Biography
The basic premise of SCTV is that it is an independent television station in the city of Melonville, in an unknown province or state. Rather than broadcasting the usual TV rerun fare, the station produces a bizarre and humorously incompetent range of cheap local programming.
SCTV was initially produced starting in 1976 at the Toronto studios of the Global Television Network, then a small regional network of stations in Southern Ontario. For the first six episodes, new episodes were seen once a month. Beginning in February, 1977 and continuing for the next year-and-a-half, new episodes were usually seen every second week during the regular TV season from September to May.
Read full biography ↓
SCTV, or Second City Television, followed the exploits of an aspiring fictional television station, led by Owner and President Guy Caballero (Flaherty), and the inimitable personalities who starred in its local programs. Spoofing TV programming staples like game shows, talk shows and film shows, famous sketches featured in SCTV Golden Classics include “The Great White North” with Canadian brothers Bob (Moranis) and Doug (Thomas) McKenzie; “Monster Chiller Horror Theatre” Host Count Floyd (Flaherty) previewing “Dr. Tongue’s 3D House of Stewardesses” starring mad scientist Dr. Tongue (Candy) and hunch-backed servant Bruno (Levy); hillbillies Big Jim McBob (Flaherty) and Billy Sol Hurok’s (Candy) “Farm Film Report” blowing up Neil Sedaka (Levy); and parodies of Jeopardy! (“High Q with Alex Trebel” with Levy as host), The Merv Griffin Show and The Dick Cavett Show, both featuring Moranis as host. Laugh-out-loud celebrity impersonations and musical numbers include Candy as Pavorotti in a chewing gum ad; Levy as Perry Como singing disco hits; O’Hara as Katherine Hepburn and washed-up singer/actress Lola Heatherton; Martin as Ethel Merman and Indira Gandhi; Short as Jerry Lewis and pointy-haired nerd Ed Grimley; Leutonian polka stars The Happy Wanderers featuring the Shmenge Brothers (Candy and Levy); and barbershop-style vocal group 5 Neat Guys (Candy, Flaherty, Levy, Thomas, and Moranis) singing their neatest hits “She Does It,” “Who Brought the Egg Salad Sandwiches” and more.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.