SCTV: The Edmonton years

"That season in Edmonton saved us."

– Joe Flaherty

SCTV had only been on the air for two seasons, but was already in trouble. After three years of shooting in Toronto, the Global Television Network passed on picking up the show for the 1979-1980 season. It would be more than a year and a half until SCTV was back on the air.

In 1980 the show was picked up by an unlikely backer – Allarcom-ITV Edmonton owner Charles Allard, who struck a deal to produce SCTV in Edmonton’s ITV Studios.

The cast and crew were reassembled and for two years produced some of the strongest sketch comedy to ever come out of Canada.

The work was hard and the days (and nights) were long, but SCTVs ‘Edmonton years’ were instrumental in landing a future deal with NBC and establishing the show as a legendary and influential sketch comedy series.

Below is an interactive map featuring some of the show’s Edmonton shooting locations with links to videos (where available) and sketch information. (Much of the information used to compile this map was originally gathered by a long-time Edmonton SCTV fan, whose own website with additional background on the show’s Edmonton years can be here: Edmonton SCTV Shooting Locations.)

And, for SCTV diehards, a (very difficult) SCTV quiz with some Edmonton-specific questions can also be found below.

SCTV Edmonton shooting locations (interactive map)

SCTV Quiz