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Thursday Night At 9
SCTV December 15, 2009 @7:38pm EST

SCTV returns to the airwaves, appropriately on Thursday night at 9, in a ninety minute special titled "SCTV Golden Classics", airing on New York PBS station WLIW on December 17, 2009 at 9pm. Prepared as part of Second City's fiftieth anniversary celebrations, the special features select moments from SCTV including "The Five Neat Guys", "Farm Film Report" and "Dr. Tongue's 3D House Of Stewardesses".

The special will roll out to other PBS stations across America beginning in March, 2010. For more information, check out WLIW's website and PBS' station finder for local air times.

First Three Seasons Coming To DVD
The Red Green Show October 20, 2009 @2:19pm EDT

TVshowsonDVD.com reports that the 72 episodes making up the first three seasons of The Red Green Show will be coming to DVD in January, 2010.

Acorn Media, who has already released the Seventh through Eleventh seasons on DVD, have now announced that they will be releasing a 9-disc collection titled "Red Green - The Infantile Years: 1991-1993 Seasons". Also included are introductions by series creator Steve Smith, character profiles of Red and Harold, and biographies of stars Steve Smith and Pat McKenna.

The pacakge will be available in stores on January 26, 2010, with a suggested retail price of $99.99 ($124.99 in Canada).

The Red Green Story
The Red Green Show September 14, 2009 @12:31am EDT

The Comedy Network in Canada will be airing a new, one-hour special at 8:00pm ET/PT on Sunday, September 20, 2009. Titled "The Red Green Story: We're All In This Together", it details the struggles, successes and creativity being the Red Green Show. Included are highlight clips and interviews with castmembers from the series that ran for 15 years, surpassed only by The Simpsons in comedic longetivity.

Bob & Doug Take Off On Global
Bob and Doug McKenzie March 25, 2009 @6:41am EDT

Bob and Doug join Global TV's already-successful Sunday night lineup starting on April 19 at 7:30pm ET/PT in a 22-episode series titled simply "Bob & Doug". The main characters, voiced by Dave Thomas and Dave Coulier (Rick Moranis declined the role of Bob McKenzie, but continues as an executive producer), work as garbage collectors in the fictitious and stereotypical Canadian town of "Maple Lake", where their favourite hangout is the "Skate 'n' Bowl".

The series will also air on TVtropolis starting Saturday, April 25 at 7:30pm ET/PT and again on Mondays at 11:30pm ET/PT. Full episodes will be available online at GlobalTV.com. For more information, see the press release from CanWest Media.

12 Days Of Animation
Bob and Doug McKenzie December 9, 2008 @4:00am EST

Animation Magazine brings us an animated version of Bob & Doug's 12 Days Of Christmas, adding cartoon versions of Bob & Doug to the audio from the recording on their 1981 Great White North album. The video also features a trailer for The Animated Adventures Of Bob And Doug McKenzie, premiering in January, 2009 on Global in Canada and FOX in the United States.

For the first time we get to hear Dave Coulier as Bob McKenzie. It's easier to compare them since we hear his voice just after hearing Rick Moranis' 1981 recording: it's a bit deeper than Rick's. Of course, Dave Thomas's voice sounds different 27 years later, too.

Update (December 9, 2008 @2:34pm EST): The video is also available on YouTube.

Dave And Doug?
Bob and Doug McKenzie November 4, 2008 @5:42am EST

The Canadian Press reports that only Dave Thomas will be reprising his role as a McKenzie brother in the upcoming Animated Adventures Of Bob And Doug McKenzie. Rick Moranis will stay on as an executive producer, but has opted out of lending his voice to Bob McKenzie. Instead, it will be provided by Dave Thomas's friend and collaborator, Dave Coulier.

The "Other Dave" is no newcomer to providing animated voices: he portrayed Peter Venkman in The Real Ghostbusters, as well as several voices on Muppet Babies. Both Daves worked together on America's Funniest People, where Thomas was an executive producer. Coulier, like Bob McKenzie, is an avid hockey fan, although in real life he cheers for the Detroit Red Wings.

FOX To Show Animated Adventures In USA
Bob and Doug McKenzie June 18, 2008 @5:29am EDT

Several sources report that The Animated Adventures Of Bob And Doug McKenzie will be distributed in the USA (or as Bob and Doug call it, the "Unexplored Southern Area") by FOX to begin airing in 2009. The show was already picked up by Global TV in Canada; both networks already carry Family Guy and The Simpsons, and it sounds as if the show might air between the two on Sunday nights.

Brothers Lend A Hand
Bob and Doug McKenzie June 18, 2008 @4:30am EDT

One of many articles on the Animated Adventures Of Bob And Doug McKenzie to come out this week points out a few new details on the upcoming Animax Interactive production. Dave Thomas's real-life brother Ian will be producing the music, while his TV brother Rick Moranis "had to be dragged in kicking and screaming" -- both Rick and Dave are less keen on acting, Rick has mostly retired while Dave now prefers production and writing.

The show is being produced almost entirely in Canada, thanks to Canadian tax credit regulations and the fact that Global was the first to pick it up, and Canadian actors Colin Mochrie, Pat McKenna, Derek McGrath, Ron Pardo, Jayne Eastwood and Ho Chow provide additional voices. Michigan-born voice actor and comedian Dave Coulier will also be along for the ride.

Season 10 DVD This Fall
The Red Green Show June 8, 2008 @10:21pm EDT

The release rate of Red Green complete season DVDs picks up the pace this fall with the release of Season 10 on DVD. The three-disc set comes out September 16 and contains all 19 episodes of the 2000-2001 season, including A Merry Red Green Christmas.

From TVshowsonDVD.com:

One of Red's many mottoes is "spare the duct tape, spoil the job." So when the lodge actually runs out of duct tape in one of these episodes, chaos ensues. In the complete 10th season of the public television hit's 15-year run, Winston searches for a wife, Dalton tries not to cross his wife, and Red does what he does best: turn junk into wild inventions that defy common sense. He also plays host to a foster child, 500 visiting Americans, meddlesome network executives, and Dalton's emu ranch.

Bob And Doug Finally Get Animated
Bob and Doug McKenzie April 4, 2008 @2:07pm EDT

Animation World Network announces that The Animated Adventures Of Bob And Doug McKenzie will finally make it to television in January 2009 on Global TV. Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas will act as executive producers, with the 12-writer writing team led by Dave.

The half-hour episodes will take place in the fictitious town of Maple Lake, and otherwise follows the promo last seen in 2002 as part of the Strange Brew DVD release. The show will be produced entirely in Canada -- including the animation, which will be provided by Animax Interactive, of which Dave is a founder. Animax will also hold the non-Canadian rights to the show (no American distributor has been found... yet).

Air Farce Grounded
Royal Canadian Air Farce April 2, 2008 @10:14pm EDT

Roger Abbott and Don Ferguson announced that they have decided to pull the plug on the long-running CBC TV show. The two founded the troupe along with current performer Luba Goy as well as frequent guest Dave Broadfoot and the late John Morgan in 1973. After years on radio and a brief stint on TV in the early 1980s, the show has aired on CBC since 1993. "It's just time," said Ferguson. "We've done pretty much everything we wanted to do. The ratings are still good. I want to be in charge of my own exit."

The show will end with its traditional New Year's Eve special on December 31, 2008 (16 years to the day of the episode that ushered in their current television run) after a half-season of nine episodes. More information can be found on AirFarce.com.

Eugene Levy vs. The Governor General
SCTV March 12, 2008 @7:05pm EDT

SCTV alumnus Eugene Levy has received the Governor General's Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award. The award will be presented on May 2 by Governor General Michaelle Jean -- just three days before Levy is scheduled to appear on Toronto's Second City stage as part of an SCTV reunion. He is one of six lifetime achievement receipients; others include rocker Michel Pagliaro.

SCTV Reunion
SCTV March 5, 2008 @5:59pm EST

Attention residents of Melonville and the Tri-City Area: SCTV Is On The Stage! Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short and Dave Thomas are performing together for the first time since the early 1980s at Toronto's Second City stage on May 5, 2008. The performance will feature the famous characters of SCTV, performed by the comedy icons that made them famous. Joining the show is special guest Colin Mochrie (himself an alumnus of the Second City) and Women Fully Clothed, featuring Kathryn Greenwood, Robin Duke, Debra McGrath, Jayne Eastwood and Teresa Pavlinek (most of whom were also Second City castmembers and at least two of which appeared on SCTV itself). SCTV castmembers Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis have other engagements that night, but knowing the significance of the event both are trying to attend.

Dress Circle tickets are $500.00 and include a private cocktail reception with the cast, while show-only seats are $250.00. All proceeds from the event benefit the Alumni Fund, which raises funds to help veteran artistic and support personnel from SCTV and The Second City that are facing health or financial hardship. Visit The Second City's website to purchase tickets or for more information.

Update (March 17, 2008 @12:11am EDT): As of March 17, tickets are sold out.

Update (April 15, 2008 @9:16am EDT): A second date has been added on May 6 after the quick sell-out of the first show.

Season 9 on DVD
The Red Green Show February 25, 2008 @9:14am EST

"The Red Green Show: 1999 Season" (aka. Season 9) comes out officially on DVD tomorrow, February 26, 2008. This season included Harold's move to the Big City (due to Pat McKenna's other job as Marty on Traders) and Red's attempts to bring the Lodge to Harold. Among the usual Canadian actors who appear on the show (aside from the native guy from Dances With Wolves, or that dude who was in Away From Her, or the one who played Lloyd Braun in Seinfeld -- no, not Matt McCoy, the first guy who played him) is Gavin Crawford as Dale the gas station attendant. Extras include... uh... not much, actually. There's character biographies and production notes from Steve Smith, and that's about it. It can be obtained from Red's Store, Amazon.com (.ca), and just about anywhere else DVDs are sold...

Be wary of Internet sites claiming to sell the complete series on DVD: these aren't officially sanctioned and I've heard a few reports of the sellers gladly accepting payment then disappearing. If they exist at all then they're probably from off-air dubs or taken from fan-created copies that circulate on the Internet (these are intended to be free, and out of respect for the show's creators the three seasons that have been issued officially are taken out of circulation).

Once A Hoser, Always A Hoser
Bob and Doug McKenzie November 17, 2007 @7:53am EST

The Toronto Star is reporting that Bob & Doug McKenzie's Two-Four Anniversary will be out on DVD on November 20! This documentary was shown on CBC in Canada way back in May, but the DVD includes over twice as much material, including classic Great White North segments from SCTV and is narrated by former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin ("He's a really funny guy. If he'd been that funny when he was prime minister, then he still would be.").

In the article, Dave Thomas also mentions the Bob & Doug cartoon that has been in the works since at least 2002: "We're also doing a Bob & Doug cartoon series. Animax is doing it and Global is going to run with it." It's good to see that this might finally appear...

We're probably not going to do anything in live-action again... I mean, no one our age should ever have to see themselves in HD.

Eleven Years Of BobNET
BobNET October 12, 2007 @3:23pm EDT

I guess I forgot to do a "Ten Years Of BobNET" article last year. Oops. Anyway, it's been eleven years (and one day) since I uploaded my first site to the Internet and... not much on it has changed since then. I got rid of the annoying music and annoying frames pretty fast, but the design of The Hoser and The New Red Green Page have hardly changed at all. I did manage to get a new layout for SCTV: On The Air! a couple of years ago, and now that I've "retired" from The Hoser I might have time to do the other pages (including my main news page)...

Dave and Ian Thomas: Brothers Forever Tour
SCTV October 12, 2007 @2:54pm EDT

Dave Thomas is an actor and comedy writer famous for his roles on both television and cinema. His younger brother Ian, meanwhile, is well known for his abilities as a rock musician and songwriter. The two bring their talents together in an entertainment package appropriately titled Dave & Ian Thomas: Brothers Forever. The shows start tonight (October 12, 2007) at the Mississauga Living Arts Centre and continue across Canada for the rest of October.

More information can be had from LiveTourArtists including tour dates.

October Hoser: Ten Years Of The Hoser
Bob and Doug McKenzie October 11, 2007 @7:59pm EDT

Bob and Doug briefly come out of retirement to introduce the rerun of their... uh... introductory issue of The Hoser.

