Not a mention of Countdown in sight...I have a feeling Jason won't be pleased. Can't say I am either. Oh well.
What better way to start off 2012 than digging out your old school attire, 60s flairs, tie-dye t-shirts, scrunchie socks, grungy flannelettes and tuning in to all the retro goodness rage has installed for you. Tune in this Satuday for episodes of "Hit Scene”, “Get To Know” “This Day Tonight” and loads of old school retro clips!
Catch retro highlights from 10:00am Saturday morning on ABC1 then catch the full show from 11:33pm on Saturday night.
We will be playing a wide range of retro clips that will surely get you groovin' and movin' to all of your old time favourite hits!
Featuring a huge variety of flashbacks and highlights from the previous decades, boy, have we got something in store for every music lover in town!
We'll take you all the way back to 1967 to episodes of 'Be Our Guest' featuring the always memorable live performance by Python Lee Jackson & the unforgettable soulful sounds of Jeff St. John & The ID. Sitar maestro, Ravi Shankar, will also feature in an inspirational interview on an episode of 'Get To Know' and we will be be playing numerous episodes of the all time favourite series ‘Hit Scene’, hosted by Dick Williams, where it's year of 1969 will be unearthed on screen once again.
Other retro clips which will surely please you retro fans include performances from Telex, Manhattan Transfer, The Easybeats, The Velvet Underground and Ian Dury & The Blockheads.
Be sure to tune in this Saturday to see what we have dug out from our archives. There'll undoubedtly be a favourite tune or a live performance from your all-time artist of yours that will surely rock your retro socks off!
'This Day Tonight'? Oh dear, it's not even music:
This Day Tonight (commonly abbreviated as “TDT”) was an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) current affairs program of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
[edit] Overview
When TDT premiered in 1967 it was the first regular nightly current affairs program on Australian TV, and it extended ABC’s award-winning coverage of current affairs, which had begun in the early 1960s with its flagship weekly program Four Corners.
Rage had better play some Countdown this Saturday or I'll be SERIOUSLY T'd-off!
That blurb doesn't inspire confidence sadly!
As much as I love countdown, my expectations of rage over the last few years hasn't been much, as as it goes on, my opinion of rage is pretty much down the gutter. It's a case of if they do show a complete countdown episode intact, oh well, what a miracle.
...and that's also not to mention that they still keep screwing up the aspect ratio on many of their videos, many of the videos on their new years eve party mix were half off my screen, what kind of idiots do they employ at rage.
I sort of have a feeling of dejavu here.
Hmmmm, my guess is they're going to do it decade-by-decade this year. Seems the focus of "week 1" is pre-Countdown (even though it's really week 2...but lets not beat that wasp's nest with a stick).
Can I suggest we don't get too agitated yet. I predict all the 60s early 70s stuff will be this weekend (which isn't a bad thing at all)...then we'll probably get the next 2 weeks of '70s/'80s Countdown & Rock Arena, which is when rage will have the opportunity to knock our socks off...lets give them the chance to do so
Scary though to think that the last week will probably be dedicated exclusively to 90s/00s pure vomit...but I'm guessing that's what's going to happen so best we prepare ourselves for it. Shrugs, we can't do anything about it...and we have to accept that rage *has* to cater to its audience share that grew up in the '90s & for whom the '90s is the equivalent of our '70s & '80s. Poor things.
Not happy. As abbaluke said, we have to have confidence that we will get some glory in the next couple of weeks. Keep in mind too, that rage played 13 Countdown episodes in 2010 and 17 episodes in 2011. Let's hope we do a few more better this year. I guess we'll need Countdown marathons the next couple of weeks to get there!
Yes, true, rage does have to cater to an audience with diverse tastes. Although they have improved greatly over the last 5 or so years, broadening their palate beyond the usual JJJ/grunge/'alternative' genre to include some retro pop/dance clips, the last few retro months themselves haven't been too crash hot, IMO... although some of the Saturday morning clips were good.
I too sense that they may be doing a decade per week format this January. Personally I much prefer the non-themed/no particular format retro months, with a variety of stuff.
Looks like from now on in future years, we will be writing on the rage message board, no video clips just music shows in retro month.
I hate to be a pessimist, but I wouldn't be that surprised if the rest of the month pans out like this:
Jan 14: 70's theme, more GTK, some repeated Countdowns from the 70's, maybe an episode of Flashez
Jan 21: 80's theme, more 1980 or mediocre 1982 Countdowns , maybe a repeat/edited Countdown thrown in for good measure, a Rock Arena that nobody has asked for which features some obscure indie Australian band live in the studio, some common 80's clips thrown in between, no Countdown Revolution/Factory/later episodes of Countdown as some of us have been asking for.
