Hey Hey It’s Saturday

1 9 7 1 – 1 9 9 9 (Australia)
Millions of episodes (seems like)

This Australian variety show began life on 6 October 1971 as an early Saturday morning show for kids, complete with a life-sized ostrich puppet called Ossie.

Unfortunately, even though it became an adult-oriented Saturday night show (it moved from its morning timeslot to the 9.30pm timeslot in February 1984) it grew old, and It got very, very tedious.

The segments grew predictable; “Media Watch” always presented the same old funny items taken from the provincial press; “Red Faces” offered mediocre amateur acts, but everyone was waiting for Red Symons to hit the gong; “Ad Nauseum” was just a quiz show about TV ads; “What Cheeses Me Off” was just a forum for (very) petty complaints, and “Beat It” was just a music quiz.

Hey Hey eventually seemed to be the graveyard of Australian talent (but at least the Ostrich was smart enough to quit in the 80s) and finally finished in November 1999.

If you had nothing to do on a Saturday night, it was OK to watch to see which international guests were on the show, but you had to keep the remote control handy and get ready to flick channels If you saw Daryl Somers so much as go near a drum kit . . .

Hey Hey continued to trudge on for 27 years and frankly, it really started to show. The same old segments (Chook Lotto, Red Faces, Celebrity Head), the same old people (Plucka, Red, Molly) – and Daryl trying to bond with the “younger generation” was always embarrassing.

Typical quote: “Do we have enough time? We don’t have enough time? I think . . . yes? . . . no, I’m afraid we’re out of time” It happened every week.

And now it’s finally gone. It had it’s moments, now if only I could be sure that we’ve really seen the last of it .

Daryl Somers
John Blackman
Ossie Ostrich
Red Symonds
Wilbur WIlde
Jackie McDonald
Ian “Molly” Meldrum
Russell Gilbert
Plucka Duck
Dickie Knee
Jo-Beth Taylor
Livinia Nixon