September Hoser: Five Two-Fours Of Hosers
Bob and Doug McKenzie October 30, 2007 @7:45pm EDT

Bob and Doug finally run out of ideas and announce that they've given up writing online newspapers in favour of (mini-)golfing in Florida in this month's issue of The Hoser!

Actually, I really am out of ideas, and I think this will be the last regular (monthly) issue. I'm not exactly a high school student with a lot of time on his hands like I was ten years ago when I started writing these. Besides, there's some real Bob and Doug stuff coming out recently, and I haven't given up hope on a special edition DVD of Strange Brew sometime either (not to mention the Animated Adventures). Plus this gives me a little time to actually update the site, which hasn't happened in what? Five years? I also haven't ruled out writing new issues sometime in the future when I do have new ideas...

Two-Four Anniversary DVD
Bob and Doug McKenzie September 23, 2007 @6:46pm EDT

Erik at bobanddoug.com reports that the Two-Four Anniversary Special is coming to DVD on November 20, 2007. This special edition will be twice as long as the broadcast version, and its bonus features include Bob and Doug commercials as well as seven Great White North skits from SCTV! The DVD comes with a Bob and Doug bottle opener, and selected retailers will also include 4 Bob and Doug beer coasters, too. I'm not sure at this point whether this will be available in the US, or just in Canada.

August Hoser: More Letters To Doug
Bob and Doug McKenzie August 13, 2007 @10:57pm EDT

This month in The Hoser, Bob and Doug reach into the old mailbag for more letters, questions, and junkmail!

July Hoser: Canada Day
Bob and Doug McKenzie July 11, 2007 @11:06pm EDT

This month the McKenzie Brothers successfully prove to their reader (they don't have too many) that Canada is at least three days older than the United States. So go read The Hoser to find out how, eh!

June Hoser: America Versus England
Bob and Doug McKenzie June 13, 2007 @10:23pm EDT

As Canadians, Bob and Doug are usually stuck in the middle of the language debate over American English and British English. They finally snap, and this month in The Hoser, they rant on the petty arguments Americans and the English get in over differences between their languages!

New SCTV Book On Its Way
SCTV June 12, 2007 @12:56am EDT

Longtime alt.tv.sctv poster Jeff Robbins has written a history and episode guide for SCTV, oddly enough titled "Second City Television: A History and Episode Guide". From Jeff himself:

Basically this is the book I've always wanted to buy myself but which no one else was writing so I wrote it. It is a review, episode by episode, of SCTV's 135 programs with additional commentary on compliations and the DVDs. It traces the first appearances of and the evolution of the notable characters and impersonations (you know the ones). It compares the show's film and television parodies with the original films/shows being parodied. It is a more "scholarly" look at SCTV without (I hope) being dry.

The book is currently available for pre-order at Amazon.com and probably elsewhere, too.

Update (June 21, 2007 @9:35pm EDT): The book is now available from Amazon.ca, too.

Celebrate Two-Four With Red Cap
Bob and Doug McKenzie May 16, 2007 @7:15pm EDT

As seen on http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2007/16/c9519.html:

Canada's favourite hosers, Bob and Doug McKenzie are back. Bob and Doug are celebrating the two-four anniversary of their big screen debut, Strange Brew, with their favourite stubby, Red Cap Ale.

That's right, Brick Brewing Company Ltd., who has been bottling Red Cap Ale in stubby bottles for the good part of this millennium, will be including one collectible Bob and Doug stubby in each 12-pack of Red Cap beer sold this summer. But more importantly, Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas appear as Bob and Doug for the first time this millennium in a video promoting the event!

Update (June 12, 2007 @4:59pm EDT): The complete press release is now available online in PDF format!

Two-Four on May Two-Four
Bob and Doug McKenzie May 14, 2007 @9:22pm EDT

In celebration of the twenty-fourth anniversary of the release of Strange Brew, the CBC will be airing "Bob & Doug McKenzie's Two-Four Anniversary" on Sunday, May 20, 2007.

Bob & Doug McKenzie's Two-Four Anniversary is a one-hour entertainment special featuring the McKenzie brothers. A 25-year plus enduring Canadian franchise credited with defining a national identity. The loveable beer-drinking, back frying, toque-wearing original hosers trace their ascent to popularity following the release of their multiple award-winning, platinum selling album and highest grossing movie of 1983; reveal the fascinating stories of people whose lives were touched, affected or influenced by the extraordinary success of the McKenzie brothers; celebrate key milestones throughout the franchise's history and finally, reveal the men behind it all - Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas.

The special will be preceeded by a showing of Strange Brew. As usual, check your listings for details, but viewers in the same timezone as me (Eastern Daylight) should be able to see the movie at 7pm and the special at 9pm!

May Hoser: Cinco de Mayonnaise
Bob and Doug McKenzie May 9, 2007 @1:42pm EDT

Bob and Doug decide to celebrate Mexican culture but as usual get things completely wrong in this month's issue of The Hoser!

Hell Freezes Over: New Top 11 Posted
BoB 'n' DavE's Top 11 List April 1, 2007 @4:20pm EDT

No, this isn't an April Fools' Day joke! DavE felt that after nearly five years of inactivity (and six years since we've written one), it was about time to write up a new Top 11 List...

April Hoser: The New Hoser
Bob and Doug McKenzie March 31, 2007 @11:01pm EDT

Messrs. Robert and Douglas McKenzie present their intellectual discussion on various aspects of Canadian culture in the premier issue of The New Hoser.

March Hoser: Used RV Salesmen
Bob and Doug McKenzie March 10, 2007 @3:33pm EST

Bob and Doug return with yet another new business venture, this time selling "used" RVs and trailers. That is, before their dad has them towed out of the driveway. All this month, in the March issue of The Hoser!

February Hoser: New Year's Aftermath
Bob and Doug McKenzie February 9, 2007 @11:10pm EST

Bob and Doug share their hangover cures after recovering from month-long brain-aches after their famous New Year's Eve party in this month's issue of The Hoser, eh!

January Hoser: The Miracle Of The Rerun
Bob and Doug McKenzie January 8, 2007 @1:50pm EST

This month in The Hoser, Bob tells the miraculous story of the television rerun and its transformation from a summertime annoyance to a cheap way of watching your favourite shows without having to pay for the DVDs. Meanwhile, Doug gets stuck in a rerun of The Hoser and tries to drag his butler Robert along with him!

December Hoser: Jolly Old St. McKenzie
Bob and Doug McKenzie December 8, 2006 @10:39pm EST

In order to fund their annual New Year's party, Doug gets a job at the mall as Santa, with Bob as his helper elf (whose name also happens to be Bob). Unfortunately, all the kids recognize their true identities in this month's issue of The Hoser!

November Hoser: Doug's Vacation
Bob and Doug McKenzie November 7, 2006 @7:32pm EST

This month in The Hoser, Doug goes to Club MedKenzie to escape the hassles of everyday life, but has his vacation ruined by the Club's waiter, Bob.

SCTV On DVD Campaign FAQ
SCTV October 9, 2006 @8:12pm EDT

threerandot has updated his SCTV on DVD Campaign with a FAQ clarifing the position of the campaign dedicated to clearing the rights to the music that was cut from the SCTV DVD's which have been released by Shout! Factory.

He's also added a "Clear The Music" petition, alongside of Justin Pate's No more best of SCTV DVD sets - only complete seasons petition.

October Hoser: Switchin' To Kegs
Bob and Doug McKenzie October 9, 2006 @1:52am EDT

This month, the two hosers have to explain why a visit to the Beer Store led them to updating The Hoser over a week late!

Best Of The Early Years Review
SCTV September 27, 2006 @11:53am EDT

As with the previous DVD releases, Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide has posted his review of SCTV: Best Of The Early Years.

Like many, he's disappointed that the full seasons weren't released, and he also remarks that the shows are heavily biased towards the third season (with nothing at all from Season 1). There's also a handful of segments that have already appeared on DVD, as some material from the first three seasons was used to fill space in Seasons 4 and 5.

Bonus features include commentary on four episodes, "Looking Back with Andrea Martin", "The McKenzie Brothers: Take Off, Eh!", and "SCTV at the Firehall".

I wouldn't agree that the 15 episodes of SCTV: Best of the Early Years are really the series' peak moments, but I do think we get a lot of great material here. My complaint is that there's not enough -- I want more SCTV! Picture and audio are perfectly adequate, and we get a few decent extras as well. This is a pretty good DVD for a terrific series, so I strongly recommend Early Years.

September Hoser: No Topic
Bob and Doug McKenzie September 8, 2006 @12:07am EDT

This month in The Hoser, Bob and Doug come up with their greatest topic ever! Except they forgot it, so instead you get No Topic.

Revised SCTV On DVD Campaign
SCTV September 4, 2006 @10:55am EDT

threerandot has revised his campaign to make sure that every episode of SCTV is released with as much intact music as possible, including a message board, a blog, and a guestbook. In his own words:

We need to let copyright holders know that allowing their music on the SCTV DVD's is positive, profitable and worthwhile. They can make an important contribution to a Canadian Comedy Legend!

And he reminds everyone to pick up a copy of The Best Of The Early Years when it's released on October 24th!

The Life And Times Of SCTV
SCTV September 1, 2006 @1:47pm EDT

Unreported here, starting last week the CBC has been airing the three-part The Life And Times Of Second City. Last week's episode was hosted by Dave Thomas and covered the beginnings of Second City. This week's episode (airing tonight at 9pm on CBC, but as always check local listings for details and repeat showings) is hosted by former Kid In The Hall Scott Thompson, and covers SCTV itself. Next week's show will cover the post-SCTV era and Second City's effect on improvisation, and will be hosted by Joe Flaherty.

Dave Thomas, Eh?
Bob and Doug McKenzie August 31, 2006 @8:53pm EDT

In a recent article from the Toronto Sun, Dave "Doug McKenzie" Thomas discusses the refusal of the McKenzie brothers to fade away, their "inclusion" in Brother Bear (and its direct-to-video sequel, Brother Bear 2), the upcoming CBC special, a development deal with Global TV, and a potential special edition DVD re-release of Strange Brew!

SCTV On DVD Again
SCTV August 30, 2006 @12:59am EDT

Due to poorer-than-expected sales of previous SCTV DVD releases, the first three seasons are being represented by SCTV: The Best Of The Early Years. However, the disc set will still contain full episodes, taken from Season 2 and Season 3 including Play It Again, Bob, Death Motel, and On The Waterfront Again. There's more details in the press release from TVshowsonDVD.com.

Rutt And Tuke Back In Brother Bear 2
Bob and Doug McKenzie August 24, 2006 @9:29pm EDT

This week Disney releases their direct-to-video sequel to 2003's Brother Bear. Although this time most of the voice acting has changed, Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis return as improvised Bob and Doug clones Rutt and Tuke. This time around, though, the two moose gain female counterparts played by fellow former SCTVers Andrea Martin and Catherine O'Hara. A good review can be had from the-trades.com.

Strange Things Brewing At CBC
Bob and Doug McKenzie August 15, 2006 @8:49pm EDT

From the Toronto Sun: The 24th anniversary of the release of Strange Brew will be marked by a one-hour Bob and Doug McKenzie special, tentatively scheduled to air in May, 2007, on CBC.

"There will be original footage of us as the hosers," Dave "Doug McKenzie" Thomas said. "It will probably be our last time to do this, too."

August Hoser: McKenzie's Barbershop
Bob and Doug McKenzie August 7, 2006 @9:28pm EDT

When their barber retires and moves to Florida, Bob and Doug discover that he was the last barber in town. So they decide to "borrow" his equipment and open their own barbershop in the August issue of The Hoser!

July Hoser: Illegal Fireworks
Bob and Doug McKenzie July 1, 2006 @11:44am EDT

Bob and Doug discover that many countries have a national holiday in July and decide to celebrate by setting off firecrackers that they obtained illegally in the July issue of The Hoser!

June Hoser: Pirate Radio
Bob and Doug McKenzie June 6, 2006 @2:53pm EDT

Undeterred from being caught making unlicensed broadcasts with their CB radio a few months ago, Bob and Doug McKenzie return to the airwaves this month on their pirate radio station in The Hoser!

