Sunday, October 22, 2017

Funny vs Not

Last night I started my reintroduction to the old SCTV Network 90 shows. NBC picked up the Canadian produced half-hour comedy series SCTV and scheduled it in a ninety-minute time slot for the 1981 - 1982 season. Due to the extended length (actually 65 minutes of program), in addition to the new material the producers edited in bits and pieces from the show's previous three seasons to fill out the running time. (Those who worked on the series say today that it was the only way the show could have been produced.)

Seeing it now I realize how funny the program is. At times it bogs down, certainly with some of the weekly feature film parodies, but the success rate is impressive.

A few weeks ago I pulled out a "Best of Saturday Night Live" DVD -- a burn I made from a discounted VHS tape I had found -- and my opinion of that comedy series has not changed: Not very funny. You'd think a best-of compilation would score more often, but like the Toronto Maple Leafs ice hockey team, it's not very funny at all.




2 comments:

Tibor said...

I always hated "The Days Of The Week"...seemed like filler.

Simon St. Laurent said...

I don't disagree; it would have been best as a one-off skit.