Shows that feature humorous skits and/or comedy routines, either scripted or improvisational that are not necessarily tied to a plot line. Usually each episode of such shows will feature several such routines.
1992-93 sketch series spoofing pop culture that ran for 12 episodes on the Fox network; the show had already been canceled when its writers won an Emmy in 1993. The cast and crew feature several now-familiar names, including regulars Stiller, Andy Dick, Janeane Garofalo and Bob Odenkirk (who met "Mr. Show" co-creator David Cross, a writer, while working on the series). Reruns aired on Comedy Central helped "The Ben Stiller Show" achieve a cult following, and the entire series was released on DVD in late 2003.
Second City TV, or SCTV, was the launching pad for many film careers, including those of John Candy, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara, and Harold Ramis. It ran on Global Television in Canada, and in syndication, on NBC, and the Cinemax cable movie channel in the US.
Children's series that began airing on Ottawa, Canada, television station CJOH in 1979 and, aside from a 1987-88 hiatus, was produced until 1990; it was briefly replaced by a prime-time version, "Whatever Turns You On," that aired nationally on CTV for 12 episodes. A then-fledgling U.S. cable channel named Nickelodeon picked up "You Can't Do That on Television" in 1981, and it quickly became the network's flagship show.
The series featured a revolving cast of young Ottawa-area actors (including Alanis Morissette) in sketches interspersed with sequences depicting the fictional production of the show on a linkset.
The show is probably most famous for unleashing green slime on the world - cast members who dared to utter the phrase "I don't know" were drenched in the substance. Though Nickelodeon very seldom airs episodes of "You Can't Do That on Television," green slime remains one of the network's trademarks.