I’m trying to download, archive, and upscale as much older Australian TV content as I can, and would love to see what other people watched or enjoyed so I can try to preserve it as well.
The Chaser’s War on Everything
Yes!! I miss it.
CNNNN forever!
Round the Twist was 4 seasons of straight bangers
Have you ever, ever felt like this?
Bluey is a parenting program cleverly disguised as a kids’ program. It’s my favourite show on TV at the moment.
This. I know OP asked for old shows, but Bluey is so good you can (luckily) watch the same episode a hundred times over and still enjoy it.
Skip the first season though - it was clearly run on a shoe string budget and doesn’t have nearly the same quality as season two onwards. Go back and watch it when you’re a fan.
Anyone remember water rats? Peak 90’s crime of the week show with as much drama off the set as on.
Bloody loved Water Rats! Aaron Pedersen was fantastic.
That whole era of Police Rescue / Water Rats was such a good time for TV!
Edit: oh! Something in the Air!
Ones I already have:
- Acropolis Now
- Bush Tucker Man
- Kingswood Country (missing 15 eps)
- Mother and Son (the original, not the shithouse remake)
- Rake
- The Hollowmen (only have shitty DVD rips, would love something better)
Ones I want, but haven’t started looking for:
- Stingers
- The Late Show
- Hey Hey
- Full Frontal
- Fast Forward
- Comedy Company
- The Big Gig
- Good News Week
- Front Line
- Russell Coight’s All Aussie Adventures (I have the 2018 eps - not the early 2000s ones)
- All Together Now
Ones I enjoyed, but am on the fence about committing storage space to:
- Kath and Kim
- Caron’s Law
- The Sullivans
- Blue Heelers
- Rafferty’s Rules
- Cop Shop
How embarrassment I don’t know if I should watch it again or just hold the happy memory of acropolis now.
I think Kath and Kim is a keeper. Like Kingswood Country, the suburban social commentary runs deeper than the gags make it appear. Based on your mention of The Sullivans, I would also recomend Power Without Glory if you can find it. That is a largely true story from that era which was very well done.
Rake is excellent, and pretty grounded in real events, boy eats universe is new, and they’re probably cultural relevance to some of the dozens of reality and daytime/morning shows out there, and the chaser for the same reason. I also think a lot of kids’ stuff is worth archiving - some because it’s great, others because it’s bizarre, others because it’s a cultural touchstone that’ll almost certainly be lost - round the twist, Liftoff, Aggro, cheez TV, ship to shore, ocean girl, the ferals… I’m showing my age.
I think the ABC have some kind of archive that’s probably a great start for home grown content.
The Big Gig
In case you weren’t aware “The Archive” runs a pretty substantial repository of Australian TV shows. r/DownUnderTv has instructions on how to get access.
- The Curiosity Show
- Skippy
- Ask the Leyland Brothers
+1 for curiosity
I liked watching A*mazing as a kid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A*mazing
There’s a bunch of kids game shows that are very difficult if not impossible to find these days.
A pisstake of A Country Practice. Comedic gold adapted to TV after an improv theatrical run.
A phone-in Choose Your Own Adventure style narrative from show to show, was cutting edge interactivity in the 90s.
Greatest Aussie show ever (yes, I know Big Gig, D-Gen, Late Show and DAAS were a thing).
Do yourself a favour and search out some episodes on your favourite video services.
(* I saw Peter Rowsthorn in Fremantle on the street, and I was too slow to shout out a “W W W W Warren”)
I remember it being over the top gross and phoning in after every episode.
So hilariously and ridiculously gross. The fake blood cost must have been half the show budget!
The one about a big city lawyer going to a small seaside town. Sea Change?
The one about a big city
lawyerheart surgeon going to work in a small hospital in the outback. Heart-something?The one about a big city lawyer going insane. Rake.
The one about a quirky Melbourne OB/GNY and her quirky family.
The one that had great promise, but was cancelled after one season. Oh, there are 100 of those.
Second one might be heartbeat? Literally know nothing about it other than hearing ads for it as a kid
I was going to suggest Plasmo, but it turns out some mad lad has already upscaled it to 4K! Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2U98Joe6Hs
Upscaled to 4k, what’s the big idea?
Skithouse
From a Pom:
I liked Rake .
Prisoner Cell Block H was cult here too .
Then, Angry Boys, Chris Lilleys comedy.
Um, Under Belly about Tony Mockba was good I think .
Any Ashes cricket where we didn’t lose 5-0
