SCTV Review: The Kidnapping of Moe Green (2-3) / SCTV Solid Gold Telethon (2-4)

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

“The Kidnapping of Moe Green” (season 2, episode 3; originally aired Sept. 30, 1978)

SCTV EDITORIAL

  • Moe Green (Harold Ramis) vows that he will not be cowed by the Leutonian Liberation Front’s threats and demands.

  • Moe Green is at his weasely best here, and there are some very funny jokes throughout (the rock with note being thrown through his dog).

  • The Leutonians were last seen in the third episode of season 1.

****

DONNA

  • Talk show guest Barbra Streisberg (Andrea Martin) is driven to distraction by host Donna (Catherine O’Hara) singing along.

  • Andrea Martin debuts her Streisand impression on a spoof of The Dinah Shore Show. Martin and O’Hara are good here, though I thought the main conceit of the sketch was dragged out a little too long; I did like the variation with O’Hara “singing” into her glass of water.

  • I liked the randomness of the sketch opening on Donna puking from the chef’s fondue (and the chef’s expression as she says goodbye to him).

** 1/2

PROMO: MASTER SERGEANT CHEF

  • Former Green Beret (Dave Thomas) leads his men on a new warfront: the head kitchen of the Waldorf Astoria.

  • Somewhat funny idea, but maybe not enough to support a whole promo.

  • Interesting note: the dish the men serve the ambassador is “flaming turkey”, the title of the ballet in the season’s final episode.

**

SCTV NEWS

  • The news story about the kidnapping of Moe Green slips Earl’s (Eugene Levy).

  • I enjoyed this very much, especially once Earl got to his editorial about how kidnapping someone as insignificant as Moe Green was a step in the right direction.

  • Funny that Moe Green lived in a basement apartment in Encino; we’re not quite at the point where Melonville has been established as the station’s setting.

  • Also of note: Floyd Robertson’s (Joe Flaherty) first item refers to the resort manager Andy Alexander, a shout-out to SCTV producer Andrew Alexander.

**** 1/2

CUP ‘N SOUP

  • The soup that also cooks up its own reuseable cup in one minute.

  • Funny idea; I like Andrea Martin’s performance as the exhausted mother, but what really sticks in my mind is Catherine O’Hara as the bratty daughter (“I don’t want it anymore! It took too long! I hate you, Mommy!”)

*** 1/2

PETTY CLAIMS COURT

  • The bailiff (Eugene Levy) hears cases too insignificant for small claims court.

  • This is a chaotic little mess that feels like they had some loose ideas and fooled around for two minutes. My biggest laugh came from Catherine O’Hara usurping the announcer role at the end.

**

LINKIN MERCURY: DALI EDITION

  • The luxury carmaker’s limited edition by Salvador Dali (Joe Flaherty) abandons function for concept.

  • The debut of Joe Flaherty’s Salvador Dali impression in a funny commercial parody; it doesn’t linger too long, and you get enough laughs from the visuals alone.

  • I wonder whose car that was; note the old Ontario “Keep It Beautiful” license plates.

****

K-TEL SALVADOR DALI CAR STASH WAX

  • Harvey K-Tel (Dave Thomas) promotes the tool to maintain your Dali car’s mustache.

  • Essentially just a continuation of the previous ad, but this has one of Thomas’s most impressive Harvey K-Tel spiels. Love that the big barrel is only $5.99.

**** 1/2

PROMO: SCTV MOVIE OF THE WEEK: NICE KIDS FROM HELL

  • A teenage gang terrorizes a suburban couple by being polite and helpful.

  • A fun if unmemorable inversion of the teenage delinquent genre; Catherine O’Hara’s characterization stands out here.

***

SCTV NEWS BULLETIN

  • The station has received photographic and audio evidence of Moe Green’s whereabouts from his captors.

  • A solidly humiliating way for Moe Green (and Harold Ramis) to go out; not only is the station refusing to pay the $2000 ransom, its news anchors express their disrespect for him, and spend the last 30 seconds giggling over the prepared statement he reads in the audio recording (which also contains a hilarious Tom Joad-esque vow for the sniveling cowards of the world).

*****

Final thoughts: This week’s show was all over the place; the Moe Green stuff was a great way to write Harold Ramis out of the cast, and there are some funnier short bits, but some of the other material was either rote or too thin to support its length.

