The SCTV Statue Idea Needs to Take Off, Hoser
To give some perspective on Avenue Magazine’s push for an SCTV statue in Edmonton, here’s some fun facts about the show SCTV:
- It’s based on a Toronto comedy troupe
- It was created in Toronto
- None of the stars are from Edmonton
- None of the stars even have Edmonton mentioned anywhere in their Wikipedia pages
- Edmonton is mentioned on the SCTV Wikipedia page five times: twice to say the show moved to Edmonton in its third season (basically to save money), once to say a character was based on an Edmonton polka cable show host, and twice to say a character wasn’t based on someone from Edmonton.
What are these bullet points driving towards? SCTV is not an Edmonton thing. It was created in Toronto, and set in the fictional town of Melonville, which again according to Wikipedia is based on Chatham, ON. It just happened to be filmed here for a while.
Being born in the mid 80’s, the direct appeal of SCTV eludes me, but I’m obviously aware of its pop culture significance inside Canada and out. Bob and Doug McKenzie, “take off, eh”, etc. That’s all fine. But it’s not a distinctly Edmonton phenomenon. The Journal’s David Staples basically predicts the argument I’m making here, but still wants the statute built. To me, “a thing I liked was partially filmed here 30 years ago” isn’t adequate reason to build a public monument. Which brings up another point: Why now? Because someone made a list of locations that filming was done? Because Joe Flaherty came to town?
It doesn’t make sense to me, and totally smacks of desperation for attention. It’s the same sort of thing every small prairie town does to attract some notice: build a big monument to something tangentially related to their history or culture. But all I keep hearing is that Edmonton wants to be world-class. Okay, so which is it?
Fine, you desperately need a monument to Edmonton’s pop culture. How about something or someone that’s actually from Edmonton. I was going to suggest one of the many famous people from Edmonton, like Tommy Chong, Nathan Fillion, Michael J Fox, Robert Goulet, or Leslie Nielsen. Wouldn’t a life size statue of Frank Drebin riding a bullet be amazing? Unfortunately, most of these people left Edmonton in order to pursue their careers.
I’ll tell you who we should build a statue of: John Acorn. He’s born in Edmonton, has done great work locally, and is well known and still doing things in Edmonton today. Dare I say, he’s a hero to thousands of children that grew up watching his show, learning all about our local wildlife while singing that catchy tune (listen to it on his website). So let’s get on it city council. Let’s build a giant statue of that nature nut.
Yes, I realize my John Acorn idea basically substitutes the middle aged desire for a statue devoted to something made thirty years ago with my mid-twenties desire for a statue devoted to something made fifteen years ago.
You have to admit a nature nut statue would be pretty great though.
I have always been a big fan of changing the name of the University of Alberta Students’ Union Building to the Paul Gross Students’ Centre.
The McGill University students association renamed their building the William Shatner Centre.
> To me, “a thing I liked was partially filmed here 30 years ago” isn’t adequate reason to build a public monument.
Wayne Gretzky started in WHA playing for the Indianapolis Racers. His career finished several trades later playing for the New York Rangers.
Critics would argue his greatest contribution to the sport spawned from his years spent in Edmonton. Ditto SCTV.
[...] As I mention earlier, not everyone is going to like this idea, and Mike Otto of the Charette makes his counterproposal in this post. [...]
Absolutely agree with Graham Simpson.
Agreed.
As someone who was born in the mid to late ’80s as well, I can honestly say that I have only really heard of Bob and Doug McKenzie in passing, as pop culture icons, and have never watched any episodes all the way through.
In contrast I would love to see a Leslie Nielsen statue. All three Naked Gun movies were priceless.
Hah! I proposed statues of locally born and/or raised actors in their most famous roles a couple of years ago on Connect2Edmonton. Leslie Nielsen as Frank Dreben. Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly. Nathon Fillion as Captain Malcolm Reynolds.
daveberta, some context for you:
I was a McGill undergrad, and a part of the team that got the Student’s Union building renamed.
My floor fellow at Douglas Hall, a residence on-campus, organized the petition to get the building’s generic name changed. He was a philosophy major. We ran around to get the signatures in the residences from the 1st year students.
The point of the referendum was to illustrate the apathetic nature of the student body in terms of voting for their student executive. less than 10% of the students voted in any council election. So, to illustrate how the students had real power they were not exercising, the petition was organized as a harmless prank. Irony in the time of grunge (this was 1991).
The fact was nobody cared to lionize Captain Kirk. It was done as a dada-esque prank. The Cold War had ended, and an important university wanted to remember a ham actor, not a statesman or leader? it was theatre meant to embarass, and the University was not amused at the time. To get people to sign this petition was ridiculously easy, non-judgemental during the time when political correctness and the language police was very new, at its rawest and most strident (talking personholes over manholes, not to mention the two solitudes and Quebec referendum)
Just some facts. The Shat was a joke, and now an institution. Thanks Don the floor fellow, you rock!
Honouring SCTV is great, but let’s do better than a statue. A comedy festival or a performance hall, an annual parade. Let’s let the juices flow. A statue is but the tip of the iceberg, let’s go deep.
Well said, Graham.
> Karen Pentland said: Well said, Graham.
Thanks … and thanks to David Staples for backing me up on this one
http://bit.ly/yfsAhf
I suspect the rub may be be generational. Sometimes true impact can only be assessed in context and in its time. In the Staples piece, the SCTV cast are in unison praising the Edmonton years, with Levy noting the depth of local talent.
I think we (and Allard’s legacy) would be well-served to acknowledge that good things do come out of this town. And, yes, we should also honour the likes of Goulet, Nielsen and Oscar-nominated film director Arthur Hiller.
