SCTV Review: Galaxy 66 (1-17) / Madame Blitzman (1-18)

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

“Galaxy 66” (season 1, episode 17, aired Oct. 10, 1977)

DIVING FOR DOLLARS

  • The Mexican game show where contestants dive off of cliffs for small amounts of American money.

  • Despite the caricatured Mexican characters, this was pretty darkly funny, particularly Martin’s face as she watches the money ($2 in pennies) go over the cliff and her crossing herself before she jumps.

  • The show’s minimal budget is pretty apparent here; I wonder how this would have been staged in a later season. Maybe they would have used the running gag with the dummies.

*** 1/2

SUNRISE SEMESTER: ELEVATOR CONVERSATION PART ONE

  • Edith Prickley (Andrea Martin) shows how to break the ice during uncomfortably silent elevator rides.

  • The sketch itself is nothing special, but this is notable for being the first appearance of Andrea Martin’s signature character (which had originated on the stage) on SCTV. Martin’s great (particular her comments on the theme music and her flapping along to it at the end), but this drags, particularly in the elevator footage.

  • That said, I did laugh at Harold Ramis dressed as his Swami Bananananda character carrying a briefcase and introducing himself as “Dennis Peterson” (his real name as revealed in the Yoga sketch all the way back in episode 2).

** 1/2

SERFS

  • A drunk driver (Eugene Levy) freshens his breath before the cops come after him for hitting an old lady.

  • Another darkly funny sketch, which includes vehicular manslaughter and a drunk wearing a paper bag on his head and claiming to be in the Ku Klux Klan.

  • More low-budget production tricks: Levy and Candy are obviously in a parked car sitting in the Global Television parking lot.

*** 1/2

SCI-FI THEATRE WITH BRADLEY OMAR: GALAXY 66

  • In 1957, Bradley Omar (Harold Ramis) mocks the “distorted” views of the future in old science fiction and presents a vision of the way things will really be, where aliens Micron Zegrabar (Joe Flaherty) encounter a space babe (Catherine O’Hara), and mutants good (Eugene Levy) and bad (John Candy).

  • Kind of a mixed bag: I liked Ramis’s introduction segment, but the Galaxy 66 sketch itself is weak and overlong, with a distracting starfield overlay on the picture and echo effect on the audio.

  • Even though Galaxy 66 didn’t work, there are a few elements that do, particularly Flaherty and Thomas’s chemistry and the throwaway moment with Levy with one of the props at the time-warp station (“You guys want a free beach ball?”).

  • This is also the first time Catherine O’Hara does a high-pitched chittering noise on the show; she would do it a few more times on SCTV, and when she hosted SNL in 1991.

  • The name of the actor playing Antaur is “Todd Ellis”, after the Second City Toronto member and special props designer for the show.

** 1/2

PROMO: TO TELL THE TRUTH

  • Contestants will guess which of these three men is the real Micron Zegrabar, Man of the Future.

  • As much as the Galaxy 66 sketch didn’t work, I actually found this promo that aired immediately afterward was much funnier, partially because of the juxtaposition of the two sketches.

  • Is the first guy (bald, soft-spoken voice) director George Bloomfield? I’m going by the picture of him that was in the Dave Thomas book.

*** 1/2

MRS. PRICKLEY’S JAMS, JELLIES AND PRESERVES

  • Edith Prickley’s (Andrea Martin) jams are homemade, to her kids’ demands and her everlasting chagrin.

  • Another appearance by Edith Prickley in tonight’s episode (at least in the original Canadian edit). This worked a bit better because it was tighter, and it has a good button (“I hope you choke on it…*phh*ha!”)

*** 1/2

PROMO: SWISH BUCKLER

  • Dandy Mr. Christie (Joe Flaherty) helps his shipmates retaliate against their cruel captain (John Candy).

  • Yes, this is based on some broad gay stereotypes, but I couldn’t help but laugh at Ramis. Thomas and Levy mincing it up with their tiny ponytails (particularly when they get access to the water).

  • Eugene Levy’s first line (“For God’s sake…”) reminded me of his performance as Leonard in Theatre North American back in episode three.

  • Was Flaherty’s character named Mr. Christie after the Canadian cookie company (now owned by Mondelez International)?

*** 1/2

PYRAMID POWER

  • Orson Welles (John Candy) touts the mystical healing properties of pyramid power. Micron (Joe Flaherty) and Antaur (Dave Thomas) beg to differ.