Get Back To SCTV's Early Years
SCTV June 4, 2006 @7:45pm EDT

TVshowsonDVD.com reports that Shout! Factory's next DVD release will be titled "SCTV - The Best of the Early Years" and will be released in time for Christmas. There's no other details at the moment, although some have speculated that due to poor sales of the previous DVD sets, this will be all that ends up on DVD from the first three seasons of SCTV. Just in case this turns out to be true, you might want to check out the SCTV on DVD Blog and the SCTV Uncut and Complete Petition.

SCTV On DVD Blog
SCTV June 1, 2006 @11:31am EDT

threerandot has started a blog dedicated to securing better releases of SCTV on DVD in the future. His main issues are ensuring that no scenes are cut, and as much music is included as possible (including Stairway To Heaven, for use in The Happy Wanderers and Stairways To Heaven).

This is a result of the rumours that Seasons 1-3 will be condensed into a "best-of" release. As such, he's also started a petition to encourage Shout! Factory to release Season 3 uncut and complete. As long as it includes the Cisco Kid episode, which I've never seen...

May Hoser: Victoria Day
Bob and Doug McKenzie May 7, 2006 @11:16pm EDT

This month in The Hoser, Bob and Doug find the true meaning of Victoria Day: drink lots of beer!

April Hoser: Landscaping Consultants
Bob and Doug McKenzie April 8, 2006 @12:43am EDT

In the April edition of The Hoser, Bob and Doug find their true calling in life and drive around to help people with exterior decorating!

Red Green On DVD
The Red Green Show April 4, 2006 @2:25pm EDT

Do you have the entire "Stuffed And Mounted" collection, and still want more Red Green? Look no further: Amazon.com is listing that Season 7 of the Red Green Show will be released on DVD on May 2, 2006 as The Red Green Show - 1997 Season!

March Hoser: Mister Fix-It And His Brother Doug
Bob and Doug McKenzie March 8, 2006 @9:57pm EST

This month in The Hoser, hilarity ensues as Bob and Doug become household repair experts when they decide to fix their leaking sink, then decide that giving up beer for a month to pay for the plumber might not be such a bad idea.

The Return Of The SCTV Petition
SCTV February 21, 2006 @11:58am EST

The webmaster of the Harold Ramis Forever website has started a petition to return SCTV to TV Land, where it had been airing for the last year.

This is the only place SCTV can be seen on TV in the United States right now, so unless you'd rather watch Miami Vice then I urge you to sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/sctv2006/petition.html!

February Hoser: CB Radio
Bob and Doug McKenzie February 7, 2006 @10:51pm EST

Bob and Doug discover their old CB radio and decide to start their own radio show in this month's issue of The Hoser!

The One Hundredth Hoser!
Bob and Doug McKenzie January 7, 2006 @10:58pm EST

Join Bob and Doug in this month's issue of The Hoser, as they hold a party and decide to celebrate their hundredth issue by drinking a beer for each issue they've written!

December Hoser: Doug On A Diet
Bob and Doug McKenzie December 8, 2005 @6:43pm EST

Doug is forced to drink lite beer and watch his brother eat donuts and backbacon after his doctor tells him he needs to go on a diet, in this month's issue of The Hoser!

Season 15 Episode List
The Red Green Show November 11, 2005 @5:52pm EST

The episode listings for the fifteenth and final season of The Red Green Show have finally been posted to redgreen.com.

Spoilers: most of the episodes deal with Harold's engagement and marriage to Bonnie. There's no description for the 300th episode, "Do As I Do", either...

November Hoser: Time Travel
Bob and Doug McKenzie November 6, 2005 @4:30pm EST

Bob and Doug find a pile of old empties in their attic that the Beer Store won't accept for return, so they decide it's easiest to build their own time machine and take them back to a point where they can get the deposit back, in this month's issue of The Hoser!

No Stairway? Denied!
SCTV October 14, 2005 @5:53pm EDT

Jimmy Page doesn't license the rights to Stairway To Heaven to anyone. The clip of Linsk Minyk (Rick Moranis) performing the Leutonian version was therefore left out of the DVD release, but now you can view it on the video page as a result of me pulling out an old VHS of SCTV shows. There will probably be more to come...

Nine Year Site Update
BobNET October 11, 2005 @12:00am EDT

Yes, amazingly I've been working on BobNET for nine years now. It was October 11, 1996 when I first uploaded a site called BobNET, in primitive HTML with a marble background stolen from Windows 3.1.

Today's update includes a completely redesigned SCTV: On The Air!, with much more useful information including a FAQ, videos, and a redesigned news page. The site is now in XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.1; this means it'll look great in all modern browsers (including Internet Explorer 6.0, most versions of Mozilla/Firefox, Opera, Konqueror, and Safari) and look terrible in Netscape 4. If you still use Netscape 4 because your office network depends on it, then I suggest you stop browsing sites about 29 year-old TV shows when you're at work before the boss catches you. And if you are the boss, I suggest you upgrade your network, you nobk!

There's more changes on the way. I'm slowly working on CSS-ifying the rest of the site (very slowly, I started this update in 2002); expect a redesign of The New Red Green Page in the near future, and improved versions of the main page and The Hoser, too. Also stay tuned early next year, for the 100th issue!

However, AirFarce@BobNET is no more. The official site at www.airfarce.com completely blows mine out of the water. There's online audio and video, a web forum, ticket information, lots of information, and of course the Chicken Cannon. So in other words I highly recommend it. I'll leave the links and sounds here for now, though.

Also note that I've changed my email address to my Gmail account. canada.com did upgrade their webmail system, but too late since I like Gmail's much better...

October Hoser: Winter Camping
Bob and Doug McKenzie October 8, 2005 @8:24pm EDT

In the October issue of The Hoser, Bob and Doug discuss their winter camping trip. Only one problem: it was warm all weekend!

September Hoser: Alternative Fuels
Bob and Doug McKenzie September 8, 2005 @2:32pm EDT

This time around in The Hoser, Bob and Doug address the issue of expensive gasoline by building a laboratory and coming up with new fuel sources!

Fourth DVD Set Review
SCTV September 5, 2005 @4:53pm EDT

Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide once again brings us the first review of an upcoming DVD release. Check out his review, which points out mostly the same things as his previous ones (plus a hint: the soundtrack is mostly mono, but when it switches to stereo it almost certainly means music was replaced).

Steve Smith Named To Order Of Canada
The Red Green Show October 1, 2005 @5:02pm EDT

Steve Smith (aka. Red Green) is among 82 new appointees to the Order of Canada announced by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson yesterday. Other recognizable names include Diana Krall, Catriona Le May Doan, and the late Peter Jennings. A complete list can be found from CTV.

Lalawood Film on DVD/VHS October 4th
SCTV August 8, 2005 @12:50am EDT

Martin Short's clueless, overweight interviewer Jiminy Glick saw a short and limited run in theatres, but now you can see him in all his glory on October 4 when Jiminy Glick In Lalawood comes to VHS and DVD! Gold Circle Films includes more information, including theatrical trailers on their website.

Christmas With SCTV
SCTV August 8, 2005 @12:19am EDT

On October 4, Shout! Factory brings us Christmas With SCTV, a collection of Christmas episodes from our favourite show. Details are scarce at the moment, but the MSRP is $14.95. The cover art can be seen at TVShowsOnDVD.com.

Update (August 14, 2005 @10:20pm EDT): TVShowsOnDVD.com now points out that the set will include the 1981 and 1982 Christmas Episodes, from the fourth and fifth seasons.

August Hoser: Mexican Night
Bob and Doug McKenzie August 8, 2005 @12:26am EDT

In yet another explosive issue of The Hoser, Bob and Doug go to Taco Bell, get some Mexican beers, and decide to have a Mexican Fiesta!

July Hoser: Medieval Times
Bob and Doug McKenzie July 8, 2005 @12:24am EDT

In this month's issue of The Hoser, the two hosers are dressed as knights in shining armor, and as usual the reason involves beer!

June Hoser: Nowhere
Bob and Doug McKenzie June 8, 2005 @12:10am EDT

This month in The Hoser, Bob and Doug carry a case of empties half way across the Canadian wilderness (well, not really, eh?) after they get kicked out of a provincial park!

Final Season Gets Cash Boost
The Red Green Show May 18, 2005 @12:21am EDT

The Canadian Television Fund (CTF) has put $99.2 million into 36 English-language productions this year, including Corner Gas, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Trailer Park Boys, and (of course) The Red Green Show. Almost $1 million of this will go towards Red's fifteenth and final season, which has been revealed to be 19 half hours long (presumably 17 regular shows and one hour-long episode). More information can be found in the CBC article and from the Canadian Television Fund.

Volume 4 Release Change
SCTV May 13, 2005 @12:43am EDT

Recess Monkey writes: "Looks like the date for volume 4 has been changed to September 13th." No reason or other information has been given yet...

Martin Short Brings Jiminy Glick To The Big Screen
SCTV May 6, 2005 @11:57am EDT

SCTV alumnus Martin Short brings his celebrity-interviewing alter-ego, Jiminy Glick, to the big screen today in Jiminy Glick in Lalawood. Jiminy, created for The Martin Short Show and featured for three seasons on Primetime Glick on Comedy Central, heads for the Toronto Film Festival (which was where the movie was actually filmed) with wife Dixie (Jan Hooks) and twin sons Matthew and Modine.

As usual with recent movies starring former SCTV castmembers, there was no script and nearly all of the dialog was improvised. Several real-life stars have lent themselves (and their egos) to Jiminy's inane style of interviewing.

The movie was written by Martin Short, Paul Flaherty (Joe's brother), and Mike Short (Martin's brother, aka. Mike The Bartender). Many more details (including spoilers) can be found at The Hollywood Reporter article.

May Hoser: Nothing
Bob and Doug McKenzie May 3, 2005 @10:38pm EDT

This month in The Hoser, Bob and Doug become "phisopholers" and discuss the concept of nothing using beer as a prop!

April Hoser: At The Dentist
Bob and Doug McKenzie April 3, 2005 @3:52pm EDT

Bob and Doug promote good dental health (and other things) when they visit their dentist in this month's issue of The Hoser!

Fourth DVD Set in August
SCTV March 25, 2005 @1:04pm EST

According to TVShowsOnDVD.com, Volume 4 of SCTV on DVD will be out on August 2 2005, at the usual $89.95 list price (which means it will probably be cheaper just about everywhere). This will be a six-disc set, so it's expected to include the 12 episodes from cycle 4 and cycle 5, comprising season 5 of SCTV.

The article also mentions that the first and second discs from Volume 1 will be available individually starting June 7 (one year less a day since the full Volume 1 release) and listed at $14.98 each for those not able to shell out more money for the full set (and for impulse shoppers).

March Hoser: Barbecue!
Bob and Doug McKenzie March 5, 2005 @9:35pm EST

In March's issue of The Hoser, Bob and Doug "borrow" their neighbour's barbecue and show how to grill steaks while there's still snow on the ground.

SCTV Back On The Air In US
SCTV February 11, 2005 @6:06pm EST

According to ClassicTVHits.com, SCTV will be airing on TV Land starting Friday, March 18 from midnight until 2am. No word yet on which episodes will be shown.

February Hoser: On The Road With Bob And Doug (Part 2)
Bob and Doug McKenzie February 8, 2005 @12:49am EST

Bob and Doug arrive at the beer store only to get locked out of their van in the February issue of The Hoser!

Fifteenth Season Will Be The Last
The Red Green Show January 29, 2005 @1:28pm EST

In an article in the Winnipeg Free Press way back in September, Steve Smith states that he plans to leave the Red Green Show at the end of its fifteenth season. "When I finish next season, it'll be the end of my 15th year, my 300th episode and a month later I'll turn 60," he says.

Third DVD Set Review
SCTV January 27, 2005 @2:19pm EST

Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide, who has already reviewed the first and second sets of DVDs, has gotten his hands on the third set that will be released in March. See his review, which reflects the same sentiments of the first two releases.

January Hoser: On The Road With Bob And Doug (Part 1)
Bob and Doug McKenzie January 6, 2005 @7:01pm EST

Bob drives to the beer store while Doug tells stories (and bugs Bob) in the January issue of The Hoser!

