Slinky, are you old enough to have seen it first-run?
Well, being from Buffalo, and being able to see Canadian TV, I was there from the start. For those not in the know: Second City is a comedy troupe out of Chicago, and back in the early 80's decided they wanted their own show. They pitched it to NBC, who said no, then went to CBC in Toronto, where several members were from, and sold it there. Second City television, or SCTV, started off with short 30 minute episodes, but when it became wildly popular it went to 90 minutes. Before SCTV, many of Second Cities alumni went to Saturday Night Live, and made films. Some of the alumni include: Bill Murray Brian Doyle-Murray Joe Flaherty Harold Ramis John Belushi John Candy Catherine O'Hara Andrea Martin Dave Thomas Martin Short Dan Aykroyd Eugene Levy Gilda Radner George Wendt Shelly Long Jim Belushi Tim Kazurinsky Mary Gross Dan Castellaneta Mike Myers Chris Farley Tim Meadows Stephen Colbert and many, many more. The format of the show was that SCTV was a network, and had many different shows. Some of my favorites were: Monster Chiller Horror Theatre with Count Floyd Farm Film Celebrity Blowup The Fishin' Musician The Bobby Bittman show and of course, Kanadian Korner, better know as The Great White North. TGWN was created because the CBC required that any shows on their network required at least 5% "Canadian content". The players decided that to fulfill that Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis would sit around for a few minutes, wearing toques, drinking beer and eating back bacon. This was a playful but sarcastic slap at the network, but it became the most famous segement on the show. After it got very popular, NBC approached them to finally come over to their network. After a few years, I imagine keeping up that level of brilliance had to be hard to maintain, so it eventually went off the air, but I still believe it was one of the greatest comedy shows ever to be shown. Second City must have some kind of magic to be able to produce comic actors of that caliber for decades.
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timeasmymeasure
SCTV
Date: 2003-08-11 10:53 am (UTC)Well, being from Buffalo, and being able to see Canadian TV, I was there from the start. For those not in the know:
Second City is a comedy troupe out of Chicago, and back in the early 80's decided they wanted their own show. They pitched it to NBC, who said no, then went to CBC in Toronto, where several members were from, and sold it there. Second City television, or SCTV, started off with short 30 minute episodes, but when it became wildly popular it went to 90 minutes. Before SCTV, many of Second Cities alumni went to Saturday Night Live, and made films. Some of the alumni include:
Bill Murray
Brian Doyle-Murray
Joe Flaherty
Harold Ramis
John Belushi
John Candy
Catherine O'Hara
Andrea Martin
Dave Thomas
Martin Short
Dan Aykroyd
Eugene Levy
Gilda Radner
George Wendt
Shelly Long
Jim Belushi
Tim Kazurinsky
Mary Gross
Dan Castellaneta
Mike Myers
Chris Farley
Tim Meadows
Stephen Colbert
and many, many more.
The format of the show was that SCTV was a network, and had many different shows. Some of my favorites were:
Monster Chiller Horror Theatre with Count Floyd
Farm Film Celebrity Blowup
The Fishin' Musician
The Bobby Bittman show
and of course, Kanadian Korner, better know as The Great White North. TGWN was created because the CBC required that any shows on their network required at least 5% "Canadian content". The players decided that to fulfill that Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis would sit around for a few minutes, wearing toques, drinking beer and eating back bacon. This was a playful but sarcastic slap at the network, but it became the most famous segement on the show.
After it got very popular, NBC approached them to finally come over to their network. After a few years, I imagine keeping up that level of brilliance had to be hard to maintain, so it eventually went off the air, but I still believe it was one of the greatest comedy shows ever to be shown. Second City must have some kind of magic to be able to produce comic actors of that caliber for decades.