SCTV, Second City Television Network Volume 3 (5 Disc Set)
by John Bell
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DVD details
Actor: Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty, John Candy, Rick MoranisDirector: John Bell
Editor: Alex Tkach
Editor: Bill Goddard
Editor: Gary L. Smith
Writer: Brian McConnachie
Writer: Tom Couch
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Unknown
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 720 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-03-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Shout Factory Theatre
DVD Reviews of SCTV, Second City Television Network Volume 3 (5 Disc Set)
DVD Review: SCTV
Summary: 5 Stars
Great stuff. These were the comedy masters. Video and sound is very good. I'm glad these are available after all these years.DVD Review: The Funniest Show Of All Time
Summary: 5 Stars
The first three volumes of SCTV are, collectively, the funniest TV stuff ever done. But then again, that is only my opinion.
I've been told I have a strange sense of humor.
(Note my nickname)
DVD Review: A dip in quality but still quite good.
Summary: 4 Stars
As I type this, I've given the 3rd NBC season a once-over and found that unlike the 2nd and 4th seasons, this one doesn't warrant watching all the way through; certainly not the "3D Stake From The Heart" episode.
I agree with most; watching this season gives you the impression that the cast was running on fumes, but there are still enough quality sketches contained herein that justify picking this up. Namely, "Chariots Of Eggs", "Pre-Teen World Telethon", "Maudlin's Eleven", "Long Distance", and "The Great White North Palace".
By the end of this season, Martin Short had joined the cast and was such a brilliant shot of adrenalin, it's unbelieveable how good he is. Check out "Mean Joe Greene Playhouse" to see what I mean.
DVD Review: Worth it for the "Battle of the PBS Stars" alone
Summary: 5 Stars
SCTV is a comedy classic. Yet despite the often brilliant satire, much of the episodes in the first two box sets fall short. Maybe it's just my own experiences talking, but I really thought SCTV came alive with this cast, and in the short run with both Martin Short and Rick Moranis at the same time.
There are some absolute classics here. For those of us who grew up on the absolute worst of television history in the 70's, with the endless variety shows and "star ensemble" "olympic" style games, and so forth, the sketches were brilliant satire. Who could forget Levy doing Howard Cosell in the "Battle of the PBS Stars" episode, especially the boxing match between Julia Childs and Mister Rogers. I am crying with laughter. The "Raiders of the Lost Ark" silly take off sketch of "Soapy Maxwell" where Moranis exists the show with lines like "I'll shoot you so full of holes you will look like the Cub's infield" it is funny stuff indeed.
The show really went to town on the "Great White North" surprise popularity. The episode where Bob and Doug get their own variety special will leave you in stitches.
This is SCTV at its best in my opinion. The best line up and some of the best skits. If you have never seen the show, start with this set, not the first two. Highly recommended.
DVD Review: Very Funny, Mostly
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Description of SCTV, Second City Television Network Volume 3 (5 Disc Set)
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.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
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