Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»TV by Decade»TV Shows - 1970s
    TV Shows - 1970s Variety 2 Mins Read

    Acid Test, The

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    1 9 7 0 (Australia)
    7 x 30 minute episodes

    Every so often, something comes along on TV that is so sub-standard there can be no doubt that THIS must be rock-bottom. Then along comes something even worse and we adjust our perception accordingly. But it’s hard to imagine anything likely to ever take the barrel-bottom-scraping award from The Acid Test.

    Airing on Thursday nights at 8.00 pm on Melbourne’s GTV9 (Channel 9 in Sydney aired it late on Monday nights at 10.00 pm), the show was hosted by the unlucky Bert Newton.

    This journey into embarrassment was an invitation to chortle at the serious efforts of amateur actors bumbling through an alleged play at the end of which judges Michael Pate and John Forgeham dismantled their performances verbally and awarded points in the manner of New Faces.

    Perhaps the idea was that the worse the performances were, the more successful the show would be. The more fluffed lines and wrongly emphasised words, the better we would like it. Maybe.

    But whether viewers were supposed to take this appalling stuff seriously or accept that they were sufficiently insensitive to relish a big laugh at someone else’s expense, the result was woeful. The amateurs took puerile scripts and raised them to the heights of almost professional mediocrity.

    There may have been some genuine unconscious comedy in the remarks of the two judges as they analysed results, in all apparent seriousness, at the end of the torture trail, but having suffered the thing thus far, the sensibilities of viewers had taken such a beating that nothing looked normal.

    The Actors Equity union objected to The Acid Test as being not in the interest of its members, many of whom were finding it hard getting work on Australian television and insisted that anyone taking part in the competition must be a financial member of Actors Equity, despite the fact that most were purely amateurs who had no intention of becoming full-time entertainers.

    GTV9 cancelled the show after just seven weeks.

    Related Posts

    • Adventures of Gerry Gee, The
      Adventures of Gerry Gee, The
      1 9 5 9 - 1 9 6 2 (Australia)…
    • Go!!
      Go!!
      1 9 6 4 - 1 9 6 7 (Australia)…
    • Slapstick and Old Lace
      Slapstick and Old Lace
      1 9 7 1 (UK) 7 x 30 minute episodes A…
    • Dig We Must
      Dig We Must
      1 9 6 6 (Australia) Dig We Must was produced…
    • Celebrity Squares (Australia)
      Celebrity Squares (Australia)
      1 9 6 7 (Australia) 1 9 7 5 -…
    • Bryan Davies Show, The
      Bryan Davies Show, The
      1 9 6 2 - 1 9 6 3 (Australia) This…
    • Screen Test
      Screen Test
      1 9 6 9 - 1 9 8 4 (UK) 160…
    • Balance Your Budget
      Balance Your Budget
      1 9 5 2 - 1 9 5 3 (USA)…

    Australia
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticlePip The Piper
    Next Article Trouser Press

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • All About Eve
      This London quartet featured the rather lovely – and often […]
    • King of the Castle
      1 9 7 7 (UK) 7 x 25 minute episodes After an accident in a […]
    • Spy-Catcher
      1 9 5 9 – 1 9 6 1 (UK) 24 x 30 minute episodes This BBC […]
    • Young Talent Time
      1 9 7 1 – 1 9 8 8 (Australia) 800+ x 30 minute episodes […]
    • Ask the Leyland Brothers
      After early success with documentaries covering their travels […]
    • Riptide
      1 9 8 4 – 1 9 8 6 (USA) 56 x 60 minute episodes Three […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.