Let’s not – again – look for reasons to shoot ourselves in the foot. Whatever we do, let’s make sure it’s a beauty, eh?
[...] Just in case you came to this blog by other means (Hi, Mom!), I highly recommend checking out their current post about the proposed SCTV monument that has been gaining lots of attention this week. A nice counterpoint to all of the [...]
I grew up in Toronto and my Grade 12 English teacher was incredible. She did awesome things like – when we were studying Richler’s Duddy Kravitz – take us to Kensington Market to eat latkes, breathe in the culture and attend an art house owned by her friend where they screened the film. She also took us to the Old Fire Hall on Lombard Street to see Second City. (The latter was doubly awesome because she bought us all quarts of Labatt’s Blue even though the vast majority of us were not of the age of majority. It was only a disappointment in retrospect because I didn’t know at the time had I been born just a few years earlier our field trip might have included a viewing of one of the Akroyd brothers, Martin Short, Dave Thomas, or Andrea Martin or many others that went on to fame, fortune and funnydom.)
That’s a long way of saying that I agree that the subsequent television show (filmed for a short while in Edmonton) is not enough to warrant a public monument, although it might qualify for a high-five if you were able to provide the answer in a trivia game being played, er, anywhere else but here.
In Canada, Second City is rightfully associated with the home of the live show in Toronto. And, of course, Chicago lays claim to the whole shebang, anyway.
I would contribute much effort to do something to honour John Acorn in a very public way. (A statue outside the JJ Nature Centre, perhaps?) THAT is long overdue!
It’s true that SCTV started in Toronto, but without Edmonton, it would never have continued. It would have been cancelled back in the late 70s, when it was cancelled in Toronto.
People like Charles Allard ensured it continued, and some of the best work the actors ever did came out of that time period. The success of the show was largely because of Edmonton, and it’s because of the separation from the entertainment industry that the show thrived. The actors were basically able to have complete creative control.
The actors Caroline Barlott’s article for Avenue say that Edmonton was integral to the success of the show: http://avenueedmonton.com/articles/made-in-melonville
Also, I’m in my late twenties, and I still know all about it. I grew up hearing about Bob and Doug, watching John Candy and watching reruns of SCTV. So, I don’t necessarily think it’s just a certain generation that can relate to the impact of SCTV.
Most importantly though, I think the monument would be a great way to finally show some appreciation for something other than sports teams. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important we celebrate people like Wayne Gretzky who had his best years in Edmonton, but it’s equally important to recognize people like Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty and Catherine O’Hara who did awesome work here too.
And just because none of the stars mentioned Edmonton in their wikipedia entries means next to nothing. Wikipedia is not an accurate source.
Opps..I meant to write “The actors in C. Barlott’s article…”
Couple things I forgot to mention:
I also love The Nature Nut. I’m not sure if his impact can be compared to SCTV’s though.
And I don’t think Edmonton should worry about being ‘world class’; I think it’s more just about embracing our history and being proud of it rather than just ignoring it.
I am still not sure what SCTV is, but I’m a black hole of pop culture knowledge, so …
On the other hand, I would be all over a statue of Nathan Fillion.
Have to say, I love Nathan Fillion as well. Love him in Castle; he was great in Serenity. But there’s no comparing him to SCTV. SCTV was extremely popular in its time, rivaling Saturday Night Live at its peak in the 80s. Sure, this happened years ago, but you could argue that the show actually influenced other Canadian programming like Kids in the Hall. And it was filmed in Edmonton, which is pretty huge. Will Nathan Fillion have an impact like that in 30 years? Who knows…it’d be cool if he did.
What may be the last word on the subject:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/01/11/sctv-in-edmonton-notes-toward-an-faq/
[...] late-night cult success on American network television. A few young Edmontonians, some of them deeply ignorant and parochial, are sneering at the idea of a monument: the show didn’t start here, the people weren’t [...]
You were born in the mid-80s? I don’t trust anyone under 30.
Slightly off-topic, but a monument to SCTV would be far less expensive than the coming monument to Darryl Katz, and they did tonnes more for Edmonton.
I suspect the derision for an SCTV monument in Edmonton is indeed generation based. For those who don’t remember (or who weren’t alive then) SCTV was almost as big as another acronymed show, SNL, during their time being produced in Edmonton. Every single member of that cast went on to be world famous and none of it would have happened without the show being based here.
It was the hottest era ever for Edmonton, the Oilers just entering their dynasty, the Eskimos with Warren Moon, West Edmonton Mall opening and SCTV. SCTV was one of the pillars of a magic time to be an Edmontonian.
For the poor souls born in the 1980s and who missed SCTV and think a monument isn’t appropriate, oh boo hoo hoo. Quit whining already and take the time to learn about an important segment of the pop culture history of your city.
I completely agree with Graham Simpson and others in support of a monument, statue, whatever – it’s time to recognize the creators of perhaps the funniest sketch comedy series ever on television. And it’s not all about The Great White North. The series was brilliant and littered with hilarious recurring characters.
Time to dial up Sammy Maudlin.
[...] Who knew that an idea so well-intentioned and benign would create such controversy? Battle lines have been drawn, mostly between generations - doddering oldsters who live in the past because that’s where they find their better days vs. young whippersnappers who don’t know the first goddamn thing about our heritage. [...]
I prefer the idea of a comedy festival in SCTV’s honor. I actually did watch the show growing up, and in syndication thereafter. A clever witty show but not sure it’s something monumental to be looked up to with a statue. Besides it was a comPletely ensemble cast, all of it’s bits making up the whole.
Now a Frank Drebbin (SP) statue On a bullet? That would be cool.
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