The family had the best set of hippie names ever – except for the youngest who only got half a…

remember Jay Laga'aia much later on

I think Jay Laga'aia hosted a later (early '90s?) clip request show called "Your Choice". What I remember the most is him singing (in a soulful falsetto) "Your choice, your choice – on channel 2!"

And my favourite memory of "I Like That One…

Apparently a Country Calender from April, 1998 detailed the AhuAhu Ohu on the Whanganui river. I can't imagine any PM since being so broad-minded.

oohooh! When I first came to NZ as a traveller I decided to go WWOOFing for a bit with my friend – and the first place…

And if my (increasingly holey, increasingly faulty) memory serves me rightly, it was the Gasgoine that hosted before Laga'ia, not one of…

You say that like it's a bad thing? The counter-point is that these days... it doesnt matter how earth-shattering the event, if there's no pictures then it's not news.

admittedly, "no pictures" is…

Although I think in the early 80s it was Roger Gasgoine (sp?) who hosted it? Or was it a Leishman?

Lloyd Scott?

"and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were REAL small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri"

In the good old days, when snow was snow
Snowmen lasted years you know
And didn't stand, they ran about
But that, of course, was years ago
In the good old days when snow was…

. . . in the 70s, when Labour prime winisters were working class . . .

Weren't there only two, and wasn't Bill Rowling a schoolteacher?

Kirk used the term kibbutz more than once when describing the ohu scheme. That seemed to give it a certain respectability. Overall I don't…

communes on Crown land

At least one of those Ohu was on dodgily confiscated Maori land, I discovered recently. Kind of a bummer.

But I do wonder if we aren't all a lot more jaded about the possibilities for radical in society than people were in 1972.

You wonder? As I was discussing with a very learned friend over coffee no longer than 40 hours ago, even the idea of full employment now…

possibilities for radical change in society

i do think his notion of giving people "a chance to develop alternative social models to everyday New Zealand society" in the form of communes on Crown land quite remarkable.

From the vantage of now, when the neo-liberal consensus is impossible to escape, yes.

Maybe in the 70s, when Labour…

Although I think in the early 80s it was Roger Gasgoine (sp?) who hosted it? Or was it a Leishman?

Oooohh, possibly; I remember Jay Laga'aia much later on, but couldn't for the life of me remember who preceded him. Even now both of the aforesaid sound like good candidates…

Most of today's news offerings wouldn't be worth keeping, surely?

Let's not turn it into one of those threads eh Steve?

Honestly, most of the news back then was even worse. "In Parliament today...[insert still picture of Parliament]..." and large chunks of a newsreader just talking to the camera without…

What a contrast to Muldoon and 1981.

It was. After Kiwi Keith he was very refreshing and quite gutsy i reckon.

I think it might be expecting too much to have got abortion/homosexual law reform in 1974. The Pill hadn't been available for long, that was rather disruptive to kiwi…

Were the Kirks Catholics?

Norm was of a Salvation Army family, then (dnzb) -

In time his adherence to the Salvation Army faltered; no other religion replaced it, although Kirk respected several, particularly Catholicism, mainly because of contact with colleagues and bishops whom he met and liked.

Ruth Kirk – not…

The only thing worse than their ads was the product itself.

Made Air NZ lollies taste like a delicacy.

when "I Like That One 2" was a vital resource

I have told my American husband about this show. He was clearly incredulous but tried valiantly to look calm and accepting. Heh.

For some reason the title "frontline" keeps popping into…

I was a mere adolescent at the time, thought their policies a breath of fresh. Visited one of the ohu later on, the one in Coromandel.

Was that "put a sparkle in your smile (smile)" or an earlier version?

I think that one was later.

The ad I'd like to see rescued is a double-length epic rap for Sparkles (1983).

Was that "put a sparkle in your smile (smile)" or an earlier version?

I came across several…

I'd love to see the early 80s "Fell off" ad. Think it was paint, not sure

It was for paint – the "fell off" guy was dressed in (if I remember correctly) classic 70s fashion of towelling hat, tight t shirt and probably stubbies.

"Yeah, fell off. Still has"

In a news story, the reporter might make a comment, then you get 30 seconds of footage before they pipe up again.

