So Count Floyd and Floyd Robertson are the same person?

There were a great deal of things about the 1981-83 NBC era that bothered me. Namely, the trend towards being quite preachy and moralistic in many of their routines and several of their episodes. I've often wondered if this transformation of Floyd into a lush fit in to this. (And I've asked myself if this development may've had to do with the constant stress of Earl's ineptitude . . . )

I also seem to remember that pre-drunk, Floyd may have also been SCTV's news director; there was the one episode where he introduced a report from Perini Scleroso about an Irish lass who bore test-tube Siamese triplets, and after the report was over and Floyd asked, "Whaddaya think of that?", Earl replied, "You've hired her"; and then Floyd introduced a "new segment," "Consumer Action Line," which Earl naturally botches up big time and Floyd announces at the end, "Due to a change in programming policy, 'Consumer Action Line' will no longer be seen on 'SCTV News'." Which leads Earl to ask, "Who died and made you programming manager?" - after which Floyd chewed him out on-air, finishing off with "That's the last straw!"

The other thing I noticed: A first-season "SCTV News"-cast, with Earl playing a cassette with background music set to whatever story he was reading at the time (much to Floyd's chagrin, naturally), appears to be a forerunner of how some all-news stations in the U.S. are fashioning news reports. New York's WCBS Newsradio 880, for example, has a habit of playing certain songs whose theme is shared with whatever stories are coming up at the time.

And finally, given that there are those who are more fans of Earl due to the abuse he received from Floyd over the years, I actually veer more towards Floyd and his no-nonsense approach to the news (whereas Earl seemed more "frilly" - doing one newscast wearing roller-skates, the aforementioned tape-recorded background music, having a meal in the studio during a newscast, etc.). I have noticed that in terms of archetypes in the news business, over the last few years it's become evident there are now more Earls than Floyds that are prevalent.

Damn with you and W.B. pretty much putting down the post-season 1 gold, it's almost like you're trolling. Again, in my eye's you're not a real fan.

IMDB's most overlooked poster,giving you true posts since 2001J-Dilla 4-Eva

I always thought the Count Floyd character was most based on Chilly Bill Cardille, the host of the late night weekend horror movie show in Pittsburgh in the 60's and 70's; as Joe Flaharty was a native of Pittsburgh he would have no doubt been quite familiar with Chilly Bill. Bill Cardille was also a reporter/fill in newscaster at Channel 11, and had a small role in the 1968 original Night of the Living Dead as the TV reporter. It was not uncommon in those days for the host of the late night horror show to be somebody working in front of the camera at the station.