Jan 28: 90's/00's theme - Big Day Out live clips from the 90's (maybe a 1992 Big Day Out special, which I believe was the first, as it is now 20 years ago - with Nirvana footage/clips galore), Recovery & 10:30 slot "highlights" (sic) in between.
Game over.
And if you thought that wasn't good enough, next year during retro month they will repeat the entire 1993 JJJ Hottest 100 one Saturday night, as it will mark 20 years since there was an annual Hottest 100, instead of a Hottest 100 'of all time'. Plus a 'bonus' extra weekend of 90's/00's stuff, as the JJJ Hottest 100 repeat eats into precious Recovery/10:30 Slot time. Also, it's another 4 weekend January, so there goes half of retro month 2013. By retro month 2014, the Abbott government will have made severe cuts to the ABC, rendering retro month and possibly rage itself untenable.
OK, maybe that's a 'worst case scenario' prediction, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it happens.
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Although I look forward to the 60s retro stuff - TDD sounds very promising - the lack of Countdowns is annoying to say the least. Should be at least one per week ideally more.
Hoping for a good amount of Flashez this year but won't get my hopes up.
Last year I put up a timing list of Rage's retro programming each week which was quite accurate. It looked like this (Example):
11.57pm Countdown
12.43am Flashez
etc etc etc..
This turned out to be quite a help for everyone recording retro season so if you could still use it for this year I'd be glad to do the same thing regardless of what's programmed. It's more in-depth than Rage's general 12.30am this, 1.00am this, 1.30am this etc..
That would be fantastic if you could do that again Frankster, that was a big help last year.
Hope a lot of Countdowns are played this year - considering over 200 eps still remain to be aired they should for sure.
NOT HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I OFFICIALLY give up on rage. I am not bothering with them anymore. I am absolutely DISGUSTED by their lack of Countdown especially after what has happened to Molly.
rage S U C K ... I officially HATE THEM!
If they have a full night of Hitscene, GTK, plus the unaired Hit Parade hopefully along with what I assume may be a report on music from This Day Tonight and move on to Countdown next week then I think that is fair enough if they give all eras an even run.
60's and 70's fans have not had much of a go over the years. There was an episode of This Day Tonight that was hosted by Molly Meldrum in relation to drugs so I guess that it may be that episode considering Molly has been in the news recently.
I have always advocated an even amount of all eras relative to what exists despite most of it being outside of my own sphere of interest. I primarily put suggestions forward for 80's content, which is no different to anyone else as I rarely see individuals make considered requests covering anything other than their own personal interests.
I did have a few debates with people who previously had just said play 60's/70's/80's/90's in weekly lots as that lacks thought and over simplifies the situation. It wouldn't work due to the amount of footage from the various eras that is available, unless you were to pad out the 60's with common clips that get shown all year round.
However I would think the following is the fairest way to show all eras with regard to relative amount and variety of footage available:
Week 1 1955-1974 with mainly Hitscene and GTK as very little else other than common clips exist. It covers 20 years but outside of the 1969-72 period there is very little in the ABC archives of Channel 2 shows.
Week 2 1975-1984 with 5 Countdowns, a Rock Arena (Sharon O'Neill episode hopefully) and some Flashez. Covers 10 years but again there is not much for the late 70's as many tapes got wiped and all the surviving Countdowns from that era have already been aired on Rage.
Week 3 1985-1992 With Countdown, Rock Arena, Beatbox, Between The Teeth, The Factory and Countdown Revolution. Covers 8 years but has generally not been explored greatly in retro.
Week 4 1993-2001 with Recovery, Studio 22, Hesters Shed and whatever else was on at that time. I don't see 90's as Retro but Rage do so I guess that's all that matters there.
So if Rage were to follow a format similar to that then I guess it would be fairest to all the different viewers' tastes.
The only concern would be that Countdown is clearly the most popular show and retro month actually started off as Countdown month due to the persistence of Countdown fans to plead for episodes to be shown. So all other shows are actually encroaching onto territory established by Countdown fans.
All this angst could be solved if the ABC just decided to put shows - even one a week - in the dead zone when ABC 2 & 3 shut down.