Third Set of DVDs in March
SCTV January 1, 2005 @5:57pm EST

tvshowsondvd.com points out that both DVDEmpire.com and DVDPlanet.com show a release date of March 1st for Volume 3 of the SCTV DVDs. There's no press release from Shout! Factory yet, but it will probably be similar to the two previous sets, with nine episodes on five discs.

December Hoser: Hoser Jeopardy
Bob and Doug McKenzie December 7, 2004 @3:03pm EST

Bob hosts the McKenzie's own version of Jeopardy in this month's issue of The Hoser. Will contestant Doug's winning streak continue? Find out inside...

November Hoser: Beer Wars
Bob and Doug McKenzie November 6, 2004 @9:25pm EST

In this month's issue of The Hoser, Doug gets even more drunk than normal and shows how to get regular beer for the lowest legal (well, technically) price!

Changes In Second DVD Set
SCTV October 18, 2004 @1:29pm EDT

Recess Monkey has posted a message to alt.tv.sctv with a list of changes he's noticed between the cycle 2 episodes as they originally aired, and what is on the DVDs. As with the first DVD set, almost all of the changes are related to music.

Merv Griffin's trip to the 60s had quite a bit of music removed, and so has Perry Como's Still Alive; however, it seems that a shortened version of the latter sketch intended for syndication was included instead of the original version, and may not be related to musical rights.

DVD Verdict Review
SCTV October 13, 2004 @5:04pm EDT

The second set of DVDs was reviewed a couple of weeks ago at DVD Verdict. The verdict:

Given that they've now released two volumes (to date) of SCTV AND the Freaks and Geeks set, Shout! Factory could probably whack a guy right in front of this here judge and still get off scot-free.

October Hoser: Thanksgiving
Bob and Doug McKenzie October 7, 2004 @9:33pm EDT

Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October, and that's the topic of this month's issue of The Hoser!

Red Returns For Fourteenth Season
The Red Green Show September 30, 2004 @11:18am EDT

The Red Green Show returns on October 1, 2004 for the premier of its fourteenth season! The eighteen new episodes will include the regular characters from last season, including Rick Green as Adventurer Bill and Pat McKenna as Red's nerdy nephew Harold. Red will also introduce a new segment called Hobby Shop, where guests present their hobbies -- including ubiquitous Canadian comic Colin Mochrie as a character who makes folk art out of wieners (I hope they mean hot dogs). There will also be a new Christmas show this season. Check it out Fridays at 9pm on CBC!

Second DVD Set Review
SCTV September 7, 2004 @1:27pm EDT

Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide, who reviewed the first set of SCTV DVDs, has gotten his hands on the second set to be released next month. See his review, or read more for a summary.

September Hoser: Cooking With Bob and Doug McKenzie
Bob and Doug McKenzie September 3, 2004 @10:51pm EDT

In the September issue of The Hoser, Bob and Doug become chefs and give a cooking demonstration involving lots of fire and smoke!

Studio Tapings Almost Full
The Red Green Show August 18, 2004 @10:35am EDT

Tickets for studio tapings for the 14th season of Red Green are going fast; every Saturday night taping is full, but there's still plenty of tickets for Wednesday tapings available! And people attending Wednesday night tapings are entered into a draw for a DeWalt power tool! See the Studio Tapings Ticket Line for more details!

Jiminy Glick in Lalawood Closes Toronto Film Festival
SCTV August 10, 2004 @3:09pm EDT

Martin Short will return to the big screen at the Toronto Film Festival as the always-sweaty, always-unprepared celebrity interviewer Jiminy Glick in "Jiminy Glick in Lalawood". The film also stars Janeane Garofalo and Jan Hooks, and premiers on the final night of the Festival, September 18. Marty will also appear at the Festival's tribute to Brian Linehan, the inspiration to Brock Linehan who passed away earlier this year. More information can be found from the CBC.

Fan Convention Cancelled
SCTV August 6, 2004 @6:06pm EDT

Vinnie writes in an article on alt.tv.sctv that the fan gathering planned for November has been cancelled since there were too few deposits made to cover the costs of the convention. The mailing list will remain open, just in case someone else wants to plan another convention in the future.

Rick Moranis Speaks!
SCTV August 6, 2004 @5:29pm EDT

In an interview in this month's issue of Sound And Vision Magazine titled "An Hour with SCTV's Rick Moranis" (in a web exclusive available at www.soundandvisionmag.com), Rick ends several years of silence by discussing everything from Gerry Todd ("Catherine O'Hara always gave me credit for inventing MTV"), and the McKenzie Brothers to music downloading.

August Hoser: Bob and Doug on Strike!
Bob and Doug McKenzie August 5, 2004 @9:41pm EDT

This month in The Hoser, Bob and Doug decide to emulate their favourite hockey players by going on strike!

Dave Thomas's New Film
Bob and Doug McKenzie August 5, 2004 @2:28pm EDT

Dave Thomas has been keeping busy in between recording material for the second set of SCTV DVDs, trying to sell the Animated Adventures of Bob and Doug, and the DVD commentary for Brother Bear; Crystal Potter writes:

The official Intern Academy website, which offers a movie trailer, photos, cast bios, and so much more, is located at........

www.internacademymovie.com

I did get a chance to pre-screen the film, and what can I say....Dave Thomas is still, without a doubt, a comedic genius! =)

The movie will be screened in Toronto on September 1, 2004, and will be released across Canada on September 10.

Second Set of DVDs in October
SCTV July 25, 2004 @8:37pm EDT

Matt Kozlowski writes on alt.tv.sctv that the second set of SCTV DVDs, comprised of the tenth through 18th episodes of SCTV Network 90 (listed as Season 4, Cycle 2 in Dave Thomas's book) will be released on October 19, 2004, just in time for Christmas. The episodes that will be on the set are listed at The SCTV Guide, and extras include "Larger Than Life: The Norman Seeff Photo Sessions", "SCTV Remembers, Pt. 2", "The SCTV Writers", "The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers", "A Behind-The-Scenes Photo Gallery", "SCTV At The 1982 Emmy Awards", and another 24-page booklet. The set has a suggested retail price of $89.98 (the same price as the first set, even though I've never seen it sold for that, even in Canadian dollars). Details can be found at tvshowsondvd.com, which also points out that the third set of DVDs is tentatively scheduled for February, 2005.

July Hoser: The Cottage
Bob and Doug McKenzie July 8, 2004 @1:42pm EDT

In the July edition of The Hoser, Bob and Doug present their show from their boss's cottage, thousands of miles from civilization!

SCTV Fan Convention in November
SCTV June 28, 2004 @1:25pm EDT

With the recent release of the first DVD set there's been a lot of talk recently on alt.tv.sctv about an unofficial fan convention in Las Vegas in the fall. Vinnie B is one of the organizers and writes:

The idea for an informal and unofficial fan convention is gaining momentum and I am helping organize the event. Right now it looks like Las Vegas will be the host city and it will happen the weekend of Nov 13th, 2004. Folks will probably roll in Friday the 12th and the fun will continue into the Sunday the 14th.

I have set up a website with some preliminary information, and an email list. Please visit the site and subscribe to the email list for more information and to get updates on the event.

http://www.geocities.com/sctvman

In order to work with our travel agent, ALL-TRAVEL in Los Angeles, to book a block of rooms we need to get a grasp of how many people will attend and to get small deposits to secure the rooms. More info on the website and email list, so please visit and check it out.

June Hoser: DVD Players
Bob and Doug McKenzie June 6, 2004 @11:09pm EDT

This month in The Hoser, Bob and Doug get a DVD player in order to watch the upcoming release of SCTV on DVD!

Yet Another DVD Review
SCTV June 1, 2004 @12:02am EDT

DVD Verdict now has a review of the Volume 1 DVD set, written by Bill Gibron. Most of his review is actually an overview of SCTV; there's little discussion of the DVD itself until about half-way down the page. Another fan of the show from its original run, he praises the acting and story (giving them full marks), and considers the show part of the "triumvirate of classic sketch comedy (SNL and Monty Python adding the other sides to the triangle of jollity)". The only real problem he has with the set is the audio quality (which was still given a 90 out of 100). And if you check the right hand side of the page, you'll notice that it ranks #35 in the top 100 movies of all time...

Shout! Factory is hereby given a special commendation by the court for pursuing and finally placing this deserving classic on DVD, where it belongs.

Green Light For Season 14
The Red Green Show May 28, 2004 @6:47pm EDT

CBC released their fall schedule yesterday, and The Red Green Show is on the list! According to The Canadian Television Fund, Red will be back for 18 more episodes (production numbers 264-281) in his 14th season!

Volume 2 in October
SCTV May 26, 2004 @4:55pm EDT

Matt Kozlowski has informed me that the second set of SCTV DVDs will be out in October, just in time for everyone to add it to their Christmas wish list. Justin Pate also adds (on alt.tv.sctv) that the set will consist of Season 4, Cycle 2, and that the extras are already finished.

Another DVD Review
SCTV May 11, 2004 @1:54pm EDT

TVshowsonDVD.com reviewer Chris Stewart has posted his review of the SCTV DVD release. The video and audio get poor reviews, but Chris notes that "you've probably never seen these materials these [sic] good." He wasn't able to review the booklet since he didn't receive a copy of it with the disc set. He mentions that the only major failing with the set is the lack of subtitles or closed captions. As for the price, he writes:

It's true, that preserving every film score or pop song used in the show does affect the price point of a set, in this case the set was never targeted at casual buyers (who can get it everyday on TV anyhow). This set is for the fans.

May Hoser: Fake IDs
Bob and Doug McKenzie May 5, 2004 @10:31pm EDT

In the May edition of The Hoser, Doug tells the story of how Bob tried to buy beer when he was underage, and they make the mistake of talking about how they're making fake IDs on a computer.

Minor Changes to DVD Episodes
SCTV April 11, 2004 @3:25pm EDT

Shout! Factory did an excellent job in securing music rights for the upcoming SCTV DVD release, but they weren't able to get everything. Six of the nine episodes have minor changes, almost all of which are removal of short pieces of music, the rest are changes in the order of sketches. The full list is available at The SCTV Guide.

Web Site Address Change
BobNET April 6, 2004 @2:51pm EDT

The web server that has been hosting BobNET since 1996 will be taken out of service sometime in the next few weeks. Everything has been moved to my ISPs newer web server, and redirects are in place on the old one but everyone who's bookmarked anything on this site should update their bookmarks to begin with http://www.execulink.com/~bobnet/ instead of http://www.oxford.net/~bobnet/. There might be a few links here and there that will break, but I'll go through the entire site sometime soon and fix them all.

April Hoser: The Great Outdoors
Bob and Doug McKenzie April 3, 2004 @10:18pm EDT

Bob and Doug get kicked out of the house (again), then their van runs out of gas, so they decide to make the great outdoors their home and native land in this month's issue of The Hoser!

Individual DVDs from Time Life
SCTV March 29, 2004 @9:16am EST

Starting April 12, each of the five discs from the upcoming SCTV DVD release will be available individually from Time Life. As expected, there will be a commercial -- somehow I think it will look a lot like "Shower In A Briefcase"...

The content of each disc is the same as what you'd get in the five-disc box set, except you don't get the booklet with introductions/episode summaries/tributes. There's no word yet on what the price of each disc will be.

Update (April 15, 2004 @1:50pm EDT): The first and fourth DVDs are available now from Time Life, and when you order them you're given the option to order all five volumes for $75.00.

DVD Pricing
SCTV March 6, 2004 @8:35pm EST

Many people have complained about the high price of the upcoming SCTV release. In an article on DVD Angle, Shout! Factory President Garson Foos provided the reason:

The high price is because of the very high cost of the large quantity of music. We make a very low margin on this in spite of the high price. It's either at this price, or no SCTV at all. That's why it never came out on video.

It may limit the audience, but we're all better off by us doing it this way as opposed to not at all.

Many DVD releases (even recent ones like Dawson's Creek) have replaced the music that originally aired to save costs; unfortunately, in many cases the original music was well-suited to the show, and replacing it just won't work. As an example, look at WKRP in Cincinnati, which won't be out on DVD anytime soon due to the $1 million price tag for the music rights. We're fortunate enough to have SCTV coming out in a form nearly identical to what originally aired on NBC over twenty years ago, and after being limited to the spliced-up syndication episodes for two decades I think that's reason enough to buy SCTV when it comes out on DVD...

