Hey Hey the Reunion
'Dags', as he was once affectionately dubbed by Jacki MacDonald, lived up to his nickname and the audience loved him for it. Hey Hey's reunion reminds us of simpler times.
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“Before we were rudely interrupted in November 1999 I was saying….” said Daryl Somers….
And with that Hey Hey it’s Saturday was back on the air.
After ten years in the wilderness the show that epitomised a golden era of Nine television was back before an adoring audience of fans who had missed it almost as much as its host.
Within minutes of returning, the hallmarks of the show were evidnt. Somers’ banter with his off-camera crew, Blackman’s one-liners inserted for a comic rise, whimsical sound effects, cheeky subtitles, cartoon gags and only a passing determination to stick to the running sheet. ‘Dags’, as he was once affectionately dubbed by Jacki MacDonald, lived up to his nickname and the audience loved him for it.
As a reunion the show was deternmined to live in the present with just enough time to acknowledge the past. Few nostalgic clips surfaced, with the show preferring to prove its value in a modern era. Livina Nixon sat behind a laptop reading emails. Somers was grateful to Facebook’s 200,000+ followers, and the live show was the #1 subject on Twitter while it was on air.
Ironically the show couldn’t quite sync its audio during a live cross to a John Farnham concert (where Farnsy was doing gags nearly as old as those in the GTV studio), but it mattered little. It was enough to have old faces back on the telly, and Hey Hey has always celebrated being a little rough around the edges anyway.
The show’s biggest success was its return to variety and live television. Since the show disappeared it has been up to the Footy Show to keep live variety at Nine from dying. Flimsy segments including “Celebrity Head” and a MasterChef parody by Russell Gilbert weren’t particularly sophisticated, but they took us back to simpler times. Even on a weeknight Hey Hey managed to make us forget about our worries for three hours (yes, it ran overtime).
Smartly, the show was also bursting with colour. On its vivid hybrid set Hey Hey even had a kid smearing himself with Vegemite (does it get anymore Australian?), and Molly Meldrum’s dog about to attack the irascible, faceless stick that is Dickie Knee. That’s colour, movement, kids and animals. Check, check, check, check,
Its most nostalgic moment was a fondly edited split screen allowing the late Maurie Fields and his son Marty to share a gag in The Great Aussie Joke. Seeing Raymond J. Bartholomeuz (Brian Nankervis) meeting his grown up protege was also nostalgic fun.
But there were some signs of its longevity. Most of the punchlines were older than some of the audience. Several of the subtitled gags were straight out of the 1970s, with insults directed at people’s weight and appearance (they could probably fit some of the cast). Whether the show works as an on-going entity is questionable. With several of the cast committed elsewhere it seems unlikely. But such post-mortems rain on Hey Hey‘s parade. It deserves to be acknowledged for its present before bigger questions about its future. Just getting the thing on and doing it so well is an achievement in itself.
Hey Hey kept several cards up its sleeve for its second reunion: Ossie Ostrich and a still-unconfirmed return by Jacki MacDonald, as well as favourite segments including What Cheezes Me Off and Chooklotto.
For Somers the night was a validation, as much as it was for the audience who have kept the faith. Nine started the week by ‘welcoming home’ its viewers. Here it has a prodigal audience which has returned, if it chooses to keep them.
Hey Hey the Reunion returns 7:30pm Wednesday October 7th on Nine.
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- Tagged with Hey Hey its Saturday, Masterchef, The Footy Show
61 Responses
Why Not Something Original Channel Nine and New.
They do not need to show it all year round though just a few months of every year to break up the overdosed Charlie Sheen/Jon Cryer Marathons(About Time they thought about bringing back Temptation or Price is Right for 2010)and the god awful Bert Newton 20 to 1(If they replace Him with Ed Phillips or Amber Brown Then I will consider tuning in but for now No Thanks)
I loved it!!!
I’d like to ask Channel 9 to bring it back permanently!
It’s so much better than the other drivel that passes for comedy & entertainment these days.
Next week should be great with Ossie, Denise & others!
I really hope it’s back for another 28 years!
Same, same and boring. What else is new? How about coming up with something original?
@goonies.
what does lcd tv’s have anything to do with good television. just look at the comments from some of the people on here. alot people dont like hey hey
I for one enjoyed the reunion show, I had many laughs at the jokes, and in general loved the beat of the cast together. I am sure if it does return (which i really hope it does) that it will fill a massive void left in Aussie TV. I am sick of reality shows, and hope that we do get more decent stuff on our screen!
@Kev Thankyou, I appreciate the cultural cringe reference – and yes the show was very cringeworthy and not representative of Australia at all. I kept waiting for Ozzie to show up, then remembered he’s probably extinct, …much like this show and its format should be.
If Hey Hey is the cream of the crop of Australian TV … then I understand why Australian movies have a hard time at the box office because people are too afraid to call dreck…dreck…. 😛
If it was up against house or desperate housewives, we’d never hear from darryl again.
No damo I think you confused yourself by saying that the people that thought Hey Hey was crap would actually like strauchnie, idol, kyle instead.
I think you will find that they are all LCD tv and therefore attract the same viewing audience.
