SCTV Review: Leave It To Beaver (1-15) / Good-Bye America (1-16)

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

“Leave It To Beaver” (season 1, episode 15, aired Sept. 26, 1977)

PROMO: LIBRARY POLICE

  • A new series about the men who go after the selfish people who hold onto borrowed books past their due date.

  • A quick-paced and silly opening sketch; Candy’s particularly funny as the scofflaw who resorts to a hostage situation involving a dictionary.

*** 1/2

OPENING

  • I don’t have a copy of the show with the original opening, but appropriately for this episode John Candy is announced “as the Beaver” instead of Dave Thomas.

EXORCISING WITH REAGAN BLAIR

  • Reagan Blair (Catherine O’Hara) shows some simple morning exercises you can do in the bedroom while possessed by demons.

  • Catherine O’Hara does a great job carrying this, particularly switching between chipper and demonic voices. I preferred the zero-budget take Andrea Martin did in show 4, but this is a good example of the boost to the still-rudimentary production values that George Bloomfield brought to the second batch of 13 shows.

*** 1/2

SCTV AM NEWS TODAY

  • Earl Camembert (Eugene Levy) has son Earl Jr. (Donald Cowper) fill in for the “vacationing” Floyd Robertson (Joe Flaherty), who only stepped out for coffee.

  • A strong outing for Earl and Floyd, ably assisted by the returning Donald Cowper. Highlights include Earl Jr. struggling to read Afrikaans terms in an item about South Africa (Earl: “It’s just African politics, nobody really cares anyway”) and asking “Who’s this creep, dad?”, Floyd’s reaction after realizing they went on the air live, and him throttling the boy after he tells him about the rumour going around about his sexuality.

  • The “man falling” opening title sequence returns in this episode; there is also a brand new news set which fits the same design scheme as the SCTV Sports set that appears in the previous episode.

****

CHICKADEE CHICKETTE CHICKEN-STYLE LOAF

  • The poultry substitute with none of the steroids, chemicals or nutrition that you’d find in regular chicken.

  • Enjoyable, particularly Andrea Martin happily touting the product’s lack of nutritional value and the relatively disgusting and wasteful qualities of the loaf.

  • Donald Cowper makes another appearance in this sketch, along with sister Dara.

***

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER 25TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY

  • 30-year-old Beaver (John Candy) gets some advice from Whitey (Harold Ramis) on how to deal with Eddie’s (Dave Thomas) bullying.

  • A classic dark take on the 1950’s sitcom, recognized high point of the early years of SCTV; besides Candy’s perfect casting as the Beaver, there are so many other funny details throughout (particularly Flaherty’s performance as a drunken Ward; I also enjoyed June packing a whole basket of apples and a gallon of milk for Beaver’s lunch).

*****

QUICK-WASH DISH LAUNDRY

  • If you don’t have the time to do dishes by hand, there’s one near you.

  • Lots of great sight gags in this one (the broken but clean dishes at the end, O’Hara holding her baby upside down), but what really makes it stand out is the somewhat dark humour of Martin’s character’s depression.

****

PSA: CHILDREN ON BOOZE

  • Rip Masters (John Candy) warns of the rise of juvenile alcoholism.

  • Donald Cowper is hilarious here as the mean young drunk Tommy, particularly when he slaps the milk out of his father’s (Eugene Levy) hand (and actually breaking the glass in the process).

  • There’s a funny background event in the bar scene; Harold Ramis as a drunk who realizes he picked up a candle instead of his drink.

****

BLIND FISTS OF THE FURIOUS DRAGON

  • Bruce Lee’s successor Lin Ye Tang (Dave Thomas) demonstrates the art of Schtick-Fu in his first action movie.

  • Not the funniest idea on paper, but the execution of all the slapstick “fighting” methods works.

  • Lin Ye Tang’s look has now evolved closer to his appearance for the rest of the series, with Thomas wearing a short black wig.

***

DR. TONGUE AND HIS ANIMAL FRIENDS

  • Dr. Tongue (John Candy) welcomes Swami Bananananda (Harold Ramis), who’s brought a live cobra with him.

  • An inauspicious debut for Candy’s Dr. Tongue character; here he’s an inept kiddie show host with a lisp (and his tie on backwards) instead of a menacing mad scientist that stars in bad 3D movies. Ramis’s Swami character returns with another fake leg gag, when he’s bitten in the ankle

***

FAMILY DETECTIVE

  • Amco, The Toy People’s very simple new game will solve your family problems.

  • Another appearance by Donald and Dara Cowper; I got a laugh out of the exaggerated “fun” the family was having with the game (which is just a stack of money and a magnifying glass).

***

DIALING FOR DOLLARS: THREE JERKS AND A GAL

  • Moe Green (Harold Ramis) “randomly” picks Mrs. Green (voice of Andrea Martin) as tonight’s contestant for the $3000.00 jackpot.

  • A fun Dialing for Dollars with some classic Moe Green underhandedness.

