History Series / SCTV

* [[{{Zoom}} Zoom In Zoom Out]]: A method of simulating "3-D" effects on the cheap. Averted by the makers of the "Dr. Tongue" series, who were apparently too cheap or incompetent even for ''that''. Instead, the actors simply thrust objects toward the camera, then pulled them back again, to the tune of zoom-in-zoom-out music.

* CanadaEh:
** Bob and Doug [=McKenzie=] played a big role in codifying the trope.
** Taken to a truly extreme length in the episode "The Sammy Maudlin 23rd Anniversary Show", where the station has to pipe in programming from the Creator/{{CBC}} due to a janitor strike at SCTV. The resulting footage skewers several Canadian films and series (including ''Goin' Down The Road'', ''Series/FrontPageChallenge'' and the "Series/HinterlandWhosWho" nature commercials) and makes fun of established institutions like curling and Prince Edward Island.
* TheCaper: Thoroughly spoofed in "Maudlin's Eleven".
* CatchPhrase: Both straight (Bob and Doug, Count Floyd, Mayor Tommy Shanks) and subverted (Lola Heatherton, Bobby Bittman)
* CausticCritic: Bill Needle, big time.

* ChristmasEpisode: Several, which took plenty of potshots at Christmas programming tropes.
* CloudCuckoolander: Many characters, with Bob and Doug being notable examples.
** Tommy Shanks is corrupt ''because'' he's up in Cuckooland, and Earl Camembert is a poor journalist because he's so spacey.

** Especially evident in the 30 minute episodes, which would often do [[UsefulNotes/ANSIStandardBroadcastTVSchedule a full day's worth of shows]] in 30 minutes (and in the proper order, at that). See [[http://www.sctvguide.ca/programs/ here]] for a list of the most common programs.

** Tommy Shanks, mayor of Melonville, was named after musician Tommy Banks.

%%* RealLifeWritesThePlot: The cast wrote a few episodes based on what's happening behind the scenes. Some episodes include:

%%** "The Great White North Palace"

%%* SoapWithinAShow: ''The Days of the Week''.

* ReincarnatedAsANonHumanoid: When the show parodied ''Series/MyMotherTheCar'' with a segment called "Tibor's Tractor", a supposed soviet sitcom in which former First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and ringleader of agricultural reform, Nikita Khrushchev, is reincarnated as a tractor.

Their ragtag, no-budget show, '''''SCTV''''' ''(Second City Television)'', went on to have probably more impact on American comedy than virtually any other American show you can name.

* AscendedExtra: Juul Haalmeyer, SCTV's costume designer, became a character as the leader of the Juul Haalmeyer Dancers. They were a group of backup dancers made up of whoever on the cast and crew was available. They did very simple steps (lots of finger pointing and back and forward motions). As the show went on, he got more involved in sketches, and wound up dating Lola Heatherton.

In 1976, there was a small group of comedians who had worked together for a season on a previous series, ''The David Steinberg Show'' -- a sort of ''Series/ItsGarryShandlingsShow'' a good decade before Garry Shandling did it. They got together and produced a sketch comedy show around the premise that the sketches were episodes of local shows (or commercials for local businesses) being produced and aired by a television station in the mythical city of Melonville.

This show, '''''SCTV''''' ''(Second City Television)'', has probably had more impact on American comedy than most American shows.

* DarkReprise: Parodied in ''Garth and Gord and Fiona and Alice''. The early scenes in The Maritimes are set to the sprightly "To It and At It" by Canadian folk-country icon Stompin' Tom Connors ("There's a rainbow in Toronto, where the Maritimers are bold"). Once they get to Toronto, it's replaced by a slower, grittier HardRock CoverVersion.

%%** Johnny LaRue's storyline in "SCTV Staff Christmas Party"

*** In the episode where Johnny LaRue runs for a seat on the Melonville city council, the election coverage makes use of Canadian election terminology, further muddying the waters.

* StuffBlowingUp: The ''Farm Film Report'' critics like movies with this trope the best. ([[CatchPhrase "Blowed up real good!"]]) -- even when reviewing art-house fare. They love ''Film/ZabriskiePoint'' (where everything blows up at the end), but are sadly and ironically disappointed by ''Film/{{Blowup}}'' -- in which nothing blows up! Naturally, they '''loved''' ''Film/{{Scanners}}''.

** ''The Cisco Kid'' from season 3. A GagDub of an actual episode of ''Series/TheCiscoKid'' done by Second City members who weren't in the show's cast, although one of them, Martin Short, would join later. It was actually a failed pilot for a Second City GagDub show.