Much of that style was a result of the available technology. Digital editing didn't exist. It was all tape and non-linear, so longer chunks of story were quicker…

Damian, was 1970s TV news or specific items thereof routinely archived, or was it haphazardly chancy?

Unfortunately the latter Chris. I just did a bit of a search, and that interview seems lost to the mists of time. It can be quite frustrating, I was trying to find a news…

Norm Kirk despatching the frigate HMNZS Otago to protest the French nuclear bomb tests at Moruroa was stirring, but I’ve no memory of his speech on the day being covered on TV news, although…

Likewise, the Tomorrow People.

And, because nobody else can seem to remember it but it must have…

One of the interesting things…

I remember noticing the occasional water-bottled front yard as I walked home from the bus-stop after tech, and then all of a sudden, the day after that clip was shown, the sudden and wide-spread proliferation.

I couldnt imagine so…

Prob 15+ years ago Ian Fraser did a series of NZ political history docos that I have always wanted to see again. For some reason the title "frontline" keeps popping into my head, but it just sounds wrong?

You might be referring to the Revolution series from 1996 – Although…

Jelly-Shaped People.

Haven't we come a long way. Anyone remember Basil Brush? In an episode where the uppity puppet was captured by Fu Manchu, he refuses the Chinese dishes on offer and asks for jelly babies. To which Fu replies "We do not eat German Children." Tish boom!

When you fly every week, you start to notice the little things. On the "ingredients" section of the little bags of lollies Air New Zealand gives out: "Contents: Jelly-Shaped People"

I noticed that the Anzac biscuits weren't vegetarian. They have beef fat in them.

Every recipe I've seen used butter,…

Prob 15+ years ago Ian Fraser did a series of NZ political history docos that I have always wanted to see again. For some reason the title "frontline" keeps popping into my head, but it just sounds wrong?

Find it and you shall receive my sincerest thanks.…

Dog poo Biscuits include vegetable carbs and that means lots of waste, soft and messy. Bone means almost pure calcium, very white and closely resembles blackboard chalk.

Definitely there was a blackamoor cartoon about immigrants.

I remember the feel of the ad well, make things happen, the sense of dynamism, split screens pretty classy.

Created by Bob Harvey, if memory serves.

Perhaps inspired by The Thomas Crown Affair

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELgjuHTbT3o

Nice Job, D. Looking forward to more.

Connecting the 1972 Labour campaign ad, with Norm Kirk bounding up the steps to Parliament, to the anniversary of his death of heart failure etc less than two years later 31 August 1974 – that…

the black stabiliser cuff on the bottom

I had forgotten that those existed! Wow...

So the archive material includes advertisments then?

yeah a few, not systematically
archived by any means, often just recorded as part of another programme. If the segment continues I'm hoping to get some direct from some of the agencies' archives.

. She was able to access all the televisual stuff on Dad, over the years, which she then made into a DVD for his funeral. It meant the world to us.

What a wonderful tale of abuse of position :) It's for reasons like that and a million others ("I…

The fact that I'm totally jealous (I'd love to do something like this) does not prevent me from offering you my warmest congratulations on it. Much.

Yeah well, you'll just have to suffice with having your own TV show won't you (mumble mumble)…

It's the little details – those old 1.5l drink bottles in the dog poo story, with the black stabiliser cuff on the bottom. Those bottles were second most useful to egg cartons in the world of craft for kids.…

We've all seen the Dancing Cossacks Superannuation as (or could see it if we wanted), but I've only ever seen very brief snippets of what appeared to be an anti-Pacific immigration ad.

We used that in Media7 last year. I had to crowbar it off Te Ara and convert it…

And that's why I came up with the This Week in TV History project.

The fact that I'm totally jealous (I'd love to do something like this) does not prevent me from offering you my warmest congratulations on it. Much.

. We've all seen the Dancing Cossacks Superannuation as (or could see it if we wanted), but I've only ever seen very brief snippets of what appeared to be an anti-Pacific immigration ad.

There was definitely at least one other, though I've never seen it. I was working at Hanna-Barbera's…

Ahh, if only I had a higher data cap. Internet TV is prohibitively expensive right now :(

A couple of nights a week this would be an interesting thing to look out for. And if you're looking…