Shark Bytes

guys guess what, that steve martin billie jean parody is on you tube!
i wish the mountain mike one was too - that one really stuck with me!

I remember well and LOVED the "Naughty Lady" bit. Thought it might've been on "Fridays" or "SCTV." Weren't those two clods played by the Quaid Brothers? I WOULD LOVE TO SEE IT AGAIN. I've told many people about it.

I remember a segment with Flintstones "bloopers." Clips of Fred and Barney with new voice-overs. Spoofing the typical outtakes you saw on Dick Clark Blooper specials back in the day (now commonplace on DVD), flubbing lines, etc. As if they were real! My favorite memory of this show, however, is Steve Martin spoofing Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" *****--and he couldn't get the sidewalk to light up! Hysterical! I would love a copy of this show.

This show reached its peak with Teri Garr and the "Bacon-Go-Rounds" sketch. I thought it was hilarious!! I was 11 at the time. I thought it was funny that the lady from "Mr. Mom" was giving free samples. The rest of the episodes paled by comparison.

According to the book Saturday Night by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad, Lorne Michaels had a horrible time doing this show. Taping ran very overtime to literally 2 o'clock in the morning, the pages couldn't give the seats away after two or so weeks, and even NBC was kind of hoping that it would fail. Part of the problem was that Lorne was so used to the late-night kind of comedy. He couldn't instantly translate that into prime-time TV. He even resorted to using the network's notes about the show, something he never, EVER did on SNL. Pages 484 to 486. However, do keep in mind that this book said that Jane Curtin complained bitterly about Chevy Chase doing Weekend Update instead of her when he came back to host. A more recent book about SNL's history said that she didn't care one bit when Lorne broke the news to her. All she wanted to do was go to the ballet that night.

To the above poster; the New Show was one of the most thought out and and funny things on television. The combination of SNL's dead pan humor, and SCTV's over the top improve were priceless. "Den of Revolution" was my favorite, were John Candy comes in the an Eel he fished out of the river "look everybody when I cut it open there was a bunch of baby Eel's inside, awww, hey those aren't eels those are leaches, EWWWWW.

Jumped from day one. Sorry to say – because I loved basically everybody on the show and really needed a break from the current iteration of SNL. However, the show was basically a mis-begotten cross between SNL and “Second City” that soon degenerated into a series of skits – none of which were funny beyond their premise (like John Candy as the guy who repairs food, or in another skit as “Mountain Mike”; Buck Henry and Dave Thomas going back in time to meet Abe Lincoln, played by musical guest Paul Simon; Olivia Newton-John, as if in her “Let’s get physical” phase, accidentally being booked on a talk-show for **** stars – it would have been funny had they actually gotten the real ON-J). The writing was lame, but I tuned in faithfully because so much talent was really making a game try at it, and some of the music was pretty good (this was the first time I’d seen the work of Laurie Anderson). If there’s a category for “t’was better to try and jump than never try at all”, “The New Show” would get the top votes.

Lorne Michaels, do the decent thing and get these episodes out into the world on DVD.

I remember the episode where Terri Garr was the guest host...first, she played a bride who made the mistake of having a "Where's the Beef" themed wedding. Later in the same episode she played a hapless sample lady at a grocery store passing out something called Baco-Rounds (or something to that effect...)...this ugly, nasty woman comes up to try one, and claims that they taste like soap...makes a big scene. Terri just casually looks at her and exclaims "Lady, get a boyfriend-OK?" Even though I was only about 11 at the time this show was on; I never forgot that line...years later, whenever I am waiting on some miserable, single woman who takes out her anger at the world on service people I think "Lady, get a boyfriend, OK?!?!?"

not on long enough to jump. the opening of the first episode had Steve Martin mimicking Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" ***** to hilarious effect. i remember they had cool musical guests like the Pretenders.

Better than Saturday Night Live and SCTV! This was Soooooo cool! Too bad it was on NBC the same night CBS was airing Dallas!

This was one of the freshest comedy shows ever. To the above poster the sketch was "Roys Food Repair"; John Candy was Roy. He could freeze the dropped toast with liquid nitrogen, sand blast the dirty side and return it good as new, but suggested trading the pretzels with the salt knocked off to someone with an intact bag who wanted unsalted pretzels. My favorite bits: "Mountain Mike", a wilderness cabin-dweller who came to town once a year to stock up on foodstuffs for the winter and ended up with only a single pack of gum which he tried unsuccessfully to return after chewing one stick. The shopkeeper declared "the man's a saint" "Floont Artney: Private Eye" everyone had difficult-to-pronounce name. Buck Henry ("don't call me Zud"), Dave Thomas (Floont Artney) were the main characters.

Who can forget the Naughty Lady? "Talk to the Naughty Lady", the ad read. Two hillbilly guys try to call a phone sex line. They need a credit card, so they spend a year making payments on a washing machine they didn't need to get credit. They finally get to talk to the 'naughty lady'. She said something about a board with a nail in it!!! Man, I had these on tape back in high school. Have been looking for them ever since! DOES ANYONE HAVE COPIES?!?!

This was a terrific show that sadly few people watched. It never jumped the shark, but then, it never really had the opportunity to given the fact that so few episodes were made. It is an overlooked classic in the way that Police Squad was when it first came out. My absolute favorite skit was the one in which John Candy played a food repairman. Great stuff. It is my hope that Comedy Central or some other network will put this show back on the air as they did the venerable SCTV.

Never had a chance to jump! I really loved the "Frightened Family" sketch, and Steve Martin's lampoon of a Michael Jackson *****-- classic! The best, for me, was the parody of "The Hustler" with John Candy and Kevin Kline, where both so-called pool sharks acted like they had never been around a pool table. Someone bring these episodes back!