SCTV Review: Dialing For Dollars (1-7) / Shock Theatre (1-8)

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RATINGS SYSTEM:
***** - Classic
**** - Great
*** - Good/Average
** - Meh
* - Awful

“Dialing For Dollars” (season 1, episode 7, aired Feb. 24, 1977)

HOMELIER YOU

  • The de-beautification treatment for women who aren’t taken seriously because of their good looks.

  • I liked this one; Second City Television author Jeff Robbins mentions that he finds this piece insulting to Andrea Martin’s appearance, but considering the capabilities of Global’s makeup team, having O’Hara play the pitchwoman “before” and Martin play her “after” was the only way to really sell the joke. Martin (who is by no means unattractive) is also playing up the characters’ homeliness by squinting and twisting her mouth.

*** 1/2

AN SCTV BEFORE-SCHOOL SPECIAL: BEAUTY & THE BEETS

  • Charles Perrault’s cautionary tale about a princess (Catherine O’Hara) who learns to eat her beets the hard way.

  • A little repetitious, but I love the darkness of the main gag (the princess is tortured every time she doesn’t eat her beets), as well as the heartbeat sound effect and silent reactions, particularly those of Eugene Levy, who continues to eat a drumstick as he watches O’Hara get punished.

  • A lot of Bessada-isms in this one, namely the scenes beginning with pans from the food or carafe.

*** 1/2

SCTV AM NEWS TODAY

  • A report on the Black Lung Pipers; Bess Furness (Andrea Martin) solves a rent strike; Johnny LaRue (John Candy) vows to eat until peace comes to the Middle East; Earl Camembert and Floyd Robertson read viewer letters.

  • A little disjointed, but it picks up during the last part (which is the only segment that uses Earl Camembert); once again Earl is established as the inferior newsman, and Levy has some funny humiliated reactions as he and Flaherty read the letters. Loved Earl’s sotto voce “I hope you die of rabies” at the end.

  • There’s a bit of a continuity error with the Black Lung Pipers scene (Flaherty’s hairstyle is the giveaway); it looks like this item was shot for one of the news segments in the previous episode. Candy’s hair is also shorter there than it is in the Johnny LaRue press conference clip.

*** 1/2

THE LASER-MATIC (repeat from 1-1)

FIRING SQUAD

  • William F. Buckley (Joe Flaherty) debates compulsory school busing with elementary school student Jimmy Cunningham (Chris Boddie).

  • Great Buckley impression from Flaherty, and a funny premise, with the poor Cunningham reduced to tears by Buckley’s discourse (and egregious use of Latin). Boddie isn’t much of an actor, but in a way it makes the sketch even funnier.

  • Theme song: “Allegro Deciso” from Handel’s Water Music, performed by Wendy Carlos

****

FAMOUS PHILOSOPHERS’ SCHOOL

  • There’s a demand for philosophers in today’s marketplace; see if you have what it takes to take advantage of these opportunities.

  • Clever; this feels a little like something that appeals more to Bernie Sahlins’ intellectual bent, but there are some funny lines (“You may earn as much as some poets!”)

***

ALICE, THE WONDER DOG

  • Biff’s (Eugene Levy) dog Alice “saves” the day when he’s trapped under a bureau and his coworker (John Candy) tries to steal the payroll.

  • Kind of a one-joke sketch (Alice doesn’t really do much to earn her title of “wonder dog”), but the way the actors play off the dog’s inactivity is amusing, and there’s a bit of ad-libbing at the end when Alice starts to bark at O’Hara.

***

DIALING FOR DOLLARS: CHANGING PARTNERS - PART I

  • Moe Green (Harold Ramis) announces that viewers can win the jackpot of $2400.00 if they correctly guess the name of the movie when he calls them; in the movie, Trish Nutley (Catherine O’Hara) plays Mrs. Nelson, a woman who offers “alternative payment” for her groceries.

  • The first appearance of Moe Green in the capacity he appears in throughout the rest of the season (program host); the sweaty weasel characterization from the first episode also fits well here. Even better is the “movie”, with Levy and O’Hara doing their best impressions of bad porno acting.

