Customer Reviews

Best of John Candy [VHS]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Except for classic Saturday Night Live (1975-80), SCTV is one of the most funniest, creative and most inventive television comedy shows ever to be broadcast. From Dr. Tounge to Jonny LaRue, Candy exhibits his great talent in one scene after the other. Why is there not more SCTV on video? Why are we forced to watch garbage and untalented people like Tom Green when we could spend the rest of our lives watching Candy doing something really funny (and things that don't hurt people!) Put more SCTV on video! PLEASE! If I could put 10 stars for this one, I would. Rent it, laugh at it and tell everyone: John Candy lives!

I, like the other reviewers, am a huge fan of SCTV. This video consists of clips of John Candy from SCTV, but you just can't chop this kind of satire up and still make it work -- it's like the "Beatles' Greatest Hits"; like making Fred and Ginger dance in a refrigerator box; like "Julia Child Cooks Celery" or "Hamlet, the Readers' Digest Version."

They need to either reproduce the SCTV programs whole, or not at all.

While this video has some hilarious snippets of John Candy's most inspired work, it is not nearly enough to satisfy the legions of SCTV fans who remember entire episodes. I was disappointed that the video did not contain more of the classic sketches in their entirety. If it is true that there will soon be a major video release of SCTV material (oh, please, let it be so!), then save your money for that - - this teaser will only leave you frustrated.

Its great to have this video only because nothing else, not a scintilla, of the great SCTV shows of the early 1980s is available. And, while this tape is great, SCTV at its best was a long-form show and this tape of necessity cuts up the longer skits to present a "best of." By all means, buy the tape, but the larger message is that ALL OF THE 90 MINUTE EPISODES OF SCTV should be made available for sale -- they rank among the best TV comedy ever, much better than SNL could ever hope to be, and I'm sure if marketed properly (the collective star power of the cast alumni is considerable) would be a commercially viable venture.

SCTV fans will have to be happy with this for now or maybe forever since I hear the enormous cost of clearing music rights on the original shows has made it impossible for the producers to release them to home video. Our huge loss. Maybe if a major network with lots of money gets involved, then.......oh, but wait, I forgot.....with a modern TV audience that junkies on "Survivor" and pees themselves laughing at "That 60's Show", it seems unlikely that will ever happen. You could move to Canada and try to catch some of the episodes aired on their comedy network from time to time. Meantime, just close your eyes and pretend you're in Tex and Edna Boil's Organ Emporium and you've just received a free Budgie with your purchase... (Dedicated to my old SCTV friend, Eileen Kirby. I hope she's laughing)

This is the only SCTV tape I found available at any of my local video stores and only in one store at that. This is mind blowing to me. SCTV was as funny and entertaining as tv ever gets, not that this is high enough praise... please, I beg you, release the shows in their original format and release them all... it will make the world a better place to live in, if not for me, do it for the children.

There is sooo much MORE that should be released! I found it extremely hard to belive that this is the only video available! My GOD, THERE SHOULD BE VOLUMES AVAILABLE!

SCTV fans will have to be happy with this for now or maybe forever since I hear the enormous cost of clearing music rights on the original shows has made it impossible for the producers to release them to home video. Our huge loss. Maybe if a major network with lots of money gets involved, then.......oh, but wait, I forgot.....with a modern TV audience that junkies on "Survivor" and pees themselves laughing at "That 60's Show", it seems unlikely that will ever happen. You could move to Canada and try to catch some of the episodes aired on their comedy network from time to time. Meantime, just close your eyes and pretend you're in Tex and Edna Boil's Organ Emporium and you've just received a free Budgie with your purchase... (Dedicated to my old SCTV friend, Eileen Kirby. I hope she's laughing)

I just heard from a very reliable source that there will indeed be a video release of SCTV scetches shortly. Finally we get to see more of the great Candy, as seen here, but the brilliant Andrea Martin and Catherine O'Hara. These actors all deserved to be greater sucesses. The closest one was O'Hara in the hilarious classic Waiting For Guffman/

I started watching sctv in 1981(when I was in grade 3)Sure I didn't understand some of the jokes,but I was extremelyfascinated with the whole concept of it!!!I loved all the skits,I remember writing in my school journal the next day of what I liked on sctv and my teacher marked it and always changed the spelling of the show to ctv(canadian television,john candy was always amazing,and I found the show at times to be very mysterious,with the dr.tounge skits,having him srtip the stewardeses on one episode all the great costumes and stage set-ups,a great show and a great comic was john candy!!!Sctv will always be my favorite show!!!