''The Curiosity Show'' is an Australian educational children's

television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...

produced from 1972 to 1990 and hosted by Rob Morrison and

Deane Hutton Deane Winston Hutton (born 30 April 1941) is an Australian television presenter and futurist. His work on television has included 18 years as a co-writer-presenter with Rob Morrison of the ''Curiosity Show'', and as science presenter on ''Hey H ...

. The show was produced by Banksia Productions in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

for the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

. 500 episodes were produced across 19 seasons. Episodes have been archived on YouTube for preservation.

History

Banksia Productions produced the popular children's series '' Here's Humphrey'' from 1965. The company planned to add some science segments in 1971 and sought assistance from the South Australian Institute of Technology. Rob Morrison and Deane Hutton were selected as presenters and the segments were introduced as ''Humphrey B Bear's Curiosity Show''. After positive reception from the audience, Banksia Productions and the Nine Network agreed to produce a spin-off series. Planning commenced with the working title ''The F Show''. Until the early 1970s, children's television was aimed at younger children. The broadcasting regulations were changed to require a proportion of programmes to be aimed at school-age children, broadcast after school hours. This prompted the creation of the ''Curiosity Show'' as a separate show. ''The Curiosity Show'' was screened nationally in Australia as well as in Europe, Asia, and

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologic ...

in 14 countries, and it was dubbed in German for Europe.

Format

From 1972 to 1980 the format was a 60-minute show presented by Morrison, Hutton, Ian Fairweather, Alister Smart, Belinda Davey, Gabrielle Kelly, Dr Mark Dwyer and Lynn Weston. The emphasis was on science but also included general craft and music. Producers were Neil Smith, Kate Kennedy White (1978–79), James Lingwood (1980) and Ian Smyth. From 1980 the show was reduced to 30 minutes, presented by Morrison and Hutton, with emphasis on science, nature and the environment. ''The Curiosity Show'' won many national and international awards, including the coveted Prix Jeunesse in 1984, voted by peers from around the world as the best factual program for children. The program placed a strong emphasis on practical demonstrations of various science topics, and included activities such as floating a

ping-pong Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

ball on a stream of air, recreating historical devices, setting off a room full of mouse traps, the science of musical instruments and freezing objects with

liquid nitrogen Liquid nitrogen—LN2—is nitrogen in a liquid state at low temperature. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of about . It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a colorless, low viscosity liquid that is wid ...

. Commonly, segments presented scientific concepts in the form of tricks and puzzles. Many segments described a sequence of steps to build something out of common household materials with longer builds invariably ending with the phrase "here's one I prepared earlier" so as to keep the segment moving. Hutton's catchphrase, after presenting a hypothesis he postulates the audience may be curious about, was to declare "well, I'm glad you asked," before responding to the hypothesis. The use of household materials was deliberate, in order to demystify science and ensure that children, wherever they lived, could make what they needed rather than rely on buying it, and this proved popular with the young audience who could easily replicate the demonstrations at home. Morrison suggested that they should always show what they had made working so that children would know that their own constructions would work if made properly and also to show the limitations of the constructions to dispel any overambitious expectations. Both Morrison and Hutton always told viewers to get their parents' permission before building things or conducting experiments, especially if it involved the use of sharp objects such as knives or scissors or the use of flames or hot or dangerous liquids.

Spin-offs

Four companion books were available in 1981 produced by Jacaranda Press containing scientific explanations and instructions for experiments for children to perform at home. Each of the books was themed upon one of the four Western

classical element Classical elements typically refer to earth, water, air, fire, and (later) aether which were proposed to explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances. Ancient cultures in Greece, Tibet, and India had simi ...

s of earth, air, fire and water. Together, Hutton and Morrison published 11 books, including ''Supermindstretchers'',''The Arrow Book of Things to Make and Do'', and ''String for Lunch'' (Ashton Scholastic). Morrison published more than 40 additional books, which included material from ''The Curiosity Show,'' including ''Nature in the Making'', ''A Field Guide to the Tracks and Traces of Australian Animals'' (the first such field guide in Australia and still the only one to deal with all taxa), ''Clever and Quirky Creatures'', ''It's Raining Frogs and Fishes'', and many more for the school reading programs of various publishers. Morrison's ''Field Guide to Tracks and Traces—''and a segment he had prepared for ''The Curiosity Show'' on

dingo The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient ( basal) lineage of dog found in Australia. Its taxonomic classification is debated as indicated by the variety of scienti ...

s at

Uluru Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the Northern Territory, southwest of Alice Spring ...

—led to his involvement in the Morling Royal Commission inquiry into the Chamberlain convictions. He gave evidence on dingo and dog tracks and conducted various forensic investigations on dingo gapes and behaviour. His collection of specimens and artifacts from the trial have been acquired by the

National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...

. The

Children's Television Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-know ...

wanted to make a version of the ''Curiosity Show'' using American scientists as presenters. Rob Morrison and Deane Hutton were consultants in the early planning stages. PBS did not think that middle-aged scientists would engage a young audience (despite the popularity of the format in Australia) and insisted that any science show be hosted/presented by young people. CTW eventually reworked the concept into ''

3-2-1 Contact ''3-2-1 Contact'' is an American science educational television show produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now known as Sesame Workshop). It aired on PBS from 1980 to 1988 and later ran on Noggin (a joint venture between the CTW ...

''. In 2014, ''The Curiosity Show'' produced a brief online series which was available on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. It was co-hosted by Morrison and Hutton again.

YouTube channel

In 2013, the show's former hosts, Hutton and Morrison, announced they had purchased the remaining rights to the show for an undisclosed sum from Banksia Productions, which had gone into liquidation. On July 12, 2013, in conjunction with producer Enabled Solutions, they launched a

channel, CuriosityShow, to make the episodes and segments available for a new generation of viewers. There are some 1,000 segments, and some have attracted significant audiences, especially in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

; , one segment about self-starting siphons had been viewed more than 4 million times, while another video, entitled "The mysterious isochronous curve", has been viewed 9.7 million times; in addition, their channel has amassed 340,000 subscribers and 48.5 million views from a current upload total of 1,443 videos. In May 2014, Hutton and Morrison released, on their YouTube channel, the ''"Curiosity Shows first new episode since 1990". The online production was funded with the assistance of

Kellogg's The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toa ...

Australia. The episode followed the original format of the programme, supported by extra internet resources, with Hutton and Morrison performing experiments related to cereal, including making homemade cornflakes and cornflour-based non-Newtonian fluid. The episode was praised by the channel's followers.

Awards

;International awards: * 1984 Winner of Prix Jeunesse Internationale, Munich. * 1985 Silver medal, International Film and Television Festival of New York. * 1985 Museum of Broadcasting, New York. * 1990 Television Award, Children's Film and Television, China. ;National awards: * 1975 Commendation, Television Society of Australia. * 1976 Commendation, Television Society of Australia. * 1977 Commendation, Television Society of Australia. * 1978 Commendation, Television Society of Australia. * 1979 Special Commendation, Television Society of Australia. * 1981 Commendation, Television Society of Australia. * 1982 Gold Penguin Award, Television Society of Australia.

References

External links

*
Curiosity Show's Facebook page

Curiosity Show's Twitter

Deane Hutton's website

Curiosity Show website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Curiosity Show, The Australian children's education television series Television shows set in Adelaide Nine Network original programming 1972 Australian television series debuts 1990 Australian television series endings 1980s Australian television series Science education television series YouTube channels launched in 2013 2014 web series debuts 2010s YouTube series 2020s YouTube series Education-related YouTube channels YouTube original programming