*** 1/2

EVELYN WOODS SPEED TALKING SCHOOL (repeat from 1-1)

DIALING FOR DOLLARS: CHANGING PARTNERS - PART II

  • Moe Green (Harold Ramis) tries to avoid giving away the jackpot; Mrs. Nelson “pays” for the mail as the movie continues.

  • Even better than the first segment, with Moe using underhanded tactics like hanging up the phone after one ring, and the movie scene also has some nice escalation of the main joke.

  • I think this is the first time Melonville (the fictional town where SCTV is located) is mentioned on the show, though it’s not firmly established the station is actually located there yet.

****

PROMO: 15 MINUTES

  • Earl Camembert and Floyd Robertson advertise their newsmagazine: Floyd covered millionaires in the Bahamas and a pleasure palace in New Orleans, while Earl spent 10 days in prison and covered a dog deworming facility.

  • An underrated bit, and the brevity makes this stronger than the proper news sketch earlier in this episode. It’s kind of an off-colour joke but the Floyd-Earl dynamic is established further when Floyd casually (and cruelly) drops a mention of Earl being raped during his prison feature (Levy does a very good uncomfortable reaction to it.

****

DIALING FOR DOLLARS - PART III

  • Moe Green (Harold Ramis) makes another call and gets a little boy on the line.

  • Some more funny lines (the kid telling Moe “I don’t go on walks with strangers”)

  • Is that O’Hara doing the little boy’s voice?

***

Final thoughts: Another consistently good show, with a few great bits (Firing Squad and 15 Minutes) standing slightly above the rest of the material. It still has the zero-budget atmosphere happening (judging from a call sheet printed in Thomas’ book, some of the material was filmed as far back as September), and has a few repeated segments, but there’s a nice mix of the familiar and oddities that could have only happened this early in the show’s run.

MVP:

  • (tie) Eugene Levy / Catherine O’Hara

Rhodes version differences:

  • Removed: SCTV Before School Special: Beauty and the Beets (moved to 1-10), The Laser-Matic (repeat), Firing Squad (moved to 1-9), Evelyn Woods Speed Talking School (repeat)

  • Added: 50 Psalms (from 1-14), AC/DC (from 1-5), Consultation with Dr. Jake Sloan (US only), Fat Chance for the Sub-Sahara (from 1-2), Quick Wash Dish Laundry (from 1-15)

Blair version differences:

  • Removed: The Laser-Matic (repeat), Famous Philosophers’ School (moved to 1-21).

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.

“Shock Theatre” (season 1, episode 8, aired Mar. 10, 1977)

DISCRETION WARNING

  • SCTV station manager Harold Ramis condemns explicit sexual material in television, but says the management loves violence.

  • Still early enough in the show’s run to have Ramis appear as himself, but the rant he builds up to is pretty much Moe Green coming out. I particularly liked the “this program is produced in Argentina and dubbed into English” bit

*** 1/2

OPENING

  • Beginning with this episode, Joseph O’Flaherty is now credited under the name he is more well known by, Joe Flaherty.

PROMO: EXTREME CLOSE-UP

  • Dave Thomas will interview Moe Green (Harold Ramis) about his most recent play.

  • Pretty much a one-joke bit but it doesn’t outstay its welcome. Once again, Moe Green’s occupation is different as this time he is a bad playwright whose most recent work was lambasted by John Simon

***

DINING WITH LARUE: RICO’S TRATORRIA

  • Johnny LaRue’s (John Candy) review of an Italian restaurant is complicated when three mobsters (Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty) arrive.

  • A new vehicle for Johnny LaRue, one that they would revisit a few times during the first and second seasons. LaRue seems more together here than before, and there’s a lot of humour mined from his obliviousness to what’s happening in the background. Harold Ramis’s nervous waiter gets the funniest lines, though.

  • Future SCTV regular Robin Duke can be seen as one of the diners in the restaurant.

*** 1/2

50 PRACTICAL JOKES

  • Marshall Brodeen (Dave Thomas) advertises a book of extremely simple practical jokes that require no money or skill.

  • Forgettable, but I do like John Candy’s silent amused reactions at the very rudimentary tricks Thomas plays on him.

  • Marshall Brodien was a real magician and television personality in Chicago.

** 1/2

THE WACKY WORLD OF POVERTY

  • Chuck Barrett (Eugene Levy) hosts a game show where the poor humiliate and endanger themselves for money.

