SCTV Lands on Netflix as New Documentary Arrives

SCTV began streaming on Netflix this month, arriving alongside a documentary about the Canadian sketch program that aired in the 1970s and 1980s. The documentary, titled SCTV: The Greatest Show You've Never Heard Of, became available Friday. It features commentary from Conan O'Brien, Bill Hader, Bob Odenkirk, Kathryn Hahn and others discussing how they discovered the series.

SCTV, short for Second City Television, built its sketches around the premise that the cast operated a small TV station broadcasting from the fictional Canadian town of Melonville. Each episode presented a simulated day of programming on the station. The lineup included talk shows, game shows, variety shows, music programs, movies of the week, children's programming, specials and local commercials. The advertisements parodied the inexpensive local spots common in 1980s television, including fake ads for Tex and Edna Boil's Prairie Warehouse and Curio Emporium, Harry's Sex Shop, Phil's Nails and Al Peck's Used Fruit.

The series also drew on impersonations of public figures. Eugene Levy portrayed Alex Trebek in sketches called High Q and Half Wits, drawing on Trebek's earlier work on High Rollers and Pitfall before Jeopardy!. In those sketches, Levy's Trebek becomes irritated with contestants played by Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short. Andrea Martin performed a parody of a Playtex tampon commercial in which she imitated actress Brenda Vaccaro's audible breaths between lines. O'Hara also appeared as Lucille Ball in a sketch titled Have Yourself a Scary Little Christmas, reproducing Ball's singing in Mame and her talk show appearances on programs hosted by Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin and Dinah Shore.

The show's sketches depicted specific categories of television content, including the low-budget local advertisements that aired throughout the 1980s. Another sketch, referenced in connection with Martin Short's portrayal of Fred Rogers and John Candy's portrayal of Julia Child, involved a King Friday puppet. The documentary recounts how performers such as O'Brien, Hader, Odenkirk and Hahn responded to the program when they encountered it.

SCTV aired during the 1970s and 1980s. The series is now available on Netflix, along with the documentary that began streaming Friday. The documentary runs commentary from performers who have discussed their own moments of recognition with the program.

The documentary's release date was Friday, October 30, 2026. The series and documentary are both available on the platform as of October 31, 2026.