  • The debut of Candy’s Orson Welles impression; the unconvincing testimonials from O’Hara, Levy and Ramis (“My cold sore went away”, “I thought my mother would call, and she did!”, “I dreamed about fish and had fish for dinner”) with each wearing a pyramid on top of their heads made this piece. The Galaxy 66 ending (the pyramid being their rain hat) works in the context of the episode; the business about Micron forgetting his felt improvised.

***

BESIDE THE POINT

  • Everyone strays from the topic at hand as a panel of journalists interviews a right-wing Israeli military leader (Joe Flaherty)

  • It’s a simple premise, but it works because it’s kept tight and it moves along really well. I particularly liked Levy’s question about how Flaherty’s missing eye affects his golf game, and the announcer’s closing digression on why viewers have to send 25 cents in coin for a transcript.

*** 1/2

BALD & BRASSY

  • Roller-skating champion Dorothy Hamster (Catherine O’Hara) plugs the hair remover.

  • A spoof of the Clairol Short & Sassy commercials Dorothy Hamill was doing at the time. Kind of a silly, obvious gag, but O’Hara nails the way Hamill says “shiny”.

***

WORDS TO LIVE BY: DR. BRADLEY OMAR

  • Dr. Bradley Omar (Harold Ramis) of the Universal Church of Science discusses the red scare and urges Americans to look to the skies; Micron (Joe Flaherty), Antaur (Dave Thomas) and the space babe (Catherine O’Hara) think he’s a “dumb asteroid”.

  • I would have preferred this segment to have also been in black and white to match the Sci-Fi Theatre sketch (although it makes Dr. Omar’s claims of his clothing’ colours even funnier to see they’re not the garish tones he describes), but this was a good way to wrap up tonight’s runner. Catherine O’Hara doing the space babe’s chittering laugh always gets me.

  • There’s a brand new title card for Words to Live By this cycle (below right).

  • Brian Doyle-Murray isn’t listed as a writer this week; neither is Andrea Martin, but she’s absent from all the writing credits in this cycle (at least in the Canadian package).

***

Final thoughts: While a bit short of a classic and having a few weaker parts, this was a fun episode. The main Galaxy 66 sketch itself was a bit of a dud, but the callbacks throughout the show worked quite a bit better (particularly the To Tell The Truth promo). Edith Prickley’s debut was also a little underwhelming, but it is still interesting to see in retrospect.

MVP:

  • (tie) Catherine O’Hara / Harold Ramis

Rhodes version differences:

  • Removed: Mrs. Prickley’s Jams, Jellies and Preserves (appears in 1-23)

Blair version differences:

  • Removed: Mrs. Prickley’s Jams, Jellies and Preserves

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.

“Madame Blitzman” (season 1, episode 18, aired Oct. 17, 1977)

PSA: RECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA

  • Don’t run the risk of having lawyers like Ted Gordon (Dave Thomas) spacing out during a case.

  • Thomas’s Ted Gordon (from Malpractice Lawyer all the way back in the first show) is back; I liked the twist of this being a PSA.

  • Joe Flaherty’s sotto voce “…bozo” at the very end is very Floyd Robertson-esque.

*** 1/2

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRES

  • Texans (Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty, John Candy) mess up chainsaws “real good”.

  • A very simple joke, but the performances make this (particularly Dave Thomas’s giddy “What are we waitin’ for? Let’s kill ‘em!”)

***

DANTE’S INFERNO

  • Contestants sin their way to either big prizes or the flaming pit on Bill Dante’s (John Candy) game show.

  • A solid game show parody with a great premise (the contestants are brought to the floor screaming in terror and only get to leave when they win) and a great performance from John Candy (curiously not playing Johnny LaRue, though the familiar LaRue credits are at the end).

****

FILLIPS MILK OF AMNESIA

  • Pitchwoman (Catherine O’Hara) demonstrates how a snifter of Fillips takes your cares away.

  • One of Catherine O’Hara’s great moments on the show; in his book The Second CIty: Backstage at the World’s Greatest Comedy Theatre, Sheldon Patinkin mentions this was all done in one take and praises O’Hara for “one of the best pieces of sustained comic acting he’s ever seen”. He’s right, O’Hara makes every word, pause and facial expression count here.

