SCTV holds a pledge drive.

Guy tries to appease a major advertiser.

A selection of sketches from the previous seasons.

Guy Caballero hires illegal immigrant Pirini Scleroso; the Fracases argue about their daughter's wedding.

SCTV Boogie, from episode 20 of the first series, has been rechristened SCTV Disco. Additional Vieweing: Lou Grant, the Mary Tyler Moore Show spinoff series starring Ed Asner; Art Linkletter's House Party, a long-running TV series during the 50s and 60s, included a segment Kids Say the Darndest Things.

The second episode in a row to feature a show-length sketch, an episode of The Sammy Maudlin Show with Bobby Bittman promoting his remake of On the Waterfront. Maudlin music is "Soulful Strut" by Young-Holt Unlimited. Additional Viewing: On The Waterfront, the 1954 classic

Features the show-length parody of Fantasy Island, which itself incorporates a bevy of parodies of classic 40s pictures. Additional viewing: the 70s hit TV show Fantasy Island; Hope and Crosby road pictures; Casablanca; and The Wizard of Oz.

Features the first Tex and Edna Boil Organ Emporium commercial, while Bob Clark in the Mailbag segment is a very similar character to Bill Needle, who would take over the Mailbag in series 3. Additional Viewing: Mind Games includes a neat little parody of the 1966 film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. They parodied the film again (in a radically different way) in Fast Talking Playhouse.

Phil from Phil's Nails (later the Garment King) is a send-up of Phil Givner, who did similar commercials for his carpet outlet back in the 70's in Toronto. Additional Viewing: William Castle was a director of B-movie thrillers that usually featured a gimmick of some sort. His 1961 film Mr Sardonicus featured The Punishment Poll, a gimmick whereby the movie audience could vote to determine how the movie would end. The Amazing World of Kreskin, the early 70s mentalist show hosted by the Amazing Kreskin.

Promo: Undercover Policewoman, SCTV News: Marijuana, Commercial: Daylea Yogurt, Masterpiece Theatre: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Mohicans Galore, Cretin's Island, Commercial: Mike's Mercenaries from Amco the Toy People, SCTV Movie of the Week: Fighting Air Dogs over the Pacific

Additional Viewing: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the 50s anthology series hosted by the man himself. Murder Is Bad For Your Health is (possibly) a parody of the 1948 film An Act Of Murder, starring Florence Eldridge and Fredric March (thanks Dusty Towne); Cecil and Cynthia appear again in Series 3's Gaslight.

Features Sid Dithers Private Eye and the superb Bad Acting In Hollywood. Additional Viewing: Bad Acting In Hollywood is a parody of That's Hollywood, a late 70s TV show hosted by Tom Bosley that looked at historic Hollywood films (mostly from 20th Century-Fox) (Thanks Jim Donato). Johnny Dark Always Rings Twice parodies 30's and 40' gangster films; start with Little Caesar from 1931. The Phil Donahue Show, which ran through the 70s and 80s, was the precursor of all modern daytime talk shows. C.P.O. Sharkey was a mid-seventies sitcom starring Don Rickles.

Mr. Science: Acid and Electricity, SCTV News: SCTV is Haunted, Fireside Chat: Firewood, 4th Degree, Monster Chiller Horror Theatre: Whispers of the Wolf, Words to Live By with Mulciber Arimaspians

Features the show-length, star-studded salute to SCTV's 30th anniversary, with some great parodies of 50's television. Additional Viewing: Branded, the 1965 TV show starring Chuck Connors; and What's My Line?, the long-running 50s panel show. While Kirk Douglas made two appearances as a mystery guest on What's My Line? (in 1953 and 1960), he was never a guest panelist (his second wife, Anne Buydens, did appear as a guest panelist on a 1966 show, however). Coincidentally, Andrea Martin, like Arlene Francis, is of partial Armenian descent, while Catherine O'Hara, like Dorothy Kilgallen, is from an Irish-Catholic family. The opening sequence of What's My Shoesize? has more in common with the 1968-75 syndicated version of What's My Line? (Thanks William Brown

Edith Prickley has succeeded Moe Green as SCTV Station Manager. (Naturally, she rubs Guy Caballero the wrong way.) Her first day on the job sees the world television premiere of Jaws 23, where Amity residents want to lure a mackerel into town for the Fourth of July. Edith Prickley: Station Manager, Shoot at the Stars, Jaws 23' Sore Loser

The first appearance of gameshow host Alex Trebel, hosting the high school quiz show High Q. Additional Viewing: The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, the long-running nature show from the 60s and 70s. Second City notes: Marriage Counsellor originated in the 1976 revue For a Good Time Call 363-1674, Thomas and O'Hara reprising their respective roles here.

