The second and final season of NBC's 90-minute comedy-variety series
SCTV Network finds the show's familiar acting troupe short of three members:
Dave Thomas,
Rick Moranis, and
Catherine O'Hara. Fortunately,
John Candy,
Eugene Levy,
Joe Flaherty, and
Andrea Martin are still on hand, as is relative newcomer
Martin Short, who this season introduces a fresh new batch of brilliant comic characterizations, among them the ultra-geeky Ed Grimley and vainglorious Australian pop star Jackie Rogers Jr. And beginning with the sixth episode, Mary Charlotte Wilcox, heretofore seen in minor roles, is elevated to full regular status. Wilcox would remain with the troupe for their next TV venture,
SCTV Channel -- which also featured Jim Hemphill, who appears sporadically throughout
SCTV Network's second season. The second season's 12 episodes contain some of
SCTV Network's all-time best material. Highlights include "Sammy Maudlin's 23rd Anniversary," which also incorporates dead-on spoofs of the hidebound, outdated programming typical of Canadian network television; "Bowery Boys in the Band," spotlighting guest star
Robin Williams as an incongruously light-in-the-loafers Slip Mahoney; a takeoff of the Streisand-Kristofferson version of
A Star Is Born, featuring musical guest Crystal Gayle; the benighted efforts by perennial talk show second banana William B. (Candy) to launch his own starring series; and best of all, the Emmy-winning episode "Sweeps Week," at once a devastating lampoon of pointless all-star TV variety specials and an affectionate bouquet to the golden days of black-and-white TV. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide