MovieChat Forums > SCTV Network 90 (1981) Discussion > Pittsburgh references (UPDATED)

Pittsburgh references (UPDATED)


I've noticed that Pittsburgh-native Joe Flaherty slipped a LOT of Pittsburgh references into the show (strange, considering Canadians especially wouldn't get them)... just a few I caught:

* One of the 'globe' bumpers in Season 4 Cycle 1 mentioned SCTV's broadcast channels in Pittsburgh and nearby Blawnox, PA.
* The 'Battle of the PBS Stars' episode featured Martin Short as Fred Rogers, as well as an unknown extra as Mr. McFeely.
* Count Floyd was based on former Pittsburgh horror host Chilly Bill Cardille.
* In fact, one of Count Floyd's movies was "Mutant Monkeys from West Mifflin, PA". His description of the unseen films includes mentions of the Golden Triangle (an area of downtown Pittsburgh) and Sewickley, PA.
* A Camembert news report (can't remember the episode - it may have been in Volume 3?) mentions the Fort Pitt Tunnel.
* Vic Arpeggio, who was needless to say played by Joe Flaherty, was once fired from the Joe Negri Trio - a real local band, fronted by Joe Negri of "Mr. Rogers".
* Gene Shalit's variety show includes a performance of "It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood".
* Gil Fisher mentioned going to the Knights of Columbus to watch Steeler highlights.
* In the "Indecent Exposure" runner, John Candy's character in the boardroom segment is said to have killed a broad in Beaver Falls - which is, in reality, the name of a town about 30 minutes away from Pittsburgh.
* The same episode includes Guy Caballero giving Martin Short's character in the boardroom scene miniature bottles of vodka from Allegheny Airlines, a now-defunct Pittsburgh-based predecessor of USAir.
* That very same sketch features Guy repeatedly joking about Billy Barty, who was born in nearby Washington County.

Anyone catch more? Being a Pittsburgh native myself, these little touches make the show a lot more loveable to me... (I'm almost certain that I once heard a mention of Don Brockett, also from "Mr. Rogers", but I may be confusing SCTV with something else.)

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Oh, caught another one... Perry Como's "Still Alive" show is taking place at the Civic Arena. (Pittsburgh's soon to be leveled Mellon Arena went by this name for many years.)

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* One of the 'globe' bumpers in Season 4 Cycle 1 mentioned SCTV's broadcast channels in Pittsburgh and nearby Blawnox, PA.
That bumper also mentioned Channel 11 in Hamilton-which is CHCH TV in Marty and Gene's hometown(which I am also a native of).

I'd throw a Brian Linehan reference in there since he too was also from Hamilton Ontario, and where Marty got his Brock Linehan character from. But Brian Linehan was a national star in Canada(R.I.P.). Same goes with Mister Rodgers' Neighborhood, who doesn't know that show?



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I did just also realize that Perry Como is from Canonsburg, a suburb of Pittsburgh. So there's another one.

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There was an episode of Monster Chiller Horror Theater where Count Floyd references "The Pittsburgh Midget", which was a reference to the Pittsburgh version of Chiller Theater where one of the cast members was a little person. And in this skit it was Joe Flaharty's brother Paul (who was in fact a little person, and also wrote for SCTV) who played The Pittsburgh Midget.

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strange, considering Canadians especially wouldn't get them


Why wouldn't we get them? EVERYBODY knows who Mr. Rogers was! And the Steelers. And you don't have to be a Pennsylvanian to laugh at a title such as "Blood-Sucking Monkeys of West Miflin"!

I'm told that when HBO picked up "The Kids In The Hall", certain sketches were re-done with American place names replacing the original Canadian ones, a move which struck me as idiotic and insulting to Americans. Did producer assume that American viewers would be too dumb to laugh at faux-bluesman Mississippi Gary admitting that he was actually from Ottawa, requiring them to change his birthplace to "Vermont" just to ensure that they see the humour?

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pittsburgh sucks

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In the original version of SCTV (syndicated, prior to NBC), there were a lot of references to a town called 'Mellonville.'

This is a reference to the Mellon family, who owns Pittsburgh-based Mellon Bank, and who own about 60% of Pittsburgh and about 50% of Western Pennsylvania.

The Mellon family were and are super-rich robber-baron plutocrats of the traditional sort, who use money to bribe and intimidate and run a city, the way super-rich families like to do.

Many Pittsburghers would occasionally refer to their city as Mellonville, because of the power of the Mellon family.

Incidentally, someone earlier referred to Mutant Monkeys From West Mifflin...actually it was 'Blood-Sucking Monkeys From West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.'

Besides the fact that West Mifflin is a bedroom community for Pittsburgh (and home of Kennywood Park), BSMFWMPA is a kind of conceptual spoof of 'Night of the Living Dead.' NOTLD was of course, a famous seminal zombie horror movie classic, featuring reanimated corpses who ate human flesh. The movie was filmed and set in Western Pa, in communities surrounding Pittsburgh. NOTLD features an appearance by Pittsburgh TV announcer and late night horror host Chilly Billy (Bill Cardille). Chilly Billy hosted Chiller Theater, which was one of the inspirations for SCTV's Monster Horror Chiller Theater.

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