Update (March 13, 2004 @3:33pm EST): Amazon.com has the DVD set for $67.49, a savings of almost 25%!

Update (March 30, 2004 @4:47pm EST): Deep Discount DVD has the set available for preorder for $59.84!

Hindsight Is 20/20
The Red Green Show March 6, 2004 @8:16pm EST

It's time for yet another PBS pledge drive; this year, Red will be featured in "Red Green's Hindsight Is 20-20", a special celebrating 25 years of Red Green on television. Even though The Red Green Show is "only" in its thirteenth season, Steve Smith portrayed Red Green during the 195-episode, nine-year run of Smith & Smith that began in 1978.

Check your local PBS station for air times!

March Hoser: Ice Fishing
Bob and Doug McKenzie March 2, 2004 @4:53pm EST

In this month's issue of The Hoser, Bob and Doug go ice fishing in their van, and show how to keep your beer cold in the winter (like that's hard, eh?). They also mention the upcoming SCTV DVD release, in which many episodes of Great White North will be included, along with the show where Bob and Doug meet rocker Ian Thomas.

DVD Review
SCTV March 1, 2004 @10:25am EST

DVD Movie Guide reviewer Colin Jacobson received an early release of the first set of SCTV DVDs. A long-time fan of the show (he got cable just to get the shows when it aired on Nickelodeon), Colin is in the demographic this release is targeted at.

He admits that it's hard for him to be objective, but he notes that the physical properties of the set are what you'd expect from a late 1970s/early 1980s TV show (a little blurry, sometimes tinny sound, but otherwise pretty good). Apparently there's no subtitles or closed captions, and the MSRP is quite high ($89.98USD), but aside from that he's quite pleased with the set: "I heartily recommend SCTV Network/90 Volume One and can.t wait to check out Volume Two (and Volume Three, and Volume Four.)." His review can be found online at http://www.dvdmg.com/sctvvolume1.shtml.

DVDs in June!
SCTV February 11, 2004 @5:15pm EST

The long-awaited SCTV DVD release will be here at last on June 8, 2004! The first set of discs will consist of the first cycle of nine 90 minute episodes from Season 4, and the suggested retail price is $89.98USD.

As expected, the DVDs are being issued by Shout! Factory, and will include four new documentaries: "SCTV Remembers", "Origins of SCTV", "The Craft of SCTV", and "Remembering John". Also included is the SCTV Reunion from the 1999 Comedy Arts Festival.

More details can be found in the press release posted at tvshowsondvd.com, which ends with "Stay tuned for additional releases of SCTV on DVD from Shout! Factory."

February Hoser: Leap Years
Bob and Doug McKenzie February 1, 2004 @3:52pm EST

This month in The Hoser, Doug teaches us how all the months, including the leap month of February, were named after Emperors of Rome (the same guys who invented Caesar salad).

DVD Release Approaches
SCTV January 29, 2004 @11:44am EST

From The SCTV Guide:

A release does indeed look to be getting closer, as details on the content are now appearing. The first set is currently rumoured to be Season 4 Cycle 1, 9 episodes on 5 discs, and is to include lots of bonus material, including a 60 minute special on the 1999 Aspen Comedy Festival reunion, along with mini features of cast and crew recollections grouped into "SCTV Remembers", "Remembering John", "Origins of SCTV", and "The Craft of SCTV".

January Hoser: Confusion
Bob and Doug McKenzie January 4, 2004 @3:15pm EST

Bob and Doug wake up after drinking way too much at a New Year's Eve party (and even more after the party) in this month's issue of The Hoser!

Brother Bear DVD Release Features Commentary By Rick and Dave
Bob and Doug McKenzie December 16, 2003 @1:17pm EST

The upcomping DVD release of Disney's Brother Bear will include audio commentary by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas. Rick and Dave will be in character as Rutt and Tuke, the thinly veiled moose versions of Bob and Doug they voiced in the movie released in November. According to amazon.com, the DVD will be released on March 30, 2004.

SCTV DVDs on amazon.com (Almost)
SCTV December 15, 2003 @3:11pm EST

Recess Monkey (aka. Matt Kozlowski) wrote in alt.tv.sctv:

Amazon has added SCTV to its DVD database. Don't let the "not currently in production" language scare you. You can put in your email address to be notified when the product is available. It also helps Amazon and the studio track interest in the item.

The link is here, make sure you add your email address to both offer your support, and to find out when the DVDs will be released!

December Hoser: Christmas Shopping With Bob and Doug
Bob and Doug McKenzie December 3, 2003 @2:37pm EST

In the December issue of The Hoser, Bob and Doug do the show from a shopping mall, where they realize they can do all their shopping at one store. That is, until they meet some familiar looking police officers...

Four Once More
Royal Canadian Air Farce December 3, 2003 @11:59am EST

From the Farce's Official Homepage, Jessica Holmes, who has guest starred on three shows already this season, has been invited to join the cast of Royal Canadian Air Farce by Roger, Don, and Luba. She's the first permanent cast member since the retirement of John Morgan two years ago. Her impressions include Michael Jackson and Paris Hilton, and will give Luba a bit of a break since she's no longer the only female cast memeber. Jessica joins the cast in time for this Friday's episode (December 5, 2003).

November Hoser: Boots
Bob and Doug McKenzie November 4, 2003 @4:24pm EST

This month in The Hoser, Bob and Doug talk about boots. Not bootlegs, eh? Those guys who are selling beer and copies of movies are just pretending to be Bob and Doug to get them in trouble with the cops, eh!

Bob and Doug Voice Disney Cartoon
Bob and Doug McKenzie November 2, 2003 @5:50pm EST

Well, not really, eh? Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas provide the voices of moose brothers Rutt and Tuke in Disney's animated Brother Bear, which opened in theatres on Friday. In this interview on USATODAY.com, Rick and Dave discuss the origins of Bob and Doug and how they relate to Rutt and Tuke: "trample off, you hoofer!"

Dave also mentions the Animated Adventures of Bob and Doug McKenzie: "We are working on it right now. It will probably be released direct to video." That'd be okay with me, eh!

The Red Green Show, Back With 18 New Episodes
The Red Green Show October 7, 2003 @1:31pm EDT

The thirteenth season of The Red Green Show premieres Friday, October 24, 2003 at 9:30pm on CBC. Expect Red's nerdy nephew Harold to be back this season, along with more of Winston's Sewage and Septic Sucking Services ads, and Ranger Gord's educational films. There will be 18 new episodes this season, and there's been rumours that Rick Green (aka. Bill Smith) will return for six "Adventures With Bill". See Red's webpage and the site at CBC for more details and air times.

Air Farce Returns For 11th Season
Royal Canadian Air Farce October 7, 2003 @1:25pm EDT

The Royal Canadian Air Farce returns to CBC at 8pm on Friday, October 10, 2003. They follow last-season's hour-long final episode from Brandon, Manitoba with a special hour-long episode from Saint John, New Brunswick. See the Farce's What's New page and the Air Farce site at CBC for more details and air times.

October Hoser: Halloween
Bob and Doug McKenzie October 7, 2003 @1:48am EDT

The McKenzie brothers dress up for Haloween in this month's issue of The Hoser. They forget to buy candy, give beers out to trick-or-treaters, and get a visit from a couple of guys dressed up as police officers.

September Hoser: Bonfires
Bob and Doug McKenzie September 6, 2003 @10:02pm EDT

This month in The Hoser, Bob and Doug cause an explosion and melt their winter boots trying to start a bonfire!

Vote Red Green!
The Red Green Show August 25, 2003 @9:35am EDT

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television has setup a contest called "People's Choice for Favourite Comedian" for the 2003 Gemini Awards on their website. Several cast members from The Red Green Show are in consideration for the award, including Jeff Lumby (Winston Rothschild), Patrick McKenna (Harold Green), Wayne Robson (Mike Hamar), and Steve Smith (Red Green). Go to the Academy's website to enter your vote for your Favourite Comedian for the 2003 Gemini Awards!

SCTV DVD Release In January
SCTV August 10, 2003 @5:21pm EDT

According to Video Store Magazine, SCTV is coming to DVD in January 2004. The first set to come out will not be the first season as expected. Instead it will be season 4, the first season at NBC (otherwise known as "SCTV Network 90"). "Those really are, I think, the best shows," said SCTV's Eugene Levy. "The show reached its creative peak in those 90-minute shows on NBC."

The problem with getting SCTV to DVD was music rights; when the shows were produced, music was used without licensing. Now apparently all the music clearance issues are settled, so it looks like most original music (and the musical guests who began appearing in the NBC episodes) will be included on this release.

Special thanks to Matt Kozlowski, who's been keeping me (and other SCTV fans) up to date on this for the past few years and will probably have more information (such as the distributor and release dates) to come soon.

August Hoser: Summer School
Bob and Doug McKenzie August 5, 2003 @2:59pm EDT

In the August issue of The Hoser, Bob and Doug take a correspondence course on beermaking, and take a voluntary (beer drinking) detention when Doug spills the beans about the time they spray-painted the school.

Bob And Doug Create Canada's Fastest Supercomputer
Bob and Doug McKenzie July 30, 2003 @12:31am EDT

The fastest computer in Canada has been named after Bob and Doug and is used by the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto. The $900 000 computer is being used to simulate supermassive black holes and collisions of galaxies. This article on the UofT's website has more information on the computer, but here's where Bob and Doug come in:

The machine, nicknamed McKenzie (after the McKenzie Brothers comedy sketch on SCTV), with 268 gigabytes of memory and 40 terabytes of disk space, consists of two master nodes (Bob and Doug), 256 compute nodes, and eight development nodes.

Adventurer Bill Returns In Season 13
The Red Green Show July 11, 2003 @1:29am EDT

Just in time for The Red Green Show's lucky 13th season, the CBC reports that series co-creator Rick Green will be returning as Adventurer Bill for six episodes this year. Also, famous Canadians will be inducted as honourary charter members of Possum Lodge, starting with Charlie Farquharson (aka. Don Harron). See the article on CBC's website for more information on these and other changes coming this year.

July Hoser: Medicinal Marijuana and Medicinal Beer
Bob and Doug McKenzie July 2, 2003 @3:10pm EDT

This month in The Hoser, Doug discovers why their two-four is always hidden in the tool shed, and Bob explains the amazing medical properties of beer.

I Am A Hoser
Bob and Doug McKenzie July 1, 2003 @11:47am EDT

Jim Geiwitz of Victoria, B.C. asked me a couple of weeks ago to define the word "hoser". I've known a few possible origins of the word for years, but found that I didn't really have a good definition of it.

When I became a Canadian citizen a few years back, I was told I wouldn't be a real Canadian until I learned the meaning of the word "hoser." Everyone I asked seemed to know what it meant, but nobody could define it.

In response to Jim's question, Jack Knox of The Victoria Times Colonist held a contest to find the best definition of "hoser", and the winning entries were published just in time for Canada Day in this article. Interestingly, all of the definitions seem to fit Bob and Doug.

June Hoser: Chick Flicks and Action Movies
Bob and Doug McKenzie June 3, 2003 @10:00pm EDT

In the June issue of The Hoser, Doug explains the differences between the two types of movies and why he likes one better than the other. Bob also gives away the ending to every single action movie ever made!

Red Green Funding Crisis Averted
The Red Green Show May 7, 2003 @1:49pm EDT

In February, the Canadian government announced their latest budget, which cut funding to the Canadian Television Fund by $25 million. This placed several television productions that rely on the fund in jeopardy, including "The Red Green Show". However, yesterday it was announced that funds have been reallocated and many of the programs can be saved. Among them are shows such as CTV's "The Eleventh Hour", CBC's "An American In Canada" (produced by Steve Smith's S&S Productions), and of course "The Red Green Show".

For a detailed and complex explantion of the CTF's deal, check articles from CBC News, The Toronto Star, and (of all places) The Fort Frances Times. There is also a list of shows on the CTF's website that will receive funding through the Equity Investment Program of the CTF.

