Author Topic: WANTED: SCTV Bootlegs  (Read 10844 times)

Jixby Phillips

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WANTED: SCTV Bootlegs
« on: March 15, 2011, 10:25:28 PM »
Some guy has every syndicated version of every episode of SCTV, apparently taped from the mid-eighties. The price tag for everything is pretty high, though I've seen him get talked down to 90 dollars. That's the low price.

Anyway, I want them really bad.

I have everything that's officially released, and a bunch of episodes that are on tv-vault.me. But a complete run of the entire 80's syndication package is something I dream about on a regular basis. For a show I consider a favorite, it's one of my most under-seen favorite shows.

I don't know exactly what I'm proposing. I'm hoping somebody here happens to have this set and wants to send it to me for a nice deal. I guess the other option is I want to see if there are enough people who would be interested in going in on this with me?

Also, I'd put these up on myspleen, for any and all to enjoy.

nec13

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Re: WANTED: SCTV Bootlegs
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2011, 03:58:27 PM »
What's the difference between the bootlegs and the episodes Shout Factory released on DVD several years back?
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Jixby Phillips

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Re: WANTED: SCTV Bootlegs
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2011, 07:19:40 PM »
I WILL BE HAPPY TO GIVE YOU A LONG-WINDED ANSWER! Sincerely! I love explaining things! I will even OVER-EXPLAIN things! Seriously, I have a job interview in a couple hours and this will honestly relax me. So yes, I'm about to write way more than what you asked. In fact, it's embarrassing how much I am about to write on this subject. It'd probably be better to just go on sctvguide.ca and get the answer yourself. Still want to read my post? Okay, it's your funeral:

There are three series of SCTV:

Second City TV (The first 3 seasons)
The original, half-hour series as aired in Canada; syndicated in America

SCTV Network 90 (Seasons 4-5)
A 90-minute version, produced by and aired on NBC. The vast majority of it was new material, but in order to fill time they sometimes included repeats of old sketches from the original series. It was later retitled to just "SCTV Network"

SCTV Channel (Season 6)
a 45-minute version made for Cinemax.

All three of these shows are popularly known as simply "SCTV," furthermore they were all syndicated into 185 half hours. So the 90 minute shows and the 45 minute shows were all cut up and rearranged and turned into half hours. These 185 syndicated half hours are what the bootleg DVDs consist of. For a lot of people, this IS the complete SCTV; I gather very few people were privy to all three original incarnations of each SCTV series. One would have to live in Canada for Seasons 1-3 and then move to America for Seasons 4-5 (I believe Season 6 aired in the same format in both countries; seasons 4-5 aired in an shortened format in Canada).

The DVDs (Volumes 1-4) are of the NBC incarnation of the show, in their original 90 minute format. The show used a lot of licensed music and also included musical guests, and Shout Factory cleared MOST of it, but some things had to get edited out. Most of them are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. And chances are, the syndicated versions of the shows are just as edited... I know for a fact that a lot of stuff didn't make the cut for the syndicated versions. But I want them still because I'm a crazy completist, and the chance there might be SOMETHING included in the syndicated version that isn't included on the DVD is enough to make me want to check them out. Also, I like some of those half-hour shows even though they are entirely composed of material from other, longer shows (the half hour version is almost always how the show gets played on TV when it DOES show).

Shout intended to release more comprehensive volumes of SCTV, but they wound up dropping it. They DID release a box set called "The Best of the Early Years" which was comprised of 3 Season two episodes and 12 Season 3 episodes. Not so much a best-of, more like a "here's the 15 least expensive episodes to clear." So that means all of Season 1, the vast majority of Season 2, and a lot of Season 3 is unreleased. None of Season 6 is released, either.

From what I understand, the thinking was Season 1 wasn't as funny as future seasons, and starting with the NBC shows could be a logical alternate start-point. Since the early NBC shows feature a lot of repeat material, they also serve as a best-of. But the first three seasons are classic in their own right and a lot of fans consider them to be much better than the NBC shows.

Rick in Salt Lake

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Re: WANTED: SCTV Bootlegs
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2011, 08:24:26 PM »
I gather very few people were privy to all three original incarnations of each SCTV series. One would have to live in Canada for Seasons 1-3 and then move to America for Seasons 4-5 (I believe Season 6 aired in the same format in both countries; seasons 4-5 aired in an shortened format in Canada).

I believe I saw some of the first few seasons (the thirty minute episodes) here in the U.S., but am unfamiliar with the Cinemax episodes. How many of the original cast members were on it? if the episodes were new at the time it was after Moranis and THomas left, right?

I take it the Shout! Factory (as subsidiary of the Shout! Network perhaps?) DVD's didn't sell too well. That would be sad as they're amazingly funny. SCTV, in my opinion, holds up much, much better than SNL. Especially as I'm old enough to remember shows that were not too different from "The Sammy Maudlin Show" and comics as terrible as Bobby Bitman...

I don't know why, but I always laugh to myself when I think of "Gordon Lightfoot Sings Every Song Ever Written". Maybe because Moranis' impression was so spot on...
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Jixby Phillips

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Re: WANTED: SCTV Bootlegs
« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2011, 12:38:46 AM »
(I should also point out that I was born in 1983; the final year of SCTV's existence, so I'm going on what I've read and might be full of shit)

(Also, despite the fact that I pointed out I was typing way too much information, I'm still embarrassed I typed such a long-winded post)

The Cinemax Shows only had four of the original cast members: Flaherty, Levy, Martin, and Short. I know Candy and Thomas both guested at least once. Generally it's considered a low-point, but I saw a bunch of the "Later" versions (basically the half-hour syndicated versions as they briefly aired after Late Night with Conan O'Brien in that little period of time between "Later" ending as a talk show and "Last Call with Carson Daly" starting; NBC for some reason saw fit to keep the "Later" brand alive and made a new title sequence touting "Later presents SCTV!") of the Cinemax shows and thought there were some fine moments and worthy of being part of the SCTV canon.

I HAVE TIME FOR 4 MORE SCTV RELATED QUESTIONS

nec13

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Re: WANTED: SCTV Bootlegs
« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2011, 11:53:24 AM »
Thank you for answering my question.

I know one of the episodes on the those DVD's had the infamous "Stairways to Heaven" sketch removed because Shout couldn't get the rights from Jimmy Page.
Nobody ever lends money to a man with a sense of humor.