Sadly Over-hyped

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It's so darned funny! Who couldn't love "I Was A Teenage Communist"? There are millions of fans I suppose, but I felt like it was like an inside joke I shared with the cast. Silly, nonsensical, insane, insanely funny, comedy as high art.Dave Thomas playing Bob Hope as if he were Bob Hope in a parallel universe on parole with a shiv tucked in his pants. There was something dangerous about that show. Early on "Saturday Night Live" had an air of danger. As if I was watching something that threatened to spin loose and leave large bloody gashes in the audience. Later SCTV struck me in similar way. The difference was I was getting older and my sense of humor became sardonic.

Packed with bonus features and lots of great comedy, the five-disc DVD is amazing, albeit over-priced at a retail value of $89.99. Who can afford THAT? Luckily I got a discount through Wal-Mart's website.SCTV remains as poignant and funny as it was when it first aired during the '70s on local Canadian television stations. It was in 1981 when the show moved to NBC, featuring extended 90-minute episodes. These are largely considered to be the best by the fans and members of the cast.To say that the show relied solely on John Candy for success is unfair, although partly true. First billed, arguably the greatest actor on the show, Candy's legacy remains a stirring picture of loneliness -- he turned down roles on SNL, citing devotion to fellow SCTV pals. Incidentally a few of them, most notably Martin Short, did indeed make the move to SNL where their careers hit a rock in the road. I never enjoyed Short on SNL although he is hilarious here. Dave Thomas, who recently turned up in the horrendous BEETHOVEN'S 5TH (please, Universal, no more!) is funny as are Flaherty, Levy and Moranis. If you're not familiar with these actors, you'll probably notice their faces as you watch - Flaherty was in BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II, Levy was Jim's Dad in AMERICAN PIE, and Moranis was in HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS.Overall this DVD set, which Conan O'Brien claims very well may be the funniest you will ever own, and Ben Stiller raves about in a dedication pamphlet included in the DVD, is a good place to start if you're new to the world of SCTV and have only heard of it recently - or if, like me, you've been waiting forever for them to (finally) release it on DVD!P.S. If you're a fan of John Candy, you probably know that he didn't have a "great" film career, although under the supervision of John Hughes (his De Niro/Scorsese-esque collaborator) he made what is arguably the funniest comedy of the '80s, and my favorite of all time, PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, widely considered to be one of the best comedies ever made, adored by many, featured on Roger Ebert's great movies list, boasting 100% positive reviews on RottenTomatoes.com with over 20 reviews (average rating of 8.2/10 - extraordinary!) and which was yet again featured on AFI's list of 100 great comedies. I've never met a single person who dislikes SCTV or PLANES...Check them both out if you want a good laugh and a good time.

Finally SCTV on DVD. The first 5 DVD's released contain the first 9 episodes from the 90 minute series on NBC. Thirteen and one half hours. There are more to come. HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Mine arrived today. Already I have watched the first three episodes. Talk about holding up. After 23 years, these shows are just as funny and refreshing as they were in 1981. In fact, I think I laughed harder today then I did a long time ago. SCTV never took cheap shots or the easy way. Their sketches had wit, charm, and intelligence. They never played down to the viewers. For example, I remember their version of T S Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. Except they set it around a space shot at Cape Canaveral. One of my sons and I once tried to list all the characters each person played. Try it yourself. You may never get to the end. I could go on and on, but the time I spend writing this is keeping me away from the next episode. PSI'm glad my Spam blocker let the e-mail notice for these DVD's from Amazon come through. I bought 6 sets. One for me and one for each of my grown offspring. When they were little I let them stay up late on Friday nights for SCTV. Probably the best thing I ever did for them.

Sorry to pose the question, since I have to say I don't know myself. This was easily the cleverest show I have seen. And it's the only TV comedy I know that is sometimes really fascinating.In the episode where the broadcast is jammed by the Soviets, I found that along with the funny premise and its very funny execution (the stroboscopic image, the "new mini-cam", "Uzbeks"), there was a genuinely creepy vision of media under state control.But it would give entirely the wrong impression to suggest that the show was ever preachy, even though it belittled the socially irresponsible from time to time. It was always exuberant fun.Just so everyone understands, this was the series made for NBC, not the original lower-budget (but very good) years, nor the following year on Cinemax, which I didn't see.Unfortunately I haven't seen any of them in over ten years. This is one of the very few things I would own on DVD if it were available."Battle of the PBS Stars", "Chariots of Eggs", Guy Caballero forgetting to stay in his chair, the frightening lust of Edith Prickly, and of course "Great White North". They deserve to be preserved.