SCTV

As the show starts, the scripts are not finished. The first on-screen appearance of Guy Caballero, in a wheelchair (which he uses for respect) with a phone. And, seemingly out of nowhere, Lola Heatherton appears, fully formed, in her first special. Additional Viewing: 70s TV series The Love Boat and The Incredible Hulk.

Bob Hope hosts his own celebrity golf tournament, this time in the deserts of the Middle East, even doing a walk on during Masterpiece Theatre to promote it. Bob is joined by a raft of Mid-East personalities, Lou Jaffe does the play by play, and SCTV Sports Central provides some background. Meanwhile, Monster Chiller Horror Theatre returns with the second Dr. Tongue feature, 'House of Wax.' The show marks the introduction of Thomas' celebrated Hope impression, which he would eventually perform on an actual Bob Hope special; Thomas continued to do the impression long after SCTV left the air, most recently on Primetime Glick. The Desert Classic also introduces another long-running character - Flaherty's Charleton Heston. Additional Viewing: The Bob Hope Desert Classic (now the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic) is an annual PGA golf tournament.

Earl Camembert faces a conflict of interest as Johnny LaRue's campaign manager as SCTV News covers the municipal elections and Johnny's run for council. Additional Viewing: The 1978 TV miniseries The Bastard, starring Tom Bosley; 70s sitcom Three's Company.

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)

Several sketches featuring some occult element provide a very loose wraparound concept for the episode, anchored by an avant-garde episode of Monster Chiller Horror Theatre. Additional Viewing: Whispers of the Wolf is a parody of films by Ingmar Bergman, including The Silence (1963), Persona (1966), and Cries and Whispers (1972). For another Bergman parody, see Scenes from an Idiot's Marriage, starring Jerry Lewis.

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.

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