[net.tv] SCTV Has Been Cancelled

donn (04/06/83)

>From the LA Times, Monday, April 4; Part VI, p. 1;
quoted from without permission:

                       NO ROOM AT THE NBC INN FOR SCTV?
                               Howard Rosenberg

Network TV accommodates drivel and slop in 31 flavors.  Yet it's possible that
room no longer exists on the tube for a triple scoop of comedy riches like
"SCTV Network."

The best comedy show on TV -- maybe the best one in TV HISTORY -- is in danger
of becoming extinct.

"SCTV," the Toronto-based series that brilliantly and mercilessly makes fun of
TV, will continue in reruns through spring, then disappear forever from its
late-night Friday time slot on NBC, the network has finally confirmed.

At 12:30 a.m., "SCTV" has been a top secret.  Andrew Alexander, the show's
executive producer, has turned down NBC's offer to air cut-down, half-hour
reruns of the 90-minute show in prime timethis summer as a test of its popu-
larity when the nation is awake.  NBC also might conseder a prime-time series
featuring members of the "SCTV" cast, but in a different format, said Brandon
Tartikoff, NBC Entertainment president.

Of course, then it wouldn't be "SCTV."

The decision to drop "SCTV" from Friday nights was made for "financial rea-
sons... and somewhat creative," Tartikoff said.

The financial reasons are evident.

Tartikoff said NBC is losing its feathers on "SCTV," which has low ratings but
a relatively high cost of nearly $400,000 an episode.  In contrast, Tartikoff
said, NBC's "Saturday Night Live" has a cost of $600,000 to $650,000 but rat-
ings more than double those of "SCTV." And "Midnight Special," the excruciat-
ing series that "SCTV" replaced on Friday nights, would cost only about
$175,000 today, he estimated.

But CREATIVE reasons?

"SCTV" HAS lost some steam this season since the departures of Rick Moranis,
Dave Thomas and Catherine O'Hara, but still soars miles above the crowd.

Tartikoff said that if "SCTV" had continued past spring in its 12:30 a.m. time
period, however, "major members of the cast" -- he cited John Candy as one --
would continue to drop out and "SCTV" would not be the same show it is today.

Alexander disagreed, saying Candy had committed to appear in half of the next
12 episodes had the show been renewed, and that the rest of the extraordinary
cast -- Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty and Martin Short -- were set
for the entire run.

Alexander did agree that he and the cast were concerned about their lack of
visibility in the present time slot.  "If no one is going to see you, what is
the point?" he asked.

NBC deserves a pat on the back for giving "SCTV" a network shot two years ago
after its run in obscure syndication.  But NBC never gave the show the expo-
sure it deserved.

What it deserved was the time slot of "Saturday Night Live," or at the very
least, an opportunity to alternate with that vastly unfunny show at 11:30 p.m.
Saturdays.

If not that, it deserved a shot in prime time.

Tartikoff said he suggested to Alexander that he "package the cast with some
people who knew something about prime time" for a half-hour or hour that would
be a possible backup series or mid-season replacement on NBC.  "I didn't ask
them to bring me 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' or 'WKRP in Cincinnati,'" he
said, "but it would be a traditional type of comedy format that would give the
cast a chance to change characters."  [N.B. -- This sounds like a joke straight
out of SCTV!]

"We talked about that, but it was nothing definite," Alexander said.  "Anyway,
that would put it in the category of just another pilot."

And just another series.  What has made "SCTV" so special is its blend of
superb cast, writing, production values and format: a mythical TV station that
puts on one pathetic program after another, featuring one pathetic star after
another...

"SCTV" doesn't do shock humor or drug jokes, so it doesn't have the typical
18-34 year-old audience sought by late-night advertisers, according to Tartik-
off.  "It's a middle-brow, older audience, more like prime time," he said...

Tartikoff denied that "SCTV's" Friday night replacement would be a
variety/music series from Dick Ebersol, executive producer of "Saturday Night
Live" and "Midnight Special" and Tartikoff's former boss at NBC.

"We haven't closed the deal on that," Tartikoff said.  "Another possibility is
to run 90-minute Dave Letterman shows in there."

Meanwhile, in the Glimmer of Hope category: Alexander says he's had interest
in "SCTV" from two major pay TV systems that he wouldn't name...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sigh.  Comments anyone?

Donn Seeley  UCSD Chemistry Dept. RRCF  ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdchema!donn
             (619) 452-4016             sdamos!donn@nprdc

bstempleton (04/08/83)

SCTV cancelled?   Thank GOD!

I'm from Toronto, and I have been watching SCTV since their very humble
beginnings on CKGN.  They were fresher and better in those days when
they only had a half hour to produce.  When they went to the USA
they got money and got worse because they had to worry about ratings.
I stopped watching.  Now the ratings are down and it serves them right.

bdot (04/22/83)

Rumors have it that since SCTV is being cancelled, Bob and Doug MacKenzie will
be seen on the new Saturday Night Live next season. Maybe the show will become
as good as it was its first season. Only time will tell.

hall (04/24/83)

#R:sdchema:-48000:uiucdcs:19200009:000:148
uiucdcs!hall    Apr 23 17:13:00 1983

Since SCTV is being cancelled, how about "cancelling" the newsgroup
"net.tv.sctv"?
--John R. Hall, University of Illinois, (...pur-ee!uiucdcs!hall)

hamilton (04/24/83)

#R:sdchema:-48000:uiucuxc:17400003:000:91
uiucuxc!hamilton    Apr 23 19:40:00 1983

Since "star trek" has been cancelled, how about "cancelling" the newsgroup
"net.startrek"?