*****

SCTV AM NEWS TODAY

  • Earl Camembert responds to a viewer letter about the lack of women on the news team with a misogynistic diatribe against women newscasters.

  • One of the best pieces of cringe comedy the show has done, with Earl digging his grave further and further as he rants about women’s squeaky voices, temperment and lack of sense of humor, and mentions being distracted by their chest. Floyd’s silent, horrified reactions are priceless. Eventually Floyd mercifully ends Earl’s rant, but also informs him of backstage rumours that Earl is being replaced by a woman (Earl: “Over my dead body.” Floyd: (happily) “That can be arranged”).

  • For some reason, the sign with the SCTV letters in front of the rest of the backdrop is missing from the news set here.

**** 1/2

PROMO: MEATBALL HEROES

  • Tough ex-GIs Tony (Joe Flaherty), Angie (Eugene Levy) and Sal (Harold Ramis) open a sandwich shop together.

  • Just a short piece, but Levy’s over the top reaction to Dave Thomas asking for more salami (“Oh, sure…PINKO!” *hits Thomas with sub bun*) is worth it.

***

MONSTER CHILLER HORROR THEATRE: MADAME BLITZMAN - PART I

  • Count Floyd (Joe Flaherty) apologizes for the lack of scary movies recently and promises tonight’s movie (involving a lab in Vienna) is a good one.

  • Madame Blitzman (Andrea Martin) addresses the Academy of Science and recalls the early days of her marriage and collaboration with her late husband Louis (Eugene Levy)

  • Monster Chiller Horror Theatre, which would be a staple on SCTV for years to come, is introduced here and is practically fully formed: besides establishing right away that “Count Floyd” is news anchor Floyd Robertson moonlighting as a horror show host, it also shows that the films he gets are questionably scary at best. The actual meat of the sketch, a parody of 1943’s Madame Curie, has its moments (particularly Eugene Levy’s performance as the incompetent Louis), but is just too slow-moving and dull to work on its own; putting it in the context of a MCHT selection improves it a little bit.

  • I think I recall reading the background for this was that they realized the Madame Curie sketch was weak, but had sunk too much time and effort to throw it out, so they bookended it with the Count Floyd segments to salvage it.

** 1/2

VENERABLE ELECTRIC

  • Pitchman (Dave Thomas) recalls the contributions of immigrant inventor Milos Hatrick (Harold Ramis)

  • I enjoy how evil Thomas is in this commercial, reminiscing happily about the days when scientists worked for nothing, and how he casually shoots Milos with the death ray and then says “Milos is gone now…”

  • This also appears to be a bit of a budget-saver: this has Thomas and Ramis in costume as their characters in the science academy scenes of Madame Blitzman and is shot on the same set as the Blitzmans' lab.

*** 1/2

SCTV NEWS BULLETIN: TORNADO WARNING

  • SCTV interrupts their programming for a tornado warning from a tough guy (Dave Thomas).

  • Just a short blackout; the twist of the tough guy threatening the tornado may have been a little obvious but it worked because it was so brief.

***

MONSTER CHILLER HORROR THEATRE: MADAME BLITZMAN - PART II

  • Madame Blitzman puts her life’s work into finding a cure for Louis’s illness.

  • Count Floyd apologizes for the movie not being scary.

  • The second part of Madame Blitzman was even more dull than the first, though I did like Louis’s obliviousness to his wife kissing Milos (Ramis) and the Venerable Electric pitchman apparently having a heart attack as everyone boos Madame Blitzman for her brain sludge theory. Count Floyd’s reaction at the end was classic, though; eventually the show will find a way to make the “scary” movies funnier.

  • No credit for Brian Doyle-Murray again this week.

** 1/2

Final thoughts: For the second week in a row, the main sketch of this episode ended up being the weak point of the episode: like Galaxy 66, the piece that reused the costumes (Venerable Electric) ended up being funnier than the main sketch. As weak as Madame Blitzman was, it came after a very strong first half, which included an all-time classic in the form of the Milk of Amnesia commercial, and the debut of Monster Chiller Horror Theatre does cushion the blow of the overlong and dull Blitzman sketch somewhat.

MVP:

  • (tie) Catherine O’Hara / Joe Flaherty

Rhodes version differences:

  • Removed: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (moved to 1-8), Promo: Meatball Heroes (moved to 1-5)

Blair version differences:

  • Removed: Filips Milk of Amnesia (moved to 1-20)

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.