The premise of the show was the broadcast day of a fictitious TV station (later network) in the town of Melonville. The location of Melonville was left unspecified, though most episodes implied that it was somewhere in the US.
A typical episode of SCTV presented a compendium of programming seen on the station throughout its broadcast day. A given episode could contain everything from SCTV news broadcasts to sitcoms, dramas, movies talk shows, kid shows, parodic commercials for non-existent products, and/or game shows: everything from a soap opera called "The Days of the Week" ("Monday... Tuesday... Wednesday... these are... the days of the week"), "Monster Chiller Horror Theater," whose host, Count Floyd, did not preview the movies and did not know that he was not showing scary movies, game shows like "Shoot At The Stars" in which celebrities are literally shot at like targets in a shooting gallery, to full-blown movie spoofs like "Play it Again, Bob" in which Woody Allen (Rick Moranis) tries to get Bob Hope (Dave Thomas) to star in his next film. Episodes would also feature a range of SCTV-produced promos (for imaginary future shows) and commercials, such as spots for "Al Peck's Used Fruit" or "Shower In A Briefcase," or a PSA which helpfully describes "Seven Signs You May Already Be Dead."
Also seen fairly frequently, particularly in later episodes, were behind-the-scenes plots focusing on life at the station. These often featured Guy Caballero (Joe Flaherty), the cheap, tyrannical owner and president of SCTV, who, despite being perfectly ambulatory, was seated in a wheelchair to earn "respect" (i.e., sympathy) from employees and viewers; weaselly, sweating station manager Maurice "Moe" Green (Harold Ramis), succeeded in the position by flamboyant, leopard-skin clad, foul-mouthed Mrs. Edith Prickley (Andrea Martin); vain variety star Johnny LaRue (John Candy); washed-up entertainers such as singer Lola Heatherton (Catherine O'Hara) and comedian Bobby Bittman (Eugene Levy); news anchors Floyd Robertson (Flaherty) and Earl Camembert (Levy), talk-show host Sammy Maudlin (Flaherty), cult-stardom-destined and beer-addled brothers Bob and Doug McKenzie (Moranis and Thomas), and many others.
The small cast, typically six to eight members at any given time, played a wide variety of other station roles ranging from program hosts to commercial spokespersons. They also impersonated numerous popular celebrities appearing on the station's programming.
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