Cracker by Damian Christie

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Cracker: History Repeating

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  • Megan Clayton,

    If I may begin by answering a rhetorical question from the featured episode: in my experience (of dogs), dog poo turns white when the dog has consumed meat with plenty of fat in it. So a dog that has eaten a butcher's bone will produce white dog poo, but a dog eating commercially-prepared biscuits won't.

    Perhaps we can infer a shift to owners feeding their dogs more biscuits and fewer bones and raw meat in the last twenty years? Might this also be a middle-class phenomenon?

    These are the sorts of pressing questions for which I am prepared to delurk on these pages.

    Christchurch • Since Feb 2007 • 51 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    You haven't thought to make this one of those filler things on TVNZ6, have you (like Meet the Locals)? Or if you have, has someone thought to agree with you?

    A couple of nights a week this would be an interesting thing to look out for. And if you're looking out for things, I'd be really interested in seeing the other animated ads Hanna-Barbera did for Muldoon. 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.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Robert Urquhart,

    That first link seems to be a little bit broken ...

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

    Christchurch • Since Mar 2009 • 163 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    I had heard a theory that white dog poo wasn't so prevalent now because of preservatives in dog food (I can see this thread getting soooo derailed) but I wonder if the reason is much simpler - most people pick up their dog's
    poo these days so it doesn't get a chance to go white?

    And Graeme, yeah I'm actually thinking of a full length show (with interviews and other content) but we'll see - the interstitial idea's not a bad one... Will look for those cartoons for you.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • David Ritchie,

    Imagine an embedded YT video of the bit from "Life On Mars" where Sam is watching Gene manhandle a suspect into some pale excrement, and mutters "White dog shit -- that takes me back." That's what I'd put here if I could find it.

    Since Nov 2006 • 166 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    . 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 Sydney factory in late '75, and the notorious ads were cranked out with a certain secrecy. When I heard about them I fronted the shifty chap who ran the small commercials division, and was told that they were for the Australian Liberal Party. As Whitlam hadn't been fired at that stage, and my original informant swore he'd been told they were for NZ ("You won't believe the crap they're making upstairs for dumb kiwis"), I paid a return visit. There was no-one about, so I was able to check out the drawings at my leisure. The creepiest thing I recall was a giant stereotyped Viet Cong-ish oriental about to scoop up a little besuited chap clutching a briefcase. Ever since I've been bloody curious to see just how bad it really was.

    BTW I believe the ad agency was Colenso.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    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.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    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 -- seriously, who posts video as an swf file?

    (NB: The crowbar was wielded for purposes of criticism and review, as per the Copyright Act's fair dealing provision.)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Raymond A Francis,

    What a fantastic idea, hope we get see it on one of the free view channels soon
    It would make great change from the endless crime shows that run a the moment
    Though I do have one worry, becuase we have higher standards now (better tech etc) will the golden memories be just more crap!

    45' South • Since Nov 2006 • 578 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    This series is a great idea, especially keeping the segments whole.

    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.

    And somehow watching that dog poo story has made my childhood feel like it was centuries ago. The past is indeed a foreign country.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    The two broken links (D'oh!) are fixed...

    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) ;) But thanks, yeah, it's a real treat, I hope it continues post the month-long pilot.

    If anyone else has any requests or suggestions, by all means send them through via the feedback button (or my correctly spelled firstname.lastname@gmail.com)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • Megan Clayton,

    I thought too the phrase from the Labour ad, "round the corner of the seventies" (or similar), was a curious coinage. Was it a common-place phrase from the time, or an attempt to describe the novelty of the new decade?

    Christchurch • Since Feb 2007 • 51 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    Does this mean we are heading towards the corner of the tens/teens?

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    For as long as I've worked at TVNZ I've loved having access to the Television Archive.

    If it's not telling tales out of school, when my Dad died, my brother happened to have been going out with someone who worked at TVNZ. 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 marvellous resource.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    . 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 was once interviewed on Holmes about ...", "I was on W3 when I was 12...") that it'd be great if the archives were digitsed and open for everyone under some sort of Creative Commons basis. Huge costs involved of course, and "just cos" isn't going to cut it anytime soon...

    Who was your Dad, Jackie? Just being nosey.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • Sue,

    ok i think you may have the best job ever
    fun history!!!!

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 527 posts Report Reply

  • Phil Sargent,

    So the archive material includes advertisments then?

    Since Nov 2006 • 28 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    What a wonderful tale of abuse of position

    We knew it was a bit naughty but the person who did it had been at TVNZ for a very, very long time, and I think she knew people - ie those archive people - very well. So we were grateful. Dad is/was Tom Clark, Damian.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Damian Christie,

    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.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1164 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    Nice little piece, BTW, Damian. I remember those water bottles so well. Doesn't happen at all really, does it? But then again I suspect that's because doggies aren't allowed to roam the streets anymore.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    I am in love with This Week in TV History already.

    the black stabiliser cuff on the bottom

    I had forgotten that those existed! Wow...

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • jb,

    Assuming I can get TVNZ to stream to me (central Europe, 16 Mbps, no cap, €30/month incl all-you-can-eat national calls), I'd love to see the early 80s "Fell off" ad. Think it was paint, not sure. Delve some more, Damian. This is choice stuff.

    a.small.town.in.germany • Since Jan 2007 • 86 posts Report Reply

  • ChrisW,

    That's a concentrated few minutes of TV history large and small there, a great selection.

    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 seems especially poignant. The sighs and what-ifs of history.

    I remember the feel of the ad well, make things happen, the sense of dynamism, split screens pretty classy. But now I see such anomalies as using a shot of Maraetai Dam completed 20 years before to help convey that dynamism. And that song - Rob Guest? - a splendid period piece -

    We’ve a country that’s old enough to have a past to turn to
    And yet young enough to have a future we ourselves can make.
    Round the corner of the seventies,
    A new decade to understand the part that every one of us must undertake.
    Make things happen ’cause it’s your turn now,
    It’s too late to turn your back, the future’s here right now.
    Make things happen, this year.

    That election pretty important to me then, just turned 20 which was newly the voting age, also the basis of balloting for Compulsory Military Training and my birthday had been picked out of the barrel. So, it was time for a change, and things really did happen - military involvement in Viet Nam and Compulsory Military Training ended by Cabinet decision at their first meeting.

    All that and the mysteries of white dog poo too!

    Gisborne • Since Apr 2009 • 851 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    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

    Nice Job, D. Looking forward to more.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Bruce Thorpe,

    Great job, do you need helpers?

    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.

    Hokianga • Since May 2007 • 52 posts Report Reply

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