With that said, I loved SCTV and everything about it. With THAT said, why on earth did NBC, when they took it from the Canadians, have to add a laugh track. SCTV when syndicated was absolutely brilliant and needed no crutches. For some bizarre reason, the morons running NBC felt a need to add a laugh track. It's on the DVD. WHY? It didn't NEED one. Even idiots could understand when it was funny and didn't need prompting.
OK, I understand, TV execs are a special kind of idiot who need to be show how to use a urinal every time they have to use one, I get that. But the viewing public, as a rule, got the humor and didn't need prompting. I found the prompting insulting. But I digress.
John Candy, Joe Flaherty and, well, the whole bunch were brilliantly off beat. As the station boss, Joe Flaherty played Guy Caballero, the station boss who always used a wheelchair. He didn't need it, he just used one. He HATED PBS and in an episode where the networks were at war, he ordered a hit on PBS. When told they had already hit them, he replied, "Well, hit 'em again. I hate that egghead network!" This is just ONE of the out of this world, insane characters who populated SCTV and there were so many.
It translated well into a 'network' show in the US, but you could see there was a slight lack of edge, and of course the damn laugh track.
If you've never seen it, do yourself a favor and watch an episode or two. It'll never hurt. It can't do justice to watch only a few, but you'll be glad you did...even with that damn laugh track. PLEASE, try to find one without it.
On a side note, to the editors at IMDb, capitalization is not always yelling. Since it's impossible to emphasize things with underlining or bold type, caps is all that's left.
END...sorry $end$ repression and censorship!
OK, I understand, TV execs are a special kind of idiot who need to be show how to use a urinal every time they have to use one, I get that. But the viewing public, as a rule, got the humor and didn't need prompting. I found the prompting insulting. But I digress.
John Candy, Joe Flaherty and, well, the whole bunch were brilliantly off beat. As the station boss, Joe Flaherty played Guy Caballero, the station boss who always used a wheelchair. He didn't need it, he just used one. He HATED PBS and in an episode where the networks were at war, he ordered a hit on PBS. When told they had already hit them, he replied, "Well, hit 'em again. I hate that egghead network!" This is just ONE of the out of this world, insane characters who populated SCTV and there were so many.
It translated well into a 'network' show in the US, but you could see there was a slight lack of edge, and of course the damn laugh track.
If you've never seen it, do yourself a favor and watch an episode or two. It'll never hurt. It can't do justice to watch only a few, but you'll be glad you did...even with that damn laugh track. PLEASE, try to find one without it.
On a side note, to the editors at IMDb, capitalization is not always yelling. Since it's impossible to emphasize things with underlining or bold type, caps is all that's left.
END...sorry $end$ repression and censorship!