Cisco Kid
George Hiebert
some funny shit, especially Marty as Poncho. So what's the story with this
ep, how many times did it air and why was it never seen again? I do remember
seeing it once way back during that season, but that was the only time.
Anyways I'm guessing there was some copyright problem or something, as
usual.
Bill Tuthill
Looks like this is from season 3, thus owned by CTV/CBC and not NBC,
so you wouldn't expect it to appear on DVD in the near future.
http://sctvguide.ca/episodes/sctv_s3.htm#Show_25
Martin Short wasn't a regular cast member in season 3, but he was
a co-writer of these episodes, it says.
Mark The Shark
Her's what I know about this (truthfully, not a whole lot).
The "Cisco Kid" episode is show #77 (of 78; the next-to last episode of the
last season of the half-hour "SCTV" series...and actually, the last "original"
episode, if you don't count the final half-hour, which was a "Best Of" show--as
opposed to a "Best In Show?"). :)
I caught it on a rerun during the late summer of 1981, probably in the final
weeks of "SCTV Television Network" (as it was then listed) airing at midnight
Saturdays in Chicago. So to my knowledge, it aired exactly twice in local
markets in the United States (at least in Chicago). It was never shown again,
and it was not included in the re-edited syndicated "SCTV Network" series
(either in the US or in Canada). (And it kind of surprised me when I learned it
hadn't been repeated in Canada either.)
Someone like Mr. Caballero could possibly give us a reasonable guess at the
reason(s) why...but just from my own observation, WGN in Chicago showed reruns
of "The Cisco Kid" on Sunday mornings for many years. I never watched it
regularly, but one morning in the 1980s, I was flipping channels and caught the
end of one episode. The credits rolled, and then I could have had a heart
attack...there it was:
Do do do do do do DOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
"Syndication through Rhodes Productions," with the big trail of white stars on
the black background.
This was the very same Rhodes logo which *originally aired* at the end of
*Season 2* SCTV shows in the United States during the second season
(1978-1979). Now, much later on, it reappeared replacing the "Blair
Entertainment" logo on the re-edited 1980s syndicated US shows. (The exact same
original logo which had been *originally* used back in 1978, though the sound
was now a little out of sync. Originally, the appearing of the stars had been
timed with the music.) For the record, I never saw the logo appear on any
Season 1 or Season 3 shows in Chicago, which doesn't mean it wasn't there, it
could have just been cut off every single episode every time, but I doubt that.
(I have read that *Filmways* distributed the series in the US originally; that
probably was for the first season in 1977-1978; back in 1978-1979, and I can
state this with authority, since I personally saw this with my own two eyes
every Saturday night when these shows actually aired in the United States for
the first time, the "Rhodes Productions" logo *was present* on every Season 2
episode aired during the 1978-1979 season in Chicago, and the one time WMAQ ran
a Season 2 episode after that--the very last SCTV half-hour to air on WMAQ in
September of 1981, which was show #52, for the record--the Rhodes logo was
present. But as I mentioned, I never saw it, not one time, ever, on any Season
3 show, though Jack Rhodes's name was listed in the closing credits originally)
Hope you'll excuse the obsessive digression, but my point is that there
obviously was a connection since the company which distributed "The Cisco Kid"
also distributed "SCTV" (at least in the US, at least at one time).
Around the same time, or actually a couple of years earlier, there was another
show called "Please Stand By," which was a sitcom about a television station
which also aired in Chicago on WMAQ (on Saturday afternoons). That show was
syndicated by Viacom, and I remember seeing a "Beverly Hillbillies" clip on
that show once. (In case anyone's interested...the show seemed to be aimed at
kids and was nowhere near as clever as SCTV, not comparable in any way, but I
imagine you could have guessed that anyway.)