May Hoser: Laundry Day
Bob and Doug McKenzie May 2, 2003 @8:20pm EDT

In this month's issue of The Hoser, Bob and Doug visit the laundromat and discover that washing clothes isn't very different from washing their van!

Possible SCTV DVD Release
SCTV April 20, 2003 @7:52pm EDT

Scott Carlson writes that Shout! Entertainment has made a deal with Andrew Alexander of Second City to put SCTV out on DVD. Shout! is headed by the founder of Rhino Records, but as the article says, "no other information was known".

Update (May 3, 2003 @12:29am EDT): This was supposed to go up on the site almost two weeks ago, but somehow got lost...

April Hoser: Taxes
Bob and Doug McKenzie April 2, 2003 @9:14pm EST

This month in The Hoser, Bob and Doug show how to do your taxes, even if you make no money (or pretend to make no money).

The Return of Bob and Doug McKenzie
Bob and Doug McKenzie March 27, 2003 @2:32pm EST

An article appeared earlier this month on CANOE about Dave Thomas's newest movie project, Whitecoats. But more importantly, in the last few paragraphs Dave discusses the return of Bob and Doug McKenzie.

The Second City Website Updated
SCTV March 8, 2003 @12:15am EST

The website for The Second City was updated earlier this week. It's been completely redone using Flash (so you'll need the Macromedia Flash Player to use some of the special features), and so far has two video clips from SCTV!

March Hoser: Winter Continues
Bob and Doug McKenzie March 5, 2003 @9:33pm EST

"Doctor" Bob McKenzie explains why the weather has been so cold lately to his hosehead brother Doug in this month's issue of The Hoser.

Duct Tape Forever on PBS
The Red Green Show March 1, 2003 @12:59am EST

According to this week's issue of TV Guide, Red Green's first movie Duct Tape Forever is airing tonight on at least two PBS stations in my area (WQLN at 10:00pm and WXXI at 9:30pm). It looks like this is part of the annual March pledge drive on PBS, so check your local listings at PBS.org (it's probably listed as either "Red Green Duct Tape '03" or "Duct Tape Forever").

Update (March 1, 2003 @1:16pm EST): For fans in Iowa, Duct Tape Forever airs tonight at 9:30pm, Saturday March 8 at 12:00pm, and Saturday March 15 at 11:00pm on IPTV.

Second City Presents
SCTV February 15, 2003 @11:59am EST

Starting tonight and airing for the next six weeks on Bravo! is "Second City Presents", an exploration into the greatest comedic minds to emerge from Second City. Tonight's debut episode features SCTV alumnus Martin Short reminicing about SCTV and his brief tenure with Saturday Night Live with Second City Presents host and Chicago journalist Bill Zehme. Marty discusses the evolution of his regular characters, including Ed Grimley and more recently, Jiminy Glick. He also talks about his impressions, especially that of Jerry Lewis.

Future episodes will feature Joan Rivers, Jon Lovitz, Molly Shannon, Jim Belushi, and Tracey Ullman. Bravo! is available on cable and satellite in Canada, and possibly some satellite providers in the US. More info can be found on Second City's web site.

bobnet.dyndns.org Back Online
BobNET February 5, 2003 @1:39pm EST

The server once used to store the images and sounds archive for BobNET is back online after five months. This is bobnet.dyndns.org; the images are high-resolution PNG files, and the sounds are available in MP3, WAV, or SHN formats. Downloads are limited to 4kbytes/sec, enough so that I can still play games on the Internet without too much lag. I'm not sure how much longer these will be available, I only have another month of cheap DSL, and won't have as much time to manage the files in the future. Copy them, if you want, I just take credit for digitizing them.

For anyone who's interested, the server runs thttpd with Rob Ekl's re patch. There's also a mirror of BobNET at http://bobnet.dyndns.org/.

Update (March 5, 2003 @3:35pm EST): I've updated to the -re3 patch, since -re1 (which I was using until today) is broken. Rob's site can also be found at http://rekl.no-ip.org/thttpd/ if the yi.org address doesn't work.

February Hoser: Still The Shortest Month
Bob and Doug McKenzie February 4, 2003 @4:32pm EST

This month in The Hoser, Bob and Doug complain about an Internet service provider promising 700 free hours of Internet in a month that only contains 672 hours.

BobNET 5.0.2; bobnet.dyndns.org Back Soon
BobNET January 24, 2003 @5:49pm EST

I finally got around to reinstalling the web server on my home system; this means bobnet.dyndns.org, the site holding my sounds and images archives should be back online within a week (I still need to do some testing). There were a few small changes done to some of the pages here, mainly updating links and menus; enough for me to change the version number to 5.0.2.

January Hoser: Tobogganing
Bob and Doug McKenzie January 7, 2003 @2:29pm EST

This month in The Hoser, Bob explains what a toboggan is, and Doug tells a story about Bob's amazing stunt sledding down a snow-covered hill. The Twelve Days of Christmas is still up this month, for those that missed it last month.

December Hoser: Christmas Lights / Twelve Days of Christmas
Bob and Doug McKenzie December 3, 2002 @9:38pm EST

In December's Hoser, Bob and Doug put up their Christmas lights. Also, don't forget to read The Twelve Days of Christmas, by Bob and Doug!

Another SCTV Air Time Change
SCTV November 13, 2002 @10:35pm EST

The air times for SCTV on The Comedy Network in Canada have changed again, and again the new schedule is pretty confusing. Check the table on SCTV: On The Air! for the updated times.

November Hoser: Digital Video Doug
Bob and Doug McKenzie November 6, 2002 @3:37pm EST

This time around, Bob and Doug buy the DVD of Strange Brew and cause a few explosions trying to play it, until they buy a DVD player. Read it in The Hoser!

Letter From Andrew Alexander
SCTV October 29, 2002 @2:05pm EST

For the past three years we've been hearing rumours about future SCTV on VHS/DVD releases, but none have been true. However, JS577 (aka. Justin) just received a letter on the subject with a little more credibility: from Andrew Alexander, CEO of Second City. The full reply can be found here, but the important part reads:

It was hoped that we would have had a release date this year (2002) but it appears more likely that the series will be available in the fall of 2003.

Justin will be forwarding his SCTV on DVD Petition to Second City on December 31, so you still have time to sign it if you haven't already.

Strange Brew DVD Review
Bob and Doug McKenzie October 22, 2002 @3:09pm EDT

DavE brought over a copy of the recently released DVD of Strange Brew last week and we watched it. I've only had a DVD player for about a month but I'm still impressed with the picture quality I get from them, and am quite pleased that Strange Brew has been released in this format. However, I have a few complaints about this DVD that are explained in the article. Read more to see them, eh!

Update (October 27, 2002 @1:42pm EST): Okay, I finally got my own copy yesterday!

Season 12 Begins October 18
The Red Green Show October 15, 2002 @3:06pm EDT

All Red Green viewers in Canada take note! The new season begins this Friday, October 18, 2002 on CBC. The show is a half-hour long and airs right after Royal Canadian Air Farce, so check your local listings for details!

Six Years Of BobNET!
BobNET October 11, 2002 @12:00am EDT

Six years ago today I uploaded the first version of BobNET to my ISP's webserver (actually, looking at my ws_ftp logs I first uploaded something on the 7th, but didn't "go live" until the 11th). I've found a backup of the site on an old hard drive (from my 486SX with a 620MB hard drive!), so read the rest of the article for more of my archaeological expedition into the history of BobNET.

The Hoser is also five years old today! Read this month's issue and don't forget to congratulate Bob and Doug for the past sixty issues!

Season 10 Begins October 11
Royal Canadian Air Farce October 8, 2002 @10:29pm EDT

Just a reminder for all the Air Farce viewers out there, the new season starts Friday, October 11, 2002 on CBC with an hour long special. The most notable guest is Hockey Night In Canada host Ron MacLean, fresh after signing a thirteenth hour deal with the CBC (if you didn't get the joke you weren't in Canada last week).

October Hoser: Cooking With The McKenzies
Bob and Doug McKenzie October 1, 2002 @1:20pm EDT

Check out October's issue of The Hoser starring Bob and Doug McKenzie at their new jobs as cooks at a local diner that serves back bacon, eh!

Strange Brew On DVD Today!
Bob and Doug McKenzie October 1, 2002 @1:00am EDT

Bob and Doug's movie Strange Brew is being released today on DVD in Canada and the USA! This edition is widescreen (letterbox) and includes episodes of "Great White North" from SCTV as well as "The Animated Adventures Of Bob And Doug McKenzie" (whatever that is, I guess I'll find out later today). Details are available at amazon.com and Yahoo.

September Hoser: Bob and Doug The Lumberjacks
Bob and Doug McKenzie September 6, 2002 @11:24pm EDT

In this month's issue of The Hoser, Bob and Doug go camping and decide that wood burns much better than their tents do.

CBC Extends Comedy Special
Royal Canadian Air Farce September 5, 2002 @6:18pm EDT

CBC has lengthened the All-Star Comedy Homecoming set to air Sunday, September 8, 2002 to 90 minutes from the original time of 1 hour. The special now runs from 9pm to 10:30pm, local time. Read this article on CANOE for more details, or check CBC's site.

bobnet.dyndns.org Going Offline
BobNET August 27, 2002 @8:47pm EDT

The site storing my sounds and images, bobnet.dyndns.org, is going offline on Friday, August 30, 2002. I'm moving back to Tillsonburg from Waterloo, and will be getting rid of my ADSL connection (which connects the server to the Internet) in the process. I'll put the server back online eventually, depending on whether I get high-speed in the near future or not, so if you were planning on grabbing those Bob and Doug McKenzie Sounds, better do it by Friday!

Red on CBC Comedy Homecoming
The Red Green Show August 27, 2002 @11:30am EDT

Canadian viewers (and American ones who receive the CBC) should check out "CBC's All-Star Comedy Homecoming" on September 8, 2002. One of the many Canadian comedians featured on the hour-long special is Steve Smith, more commonly known as Red Green. The Red Green Show has aired on CBC since 1997. Check my other article, CBC Celebrates 50 Years of Television for more information, and CBC's Homepage for air times.

Update (September 5, 2002 @6:20pm EDT): The All-Star Comedy Homecoming is now 90 minutes long, instead of 60. See this article for details.

CBC Specials
SCTV August 27, 2002 @11:20am EDT

Canadian viewers (and American ones who receive the CBC) should be on the lookout starting Friday, September 6, 2002, when CBC begins its celebration of its 50th year of television programming with "The Joke's On Us: 50 Years of CBC Satire", and later on Sunday, September 8, 2002, with "CBC's All-Star Comedy Homecoming". Both should include highlights from SCTV, which ran on CBC from 1980 to 1982.

Check the other articles on BobNET, 50 Years of CBC Satire and CBC Celebrates 50 Years of Television for more info on the specials, and CBC's Homepage for air times.

Update (September 5, 2002 @6:20pm EDT): The All-Star Comedy Homecoming is now 90 minutes long, instead of 60. See this article for details.

50 Years of CBC Satire
Royal Canadian Air Farce August 27, 2002 @10:56am EDT

Kicking off the CBC's 50th anniversary celebration is "The Joke's On Us: 50 Years of CBC Satire", a 90 minute special hosted by Leslie Nielsen and showcasing Canada's satirical legacy with appearances from stars, creators, and even targets of Canadian satire. The special airs on September 6, 2002, and is followed by a special epsiode of Air Farce featuring a compilation of nine years of guest appearances by Canadian politicians.

CBC Celebrates 50 Years of Television
Royal Canadian Air Farce August 27, 2002 @10:42am EDT

Canada's public broadcaster, CBC, is celebrating its 50th birthday with "CBC's All-Star Comedy Homecoming", featuring many of Canada's top comedians. Hosted by the stars of the Royal Canadian Air Farce and This Hour Has 22 Minutes, the hour-long special will feature a Kids In The Hall reunion, SCTV alumnus Joe Flaherty, Steve Smith (aka. Red Green) and several other comedians who have appeared on CBC over the past 50 years (including Dave Broadfoot and Don Harron). The All-Star Comedy Homecoming airs on September 8, 2002, 50 years to the day of the first telecast of CBC's English programming. The special is produced by Air Farce's Roger Abbott and Don Ferguson.

