AustLit

Hey Dad..! is an Australian sitcom produced by Gary Reilly Productions. It initially aired between 1987 and 1994 on the Seven Network. The series sees architect Martin Kelly singlehandedly raise his children following the death of his wife, Margaret, three years earlier. The episodes largely focus on his attempts to deal with the daily stresses of juggling his business (run from from home) and three children, Simon, Debbie, and Jenny, while also enduring his ditzy secretary Betty (the cousin of his wife).

A comedy series set in a newspaper office, Daily at Dawn was, according to Moran in his Guide to Australian TV Series, the last co-production between Gary Reilly and Tony Sattler before their partnership in RS Productions was dissolved.

According to Moran, 'As against their hit series Kingswood Country, which had worked so well as comedy not least because it had a crystal clear situation and very stereotyped and easily contrasted characters, Daily at Dawn had too many characters who were not sufficiently distinguished as types from each other, and too many normal types'.

The cast included Noeline Brown (who had previously starred in RS Productions' The Naked Vicar Show and taken a guest role in their Kingswood Country), and Robert Hughes, who was later to move on to the highly successful comedy Hey Dad.

Developing out of a skit on The Naked Vicar Show, this was a highly popular sit-com that, as Moran notes in his Guide to Australian TV Series, 'rivalled the success of My Name's McGooley in the 1960s and was surpassed only by the success of Hey Dad on the same network a few years later.

The series centred on the Bulpitt family, particularly patriarch Ted: a bigoted, conservative, blue-collar Australian and WWII veteran devoted to television, his racing greyhounds, and his Holden Kingswood.

Despite its popularity, the program was criticised for the out-spoken bigotry of its protagonist, including (but not exclusively) towards his Italian son-in-law.

Moran says of the program that 'The series was well plotted and funny, most especially Ross Higgins in the role of Ted.'

A skit comedy show that began on ABC Radio, The Naked Vicar Show ran on Channel Seven from 1977 to 1978.

According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, the program 'was Seven's most popular comedy variety series between The Mavis Bramston Show in the early 1960s and Fast Forward in the late 1980s'.

According to an article published by Peter Tatchell:

The television format was much the same as the radio ver­sion with more lampoons of commercials and series and a Bramston-like news bulletin at the beginning and end of each programme (replacing Higgins' sermon as the Vicar, who was no longer featured). Regulars Bruce, the arty-crafties Craig, Val and Geoffrey and gardeners Ces and Cyril all made the transition and many classic sketches were simply redone in vision.

The Seven editions also saw the introduction of car-wor­shipper Ted Bullpitt and his wife Thel, who quickly became favourites and eventually spawned their own sitcom Kingswood Country. Another popular segment updated the radio duo of Lois and NareIle, though apart from a brief reworking of the Oath K' Noath routine in their first appearance, the pair were now almost totally different characters. Instead of gossipy housewives, they became a man-hungry typist who relates her romantic misadventures to the office tealady. Taking over the Narelle Hudson role from Ross Higgins, Julie McGregor created one of Australian television's most enduring charac­terisations and scored a personal triumph.

Source: Peter Tatchell, 'Radio: The Naked Vicar Show', Laugh Magazine 14 (1996), republished on Laughterlog (http://laughterlog.com/2009/02/13/radio-the-naked-vicar-show/). Sighted: 1/12/2011

A 'surreal' sitcom set in the nineteenth century, Flash Nick from Jindavick tells the exploits of bumbling Jack Bradshaw (aka Flash Nick) as he attempts to carve out a career as a bushranger. These attempts include robbing a mail train while disguised as a roller-skating emu and trying to steal a black opal at a Country Women's Association Kung-Fu tournament, this time disguised as a harem girl. Throughout the series, he is pursued by Captain Magpie.