SCTV Review: Death Motel (3-5) / The Lone Ranger Show (3-6)

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

“Death Motel” (season 3, episode 5, originally aired October 17, 1980)

SUNRISE SEMESTER: COMMUNICATING IN ITALIAN

  • Marcello Sebastiano (Tony Rosato) discusses the fantastic vocabulary range of the Italian hands and the imprtance of using the eyes.

  • Tony Rosato has said that Marcello was “a synthesis of every Italian idiom I could nurture out of my heart and soul”; while Rosato gives a good performance, it doesn’t really feel like there’s much more to the character (or sketch) than this, and it drags a bit.

  • This is the first Sunrise Semester since the Town Pride one in season 2, episode 10; a new opening title for the segment debuts as well.

  • I like the randomness of there being a bandage on Robin Duke’s right leg as the camera pans up her body; I wonder whether that was from a real injury.

** 1/2

TEASER: MONSTER CHILLER HORROR THEATRE

  • Count Floyd (Joe Flaherty) reminds viewers to tune into tonight’s “blood-curdling classic”.

  • This seems improvised, particularly the “chill the marrow right out of your…pants” and “starring Bruno…Gerussi” lines. I wonder whether this was a late addition to fill an extra minute in the show.

*** 1/2

BUBIE’S CHICKEN MEDICATION

  • Pitchman (Rick Moranis) and Ma (Andrea Martin) tout medication made from his Bubie’s chicken soup recipe.

  • The character isn’t named here, but Moranis is doing an impression of Al Waxman, specifically his character Larry King from King of Kensington; Martin is playing Larry’s mother Gladys, played by Helene Winston. I feel that having this background knowledge makes the sketch work better.

***

KANADIAN KORNER (#5)

  • Doug’s (Dave Thomas) about to talk about snow chains, but runs out of time trying to multitask.

  • Some funny parts at the beginning, especially since it seems like Moranis and Thomas are still figuring out what they’re doing with these segments. There’s also a funny bit obscured by the crawl, where Doug tries to push the back bacon into the beer and starts to let out a “shit” (“Well, that’s no good. Can’t swear on the air”.)

  • This week’s crawl is credits for the show, now “produced at MGM Studios, Burbank, California” (“It really doesn’t matter where you do it, as long as everything else is still Canadian, eh?”), including a writing credit for Harlan Ellison, as well as name dropping Canadian companies The Bay and Maple Leaf.

*** 1/2

EDNA’S BACK

  • Edna Hymbecker (Robin Duke) sings about surviving a briefly-fatal accident on her new album.

  • Not the greatest material, but Robin Duke’s characterization helps make this funny.

***

PROMO: DANNY EUBANKS: SEMINARIAN/ROOKIE COP

  • Danny Eubanks (Dave Thomas) fulfills a promise he made to his father and avenges his death at the same time.

  • Jeff Robbins calls this a throwback to the early shows; for some reason I think this would be even funnier with the cheaper production values.

  • Note that Danny is paged about a murder in Hawrelak Park, a real location in Edmonton.

*** 1/2

MONSTER CHILLER HORROR THEATRE: PART I

  • Count Floyd (Joe Flaherty) introduces tonight’s movie Death Motel and hawks 3-D glasses (make sure those checks are certified).

  • It’s nice to see Count Floyd doing his howl again, even if this is a pretty boilerplate Monster Chiller Horror Theatre intro. The requisite 3-D glasses offer was funny, though.

  • Count Floyd mentions that when the movie came out, there was bell that went off in the theatre to alert the audience of particularly scary moments coming up; according to Canuxploitation, a similar gimmick was used for Ivan Reitman’s low-budget 1973 horror movie Cannibal Girls, which featured Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin.

  • This also has the first mention of Woody Tobias, Jr. being the actor who plays Bruno (the teaser just mentions the last name when Floyd corrects himself).

***

DEATH MOTEL: PART I

  • A honeymooning couple (Dave Thomas and Andrea Martin) check into their room and encounter the bellboy Bruno (Eugene Levy).

  • The first appearance of Bruno without John Candy’s Dr. Tongue unfortunately confirms that Levy’s character works better with Candy to play off of.

  • This sketch has the first instance of the classic 3-D music sting, and “There isn’t another hotel for at least 1,000 miles” was a good line.

**

DEATH MOTEL: PART II

  • The wife (Andrea Martin) is still afraid of Bruno (Eugene Levy), despite her husband Wayne’s (Dave Thomas) reassurances.

  • A slight improvement over the first part, mainly because Levy has some funnier physical bits (turning down the bed and trying to shuffle cards), as well as Andrea Martin spitting out a tooth after Dave Thomas hits her to snap her out of her terror. It still doesn’t quite land, though.

** 1/2

MONSTER CHILLER HORROR THEATRE: PART II

  • Count Floyd (Joe Flaherty) interviews Woody Tobias, Jr. (Eugene Levy) about his career.

  • This segment works considerably better than the movie, particularly due to the back-and-forth between Woody and Count Floyd. The best moment is when Count Floyd cruelly reminds Woody that he’s never been a romantic lead.

  • The characterization of Woody Tobias, Jr. is a little different than in later appearances. Here, he’s an veteran actor who just happens to be a cross-eyed hunchback; later sketches would have less daylight between actor and character, though Bruno does at least speak more often.

