SCTV Volume 2
November 2004 Reviewed by: Anthony Di Marco Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

The majority of comedy is extracted from current events and sensibilities common to a specific period in history. Unfortunately, current events and sensibilities can change drastically in a very short time. What may have been funny two days ago is now stale and passé. Some satirical comedy has an expiration date, and it would appear the sketch comedy of Canada’s Second City Television may have reached that.

I would have laughed at many of these shows years ago, when the Cold War was still current and the Godfather had not been lampooned for the hundredth time. But I found nothing funny about Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas’s "Great White North" Canooks or Second City Television’s spoof of the Benny Hill Show. Even my wife commented on how the gags weren’t particularly funny; silly and stale were more like it. Our indifference toward the material wasn’t due to lackluster writing or bad acting. We could recognize why the skits may have been funny at some point -- the writing and acting demonstrated consistency and imagination. But the punch lines lacked zing -- the point of the joke was devoid of meaning.

The skits worked better when the comedy relied on visual gags and character impressions. Eugene Levy’s performance in "Teacher’s Pet" as Fantasy Island’s Ricardo Montalban made me chuckle, as did an incredibly flamboyant Liberace dueling on piano with Elton John while being whipped by his man-slave (one can never underestimate the hilarity of a cheesy "whip" sound effect). "Monster Chiller Horror Theater," with Joe Flaherty, was hit or miss. John Candy lampooning 3D horror movies with syrup and pancakes was one of the big hits, while classics like "Zontar," "Doorway to Hell," and "Perry Como: Still Alive" suffered from a funny idea being stretched too long.

Comparisons between SCTV, Saturday Night Live and, more recently, Mad TV are inevitable. SNL paved the way for the format, while Mad TV’s sketch-comedy has benefited from better ideas and more consistent writing. Mad TV feels more like SCTV in the way it creates cohesive themes throughout each episode. Despite Lorne Michaels’ pull with famous celebrities and some added fuel from the current Presidential campaign, SNL has been floundering for the better part of a decade. SNL has had a good run -- 30 years is a long time for a format that relies heavily on the wit and charm of its cast. Shorter attention spans haven’t made things easier. The shorter, more succinct format of The Daily Show could mean that Jon Stewart’s self-effacing humor is the wave of the future.

The video quality for SCTV is just short of what you would see on a high-quality VHS tape. Colors are smeared, detail is non-existent, and the black level is chalky. This isn’t surprising considering the low-budget roots of the show. Audio doesn’t belie those roots either. The mono soundtrack is noisy, lacks dynamic range, and often loses syllables when the accents get thick.

Commentaries and retrospectives with the cast are scattered across each DVD. Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara seemed more amused by what they remembered behind the scenes than the actual material. Eugene Levy’s recollection of how the crew came up with the Perry Como sketch felt more like a history lesson than an intimate look back on a brilliant comic’s career. Behind-the-scenes photo galleries and a documentary on a "shoot of a shoot of a publicity shoot" did little to add life to this set of extras.

Unless you are a huge SCTV fan, I’d cast my DVD lot with Mad TV, which is being released by Warner Home Video a season at a time.

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