Second City Television, commonly shortened to SCTV and later known as SCTV Network 90 (the NBC version) and SCTV Channel (the Cinemax version), is a Canadian television sketch comedy show that ran intermittently between 1976 and 1984 about a fictional television station. It was created as an offshoot of Toronto's Second City troupe. It moved to American television, where it aired on NBC from 1981 to 1983.
Premise The show's premise is the broadcast day of a fictitious TV station (later network) in the town of Melonville. Melonville's location is left unspecified; the earliest episodes imply it is in Canada, but most later episodes place it in the U.S.
A typical episode of SCTV presents a compendium of programming seen on the station throughout its broadcast day. A given episode could contain SCTV news broadcasts, sitcoms, dramas, movies, talk shows, children's shows, advertising send-ups hawking fictitious products, and game shows. Several "shows" are seen regularly on SCTV, including SCTV News; soap opera The Days of the Week; late-night movie features Monster Chiller Horror Theater and Dialing For Dollars; and Great White North (a public access show centered around two Canadian 'hosers'), among others. Many other SCTV shows are seen only once, such as the game show Shoot at the Stars, in which celebrities are literally shot at like shooting gallery targets, or full-blown movie spoofs such as Play It Again, Bob, in which Woody Allen (Rick Moranis) tries to get Bob Hope (Dave Thomas) to star in his next film. Episodes also feature a range of SCTV-produced promotions (for imaginary future shows) and commercials, such as spots for "Al Peck's Used Fruit" or "Shower in a Briefcase", or a public service announcement that helpfully describes "Seven Signs You May Already Be Dead".
Also seen fairly frequently, particularly in later episodes, are behind-the-scenes plots focusing on life at the station/network. These often feature Guy Caballero (Joe Flaherty), SCTV's cheap, tyrannical owner and president who, despite being perfectly ambulatory, uses a wheelchair to earn "respect" (i.e., sympathy) from employees and viewers. Also seen regularly are weaselly, sweating station manager Maurice "Moe" Green (Harold Ramis), succeeded in the position by flamboyant, leopard-skin clad, foul-mouthed Edith Prickley (Andrea Martin); vain variety star Johnny LaRue (John Candy); washed-up entertainers such as singer Lola Heatherton (Catherine O'Hara) and comedian Bobby Bittman (Eugene Levy); news anchors Floyd Robertson (Flaherty) and Earl Camembert (Levy), talk-show host Sammy Maudlin (Flaherty), cult-stardom-destined and beer-addled brothers Bob and Doug McKenzie (Moranis and Thomas), and many others.
The small cast, typically six to eight members at any given time, play a wide variety of other station roles ranging from program hosts to commercial spokespersons. They also impersonate numerous popular celebrities appearing on the station's programming.
Cast Actor Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 John Candy colspan="2" colspan="2" Joe Flaherty colspan="6" Eugene Levy colspan="6" Andrea Martin colspan="6" Catherine O'Hara colspan="2" colspan="2" Harold Ramis colspan="2" colspan="2" Dave Thomas colspan="4" ** Robin Duke colspan="2" colspan="3" Rick Moranis colspan="2" colspan="2" ** Tony Rosato colspan="2" colspan="3" Martin Short colspan="3" * colspan="2"
* Only starred in and was credited for the final episode. ** Only starred in and was credited for the first two episodes.