%%* WidgetSeries

** Taken to a truly extreme length in the episode "The Sammy Maudlin 23rd Anniversary Show", where the station has to pipe in programming from the Creator/{{CBC}} due to budget cutbacks. The resulting footage skewers several Canadian films and series (including ''Goin' Down The Road'', ''Series/FrontPageChallenge'' and the "Series/HinterlandWhosWho" nature commercials) and makes fun of established institutions like curling and Prince Edward Island.

* AscendedExtra: Juul Haalmeyer, SCTV's costume designer. Started out as the leader of the Juul Haalmeyer Dancers, a group of backup dancers made up of whoever on the cast and crew was available that did very simple steps (lots of finger pointing and back and forward motions). As the show went on, got more involved in sketches, ending up with dating Lola Heatherton.

How is that? Well, let's run down the original cast: Creator/JohnCandy, Creator/JoeFlaherty, Creator/EugeneLevy, Creator/AndreaMartin, Creator/CatherineOHara, Creator/HaroldRamis (for seasons one and two), and Creator/DaveThomas[[note]]the same one who voiced the Elliot Ness-esque chief of police Rex Banner on the season eight ''Simpsons'' [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E18HomerVsTheEighteenthAmendment episode where alcohol gets banned in Springfield after Bart gets drunk at the town's St. Patrick Day parade]][[/note]]. Add in latecomers Creator/RickMoranis and Creator/MartinShort ([[AndZoidberg and the perennially forgotten feature players]] Creator/RobinDuke and Creator/TonyRosato, who are now mostly remembered for being overshadowed by Creator/EddieMurphy and Creator/JoePiscopo during ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'''s [[AudienceAlienatingEra shaky years between 1980 and 1983]]), and you have a veritable who's who of '70s-'80s Canadian comedy[[note]]Although Flaherty, Martin and Ramis were actually American, they ''were'' working in Canada.[[/note]]. Due to the connections between the Chicago and Toronto branches of the Creator/SecondCity comedy troupe, there was considerable constructive feedback between this show and ''Series/SaturdayNightLive.''

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRoles: The whole cast, of course, but some of the recurring ''characters'' also played more than one role for the station:
** Newsman Floyd Robertson also portrayed "Count Floyd" on ''Monster Chiller Horror Theater'' (a not-uncommon practice at RealLife stations in the heyday of locally-produced kiddie shows and [[HorrorHost Horror Hosts]].)
** Cleaning woman Perini Scleroso had several star turns in SCTV productions including ''My Fair Lady'', earning her the coveted People's Global Golden Choice Award for "Best Foreign Personality."
** Bill Needle not only hosted a variety of "critic" shows, but turned up once or twice as an ''actor'' in SCTV productions.
** Goes beyond even that- the cast would sometimes play impressionists playing famous actors in movies (think Frank Caliendo's bit as Creator/RobinWilliams as all the characters in ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'').

How is that? Well, let's run down the original cast: Creator/JohnCandy, Creator/JoeFlaherty, Creator/EugeneLevy, Creator/AndreaMartin, Creator/CatherineOHara, Creator/HaroldRamis (for seasons one and two), and Creator/DaveThomas[[note]]the same one who voiced the Elliot Ness-esque chief of police Rex Banner on the season eight ''Simpsons'' [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E18HomerVsTheEighteenthAmendment episode where alcohol gets banned in Springfield after Bart gets drunk at the town's St. Patrick Day parade]][[/note]]. Add in latecomers Creator/RickMoranis and Creator/MartinShort ([[AndZoidberg and the perennially forgotten feature players]] Creator/RobinDuke and Creator/TonyRosato, who are now mostly remembered for being overshadowed by Creator/EddieMurphy and Creator/JoePiscopo during ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'''s shaky years between 1980 and 1983), and you have a veritable who's who of '70s-'80s Canadian comedy[[note]]Although Flaherty, Martin and Ramis were actually American, they ''were'' working in Canada.[[/note]]. Due to the connections between the Chicago and Toronto branches of the Creator/SecondCity comedy troupe, there was considerable constructive feedback between this show and ''Series/SaturdayNightLive.''

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRoles: The whole cast of course, but some of the recurring ''characters'' played more than one role for the station:

** In a sketch based around O'Henry's short stories, O'Henry's character contemplates suicide in his private booth. The waiter is furious at his decision and lambasts him about he has so much to live for, while talking about his own horrible life, including having a wooden leg.

* DarkReprise: Parodied in ''Garth and Gord and Fiona and Alice''. The early scenes in The Maritimes are set to the sprightly "To It And At It" by Canadian folk-country icon Stompin' Tom Connors. Once they get to Toronto, it's replaced by a slower, grittier hard rock CoverVersion.

* ReReleaseSoundtrack: ''SCTV'' had to hold a number of sketches from video release (or modify them some) because of music issues -- one being an ad for "Stairways to Heaven", a record full of covers of the song from various unlikely artists.