- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: McClelland & Stewart; Trade pbk. ed edition (Sep 6 1997)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0771085680
- ISBN-13: 978-0771085680
- Product Dimensions: 27.9 x 21.6 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 726 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#360,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #64 in Books > Entertainment > Television > Screenwriting
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
If you're like me you only watch "Saturday Night Live" if you're bored our of your gourd or some of your friends are in the featured band. I hate to say it, but the show is simply not funny anymore. And even during the frenetic heyday of SNL, there was a similar show based in Chicago, self-consciously called "Second City TV" that many media afficianados feel was vastly superior to SNL (and in fact, many SNL cast and production staff came to Gotham by way of SCTV, only to be eaten alive).
This is a fun book about an important period of American televisied humor and the people that made it worth watching. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Books in Canada
SCTV was created by self-admitted "children of television", steeped in North American pop culture. Its original cast members, some of whom were alumni of McMaster University, did some of their purest work at the beginning of their careers. Never as anchored in current affairs as Saturday Night Live or as slyly witty and visually innovative as Monty Python's Flying Circus, SCTV parodied the very medium it used in impressions (Thomas as Bob Hope, Martin as Liza Minnelli, Short as Brock Linehan, O'Hara as Kate Hepburn, Candy as Johnny LaRue, etc.) and in multi-layered sketches that combined two different premises (Anton Chekhov melded with Star Wars, or Fantasy Island fused with Casablanca and the Hope-Crosby pictures).
SCTV: Behind the Scenes, by Dave Thomas (with Robert Crane and Susan Carney), shows how this sort of success was not achieved in an instant. Problems with the first director, the first producer, changes of locale from Toronto to Edmonton to Los Angeles, and chauvinism among cast and crew made for some trying times. Thomas's book is a collage of reminiscences (with cross-cutting commentaries by various participants), but its demotic, oral style stamps it as a book for all those diehard fans who don't like to read except in snippets. Thomas has collected two hundred photographs (many in grainy colour), along with trivia quizzes, and a listing of every skit ever performed in the history of SCTV. Because of reticence on certain matters-such as cast members' embattled egos-the book has very limited value as a documentary report. Its one incontestable value-apart from its appeal as grist to the trivia mill-is the implicit story of how artistry can be diluted by commercial success, as when the intellectually stunted McKenzie Brothers became a media phenomenon, much to the chagrin of some cast members and the embarrassment of Dave Thomas himself. Keith Garebian(Books in Canada) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A look way behind the scenes,
By Michael Erisman (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: SCTV: Behind the Scenes (Paperback)
SCTV is perhaps the best comedy television ever produced or written. If you are at all a fan of the show, you will love this book. Who can forget Johnny Larue, 5 Neat Guys, The Days of the Week, The Great White North, the Sammy Maudlin Show, Bobby and Skip Bittman, and the VJ (before there were VJ's) Gerry Todd. The satire is dead on. The show just nails TV; the horrible vision that was the variety hour shows of the 70's, the newsroom, the "sweeps week", and especially the commercials.The book itself is a running commentary on the show, it's stars, the writers, and the various ways the show aired. The photos are perhaps the best feature (who can forget Carl's Cuts with the pig-men) or the fact that Rick Moranis does Woody Allen better than Woody. Dave and Rick really do Bob Hope and Woody Allen so well it is scary. The book runs in mostly chronological order, with input from the starts all along the way. However, some of the commentary is WAY behind the scenes, perhaps a bit too far back for the average fan. Dave Thomas, the author, does an excellent job of capturing the egos, the infighting, and the creative styles of the shows writers and performers. People often forget just how much talent came out of this ensemble: John Candy, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara; all have had major roles in TV and movie comedy since their stint on SCTV. The best features of this book: The photos and the quizzes at the end of each chapter. The worst feature: too much information on the writers and producers behind the scenes and not enough info on what went in front of the cameras. Overall, I recommend highly as a great look at the best comedy shows ever made.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blowed Up Good!,
By Greekfreak (Pusan Korea (South)) - See all my reviews
This review is from: SCTV: Behind the Scenes (Paperback)
For years, I'd been waiting for some kind of compendium of SCTV trivia or a chronology of shows, and when this book came out, I had to buy it.It's missing commentary from a few of the principal cast members, but overall, well worth the investment. The insight into that one episode with Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir John Gielgud alone is worth it, and it's got a well-balanced view of the show from the producers, to the cast, to the production department, make-up artists, etc. It's a tragedy that this brilliant show hasn't been put on DVD just yet, but it will. SCTV was far more irreverent than SNL, and much cleverer than Monty-Python, not to mention more prolific. Until then, pick this up as an SCTV primer.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Read,
By
This review is from: SCTV: Behind the Scenes (Paperback)
All in all a good book that charts one of the most inventive shows in television history. SCTV on a bad day was better than most episodes of Saturday Night Live in my opinion, and this book chronicles the genius behind the show. I would have liked a bit more info on the actor's backgrounds and some of the post SCTV collaborations such as C.M.M. of Ed Grimley - but this book is both heartfelt and well-written, espescially in his honest reporting of the rest of the cast's resentment following his and Moranis' success following Strange Brew. A great read for any fan.
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