Bring back Jonathan Shire as ABC Manager, and then he can clean the entire rage staff out, that in it self would be worth a party.
rage made a big mistake in the 90's showing all the 70's Countdown episodes. They should have spread it out over the years and there would still be more 70's episodes to screen today. That way the majority of viewers would be happy and it would still be called Countdown month and not retro month. Too many views these days (on the message board) on what content should be played have ruined it for the Countdown fans, who were the ones who got Countdown back on rage in the first place. I was one of them who would constantly ring up the rage line in 1992 and ask them to repeat Countdown episodes.
Let us wait and see the final playlists for all 4 weeks before giving up on the Rage team altogether guys!!
I remember the same problems with a couple of playlists early in the retro season both 2 years ago and last year before everything suddenly came good. Patience would be a good virtue here.
Who has said anything about certain weeks being devoted to certain eras at all?
What is certain is there will be ample Countdown to satisfy everyone by the end of Week 4 this year.
What seems to be happening now in Retro Season is the Rage team opting for a bigger variety of material.
Whilst no-one wants to see the great Countdown tradition fade away too much, at the end of the day the bulk of airtime will always be devoted to this flagship music show in Australias history - the way it should be.
By the way, none of the mentioned 1960's shows for this Fridays line-up run for more than 25 minutes - and 7 hours is a lot of airtime to fill in - I think everyone needs to calm down a bit and play a "wait and see" game before casting harsh judgement on the Rage team. There are many people who will be thrilled at seeing some 1969 Hitscenes, as well as Be Our Guest and these other archival gems. Count me in as one of them. The only thing that worries me a bit about Be Our Guest and This Day Tonight is that they are not music shows but rather variety shows with a few music acts thrown in. Maybe they are just showing the musical performances from these shows. Although Be Our Guest is so awful it will be worth watching just to see a young Jackie Weaver amongst the cast regulars. Whichever way it pans out, it does not amount to much airtime I can assure you all.
And obviously I am equally hoping for quite a lot of the requested Countdowns that have come from many of our regulars in here - there are 4 weeks and I am positive we will see something. Please stay positive -keep the faith guys!!
I have to agree Luke and Brett. It's hard to place a judgment on something without having even seen a playlist yet.
Last year the first few weeks had some ordinary items in them - week 1 repeated the 10th anniversary Countdown yet again plus Kinks, Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison and 10:30 Slot - but by the end we had actually gotten about 17 Countdowns, even if a number were repeats.
Granted there were 5 weeks last year but I will remain optimistic we will get some good stuff.
The 90's were good with the amount of Countdown shown on Rage but they also overly concentrated on the 70's episodes to the extent that the Sherbet episode and Iggy Pop were shown 4 times each and every time I saw them yet again I would be spewing they did not show an unaired 80's show instead. All up there were not that many 80's episodes shown compared to what we have gotten in the last 10 years.
I will wait and see what rage delivers over the next 4 weeks before I make the call to comment on the rage message board.
Unfortunately Rage has a youth focus. That means an emphasis on very left of centre JJJ-type stuff from the past ten years. The moderator on the Rage messageboard has often said that the only reason they brought in Retro month in the early 1990s due to the lack of new release videos issued during January. I'm not optimistic about Retro Month this year with more crap like Recovery likely to feature. Still, I expected Countdown to feature more prominently this year due to Molly's recent tumble.
OMG am I right in reading, hearing and learning that no "Countdown" episode is to be aired this first retro week Jan 7. That would be tragic and a waste of what only looks like 4 weeks rather than 5 weeks of retro show programming like we have had in the past this year. That aside I am always generally pleased to see other retro shows played from 60s, 70s & 80s but as has been mentioned let's not shift the focus away from "Countdown" as there are still at least 200 or so shows we have yet to be aired. I would preferably like at least 2 or 3 "Countdown each Sun in retro month however if "Rage" aren't going to air as many why not one whole week of "Countdown" at least, I would be much more satisfied with that if this is how it has to be. Like Brett2 and a few others here have mentioned let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet. "Rage" could generally surprise all of us. Here's hoping.