Update (September 5, 2002 @6:20pm EDT): The All-Star Comedy Homecoming is now 90 minutes long, instead of 60. See this article for details.

SCTV on DVD Petition
SCTV August 26, 2002 @8:04pm EDT

JS577 has created an online petition to convince Andrew Alexander to release the "complete, unedited and unaltered original episodes" on DVD. I see a lot of old TV shows on DVD with smaller fanbases than SCTV; I think Andrew Alexander might be one of the few people with the power to initiate a DVD release to pay attention to an online petition, too.

Minor Update: BobNET 5.0.1
BobNET August 21, 2002 @12:28am EDT

I've just completed some minor changes to the site, the most visible being the Google search form at the side of the page. Google is the most useful search engine I've seen, since I almost always find what I'm looking for. It also has a USENET archive dating back to 1981!

Duct Tape Forever on DVD
The Red Green Show August 19, 2002 @11:32pm EDT

Red Green's first movie, Duct Tape Forever, was released on DVD last week! The movie is also out on VHS, and can be found in most video stores across Canada for sale and for rent. The release includes commentary by Steve Smith, the PBS special "Red Green Goes To Hollywood", and several other features.

American fans who can't find a place that sells the disc and/or tape should note that DVDs released in Canada are region 1 and can be played on most DVD players sold in the USA, so you can always buy it from a Canadian source (online or otherwise).

Red has also been touring America and has brought the movie with him! Check www.redgreen.com for dates in a city near you!

August Hoser: Old Beers
Bob and Doug McKenzie August 2, 2002 @12:01am EDT

This month Bob and Doug discover that a microbrewery is bringing back stubby beer bottles, and they decide that starting their own microbrewery would be a good idea, eh!

BobNET 5 is On The Air!
BobNET July 16, 2002 @8:00pm EDT

After eleven months, I finally finished the biggest update to my site yet! This is the news page where news on Bob and Doug McKenzie, SCTV, The Red Green Show, Royal Canadian Air Farce, and more will be posted. All other pages have been updated or replaced, and I've added a brief autobiography and site history. Longtime readers of The Hoser will notice that all the old Strange Brew 2 and SCTV news has been added to these pages too.

There's still (and probably always will be) problems with Netscape/Internet Explorer versions 4 and older, despite the fact that this page conforms to published web standards. Users of these can either put up with the strange things that happen, upgrade to Netscape/Internet Explorer 6, or download Opera which is fast even on a 486/DX.

Hopefully all this hard work will pay off and make the site easier for me to update, and easier for you to read...

Original List Is Back
BoB 'n' DavE's Top 11 List July 16, 2002 @7:26pm EDT

I've replaced the Top 11 List that's been up since January; this is the original list, dating back to October 1996...

Strange Brew On DVD
Bob and Doug McKenzie July 15, 2002 @6:03am EDT

Bringer of good tidings Matthew Kozlowski has confirmed that Warner will be bringing Bob and Doug McKenzie to DVD by releasing Strange Brew on October 1 this year. It'll be in widescreen and stereo, with some bonuses on the disc including excerpts from "Great White North" segments, the original movie trailer, and "The Animated Adventures of Bob and Doug McKenzie".

As proof, Matthew cites DVD Angle and DVD File.

Update (July 16, 2002 @2:13pm EDT): philnigash also sent in a link from DVD Review with similar confirmation.

Canadian SCTV Air Time Change
SCTV July 11, 2002 @11:53pm EDT

The air times for SCTV on The Comedy Network in Canada changed recently. The newest schedule is pretty confusing; check the table on SCTV: On The Air! for the updated times.

July Hoser: Air Conditoners
Bob and Doug McKenzie July 4, 2002 @8:48pm EDT

In this month's issue of The Hoser, Bob and Doug "find" a stolen air conditioner and install it... in their van!

BobNET 5 Demo #4
BobNET June 7, 2002 @11:08pm EDT

This is the fourth and probably last demo page for the next version of BobNET. Lots of things have happened behind the scenes: the main program that generates all of the news-related pages is working well enough to run the site; some HTML has been fixed and site navigation bar support was enabled for some browsers; a page with sound clip info was added; and several other pages have been updated.

Mozilla 1.0, the web browser that is my main testing program was released earlier this week. It's become very stable, fast, and full full-featured, so I recommend it not only for BobNET but for all of your Internet browsing. Of course, all of the pages are viewable in Internet Explorer (and some look better), but the more pages that work in all browsers the better. I added support for Mozilla's site navigation bar just two days before it was removed from the program. It was actually a pretty useful feature so I hope it gets implemented in some future version of the browser.

There's not much left for me to do before I consider this finished. In fact, I can probably do that now and use this as my main page instead of a demo. The few things left include fixing some bugs in the news-page generation program and creating some new images for the site. Not to mention checking links and pages for other errors.

June Hoser: Lawn Mowing
Bob and Doug McKenzie June 6, 2002 @10:06am EDT

This month in The Hoser, Bob and Doug have to earn their beer money by mowing their lawn and trying not to wreck anything.

Joe Flaherty to Teach in Toronto
SCTV May 23, 2002 @12:02am EDT

Count Floyd, aka. Joe Flaherty has accepted a full-time position as an artist-in-residence at the Humber College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto. The SCTV cast member will be directing shows as well as offering master classes for the College's School of Comedy. The School has recently been upgraded to a full-year course from a summer program.

Second City Toronto Presents Alumni Week
SCTV May 22, 2002 @10:40pm EDT

Carlie Baxter, Assistant Producer at Second City Toronto, writes that from May 27 to May 31 the Toronto stage will be presenting its second annual Alumni Week. Each night has a different theme; the themes are listed on the Second City's web site.

Some of the famous alumni present are: Colin Mochrie, Robin Duke, Tony Rosato, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty, Ron James, and Gavin Crawford. As a bonus, the cast of SCTV will be honoured on the 28th with a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.

The event benefits the Performing Arts Lodges of Canada and Gilda's Club of Greater Toronto and will be held at Second City Toronto's main stage at 56 Blue Jays Way in downtown Toronto. Be there!

May Hoser: Beer Strike!
Bob and Doug McKenzie May 7, 2002 @12:49am EDT

This month, Bob and Doug must find a new source of beer when the beer store goes on strike.

Air Farce Season Finale on Sunday
Royal Canadian Air Farce April 12, 2002 @4:43pm EDT

The last episode of the year airs this Sunday, April 14, at 8:00pm on the CBC. It follows the last regular-timeslot show tonight at 9:00pm (note the difference in air times). Sunday's episode is one hour long and includes guest star Colin Mochrie (star of many, many other shows and commercials on television these days)

First Reviews of Duct Tape Forever
The Red Green Show April 12, 2002 @3:56pm EDT

Instead of studying, I've spent most of the afternoon pouring over reviews of Duct Tape Forever, The Red Green Show's first movie. The reviews run from lukewarm to good, but in general the reviewers believe that fans of the show (like most people reading this article) should enjoy it.

Air Farce Renewed For Another Two Seasons
Royal Canadian Air Farce April 12, 2002 @3:29pm EDT

A press release on CBC's webpage notes that Royal Canadian Air Farce has been renewed from spring 2003 until at least spring 2005.

The show has continually received one million viewers every minute on Friday nights over the past year when the show has aired at 9:00pm. In previous years when it aired at 8:00pm the show received 1.2 million viewers.

Fans Give Rave Reviews To Duct Tape Forever
The Red Green Show April 10, 2002 @12:35am EDT

The first movie based upon The Red Green Show received a warm reception from fans at a "sneak-preview" showing of the film on Monday. The preview was held at a Silver City theatre in London, Ontario, and was hosted by Steve "Red Green" Smith. Smith has been hosting previews across Canada for the past month, as noted on the official website of the movie, and is using them as "a thermometer" to test audience reaction to the movie. The movie opens on Friday, April 12 in theatres across Canada.

Red Green himself hopes the public will enjoy the offering. "Look, I saw the film and I got over it so I'm sure other people will, too. Actually, it was all of our fans who demanded that we make this movie. I just hope the two of them liked it."

There was also a book signing at a Chapters in London earlier in the day to promote Red Green's new book, Duct Tape Is Not Enough. In the afternoon Smith also made an appearance as Red at a Building Box to promote Scotch Duct Tape for 3M Canada.

I should have gone to London, which is less than an hour away. Too bad I didn't know that my last university class would be cancelled that day...

April Hoser: April Fool's Doug
Bob and Doug McKenzie March 30, 2002 @3:48pm EST

This month, Bob and Doug play practical jokes on each other in honour of April Fool's Day.

SCTV Cast Honoured on Canada's Walk of Fame
SCTV March 10, 2002 @2:53pm EST

The entire cast of SCTV will be honoured in May with a "sidewalk star" on Canada's Walk of Fame. They will join ten other Canadian institutions and icons honoured this year, and the 53 honourees of past years.

This year's other inductees include actor/comedian (and Second City cast member) Dan Aykroyd, game show host and humanitarian Monty Hall, rock band The Tragically Hip, and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. John Candy and Martin Short have been presented with individual stars in past years (1998 and 2000 respectively), and so are the first two people to have been honoured twice on the Walk of Fame. Incidentally, SCTV and Second City producer Andrew Alexander is on the Walk's Board of Directors. SCTV cast member Robin Duke is also involved in the organization.

On May 28, each inductee will be presented with a brass replica of the 2-foot square granite and marble star at the Princess of Wales Theatre in downtown Toronto, just down the street from where the Walk of Fame is located. The Walk was founded in 1998. Inductees must have a career spanning at least ten years, be Canadian born, and have a substantial body of work that has made a national or international impact. More information on Canada's Walk of Fame can be found on their web page.

March Hoser: How To Avoid Parking Tickets
Bob and Doug McKenzie March 5, 2002 @3:52pm EST

In this month's The Hoser, Doug takes over the show, then shows everyone why they no longer get any parking tickets.

BobNET 5 Demo #3
BobNET February 14, 2002 @3:22pm EST

Welcome to the long-awaited third demo of BobNET 5. There's been almost five months of development since Demo #2. All of the pages are done and include new menus and such, and I've written a new Links page and the Who is Bob? page.

I've written a Perl program that takes news entries in HoserNews format (an XML document) and generates this page, along with news pages specifically for the main topics at BobNET (Bob and Doug McKenzie, The Red Green Show, SCTV, and Air Farce), plus an "All News" page containing every article ever posted to BobNET. There's still some things left to do (like generating all of the pages in one run, and creating separate pages for some of the articles), but its able to do these HTML pages and create an RSS feed for the site.

Demo #4 will probably be the last demo before I put this into service, and hopefully won't take too long to finish. It'll include the changes mentioned above for the Perl content generator, some minor changes to the HTML (things that are wrong but I haven't fixed yet), a new template for The Hoser (so I can easily replace the old issue that's currently in the demo), and a copy of the page designed for earlier versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer.

February Hoser: Bob and Doug Blow a Fuse
Bob and Doug McKenzie February 6, 2002 @10:41pm EST

This month in The Hoser, Bob and Doug overload a circuit and end up in the dark until they realize that their van still works.

Duct Tape Forever on April 12, 2002
The Red Green Show January 29, 2002 @11:49pm EST

The Red Green movie, "Duct Tape Forever", will be shown at Famous Players cinemas across Canada starting on April 12, 2002. Yes, every Famous Players in Canada. They're already showing the trailer before some movies, and there are posters up.

I saw the poster at a Silver City recently, but haven't seen the trailer yet. More info will be posted here (including a review) when I find out more.

January Hoser: Phone Company Still Hosers
Bob and Doug McKenzie January 6, 2002 @1:36am EST

In this month's issue of The Hoser, Bob discovers that the phone company is raising the cost of payphone calls again, and Doug shows how to get free cell phone access.

SCTV Is Off The Air
SCTV December 20, 2001 @3:33pm EST

According to a message Ben A. posted to alt.tv.sctv, the last airing of SCTV in the "Later" timeslot will be January 3, 2002. Its replacement, "Last Call with Carson Daly", begins the following Monday.

It's unknown whether SCTV is gone for good, or if it will be bumped ahead a half hour. Or maybe Daly will get cancelled (he's a host on MTV, apparently).

