The Early Bird Show
Encyclopedia
The Early Bird Show was a television
show aired on Network 10 in Australia
from 1985 until 1989. Produced by Dixie Duncan and directed by Spencer Wilson, Ray McKenna and Bob Loxton, the show regularly featured Australian rock singer Darryl Cotton
as host, along with Marie Van Maaren and Marty The Monster. The show was so popular that a magazine about it was published in 1989. It ran for five hours every Saturday morning, and was considered to be a kids variety show. In 1989, the show was shortened to two hours and renamed Club 10. This version lasted just ten weeks before being replaced by Video Hits, a music video show.
An earlier version of the show had aired from 1977 until 1980. It featured hosts Mike McCarthy and Marie Van Maaren and was shown on weekday mornings. The show was replaced in 1981 by the long-running Good Morning Australia (breakfast TV)
. A similar but unrelated show named Early Birds was broadcast by SAS10 in Adelaide
in the early 1970s. The show was hosted by Veronica Overton and Fat Cat
and was a mix of cartoons, competitions and music clips. During one telecast, Overton resigned on camera, saying "Goodbye children. Fat Cat will be back on Monday, but I won't". Occasional stand-in DiDi James took over the show for a short while and later Jane Reilly became host.
TVW 7 Perth (TVW Enterprises owned TVW 7 Perth and SAS 10 Adelaide in the 70s) also had a very popular Earlybirds show in the 1970s and 1980s from 7 to 9 am. It featured Fat Cat and another character Percy Penguin, plus puppets, Wilbur Worm in the early days who had a sarcastic streak and Sunny Sandgroper who always told appalling jokes. There were two hosts, one male and one female, and some to appear over the years on the Perth version were Keith Geary, Ian Teasdale, Sandy Baker (nee Palmer), Carolyn Noble, Sharon Dale, Peter Dean, Ann Sanders and others. It was made at TVW Tuart Hill Studios and often did outside broadcasts at shopping centres etc. It ran mainly during each school holiday initially and then each weekday toward the end when networking pushed it out of schedules in favour of Agro's Cartoon Connection and ultimately new shows. TVW did a Saturday version of Earlybirds, calling in Fat Cat's Funtime Show. It ran throughout the late 1970s and 80s years until Saturday Disney brought about its demise.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
show aired on Network 10 in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
from 1985 until 1989. Produced by Dixie Duncan and directed by Spencer Wilson, Ray McKenna and Bob Loxton, the show regularly featured Australian rock singer Darryl Cotton
Darryl Cotton
Darryl Cotton is an Australian pop singer, television presenter and actor. Cotton is best known as a founding member of Australian rock group Zoot in 1968, along with Beeb Birtles, Rick Brewer and, later, Rick Springfield....
as host, along with Marie Van Maaren and Marty The Monster. The show was so popular that a magazine about it was published in 1989. It ran for five hours every Saturday morning, and was considered to be a kids variety show. In 1989, the show was shortened to two hours and renamed Club 10. This version lasted just ten weeks before being replaced by Video Hits, a music video show.
An earlier version of the show had aired from 1977 until 1980. It featured hosts Mike McCarthy and Marie Van Maaren and was shown on weekday mornings. The show was replaced in 1981 by the long-running Good Morning Australia (breakfast TV)
Good Morning Australia (breakfast TV)
Good Morning Australia from Network Ten was the name of two different programs. This article is for the breakfast TV show, not to be confused with Bert Newton's morning program....
. A similar but unrelated show named Early Birds was broadcast by SAS10 in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
in the early 1970s. The show was hosted by Veronica Overton and Fat Cat
Fat Cat and Friends
Fat Cat and Friends was an Australian childrens television show starring Fat Cat , an orange anthropomorphic cat who wears red braces, a blue bow tie and a green bowler hat. The show was similar in concept to Here's Humphrey featuring Humphrey B. Bear...
and was a mix of cartoons, competitions and music clips. During one telecast, Overton resigned on camera, saying "Goodbye children. Fat Cat will be back on Monday, but I won't". Occasional stand-in DiDi James took over the show for a short while and later Jane Reilly became host.
TVW 7 Perth (TVW Enterprises owned TVW 7 Perth and SAS 10 Adelaide in the 70s) also had a very popular Earlybirds show in the 1970s and 1980s from 7 to 9 am. It featured Fat Cat and another character Percy Penguin, plus puppets, Wilbur Worm in the early days who had a sarcastic streak and Sunny Sandgroper who always told appalling jokes. There were two hosts, one male and one female, and some to appear over the years on the Perth version were Keith Geary, Ian Teasdale, Sandy Baker (nee Palmer), Carolyn Noble, Sharon Dale, Peter Dean, Ann Sanders and others. It was made at TVW Tuart Hill Studios and often did outside broadcasts at shopping centres etc. It ran mainly during each school holiday initially and then each weekday toward the end when networking pushed it out of schedules in favour of Agro's Cartoon Connection and ultimately new shows. TVW did a Saturday version of Earlybirds, calling in Fat Cat's Funtime Show. It ran throughout the late 1970s and 80s years until Saturday Disney brought about its demise.