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.

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.

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 @12:11pm 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.

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.

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. I'm also not sure if the SCTV segments will be anything new that hasn't been released on DVD yet.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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."

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.

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...

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!

Jimmy Page doesn't license the rights to Stairway To Heaven to anyone. And if he's seen this episode of SCTV then who can blame him? :-) Now you can view the clip of Linsk Minyk (Rick Moranis) performing the Leutonian version that was left out of the DVD release on the video page. This is as a result of me pulling out an old VHS of SCTV shows. There will probably be more to come...

Hot on the coat-tails of BobNET's ninth anniversary comes the eighth anniversary of SCTV: On The Air!

Today I finally bring an update I've been working on since 2002: as you can probably see, the whole page has been redesigned. The news articles finally found their way to the main page, and now there's a FAQ and video clips!

For the technically inclined, the site is now written 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! :-)

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).

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.

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.

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...

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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."

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".

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.

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!

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!

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.

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...

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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!

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.

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.

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.

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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 @6:21pm EDT): The All-Star Comedy Homecoming is now 90 minutes long, instead of 60. See this article for details.

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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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!

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.

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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).

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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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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