SCTV Review: The Sammy Maudlin Show (3-11) / Night Gallery (3-12)

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RATINGS SYSTEM:
***** - Classic
**** - Great
*** - Good/Average
** - Meh
* - Awful

“The Sammy Maudlin Show” (season 3, episode 11, originally aired Nov. 28, 1980)

SUNRISE SEMESTER: GLAMOUR

  • Veronica Swansong (Robin Duke) shows how to feel glamourous, with the help of her director (Rick Moranis).

  • Kind of a middling piece overall, but Duke’s performance elevates this, particularly the way she labours through her lines and blinks with only one eye, and Moranis is good as the effeminate director (“Does anyone have any Vaseline? Oh, I’ve got some!”)

***

MESSAGE FROM PRICKLEY: THE SAMMY MAUDLIN SHOW

  • Edith Prickley (Andrea Martin) promotes Sammy Maudlin with guest Bobby Bittman, and asks for help during license renewal time.

  • Mostly just setting up tonight’s featured sketch, but Martin gets some more funny business with Prickley being oblivious to the paper stapled to her jacket.

***

KANADIAN KORNER (#11)

  • Doug (Dave Thomas) has the crew sing the theme with him and takes over the show to discuss the miracle of back bacon.

  • Doug’s whole story about how he and Bob were ditched by their mother, saved by wrapping back bacon around themselves, raised by wolves, and eventually got their names is hilarious.

  • This week’s crawl: broadcasts of the show that have been picked up over the border have been influencing American culture.

*** 1/2

PROMO: STRETCH YOUR ARM

  • Contestants risk it all for a chance at the big money.

  • A successful quick-hitter; I love that Duke is the “ugly assistant”.

*** 1/2

RONNY BARRETT’S SPORTS

  • Ronny Barrett (Tony Rosato) has the latest gossip from the world of sports.

  • This was alright for what it was; Rosato does a decent Rona Barrett voice, though. I did like the last item with the hockey player returning to the minor leagues.

** 1/2

PROMO: TAXI DRIVER

  • Gregory Peck (Joe Flaherty) asks “Are you talking to me?”

  • The first installment of a series of promos for Taxi Driver featuring different actors as Travis Bickle; here, Flaherty brings back his great Gregory Peck impression for the first time since the very first episode (“You…cheap…punk.”)

****

TOTACONTROL

  • Control everything in your house with just one device.

  • Very fast paced. It’s not a bad sketch at all, but the most interesting thing about this is how it predicts the current era of smart appliances and everything being controlled by phone.

***

MESSAGE FROM GUY: URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT

  • Guy Caballero (Joe Flaherty) doesn’t get around to his message due to the announcer’s (Dave Thomas) flubs.

  • It is amusing to see how Flaherty plays off Thomas, but it’s pretty much filler.

**

THE SAMMY MAUDLIN SHOW

  • Bob Hope (Dave Thomas) upstages Bobby Bittman’s (Eugene Levy) routine to show outtakes from a documentary about his latest special.

  • The only appearance of Sammy during season 3; without John Candy or Catherine O’Hara around to play William B. and Lola Heatherton, this one focuses more on Bobby Bittman, who can barely contain his resentment towards Bob Hope interrupting his hacky comedy routine while still trying to bask in his refracted glow.

  • As usual, Dave Thomas kills as Hope; the outtakes with him, his writers, and the Chinese translators all trying to find just one joke that would play with audiences in the country are a little long, but still work. The real Hope told Thomas that the sketch was very similar to what really happened when he made his special Bob Hope on the Road to China the year before this aired.

  • The music during Bobby’s phone call during the credits is the theme from Taxi Driver; a callback to the commercial parody earlier in the show lost in the Allarcom syndicated version.

****

Final thoughts: A fair number of average sketches this week, though the comparatively lengthy Sammy Maudlin sketch hits as usual and some of the quicker pieces, particularly the first Taxi Driver commercial and Thomas’ frantic “miracle of back bacon” monologue, are worth watching.

MVP:

  • Dave Thomas

Rhodes version differences:

  • Removed: Kanadian Korner 11

Allarcom version differences (show #61C):

  • Removed: Totacontrol (moved to 3-10/60C), Taxi Driver (moved to 3-17/67C)

  • Added: Participaction (from 3-10)

Blair version differences (show #18A):

  • Removed: Kanadian Korner 11, Totacontrol

  • Editd: The Sammy Maudlin Show (new credit scroll and Robert Corness v/o added; Bittman call is on the show’s end credits segment)

  • Added: Pitchman Commercial A (from 4/2-2), new promo for I’m Taking My Own Head… (Robert Corness v/o)

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.

“Night Gallery” (season 3, episode 12, originally aired Dec. 5, 1980)

CRAZY CRAFTS

  • May Sparks (Andrea Martin) shows Molly (Robin Duke) her invention, the bingo drop can.

  • A strong return for Crazy Crafts, with a great characterization from Andrea Martin and good work as usual from Robin Duke.