*** 1/2

Final thoughts: Despite a few notable firsts, this episode is a letdown following a very strong start to the season. Nothing truly terrible, but a lack of outstanding pieces and a fairly dull main sketch

MVP:

  • Eugene Levy

Rhodes version differences:

  • Removed: Kanadian Korner 5

Allarcom version differences (show #55C):

  • Removed: Edna’s Back (moved to 3-6/56C)

  • Added: Elvis ‘n Costello (from 3-3)

Blair version differences (show #85A):

  • Removed: Bubie’s Chicken Medication, Promo: Danny Eubanks: Seminarian/Rookie Cop

  • Edited: Monster Chiller Horror Theatre: Part II

  • Added: new promo for CBC (Robert Corness v/o)

DVD differences:

  • Edited: Edna’s Back (“Killing Me Softly” removed)

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.

“The Lone Ranger Show” (season 3, episode 6, originally aired Oct. 24, 1980)

SUNRISE SEMESTER: CONVERSATIONAL NEW YORKESE

  • Norman Gorman (Joe Flaherty) deals with production difficulties while giving his lesson.

  • This was stronger than the installment in the previous episode, as it’s quicker moving, Flaherty’s character is funnier, and he has more to deal with in the sketch. My favourite bit was the line about Walter being out getting drunk.

***

TEX AND EDNA BOIL’S ORGAN EMPORIUM

  • Tex (Dave Thomas) and Edna (Andrea Martin) have expanded and relocated their warehouse, and had to go to Brazil to get more budgies to sell with their organs.

  • Another sketch returning this season; this installment has some particularly funny bits (the 50 square miles of organs, the budgies being led back to America in chains).

*** 1/2

KANADIAN KORNER (#6)

  • Bob (Rick Moranis) and Doug (Dave Thomas) discuss back bacon and snow chains, respectively.

  • Enjoyable as usual, with some funny moments, particularly Doug wearing the snow chains on his feet and causing the stove to collapse when he puts his foot on the table. It’s even funnier if you’ve watched the previous five sketches in sequence, as it builds on those.

  • This week’s crawl, disavowing any Americanization and reaffirming the show is “over 100 percent Canadian content” also works better when you watch in sequence with the previous installments.

*** 1/2

PROMO: DONOHUE

  • Phil Donohue (Dave Thomas) asks Pope John Paul II (Tony Rosato) the tough questions.

  • An improvement over last season’s “Donohue In The Morning”, with Phil asking the Pope whether his outfit is meant to intimidate and calling him out of touch for not being able to answer an audience member’s question about male go-go dancers.

  • It’s been mentioned in both Dave Thomas and Jeff Robbins’ books, but the presence of Rick Moranis in costume as Guy Friday (the only male audience member) was a nice touch.

*** 1/2

60/20

  • Earl Camembert (Eugene Levy) investigates the effect of the media on viewers.

  • This was really well done. Not only was this a good use of an existing character, there are some fun nested parodies, and the twist where Jack Wallace (Rick Moranis) turns the tables on Earl was well done.

  • The spoof of Robert Young’s Sanka commercials was solid, especially the random “One week later” cut during the interview.

  • Tony Rosato appears to be playing George Savalas’ Kojak character Det. Stavros (called Det. George Tulios here).

****

MESSAGE FROM GUY: SATELLITE ORBIT

  • Guy Caballero (Joe Flaherty) asks viewers to send money to help get the SCTV satellite orbit higher up in the air.

  • This had to be improvised, and benefitted from that, particularly the lines about paying $30 per show and the orbit being 15 feet above ground.

  • Dave Thomas mistakenly says that Caballero is the station manager of SCTV during the closing (was Prickley off that week?)

*** 1/2

PSA: FOSTER BOSS

  • Sally Struthers (Robin Duke) solicits on behalf of Actors For The Needy to help people like Pirini Scleroso (Andrea Martin) and “give a charlady a chance”.

  • This was alright; I enjoy Pirini Scleroso more when Andrea Martin uses the character to clown around.

  • Interesting seeing a subdued impression of Sally Struthers; usually parodies of her are more over the top.

***

THE LONE RANGER SHOW

  • The Lone Ranger (Rick Moranis) and Tonto (Joe Flaherty) mix laughs and gunplay on their late night talk show.

  • Another very well done sketch, a dual parody of The Lone Ranger and The Tonight Show. There are a lot of very well done jokes peppered throughout, culminating with the beginning of one of this season’s best running gags, Tonight Show producer Fred deCordova (also Flaherty) coming onstage to shake hands (“I wonder who that stranger was. I wanted to thank that masked man.”)

  • The Kip Addotta (also Moranis) getting branded bit was particularly funny; the writer of the piece seemed to take a lot of glee in doing this to him.

  • Nice joke: Tony Rosato’s Doc Severinson-esque bandleader is named Doc Watson, who was a legendary country guitar player.

****

Final thoughts: A pretty good show, with two strong multi-layered parodies. The Kanadian Korner and Message From Guy sketches also brought a refreshing looseness to this week’s episode.

MVP:

  • Rick Moranis

Rhodes version differences:

  • Removed: Kanadian Korner 6

Allarcom version differences (show #56C):

  • Removed: Message From Guy: Satellite Orbit (moved to 3-20/70C)

  • Added: Edna’s Back (from 3-5)

Blair version differences (show #49A):

  • Removed: PSA: Foster Boss

  • Edited: The Lone Ranger Show

  • Added: new promo for The Nutty Lab Assistant (Robert Corness v/o)

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.