Remember Hey Hey It’s Saturday?
There was a time when people would stay home on a Saturday night rather than miss the show.
Going all the way back to the beginning, however, the show used to screen of a Saturday morning with host Daryl Somers there to introduce the cartoons.
But as the popularity of the show grew the cartoons were ditched and it became a full blown variety show.
Hey Hey was incredibly funny, running for an amazing 27 years on the Nine Network – from on October 9, 1971 to November 20, 1999.
In 1978, however, Somers and Ossie Ostrich (Ernie Carroll) left to present a prime time game show, The Daryl And Ossie Show, on the Ten Network with Monique Daams.
Things didn’t quite go according to plan and after a return to Nine the following year, in 1984 the show moved to Saturday night when it was briefly renamed Hey Hey It’s Saturday Night.
It was at this time that the popular Jacki MacDonald joined the show as co-host.
One of the most popular segments was Red Faces when members of the public were invited to perform, but mostly to make a fool of themselves.
Ex-Skyhooks guitarist Red Symons was on hand to cut them short if things weren’t going well.
All good things come to and end, however, and so it was with Hey Hey in 1999, although it went out with a bang rather than a whimper, with a marathon show that ran for four hours – 60 minutes longer than scheduled.
Australia rejoiced in 2009 when the Nine Network announced the show would return for two reunion specials later in the year.
If they rated strongly, Nine suggested the show could return.
The first reunion show aired on September 30 and the second on October 7 – both won the ratings on their respective nights.
Later that year, in December, it was announced the show would in fact make a return in 2010 with a run of 20 episodes.
But it seems some things are better left as memories.
Like old movies, the new Hey Hey just wasn’t that funny anymore and not surprisingly the show did not return in 2011, with nothing to suggest it will ever make another comeback.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8gkBjcRh2k