I don’t really care either way about Rove, I just find it amusing that he is like the Daryl of the 2000’s.
@Goonies, I hope Rove doesn’t get taken off. Hey Hey and Rove (live entertainment) is much better than all these reality shows (eg, masterchef), IMO.
@goonies. i think you just confused yourself when you were typing your comment
Do you the all-important demos for Hey Hey? It will be interesting to see how my fellow young people responded to this show. I for one loved it.
Excrutiatingly awful!
I didn’t actually watch it, I recorded it on my hard drive recorder instead to watch on the weekend, but I think I will watch it live next week because Celebrity Masterchef really wasn’t as good as I expected. I hope it comes back permenantly next year. Good News Week did it so why can’t this. And who says it was past its use by date?
Also can anyone tell me how much of the show the recording missed at the end? It got recorded up to about half way through the Cassie Davis performance.
I dont think it’ll return as a regular weekly show, but they should definitly make it a yearly reunion say over summer or christmas like the Vicar of Dibly. Channel should sign Daryl Sommers ASAP to at least keep him on our screens. look forward to wednesday nite!
I prefer Rove over Daryl any day. Hey Hey was ok but it just was an old version which was pretty lame and boring. Still 2.2m dont seem to think so which baffles me.
@Dr Rudi Commercial TV has never been about artistic merit. If it was, we wouldn’t have any (FTA) shows at all.
@Sam Young Daryl humble? Never a day in his life!
All you people bashing Rove (and I’m no fan) do realise that the exact same criticisms were being levelled at Daryl and Hey Hey 10 years ago resulting in lower ratings and the show being axed?
@ damo – you think people that didn’t watch Hey Hey LCD tv would be fans of other LCD tv (idol, strauchnie)? You confused man!
Rachel, I totally agree. When I first heard about it, I thought it would be as generationally cringe-worthy as when Grandma offered to go rollerblading with me. Or when she bought me an iRiver instead of an iPod.
But the show was like a brand new pair of comfy slippers. And I ask, what is wrong with admitting that Australian TV the past decade has been mutton dressed as lamb?
I wish Seven had taken to an ad-hoc formatless variety show over the past few years. But it was Seven’s current management who axed Hey Hey.
Even if it’s just two episodes, it’s made everyone sit and think… Were those tv execs right when they said variety was dead? Or were they just saving money?
And why can they spend a comparable amount on underproduced Aussie drama when all the audience wants is fun.
The new Hey Hey wouldn’t work unless the hosts had taken ten years off. They have all moved on, developed their craft, and even if it isn’t Hey Hey that comes back for good, I think it’s a sign the Aussie public is craving for that sort of entertainment.
Pay TV can’t deliver it, the internet can’t deliver it. It’s what FTA and GTV do best.
So do it!
Being a gen x-er, hey hey was a staple of saturday nights growing up, but I was sceptical that it could work in today’s television climate which is a lot more slick, overproduced and fast-paced. Much to my surprise I found myself thoroughly enjoying the show, not noticing the time going by. It all seemed so effortless, unlike the 7pm Report or Rove. Daryl did a fantastic job, and I couldn’t believe how many aspects to the show I’d forgotten about, like the funny cartoons and sound effects.
I think the stage is set for some sort of Hey Hey fulltime return – how can it not with those huge ratings?
Will be interesting to see how Ossie goes next week and if Jacki Macdonald appears. I hope she does as she once said that she didn’t want to be on TV anymore because Gina Riley was impersonating her better than she does herself! – what a gal!
I’d like to have a t-shirt made that says, “I didn’t watch the Hey Hey It’s Saturday Reunion”.
it was fantastic and it should come back. rove has nothing on this show. it’s funny the people that hated are probably the people that think idol is the best place for new music talent to start their career these days. they probably think straunchie is funny and they think kyle sandilands is the best music agent in the buisness.
@ Lou says: October 1, 2009 at 10:52 am “I was glad no American celebrities were in town to see how low we can go.”
The cultural cringe – alive and well and living at Lou’s place 😀
Jimmy Barnes was right in saying that there has been a “hole” in TV on Saturday nights since Hey, Hey finished.
Last night’s show was great – loved “Disaster Chef”, Molly’s dog and Dickie Knee, the kid with the 5 new uses for Vegemite and a lot of other things. Sure the show was a bit disjointed in places but then again it was live and you’ve got to expect things, especially technology not to work properly at times.
BTW, if John Farnham’s jokes are old then going by all of his sold out concerts, no-one seems to mind.
Looking forward to the second show – just makes me a little sad that after that one Hey, Hey will be gone again.
I thought it was a great kick back to the old days, in some ways the time flew….. but in other ways it did seem to drag on a bit in part due to the Live aspect, especially when hinging on the cross to John Farnham.
I’d love to see it return in some capacity in the future, even if they just churn out more ‘once a year’ specials, i’d settle for new installments of the best and worst of red faces, best of hey hey etc – but we’ve already seen them before. In today’s tv landscape it would be hard to find a good home for it.
The first reunion show got a huge thumbs up from me, and i am looking forward to how they go with the second.
It was a good Reunion, nothing more. It was very disjointed.