn endowed the finished product with a richer, auteur-like quality.
A premise that fostered creative output. By defining SCTV as a universe with clear confines, the writers freed themselves to focus on creative concepts within that framework. Next, by retaining the theatrical convention of the so-called “fourth wall,” where performers do not break character with the audience, the finished pieces assumed a quality of greater artistic merit.
A fictional reality that solidified the show’s identity. One aspect in particular of SCTV’s format distinguished itself. SNL employed rotating guest hosts, taped its shows live before a studio audience, and concluded each episode with cast assembled for handshakes and hugs. Similarly, SNL’s “Weekend Update” segments brought real people and situations onto the broadcast. These practices lent an air of informality and connection between the show’s performers and its audience. SCTV, on the other hand, incorporated no such forms, thus leading viewers to regard its programs as artistic endeavor — in short, all of a piece.
One episode of SCTV parodied the movie “The Godfather.” Pictured here is Eugene Levy as Floyd the Barber (reference: “The Andy Griffith Show”), a character Levy makes especially creepy when he goes off on a tangent about Opie (Ron Howard).”
Acclaim . . . and then Fadeout
All the factors described above probably contributed to SCTV’s reputation. TV critic James Wolcott referred to the program as “the only entertainment show on TV that matters. Time magazine praised it as “the funniest show on the air and maybe the best too.” The Canadian publication Maclean’s Magazine went further, characterizing SCTV as “one of the most successful pieces of television ever made.”
The heyday was short-lived, however. Despite 3 Emmy Awards and 15 nominations for its 1982 and 1983 seasons, SCTV’s popularity and ratings couldn’t surpass a certain level. When a deal to continue the series on NBC failed to succeed, the show was picked up by Cinemax. On a pay channel with only 2 million subscribers, though, SCTV couldn’t attract enough of its fans to survive. Filming of the program’s final season ended in 1984, after which the show was repackaged for syndication.
SCTV was unavailable on DVD or videotape for many years. In 2005, after decades of growing cult status, several seasons were released on DVD. YouTube features many episodes and segments of the show, and Second City features an SCTV section on its website.
Ultimately, SCTV is remembered not just for its seat-of-your-pants humor but also as the iconoclastic outsider that made it big, if only briefly. The saying, “Everybody loves an underdog,” in a way came true for SCTV. But — like many things in life that are fleeting — once it no longer was the underdog, the allure simply couldn’t last.
For Further Reference:
The Second City Network
https://www.secondcity.com/networks/sctv/
Second City on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSecondCityNetwork
Second City Guide
http://www.sctvguide.ca/index.htm