  • Duke reuses Molly’s “rubbing her face” mannerism for her SNL character Ike (the wife of Gary Kroeger’s character Walter).

****

TEASER: SCTV NEWS

  • Togo taunts the Soviet Union; Floyd (Joe Flaherty) doesn’t know where Earl is.

KANADIAN KORNER (#13)

  • Doug (Dave Thomas) invents a game where Bob (Rick Moranis) has to identify which kind of smoke he has in his mouth while covering his eyes with a back-bacon sandwich.

  • The usual funny stuff from Bob and Doug, with some additional humour coming out of Moranis struggling to play along with what Thomas came up with, even starting to break when Thomas shoves the cigar in his mouth.

  • Note the wolf pelt on the table in front of Doug.

  • This week’s crawl invites responsible Canadians to join the Bob and Doug McKenzie Fan Club and Political Party; all they have to do is “eat back bacon, drink beer, and take off, eh?”

*** 1/2

PROMO: TOM SNYDER MD

  • Bored with the talk show life, Tom Snyder (Dave Thomas) talks his way through a new career.

  • Good Snyder impression from Dave Thomas, and the detail of Moranis always being around with a folding chair for him to sit in was funny.

*** 1/2

SCTV NEWS

  • Earl Camembert (Eugene Levy) skates onto the set to reflect the changing times and annoys Floyd Robertson (Joe Flaherty) by calling attention to his age.

  • The sight of Earl skating around the news desk in that ridiculous outfit is a pretty strong first impression. Interestingly, this is one installment where Earl actually ends up being the cool, collected one as he gleefully exploits Floyd’s insecurity over his age.

  • Earl says he is a “youthful, zesty 33 years old”, the same age Eugene Levy was when shooting in the summer of 1980.

  • Music: “My Favorite Disco” by Hydro featuring Lorna.

*** 1/2

GRIZZLY ABRAMS

  • After getting injured starting a fire, Grizzly Abrams (Dave Thomas) sends his faithful turtle companion Snappy to get help.

  • A very funny parody; Jeff Robbins correctly points out the great sight gags, but I also loved some of the other details in the script, including Keith being the Mexican and Pepe being the white guy, as well as Pepe’s general stupidity.

  • Written by Paul Flaherty and Dick Blasucci; in SCTV: Behind The Scenes, Flaherty says this was the first sketch they pitched and wrote for the show.

**** 1/2

HUGH BETCHA’S NIGHT GALLERY

  • Rev. Hugh Betcha (Joe Flaherty) presents the story of Bob Schmenge (Tony Rosato), a pathetic man whose purchase of a “date record” gives him more than he bargained for.

  • Good escalation to this, with the record getting oddly specific and the absurdity of the jealous husband (Dave Thomas) skipping on his line (“die for…die for…die for”). Rosato also does well here, particularly his reactions to what he’s hearing.

  • Rosato is carrying a Safeway grocery bag at the beginning of the sketch; there’s also a visible box of Sunlight detergent and Robin Hood flour.

  • I like the detail of Rosato commenting about his “nice haircut” after Flaherty insults it during his introduction.

****

SIGNOFF: THE NATIONAL ANTHEM

  • Mel Torme (Rick Moranis) delivers his version of “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

  • One of Rick Moranis’ best musical impressions, having the Velvet Fog seamlessly incorporate other songs into the American national anthem. Great sight gag at the end too.

  • Canadian anthem songs: “O Canada”, “Great White North theme”, “Snowbird” (Anne Murray), “The Snowmobile Song” (Stompin’ Tom Connors), “Old Man” Neil Young, unknown song (“Won’t you take me into Winnipeg town”), “Sundown” (Gordon Lightfoot), unknown song (“What do you find in Alberta today?”), “The Maple Leaf Forever”, “Mon pays” (Gilles Vigneault), “Raised On Robbery” (Joni Mitchell), an old recording of another song I can’t ID, “Taking Care Of Business” (Bachman-Turner Overdrive), “The End” (The Beatles).

  • I wonder if the reason the Rhodes package started including the Kanadian Korner/Great White North sketches beginning with this episode was so the end joke about the McKenzies selecting the Canadian national anthem would make sense.

*****

Final thoughts: A strong show, with newcomers Robin Duke, Tony Rosato and Rick Moranis each having good showcases, and two particularly great pieces (“Grizzly Abrams” and “The National Anthem”)

MVP:

  • Rick Moranis

Rhodes version differences:

  • Removed: Crazy Crafts, Kanadian Korner 13

  • Added: Kanadian Korner 1 (from 3-1), Taxi Driver (from 3-14)

Allarcom version differences (show #62C):

  • Removed: SCTV News teaser

  • Tom Snyder M.D. moved to after Crazy Crafts

Blair version differences (show #92A):

  • Removed: Kanadian Korner 13

  • Added: new promo for Death Of A Salesman (Robert Corness v/o)

1999 WIC version differences:

  • Signoff: The National Anthem edited (“Old Man” and “The End” removed)

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.