December Hoser: Too Much Beer
Bob and Doug McKenzie December 2, 2001 @9:55pm EST

In this month's Hoser, Bob and Doug are "forced" into drinking too much beer when their fridge breaks down.

November Hoser: Dream Interpretation
Bob and Doug McKenzie November 6, 2001 @4:25pm EST

The November issue of The Hoser was a little late this month due to a bunch of midterm exams I had during the last week of October, and the first week of November. So go and interpret Bob and Doug's dreams.

BobNET 5 Demo #2
BobNET September 26, 2001 @9:32pm EDT

Welcome to Demo #2 of BobNET 5. There's been a lot of changes since Demo #1, including new colours, extra links on the sidebar, the welcome text, and more articles. This main page now only displays the last 30 days of articles, or six of them, whichever is more. In this case, the last six articles happen to stretch back to the Demo #1 announcement.

In the final version, this page will be generated by a Perl program from an XML document and a Template Toolkit 2 template. There is a sample DTD for the XML format, and a sample document containing the "source" for this page.

Demo #3 will be very close to the finished product; it'll have an all-news page (which displays all articles ever posted, instead of limiting them like this page does), individual news pages (for people who only want, for example, Bob and Doug news), the feedback form, links page(s), and the "Who Is Bob?" page. By then, maybe the parser/generator will be written, and this page will be generated instead of hand-created. In that case, I'll also include some sample templates, and sample RSS output (just to prove that it can do stuff other than HTML).

Nephew Harold Returns
The Red Green Show September 18, 2001 @4:36pm EDT

Pat McKenna rejoined the cast of The Red Green show before a surprised audience at a taping in Toronto last Saturday. Harold is now the public relations officer for Possum Lake, and makes $60000/year (which, according to the article, is ten times the local average income). He's also shed the nerdy teenage image, and now appears in a business suit and tie. Read more in the article on CANOE!

September Hoser: Letters To Doug
Bob and Doug McKenzie September 4, 2001 @11:59am EDT

I just uploaded the September issue of The Hoser, so join Bob and Doug when they reach into their mailbag for Letters To Doug.

Fall Video Release?
SCTV August 18, 2001 @9:24pm EDT

Several readers have conversed via email with Second City and indicated that there may be a VHS/DVD release of SCTV episodes as early as this fall. Matthew Kozlowski had receieved confirmation way back in May that a release of the Network 90 episodes was planned for fall 2001. Roy Bragg has recently made contact with Second City Toronto, which hints at "something" in January 2002, which confirms the suspicion that it might occur next winter. My opinion is that seeing is believing, considering the past rumours of video releases.

Martin Short's New Show Airs in Canada
SCTV August 18, 2001 @5:34pm EDT

SCTV alumnus Martin Short's newest show, Primetime Glick, will be airing in Canada on the Comedy Network, starting Saturday, August 25 at 10pm (Eastern; check the guide for other zones). Finally Canadians will be able to see what many on alt.tv.sctv have been raving about. Primetime Glick also airs on Comedy Central in the States, Wednesdays at 10:30pm ET.

Many other SCTV castmembers (including Dave Thomas, who impersonated Bob Hope) have appeared with Marty; unfortunately, not all at the same time.

BobNET 5 Demo #1
BobNET August 9, 2001 @3:23pm EDT

This is the first demo of BobNET 5. The final product will be generated from a set of XML documents and TT2 templates, but the demo was created by hand. I expect to include the last month of articles, or the five most recent articles, whichever is less. That's why the test articles stolen from the Strange Brew II News archive date back over a year.

So far, only the main page is completed, but I'll be doing more for the second demo: XHTML templates for The Hoser, a table of contents (similar to the one at the right) for other pages, a welcome message, new colours (since ideally Red Green announcements would use either red or green), and more...

Canadian SCTV Marathon
SCTV July 1, 2001 @12:37am EDT

The Comedy Network in Canada is airing 7 half-hour (that is, syndicated) episodes of SCTV on Monday, July 2, from 6pm until 9:30. Episodes will include Johnny LaRue's Street Beef, as well as Robin Williams' guest appearance. As always, check the TV Guide for times in your area.

More NBC
SCTV February 8, 2001 @12:48am EST

Many of you have e-mailed me with air dates and other information concerning SCTV's recent appearance on NBC. What it boils down to, is that "Later" has been officially canceled from NBC's schedule, and 30-minute episodes of SCTV are being used in this timeslot until they have a permanent replacement, which could possibly be SCTV. Read on for more information...

The episodes are from seasons 4 and 5 (aka "SCTV Network 90" aka "SCTV Network"), and are very similar to the ones that have been shown in Canada on the Comedy Network since 1999, except for some minor differences in the order of segments. According to Second City's website, NBC will make SCTV a permanent replacement for Later if they get a positive reaction from the viewers.

To help ensure this "positive reaction", and to encourage NBC to air their original 90-minute episodes uncut, contact your local NBC station, or send e-mail directly to NBC. Their web site isn't exactly the ultimate in web design and is hard to navigate. I found no sign of a mailing address or phone number, just the e-mail page. Hopefully the sites for the individual stations are a little more helpful.

And, in case you're wondering, SCTV is on right after Late Night With Conan O'Brien, generally at 1:35am Eastern/Pacific. Check your local listings if you live in a different timezone. Some stations show Conan, and therefore SCTV, at a different time, or not at all, so you probably want to check the TV Guide anyway...

SCTV On NBC
SCTV January 17, 2001 @1:20pm EST

Mike Tomecek writes that "classic episodes" of SCTV will be aired on NBC in the Later timeslot starting on Monday, January 22 and lasting until Thursday, January 25. This is on a "temporary basis", and is probably a one-time thing. Later usually airs from 1:35am until 2:05am, but some stations show it at different times (or not at all); check your local listings for details.

Update: It seems that SCTV will be on for at least the next two weeks (January 29 to February 8), Monday to Thursday, on NBC in the Later timeslot.

Avaliability of Action Figures
Bob and Doug McKenzie July 7, 2000 @1:28am EDT

If you're wondering where to get the action figures, they can be found at most comic book stores, and some video game stores, too (Electronics Boutique and Babbages should have them).

You can also order them online: try Spawn Toys, the obvious location first. They're also on sale at Hyperculture.

McFarlane McKenzie Figures Review
Bob and Doug McKenzie June 28, 2000 @12:18am EDT

Now that the action figures have actually been released, CLOSEDOWN8 has provided me (and the community of alt.tv.sctv) with a review of the Bob and Doug McKenzie action figures.

Overall: They're good figures, and every Bob and Doug fan should have a set. If you can get past the poor articulation (which you should be able to) you'll have a nice set to sit atop your shelf, entertainment center or whatever. Run to your local software store and pick up a set. You should be able to score both for less than $30 total. Take off, you hosers, and get a pair.

Dave Thomas Interview
Bob and Doug McKenzie May 17, 2000 @12:27am EDT

I unfortunately missed the online chat with Dave Thomas at IGN FilmForce, mainly due to a problem with their chat server. (It was intended to be held at 8pm on May 9, but IGN's chat server bombed. They didn't annoucne the new date, May 16, until a day or two before, and I missed it.) Good thing they posted the transcript.

He talks about being a McKenzie Brother, John Candy, Strange Brew and DVD's (not yet, if you were wondering), his new TV and movie projects, Home Brew, his brother Ian, and a too much other stuff to fit on this page. Read the transcript (either the link above, or my local copy below) for details.

The main message is that Home Brew is still non-existant. Todd McFarlane hasn't done anything about funding the movie, yet:

Q: Wasn't Todd McFarlane going to fund Home Brew? Can we write and lobby him for it?

A: Todd likes to take credit for a lot of things. But so far he hasn't stepped up to the financing plate to take any meaningful swings. By all means lobby.

Also read the interview with Dave at FilmForce from a few months ago.

Bob and Doug Figures Are Out
Bob and Doug McKenzie April 12, 2000 @1:38pm EDT

A short message on alt.tv.sctv notes that the Bob and Doug McKenzie "action figures" have been released by McFarlane Toys.

Quote from the web page: "Bob and Doug McKenzie action figures, each come with a voice chip and half of a diorama that assembles to form a complete backdrop. And don't forget the suds, hoser."

I finally got Macromedia's Flash, the figures look pretty good!

Media Blitz Gives Mixed Future of Home Brew
Bob and Doug McKenzie April 6, 2000 @7:30pm EDT

Four articles in Sun newspapers across Canada on the Canadian Comedy Awards (hosted by Dave Thomas) all report a slightly different future for Strange Brew II (aka Home Brew). They have one thing in common, and it looks like the sequel is a no go for now. Here's some selected quotes from Dave:

"I don't know if it will get on again."

"There are more than 100 web sites devoted to Bob & Doug. But try and sell that to the Royal Bank of Canada. They'd rather finance some drug deal out of the Cayman Islands."

"I'd like to get all the people who really loved that movie to write to the financing companies, but I can't get organized enough."

McFarlane Toys Releasing Bob and Doug Action Figures
Bob and Doug McKenzie February 10, 2000 @1:22pm EST

John Stroud writes: "Just in case you weren't aware, McFarlane Toys will be releasing Bob and Doug action figures, supposedly next month. They look awesome. There are pics of the figures at WWW.McFarlane.com."

Too bad I don't have Macromedia's Flash; I can't see the pics from here...

McFarlane May Be Executive Producer
Bob and Doug McKenzie January 20, 2000 @2:32pm EST

The latest rumour from www.aint-it-cool-news.com:

Todd McFarlane mentioned that they are going to do the sequel to the Bob and Doug McKenzie movie Strange Brew... apparently with McFarlane acting as an Exec-Producer, it's gonna happen... we'll have to see on that one.

Battle brewing over halted movie project
Bob and Doug McKenzie September 1, 1999 @9:38pm EDT

MEG Media Group Inc., financiers behind the stalled sequel to Bob and Doug McKenzie's 1983 cult classic Strange Brew, say the project failed because its "questionable appeal" was considered a risk by potential backers.

Mr. Thomas said yesterday he is in talks to possible revive the project. "We are going to make this movie," he said.

More trouble brewing for "Strange Brew"
Bob and Doug McKenzie September 1, 1999 @9:34pm EDT

MEG Media Group is suing Dave Thomas' Maple Palm Productions for $6 million, citing defamation, slander and punitive damages. Thomas is prepared to launch a US$20-million lawsuit for damages and compensation against MEG.

Sequel Brews Lawsuits
Bob and Doug McKenzie August 31, 1999 @12:08am EDT

Two lawsuits have been filed in the wake of the sudden cancellation of Dave Thomas' sequel to his 1983 pic "Strange Brew"

Thomas Says Lawsuit May Be Brew-ing
Bob and Doug McKenzie July 24, 1999 @9:59pm EDT

Producer-actor Dave Thomas says he is considering legal action against the Toronto-based company that was supposed to finance Home Brew. The $15-million McKenzie Brothers sequel to 1982's Strange Brew was to begin Toronto production this week with Thomas and Rick Moranis as Bob and Doug McKenzie. Thomas said he had to tell the mostly Canadian cast and crew last Friday the production was shutting down.

Bob and Doug Scrambling for Cash
Bob and Doug McKenzie July 22, 1999 @7:36pm EDT

Shooting of the McKenzie brothers movie sequel, Home Brew, has been delayed indefinitely after a financing deal set up by the company founded by actor Dave Thomas fell through.

McKenzie Brothers sequel ready to go, eh
Bob and Doug McKenzie March 30, 1999 @1:54pm EST

Almost 20 years after the original McKenzie Brothers film, 1983's 'Strange Brew', plans and financing are afoot for a sequel.

'COO-ROO-COO-COO-COO-COO-COO-COO' II
Bob and Doug McKenzie October 14, 1998 @5:49pm EDT

It's been a year since the ex-SCTV guy announced his production company Maple Palm Productions and a slate that included the return of brothers Bob and Doug McKenzie.

Latest Dave Thomas News
Bob and Doug McKenzie May 6, 1998 @11:35am EDT

Just heard from Dave. He reports in to say that he and Rick have 'worked out the story' to SBII, on the 5th attempt! DT and Paul Flaherty are now in L.A. writing, and consulting with Rick Moranis by phone in N.Y.