MVP:

  • (tie) Harold Ramis/Catherine O’Hara

Rhodes version differences:

  • Removed: Cup ‘N Soup (appears in 2-7)

Blair version differences:

  • Removed: Cup ‘N Soup

  • Edited: SCTV News Bulletin

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.

“SCTV Solid Gold Telethon” (season 2, episode 4; originally aired Oct. 7, 1978)

SCTV SOLID GOLD TELETHON: PART I

  • Sammy Maudlin (Joe Flaherty), Bobby Bittman (Eugene Levy), and Johnny LaRue (John Candy) want viewers to donate a ton of gold to help SCTV stay on the air.

  • Some great showbiz oiliness from Sammy and Bobby (hectoring the studio audience for their tepid responses), plus Johnny LaRue’s response to those concerned over his drinking (vowing not to stop until the station reaches their goal).

  • This is also the first sketch that establishes the station being in Melonville.

  • The 1999 WIC package edits out the parody of “Just The Way You Are” for clearance reasons.

****

BEEF AND BOOZE RESTAURANT

  • The restaurant for real men only serves two things.

  • This has some lines that probably won’t fly today (“no f*ggy salads”), but it’s a parody of over-the-top toxic masculinity more than anything.

  • Dave Thomas is playing his nebbishy William Morris character again here; that’s also a very disgusting piece of meat he has.

*** 1/2

SCTV SOLID GOLD TELETHON: PART II

  • Sammy (Joe Flaherty) encourages wealthy people to set an example and chats with phone bank volunteers Lola Heatherton (Catherine O’Hara), Captain Combat (Dave Thomas) and Gunny Rabbit (John Candy); Steve Lawrence (Dave Thomas) and Eydie Gorme (Catherine O’Hara) do a number; Bobby (Eugene Levy) and Johnny (John Candy) present this year’s Solid Gold poster child.

  • This is a pretty packed segment with a lot of great material: Sammy berating Jaime Paul Rock over not bringing Perrier; Bob Dylan having just performed during the break; Lola being in town to do theatre in the round (Saint Joan, Electra, and Minnie’s Boys), and Captain Combat telling the kids (a la Soupy Sales) to go to the station with their parents’ gold (only two accidents so far).

  • The segment’s centerpiece is the Steve and Eydie number, a dark parody of Jackie and Roy’s 1956 duet “You Smell So Good” that has the couple happily singing vicious insults at each other, backed by an unknown accompanist on piano. Another winner for the team of Thomas and O’Hara here.

  • The poster child segment (parodying Jerry Lewis’s Muscular Dystrophy Association telethons) is also prime over-the-top Bobby Bittman mawkishness; I like how the kid looks more amused than anything.

*****

MAX LAX

  • The decaffeinated coffee laxative won’t keep you up at night.

  • Bathroom humour, but well executed.

***

SCTV SOLID GOLD TELETHON: PART III

  • Sammy (Joe Flaherty) chats with volunteer operator Pirini Scleroso (Andrea Martin); Bobby (Eugene Levy) chides viewers for the paltry gold total so far.

  • The least essential segment tonight, but Pirini Scleroso makes me laugh no matter how one-joke the bit is, and John Candy swigging during the total reveal steals this for me.

  • This is the first time we see Pirini this year; her last appearance in the Canadian shows was all the way back in the second show of season 1 (she does appear in a U.S.-only sketch).

***

SCTV SOLID GOLD TELETHON: PART IV

  • Lorna Minelli (Andrea Martin) sings “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”; Johnny (John Candy) announces a donation from “the organization” and vows to donate his weight in gold. The goal is reached.

  • John Candy pretty much walks away with this whole segment as the now completely smashed Johnny LaRue (I liked his brutal honesty towards Lorna Minelli), but Sammy’s breakdown during the song was a good way to end.

**** 1/2

Final thoughts: A successful gamble, with the show (aside from two commercial parodies) dedicated to the station’s own characters and mythology, even if it’s still presented as SCTV programming. The first classic of season 2.

MVP:

  • John Candy

Rhodes version differences:

  • Removed: Max Lax (appears in 2-8)

Blair version differences:

  • Removed: Max Lax (appears in 2-8), SCTV Solid Gold Telethon: Part III

  • Added: SCTV News Promo (from 1-14), new syndication promo for LaRue By Night (Robert Corness v/o)

  • Edited: SCTV Solid Gold Telethon: Part IV

1999 WIC version differences:

  • Removed: Max Lax

  • Added: Melba’s Disco Jeans (from 3-3)

  • Edited: SCTV Solid Gold Telethon: Part I

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.