Now, possibly, someone can chime in who may know something about the "Cisco
Kid" series, for instance, who owns it curently, or who owned it in 1984. I
have no idea if that has anything to do with this or not...but now that I'm
thinking about it, I am pretty sure I saw the "Cisco Kid" episode in Chicago
with the Rhodes logo at a time when WGN either was currently or had aired "SCTV
Network" reruns with the Blair Entertainment tag at the end. (Towards the tail
end of WGN's run of the series, a few of the shows they aired carried the
Rhodes name, and I think they were Season 1 episodes. Something tells me there
is a conection between "Blair" and "Rhodes," that they are either the same
company or they are branches of the same company, or one is a division of the
other. I believe I saw some kind of listing in Broadcasting Magazine, now
called Broadcasting & Cable, which led me to this belief. It seems like in the
1970s, they were calling themselves Rhodes, later they changed the name to
Blair, and then back to Rhodes, but I can't state that as fact. Also, Jack
Rhodes apparently worked for Filmways at one time.) As far as some skits being
re-edited or re-shuffled on Nickelodeon and Comedy Central as compared to WGN,
I really seriously doubt (despite what some people have evangelized) that the
edits had anything to do with the diference between Blair and Rhodes. I think
it was a matter of the Rhodes versions appearing later after the cuts had been
made, or possibly even a network, station, or company making edits either for
time or content reasons. (Nickelodeon and Comedy Central are both owned by MTV;
I remember seeing the same episode--the "Ben-Hur" episode in particular--edited
two diferent ways on Nickelodeon, depending on whether the schedule format
provided for one or two commercial breaks during the episode. Nothing was
missing as I recall, but the "Masquerade Funeral" skit and possibly one of Moe
Green's intros were moved to a diferent spot in the show.) I also note other
skits from other re-edited syndicated half-hours, such as "Stairways To
Heaven," etc. have been cut from some syndicated shows in the years since, and
just replaced with other skits from a different syndicated half-hour, like "Dr.
Tongue's 3-D House Of Stewardesses" being switched for "Dr. Braino." I think
that would have happened no matter who the syndicator was at the time. But I
don't work for them and I have no "insider" info.
I find it interesting...I'd be very interested to know if anyone can chime in
with *actual facts* (as opposed to assumptions).
Anyway, my guess is that the "Cisco Kid" show will be included *if* and *when*
they release a Season 3 set, if any existing legal clearances can be cleared.
(I also am pretty sure that whether it's a Network 90 or a half-hour doesn't
matter as far as ownership or licensing; NBC does not "own" the shows, they
just aired them in 1981-1983, and they do have a current license to broadcast
the syndicated half-hours, some of which originally aired on their own network,
some in syndication, and some on Cinemax. Other than that, NBC has nothing to
do with any of this.)
"I used to be into bestiality, S&M and necrophilia, but then I realized I was
just beating a dead horse."
Justin Pate
"Mark The Shark" <marka...@aol.comedy> wrote in message
news:20040818133814...@mb-m13.aol.com...
> Someone like Mr. Caballero could possibly give us a reasonable guess at
the
> reason(s) why...
Where is he? He hasn't been here for a while, but I guess that's the
difference between actors and us common folk. They have lives. ;)
George Hiebert
"Mark The Shark" <marka...@aol.comedy> wrote
> Her's what I know about this (truthfully, not a whole lot).
>snip<
Wow Mark, that was a whole lot more than I bargained for, thanks for the
effort. I guess the definative answer will have to come from Mr Flaherty.
Here's hoping it gets released one day, as well as all the sctv rarities
that have been lost.
Trudi Marrapodi
marka...@aol.comedy (Mark The Shark) wrote:
[snipping to the chase]
> Hope you'll excuse the obsessive digression, but my point is that there
> obviously was a connection since the company which distributed "The Cisco Kid"
> also distributed "SCTV" (at least in the US, at least at one time).
>
> Around the same time, or actually a couple of years earlier, there was another
> show called "Please Stand By," which was a sitcom about a television station
> which also aired in Chicago on WMAQ (on Saturday afternoons). That show was
> syndicated by Viacom, and I remember seeing a "Beverly Hillbillies" clip on
> that show once. (In case anyone's interested...the show seemed to be aimed at
> kids and was nowhere near as clever as SCTV, not comparable in any way, but I
> imagine you could have guessed that anyway.)
[snipping again]
Wow. Someone else actually remembers "Please Stand By." Yeah, a sitcom
about a small, underfunded TV station that was basically being run by a
family out of the back of their house. Elinor Donahue played the mother.
If nothing else, that show will be memorable to me because I thought the
boy who played the teenage son was cute, so I never missed an episode of
its brief life, and also because it's the only TV show I can think of (and
definitely the only sitcom) situated in the state of New Mexico.
--
Trudi
"Cleveland still rocks."--Me