In defense of "Rage" I have to say at least the last 2 years or so I have been generally pretty satisfied with their efforts but a week without "Countdown" not a good move especially for all of us devoted "Countdown" fans who requested it all along and there are many of us. I love the show that I even created a facebook fanpage & You Tube channel so those of us don't have to wait no more for the month of Jan and of course Jason's wonderful efforts with his website here and the official Countdown page if it is still in existence. Please feel free to post anytime as any input is always welcome. I would love to see the "GTK" ep 296 approx 15 minutes with "Tymepiece and actress Belinda Giblin chatting about a short movie "Sacrifice" have searched everywhere for info on this film although there is prob buckleys of that happening. Still waiting for the '81 "Countdown" guest host James Reyne & music performance of "Tears" by Debbie Byrne and the 1987 "Countdown" with guest host Jenny Morris to name a couple or so things. I would also love a complete "National Music Awards" show from 1975 / 1976 as they played a Renee Geyer clip from it couple a years back. I'm sure whatever they play will be exciting and bring back heaps of memories but please let's not forget about "Countdown" it is in my view still the best of all the music shows we have seen in Australian tv music history.
More blurb up now on the Rage website:
Saturday morning Special - 10.00am - 11.00am
Get your retro fix this Saturday morning as rage dusts off killer clips by artists including Telex, Sister Sledge, Fox, Ian Dury, Skyhooks, Roy Orbison, Sam & Dave, Herman’s Hermits and more.
Saturday night 7th January
Start time 23:30pm
show me
Dig out your flares folk, rage is travelling back in time has a full night of retro fun in store for you!
Tune in for episodes of Hit Scene, Get To Know , This Day Tonight and more from the 60s as well as loads of old school retro clips by Telex, Manhattan Transfer, The Easybeats, The Velvet Underground and Ian Dury & The Blockheads and many more.
Yep, looks like largely a 60's week, with a little 70's thrown in. Again, no mention of Countdown.
Let me guess:
Sister Sledge - the clip will either be the 90's remix of 'We Are Family', or 'He's The Greatest Dancer' - both of which have aired multiple times over the last few years.
Fox - S-S-S Single Bed, not so bad if it's the full clip this time. But still, it's been on rage before.
Ian Dury - 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick' or 'I Wanna Be Straight'.
Skyhooks - 'Livin In the 70s' or 'Horror Movie' - both been on Rage many times.
The Easybeats - another airing of 'Friday On My Mind', just what we need!
The Velvet Underground - that live 'Venus In Furs' clip from the 80s/90s that gets a regular airing.
Yawn.
People on the rage forum think that I in particular have a problem with rage playing 60s this weekend.
This is NOT the case. I have a problem with the fact that rage goes for almost 7 hours and after all the 60s and some 70s we are being feed RETRO MUSIC VIDEOS!
Why can't rage play a Countdown which goes for about 55 minutes then by all means, play 60s and 70s for 3 hours or so this weekend and then another Countdown and some Beat Box highlights or a Rock Arena.
They are SO stubborn with their themes, they really get on my nerves!!!
True, the theme for X-Mas Countdown's did INDEED work a few years ago. It was BRILLIANT!
Guru, I am NOT Ghostrider, Ghostrider is my friend Maryanne who is equally as P I S S E D off as I am.
She has her own mind and get's as upset as I do with rage's LACK of anything this January so far!!!
She comes over to my house on most weekend in January and we watch Countdown's together with out mountains of food. rage is depriving us all of a good time in January, B A S T A R D S !!!
Re-reading the blurb again, what sounds even WORSE about this weekend's rage is that Saturday morning's 10-11 slot looks like it's merely 'previewing' clips that will be shown AGAIN on the Saturday night! What an UTTER WASTE! They could have at least pulled out some rare stuff that wasn't going to be screened again the following night. Sometimes rage really have no idea.
^ I swear that they must put their newbie/work experience skeletal staff on during January over the last few years, when the main rage team are all on annual leave. How else can you explain the idiocy?!
In my opinion, anything after 1987 shouldn't be considered as Retro. Fancy adding Destiny's Child in that playlist! Somethings wrong here.
Was good to see APOLLONIA 6 as I haven't seen that clip since the 80's.
Hi everyone,
Still waiting on Rage's playlists so I can put up the data for the individual timings as I did last year as Rage tend to just group things together in half-hours. As soon as I become aware of them I'll start a seperate thread.
Guru Bob & Brett (2),
My prayers were answered when i made those Hitscene requests from 1969 a few months back.
Will see if they show that Hit Parade episode within the next 3 weeks.
I'd like see the unaired Countdown episodes for the rest of the month to pay tribute to our dear Molly. He deserves it.
i too would love to get hold of the tymepiece interview about the film sacrifice by keith salvat as i was the bass player all those years ago
we also did some songs on gtk as well but i cant seem to find any of them
darcy