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Oops. New Spicks & Specks episodes already played by ABC.

A rare stuff-up in ABC programming means new episodes were accidentally screened in early morning broadcasts.

In an extraordinary programming error, brand new episodes of Spicks & Specks episodes -set to premiere in August- have already played out on ABC.

Bizarrely, ABC confirmed episodes were accidentally screened in an early morning slot.

It was TV Tonight readers who first noticed the stuff-up.

“Some of these eps were aired a few weeks ago in the early hours of the morning. I happened to come across them on ABC ME or ABC Kids / TV Plus, I can’t remember which,” said reader Tendbarb. “They were from this season with Montaigne (wearing that outfit) and Steph (in that top). They also featured the mystery song clues, with a special guest from Masterchef (I think it was) in the Montaigne ep, plus a magician with a bird in a cage in another ep, dropping in to give some of them. A question also referenced 2022 and they featured a tweet from Ukraine. I can’t remember if I saw two or three eps, they weren’t for about 40 mins each and yeah, I enjoyed them.”

Wilberclay said, “I also saw an episode with the mystery song at 2-3am, though this one was with Alex Lee and Dave O’Neil. I missed the start so was slightly confused when Adam asked about the mystery song at the end, then remembered it being mentioned in his interview with David a few weeks ago. I just assumed that the new season had already started.”

An ABC spokesperson confirmed, “Yes, it was a scheduling error.”

‘New’ episodes of Spicks & Specks, if you missed their brief outing, will screen from Sunday 7 August at 7.40pm on ABC.

5 Responses

  1. It would’ve been on ABC TV Plus, formerly ABC Comedy or ABC 2, not mistaken with the old call sign ABC 2. There’s nothing on ABC ME at that time except for a splash screen and maybe some music. I spoke with ABC recently about the dead air space on ABC ME at night and what to replace it with, such as educational programming for beyond ages 17 and up. So we’ll wait and see if anything happens there. It’s up to ABC. They would’ve had Rage all night but didn’t have the resources to have extra Rage all night other than the repeats at the end of broadcast at night on ABC ME.

  2. #IsItOK (a reference to The Last Leg) that the ABC will now be showing repeats of Spicks and Specks on Sunday 7 August instead of new episodes which they have advertised? And #IsItOK that the legend that mysterious programs air at 2am on ABC ME is true?

    1. They sometimes run kids movies or other kids shows after the channel close but never seen a first run Australian show on there before.

  3. Damn! I can’t believe ABC slipped up. My recording device is Fetch so only way for me to have seen them was if Spicks & Specks or the channel’s down-time were set as a series. It’s like getting a piece of meat in a roast before the meal’s ready.

  4. Nothing new. I have noted over that past few years when flicking through channels that ABC3/ABC-ME sometimes randomly is airing unscheduled kids content around midnight and 1am for some unknown reason after the station had closed down for the night. Thinking it was to burn off run rights for programming, who knows?

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