Main These are the show's main cast and recurring characters they played:
John Candy as Johnny LaRue/Dr. Tongue/William B. Williams/Billy Sol Hurok/TommyShanks/Gil Fisher/Yosh Shmenge/Harry/Steve Roman/Mr. Messenger/Mr. Mambo/Doctor Braino/Boris Burgess/Paul Fistinyourface/Dan Ellsmire/Stephan Seely/Dr. William Wainwright/Orson Welles/Luciano Pavarotti/Divine/Curly Howard/Richard Burton/Julia Child/Darryl Sittler/Tip O'Neil/Herve Villechaize/Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder/Darren Peel (seasons 1–2, 4–5, guest season 5) Joe Flaherty as Floyd Robertson aka Count Floyd/Guy Caballero/Sammy Maudlin/Big Jim McBob/Vic Hedges/Alki Stereopolis/Norman Gorman/Hugh Betcha/Duard Weese/Arthur Andrew-Leggett/Phillip Marks/Dick Bedlow/Rocco/Slade Cantrell/Gregory Peck/Peter O'Toole/Kirk Douglas/Charlton Heston/Bing Crosby/William F. Buckley/Geraldo Rivera/Charles Bronson/Alan Alda/Gene Siskel/Richard Nixon/Jack Klugman/Slim Whitman/Larry Fine/Salvador Dalí Eugene Levy as Earl Camembert/Gus Gustofferson/Bobby Bittman/Woody Tobias Jr./Mel Slirrup/Sid Dithers/Brian Johns/Stan Shmenge/Joel Weiss/Al Peck/Alex Trebel/Dr. Rawl Withers/Raoul Wilson/Lou Jaffe/Murray Shulman/Max Lansky/Phil the Garment King/Stan Kanter/Crazy Hy/Paul Rey/Don Mills/Dougall Currie/Dr. Elliot Sabian/Henry Kissinger/Ricardo Montalban/Floyd the Barber/Jack Carter/Milton Berle/Gene Shalit/Howard Cosell/Ralph Young Andrea Martin as Edith Prickely/Perini Scleroso/Edna Boil/Dr. Cheryl Kinsey/Libby Wolfson/Yolanda Devillbis/Mrs. Falbo/Dutch Leonard/Big Momma/Melba the Disco Queen/Cassie Mackerel/Kathy Tudor/Tawny Beaver/Blanche Ray Kellogg/Sondra Wicks/Remy Martin/Maggie Butterfield/Mojo/May Madlock/Barbra Streisand/Lorna Minelli/Indira Gandhi/Mother Theresa/Joyce Dewitt/Arlene Francis/Sophia Loren/Ethel Merman/Marsha Mason/Charo Catherine O'Hara as Lola Heatherton/Maureen Wallace/Sue Bopper Simpson/Dusty Towne/Trish Nutly/Nikki/Phyllis Gumble/Sister Mary Innocent/Katherine Timber/Alexis Shannon/Sue Ellen/Violet McKay/Betty Wilson/Katharine Hepburn/Elizabth Taylor/Brooke Shields/Morgan Fairchild/Rona Barrett (season 1–2, 4–5, recurring season 6) Harold Ramis as Moe Green/Swami Banananda (season 1, recurring season 2, guest season 5) Dave Thomas as Doug McKenzie/Bill Needle/Angus Crock/Lin Ye Tang/Tex Boil/Harvey K-Tel/Fred Scutz/Tim Ishimuni/Keith Hampshire/Ernest Kirsch/Mel McElroy/Ted Gordon/Bob Wilson/William Morris/Captain Combat/Zach Harrington/Bob Hope/Walter Cronkite/Richard Harris/DeForest Kelly/G. Gordon Liddy/Liberace/Michael Caine/Gerry Brown/Roger Ebert/Neil Simon/John Ritter/Colonel Sanders (seasons 1–4, first two episodes of season 5, recurring season 6) Robin Duke as Molly Earle/Shelley Winters (season 3) Rick Moranis Bob McKenzie/Gerry Todd/Skip Bittman/Carl Scutz/Rabbi Karlov/Mr. Wilcox/Larry Siegel/Tom Monroe/Linsk Minyk/Clay Collins/David Brinkley/Woody Allen/Merv Griffin/George Carlin/Dick Cavett/Al Waxman/Michael McDonald/Brent Musburger/Teri Shields (seasons 3–4, first two episodes of season 5) Tony Rosato as Marcello Sebastiano/Chick Monk/Lou Costello/Tony Orlando/Ella Fitzgerald (season 3) Martin Short as Ed Grimley/Jackie Rogers Jr./Brock Linehan/Irving Cohen/Bradley P. Allen/Troy Soren/Jackie Rogers Sr./Rusty Van Reddick/Lawrence Orbach/Lional Napier-Humphries/Billy McKay/Cheaplaffs Johnson/Jerry Lewis/Pierre Trudeau/David Steinberg/The Kid from Deliverance/Dustin Hoffman/Montgomery Clift/Tony Sandler/Howie Soozloff/Fred Rogers (featuring last episode of season 4, main cast seasons 5–6)
Recurring John Stocker as Announcer [V.O.] (seasons 2–6) Donald Cowper as Various (season 1) Jayne Eastwood as Various (seasons 1, 5–6) Jeff Lumby as Various (seasons 2–3) Ron James as Various (seasons 2–6) Paul Flaherty as Wally Hung/Various (seasons 3–6) Dick Blasucci as Various (seasons 3–5) Juul Haalmeyer as Various (seasons 4–5) Mary Charlotte Wilcox as Idella Voudry/Janet Halsey/Various (seasons 5–6) Mike Short as Mike the Bartender/Various (seasons 5–6) John Hemphill as Happy Marsden/Wesley Wilks/Various (season 6) John McAndrew as Various (season 6)
History Show creation There is much dispute as to who actually created the SCTV series. The show itself bears no "created by" credit, although it gives "developed by" credits to Bernard Sahlins and Andrew Alexander.
