Friday, July 17, 2009

The New Show - "The Frightened Family"


Here's a clip I never thought I'd see again - it's the "Frightened Family" sketch from The New Show.

What was The New Show? Well it was a 1984 prime-time comedy/variety series produced by Lorne Michaels (his first television series since having left SNL four years earlier), and featuring original actors and writers from SCTV and Saturday Night Live.

Sound great? It wasn't. For some reason, The New Show was a flop. If I'm not mistaken, during the opening sketch of the second episode, guest-star John Candy apologized for the quality of the first.

The show was quickly canceled, and just as quickly forgotten. Lorne Michaels went back to SNL within a year or so, and never looked back.

Still, I fondly remember a few of the more inspired sketches. "The Frightened Family" is one of them. That's John Candy, Laraine Newman, Dave Thomas, Valri Bromfield, and Bucky Henry in the sketch. Thomas and Henry were the permanent hosts of the show.