Sammy Maudlin, Sunrise Semester, The $211,000 Triangle, Cooking with LaRue, Backstage, Masterpiece Theatre, Words to Live By

On SCTV News, Floyd Robertson (Joe Flaherty) and Earl Camembert (Eugene Levy) report earthquakes, deli crises, the arms race, and Earl asks terrorists to surrender; Dr Hammond Greer (Dave Thomas) delivers a speech against scientists; Johnny LaRue (John Candy) cleans out the food at Lin Ye Tang's (Dave Thomas) garden restaurant; Lou Jaffe (Eugene Levy) witnesses Irish group techniques (and a bombing); On the SCTV Movie of the Week, a depressing French film about a live-in couple, Jerry Lewis-impersonating Joe (Joe Flaherty) and his fawning lover, Therese (Andrea Martin). Sunrise Semester, Dining With LaRue, Perspective '77, Therese et Joe

Perini Scleroso and Gus Gustofferson's first appearance. Gus is featured in a wraparound concept dealing with the murder of puppeteer Lampeer.

Harold Ramis warns viewers that this show contains ethnic slurs, and all the jokes are about the gypsies. From ""Gypsy Mythology"" on Sunrise Semester to the Hints for Homemakers (a gypsy recommends holding up an Amish family and stealing their food), this show is indeed a gypsy rogue. Sunrise Semester, The Leutonian Hour, Out-Patient, Hints for Homemakers, Theatre North American, Words to Live By

Star Trek comes to the steppes of Russia in a very funny parody of Chekhov. Heavenly Bodies, Mr Science, Masterpiece Theatre, The Memoirs of Anton Chekhov

BEAUTY AND THE BEETS Beauty learns to like beets... the hard way. Beauty and the Beets, Firing Squad, Alice, the Wonder Dog, Dialing for Dollars, Changing Partners

The SCTV cast and crew falls victim to alien mind control.

The inaugural show introduces several major characters, including Johnny LaRue, Earl Camembert, Floyd Robertson and Moe Green. It features a somewhat tenuous wraparound concept involving LaRue - according to Dave Thomas' book, the running time for this episode ran well past 30 minutes, much of the linking material for the wraparound being cut to achieve the final running time. The show also introduces four programs that would feature frequently throughout the show's run: Sunrise Semester, a vehicle for an assortment of characters to educate viewers, would end up appearing in every series except the last; Words To Live By, the inspirational station signoff, would also appear frequently in the first three series; SCTV News; and Masterpiece Theatre, hosted by Alistair Cook.

Dining with LaRue, The Wacky World of Poverty, Eye on Science, Shock Theatre:Early to Bed

Good-Bye America, Sunrise Semester, Philosophy Street, Total Women, A Fistful of Ugly, Feedback with Moe Green

In an attempt to capture the hip comedy audience, SCTV goes "live". Also features the "K-Tel Fast Talking Playhouse" version of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Dolly (Andrea Martin) goes from victim to victor in this spoof of the overly earnest women’s lib films of the 70s.

Sunrise Semester, Witness to Yesterday, PSA:So You're Dead...Now What?, Match Unto My Feet, Words to Live By

Broads Behind Bars is a classic, with Candy's over the top prison guard Shultzy ("Lock 'em up, keep 'em down, and work 'em over") and Martin's lifer Kitty ("No Dice!"). Trivia: the crew put real liquor in Ramis' bottle for the Mort Finkel sketch. (ref: sctvguide.com) Sunrise Semester, Dining With LaRue, Broads Behind Bars

Farm Report, Welcome Back President Kotter, Alistair Cook's Armenia, The Taxidermist

A landmark show, featuring a show-length parody of the film, introduced by Moe Green on Dialing For Dollars. Additional Viewing: William Wyler's 1959 epic Ben-Hur.