In 1974, Andrew Alexander bought the Canadian rights to The Second City for one dollar, Andrew Alexander bought the Canadian Second City rights for $1 and changed comedy with SCTV and in 1976, he was the producer of Toronto's stage show, and was looking to expand his company into TV. He called together the current cast of the stage show (including Candy, Flaherty, Thomas, and Levy) to discuss a format for a Second City TV series. Also in attendance at the meeting were Second City veterans Harold Ramis, Sheldon Patinkin, and Del Close, along with business partner Bernard Sahlins.
According to Dave Thomas's account in SCTV: Behind The Scenes, various ideas were batted around, then — and here is where meeting attendees remember things differently — either Close or Patinkin came up with the idea of presenting programming from the world's smallest TV station. The cast immediately jumped on the idea as a workable model for presenting a virtually unlimited range of characters, sketches, and ideas, while still having a central premise that tied everything together. From there, the actual content of the show (the characters, the situations, the Melonville setting, etc.) was all the work of the cast, with contributions from Alexander and Sahlins.
Alexander remained as producer and executive producer throughout SCTV's run. Sahlins stayed for the first two seasons as a producer. Patinkin was a first-season writer and de facto editor and post-production supervisor. Close had no further involvement with the series.
Seasons 1 and 2: 1976–79 SCTV began production in 1976 at the Toronto-based studios of the Global Television Network, a small regional channel simulcasting through southern Ontario. For the first six episodes, new episodes were seen once a month. The next seven new episodes (beginning in February 1977, and continuing through the spring) aired biweekly. In September, Global ordered 13 more episodes, which aired weekly from September through December.
These irregularly scheduled 26 episodes (produced over 15 months) were later considered one "season" for syndication purposes. Except for Harold Ramis, all of the original cast was from the Toronto branch of The Second City theatre improvisation troupe; Ramis was a Second City veteran, but with the Chicago troupe.
The original SCTV cast consisted of John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Harold Ramis, and Dave Thomas. All also served as writers on the show, although Martin and O'Hara did not receive writing credits on the first four episodes. Ramis served as SCTVs original head writer, but only appeared on-screen as a regular during the first season (spread out over two years) and in a few select episodes in the second season before his main character, station manager Moe Greene, was written out. Ramis and Flaherty also served as associate producers. Sahlins produced the show; Global staffer Milad Bessada produced and directed the first 13 episodes. George Bloomfield became director as of episode 14.
Concurrently with the first year of SCTV, every cast member except Ramis also worked as a regular performer on another Canadian TV show. Several (Flaherty, Candy, Thomas, and Martin) worked together as regulars on The David Steinberg Show, which premiered on the CTV Television Network and in American syndication the same week as SCTV. The David Steinberg Show—which also featured future SCTV cast member Martin Short, but did not use any of the SCTV cast as writers—folded after a single season. Martin, Flaherty, and Levy were also cast members of the short-lived comedy/variety series The Sunshine Hour, which finished its run less than a month before SCTV premiered (and while the first SCTV episode was being filmed).