*** 1/2

Final thoughts: An above-average show with an interesting runner of kids TV and family life. The inclusion of the classic Leave It To Beaver sketch makes this a keeper, as well as Donald Cowper’s appearances in SCTV News and the underrated Children on Booze PSA.

MVP:

  • John Candy

Rhodes version differences:

  • Removed: Quick Wash Dish Laundry (moved to 1-7)

Blair version differences:

  • Removed: Dialing for Dollars: Three Jerks and a Gal

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

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.

“Good-Bye America” (season 1, episode 16, aired Oct. 3, 1977)

NOTHING

  • Harvey K-Tel (Dave Thomas) explains what viewers don’t need to do because he’s pitching nothing.

  • Thomas’s breathless high-pressure announcer spiel is impressive, but ultimately this was pretty forgettable.

  • The void cheque is from a TD Bank branch in the Hillcrest Mall in Richmond Hill, ON, which had only been open for about three years when this show first aired.

**

WINNING CHESS WITH BORIS MORRIS

  • Boris (Harold Ramis) demonstrates the Sicilian Defense and endgame strategies while playing against Wanda Scottnik (Andrea Martin).

  • This was overlong and a bit thin writing-wise, though there are some laughs from Ramis and Martin making sound effects and essentially using the chess pieces as toys.

  • Music: “Bouree” from Handel’s “Water Music”, performed by Wendy Carlos.

** 1/2

SCTV AM NEWS TODAY

  • Earl Camembert’s (Eugene Levy) wardrobe choices causes technical issues. Roda Barrett (Catherine O’Hara) reads the newest celebrity gossip.

  • Pretty much a boilerplate SCTV News sketch aside from the visual gags of Earl’s too-white suit glowing and his all-blue outfit blending in with the background . The LaRue bit was alright, but the best part was his offense at hearing Floyd’s dig at his weight.

  • O’Hara’s parody of Rona Barrett is mostly forgettable, but there are a few funny parts, including an allusion to Rock Hudson’s homosexuality and the badly-doctored photo of Spiro Agnew wearing a chef’s hat.

  • Floyd makes reference to Earl looking like Cosmo Topper when the ChromaKey causes him to appear as a disembodied head

  • Was the feud between Tom Snyder and Rona Barrett a thing before they worked together on Tomorrow in 1980?

***

20 DEPRESSING HITS BY CONNIE FRANKLIN (repeat from 1-12)

  • I’m guessing this was repeated to set up Franklin’s appearance in Good-Bye America.

PSA: WARNING SIGNS (repeat from 1-5)

GOOD-BYE AMERICA: JOHNNY LARUE - PART I

  • Heraldo Rivera (Joe Flaherty) reports from the luxurious penthouse apartment of Johnny LaRue (John Candy).

  • A major sketch in establishing the world of the show, and one of the best longer pieces of the first 26 shows; although LaRue’s been established as a regular SCTV personality and producer, this is where his character fully develops as the extravagant and cruel mogul.

  • There are also a few other characters that get filled in here: Eugene Levy does double duty as both Earl Camembert (getting no respect as a peer from Heraldo) and Bobby Bittman (starting to display his insecurities when purportedly lauding Johnny’s charity work), Dave Thomas establishes that Harvey K-Tel’s high-pressure announcing style extends to hitting on women. Andrea Martin and Catherine O’Hara’s characters (Connie Franklin and Trish Nutly) make their final appearances here, but their biggest characters on the show have yet to make their first appearance. I did like the visual of Trish being the only person boogieing to Connie’s disco-fied version of “I’m Losing My Hearing”, though.

  • One thing I’ve noticed about George Bloomfield’s directing style: he will often put people or objects in the foreground, like in the first capture above.

  • The woman on on the couch at the beginning looks very familiar.

*****

SEX

  • Mrs. Maurice Green (Andrea Martin) is asked what her husband (Harold Ramis) would prefer with his steak: mashed potatoes or sex.

  • A quick and very funny parody of the Stove Top Stuffing commercials from this time.

  • Looks like they reused the same set from the Shoplifter PSA that aired in 1-14. I also find it interestng that they used unaltered brand-name products on the shelves; it’s interesting to see the old packaging designs.

****

GOOD-BYE AMERICA: JOHNNY LARUE - PART II

  • Heraldo (Joe Flaherty) joins Johnny LaRue and his Gerbils in the bedroom; Johnny shares his definition of success with Heraldo.

  • While not as epic as the first part, this was a solid conclusion to the episode.

****

Final thoughts: A very sluggish beginning gives way to an excellent second half; even the choice of the weaker sketches at the beginning actually works somewhat in context with this episode, as we see Johnny LaRue, Harvey K-Tel and Earl Camembert in their on-camera worlds before they’re seen off the clock in LaRue’s penthouse.

MVP:

  • John Candy

Rhodes version differences:

  • Removed: Warning Signs repeat

Blair version differences:

  • Removed: 20 Depressing Hits by Connie Franklin repeat, Warning Signs repeat

  • Added: Bill and Mike Dolls (from 1-13), Sleepfast (from 1-22), new syndication promo for Galaxy 66 (Robert Corness v/o)

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.