Background
''Australia's Funniest Home Video Show'' premiered in 1990. Viewers would send in amateur-shot videos that were unintentionally humorous, and the video deemed the "funniest" by the studio audience was awarded a prize at the end of the show. The Television producer, producers often received racy or risque videos that could not be included into the program due to its family-friendly nature, and since the show's policy stated that videos sent in by viewers could not be sent back, videos that did not make it onto the program were still kept by the Television station, station.Content
The show followed the same structure of ''Australia's Funniest Home Video Show'', in which the videos were shown in short blocks, interspersed with humorous monologues written and delivered by Mulray. Mulray often poked fun at the content of the videos, which he described as "The most sensational collection of home videos since Rodney King#1991 police assault in Los Angeles, Rodney King nicked out for a pizza recently." Mulray also did humorous voice-overs as the videos were shown, similar to Danny McMaster's on ''Australia's Funniest Home Video Show''. The content of the videos included shots of animal Sex organ, genitalia, humans or animals humorously engaging in sexual intercourse, people who get accidentally and humorously Nudity, disrobed, and other situations that often relied on Ribaldry, ribald humour, including a child grabbing a kangaroo's testicles, a man lifting a barbell with his penis, a man getting his head squeezed between an Stripper, erotic dancer's large breasts, an elderly woman removing an envelope from a stripper's undergarments with her dentures, two people running into water with flaming pieces of toilet paper hanging from their buttocks, and two people filmed Public sex, having sex in the middle of a park.Cancellation
Kerry Packer, the owner of the Nine Network at the time, was informed of the show's content by friends while having dinner. He tuned in to watch the show, which was being transmitted on TCN, TCN-9, and was so offended by its content that he phoned the studio operators and angrily shouted, "Get that shit off the air!". Within minutes, the program was pulled. Viewers saw a Nine Network Station identification, ident interrupt the program with a speech by Nine continuity announcer John Martin of a "technical problem" before beginning a rerun of the American sitcom ''Cheers'', which filled the remaining airtime. The Nine Network bumper occurred at different points in the program in different areas due to Time in Australia, time differences: In the eastern states except Victoria (state), Victoria, the bumper occurred at the beginning of a scheduled commercial break. In Victoria (state), Victoria, the show abruptly switched to ''Cheers'' during a commercial break almost 46 minutes into its runtime but without the "technical problem" announcement. In South Australia and the Northern Territory, which are half an hour behind the east coast, it occurred immediately after Mulray's monologue about "bosoms" or after the aforementioned clip of a child grabbing a kangaroo's scrotum. The show was cancelled before it was scheduled to air in Western Australia, which is two hours behind the east coast, so its Nine Network affiliate displayed a graphic of the Nine Network logo on-screen with a brief message mentioning that the special was cancelled before beginning an episode of ''Cheers''. When the show was cancelled, the message went as follows:We apologise for this interruption.Despite Packer's objections to the series' content, it was popular among viewers. The special was recorded to a record studio audience. After the announcement, Nine reportedly received "thousands" of phone calls from viewers, with 65 percent of callers upset with the program being pulled, in contrast to the 60 callers who called in during the show's broadcast, complaining about the show. Viewers were generally bewildered by the sudden interruption and the cut to ''Cheers'', not knowing about the show's cancellation until it was widely reported by the Australian media outlets the next day. The day after the special aired, a furious Packer showed up at Nine's headquarters and held meetings in which he loudly berated Nine's managers and censors, referring to the program as "disgusting and offensive shit." After these meetings, Mulray and many of the staff who were involved with the creation of the special were fired, with Mulray also being banned for life from Channel Nine. Kris Noble, the network's drama and entertainment chief, hid the original tape in the archives of the network's TCN#Filmed at Willoughby, Willoughby studio. On the same day, the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal announced an investigation into the series for possible broadcast standard violations, adding that more than 150 complaints regarding its controversial content were submitted and 25 percent of its callers objected to the program being shortened. Eventually, the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal, ABT found that the program had not breached these standards and had been correctly rated as AO. On his radio show the next day, Mulray joked: "I am the first man in Australian history to be Handjob, pulled off by Kerry Packer." Mulray returned to Nine to be a judge on the 2005 series ''StarStruck (2005 TV series), StarStruck'' shortly before Packer's death on 26 December of that year.
Unfortunately, a technical problem prevents us continuing our scheduled program for the moment.
In the meantime, we bring you a brief, alternative program. :— John Martin, Nine Network continuity announcer.
Rebroadcast
In 2008, the original tape of the show hidden by Noble was located by Nine's head of factual television. It was aired in its entirety at 8:30 PM on 28 August 2008, one week short of sixteen years after the original special, and at the same time. Promoted as "the show Kerry Packer didn't want you to see", it featured commentary from Bert Newton; Packer had died in December 2005, and Mulray refused Nine's request to host the special. The special was interrupted by the Channel Nine bumper and "technical difficulties" announcement 36 minutes in, cutting to the ''Cheers'' opening credits before resuming to a monologue by Newton, who referenced the incident by saying "Instead, they got that announcement of 'technical difficulties' which you heard, which was true...it's TECHNICALLY very DIFFICULT to keep a show on air...with Mr. Packer on the phone YELLING at you!" The latter part of the special that never aired was then broadcast. However the re-airing was censored, with portions of Mulray's monologues (including jibes about "fat kids") being cut from the special as they were deemed to be "no longer acceptable".See also
* ''Turn-On'', an American sketch comedy TV series that was also pulled from broadcast during its first and only episode. * ''Videos After Dark'', an American adaptation of ''Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos'' that debuted in 2019 and likewise was cancelled after only one airing.References
{{Reflist Nine Network original programming 1992 Australian television series debuts 1992 Australian television series endings 1990s Australian comedy television series Television shows set in Sydney Television controversies in Australia Video clip television series Australian English-language television shows Parody television series Obscenity controversies in television Television series canceled after one episode