  • This darkly satirical game show sketch is a highlight of the early shows, and seems to be a sign that Global was putting a little more money toward the back six shows in the series. Great sleazy performance from Levy here.

  • Several of the audience members are Second City Toronto stage performers, including Robin Duke and Tony Rosato. The guy at the very end (last screencap) also looks very familiar; anyone know who he is?

*****

ALPRO DOG FOOD

  • Pitchman (John Candy) teaches his wife (Catherine O’Hara) not to bring home just any dog food.

  • This sketch has a particularly sadistic domestic violence component, with Candy repeatedly hitting O’Hara, twice with a can of dog food. Candy and O’Hara’s performances are good, but the piece is just so nasty and cruel (“That dog eats meat. He ain’t no f*g and neither am I!”) that it’s legitimately difficult to watch. For completists only.

  • The subject matter was likely the reason this was taken out of the 80s syndicated repackaging of the show; even the Canadian version of this episode replaces this with “Polardak ESP-1” from late in the second season.

*

EYE ON SCIENCE

  • Joseph Campobello (Joe Flaherty) interviews Lin Ye Tang (Dave Thomas) about his “robot”, which appears to be a large wooden box.

  • This is one of those silly pieces I’ve always enjoyed, with Flaherty doing some great straightman work against Dave Thomas’s attempts to pass off the block as a robot (particularly funny is his “defence” against the robot supposedly going berserk).

  • This is a spoof of Science International, another Global Television Network production that aired at the same time, hosted by Joseph Campanella.

  • Lin Ye Tang has a slightly different appearance here; he still has the Fu Manchu, but Thomas now wears a black wig.

*** 1/2

PROMO: A FISTFUL OF UGLY

  • Next week, SCTV presents a family-hour Western where the Man With No Name (Harold Ramis) and the Mexican (John Candy) try to schedule a gunfight.

  • This is an excerpt of a longer sketch that would air in the following show two weeks later. I thought this worked better as a short promo (you’ll read more about it in next week’s review).

SHOCK THEATRE

  • In “Early To Bed”, a father (Joe Flaherty) tries to satisfied his son Billy’s (Donald Cowper) request for a scary story by telling him about “The Girl (Catherine O’Hara) Who Wouldn’t Wash Her Face” and a story about a lighthouse keeper and some rats.

  • Another early classic, and another somewhat dark sketch. Unlike the violence in Alpro, the scene in the first story with the mother killing her daughter (complete with half-second flashes to an increasingly blood-stained window) is so ridiculous and over the top that it’s funny, and the ending with Cowper apparently frightened to death has a great closing line (“Madge, I really did it this time!”)

  • I wonder how much Flaherty improvised the stories because he demonstrated his ability to do so in other sketches.

  • The kitchen set in the first story is the same one used for Alpro; there’s also a credit at the end of the show for the (apparently real) blood.

  • “That was a piece of-” “Billy!”

  • Nice subtle bit of business with John Candy eating the apple off O’Hara’s desk after she runs out of the classroom.

*****

PROMO: MARGOT FONTAINE AT THE RUSSIAN NATIONAL CIRCUS

  • Famed ballerina Margot Fontaine (Andrea Martin) dances and dodges knives

  • A silly but well-executed visual gag to end tonight’s episode.

***

Final thoughts: This is another good show (Alpro aside), and a step forward in terms of the writing and (especially) production values. “Shock Theatre” and “The Wacky World of Poverty” are the highlights here, but this is the point in the season where the show is really starting to come into its own.

MVP:

  • Joe Flaherty

Rhodes version differences:

  • Removed: Extreme Close-Up (moved to 1-9), Margot Fontaine at the Russian National Circus (moved to 1-12)

  • Added: The Texas Chainsaw Massacres (from 1-18), SCTV News: Earl’s coughing fit (1-12)

Blair version differences:

  • Removed: Alpro Dog Food, Margot Fontaine at the Russian National Circus

  • Added: new syndication promo for Goodbye America (Robert Corness v/o)

Allarcom/WIC differences:

  • Removed: Alpro Dog Food

  • Added: Polardak ESP-1 Camera (from 2-24)

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.