Talk:Fat Cat and Friends

Fat Cat concept
TVW Perth's Sales Manager Greg Byrne and his wife Judith came up with the Fat Cat concept. Fat Cat also appeared on SAS, after SAS Adelaide was bought by TVW. The national Fat Cat and Friends was produced at SAS in Adelaide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v0GCQDnaIo 24.76.141.128 05:56, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * it was Judith Byrne who came up with the concept of what Fat Cat would look like. Judith is the wife of former TVW sales manager and managing director Greg Byrne. — Preceding unsigned comment added by SevanMilis (talk • contribs) 07:21, 26 May 2012 (UTC)

"FAT CAT'S FAVOURITE NURSERY RHYMES"
http://www.tvmem.com/OZST/tv/A-Z/F/FATCATAN/FATCATAN.html

Humbolt the Clown

 * For most of the decade of the eighties, I was on national television daily, in Australia, as Humbolt the Clown on the children's show "Fat Cat and Friends". It was hard work sometimes to keep up the enthusiasm, but the salary helped pay off our house.
 * FAT CAT & FRIENDS


 * Btwn:1981-89 "Fat Cat & Friends" as Lead - Humbolt The Clown  Actor: Wayne Anthoney

Annette Purvis

 * TVW Reunion Photos courtesy of Annette Purvis, November - 11 - 2009, Western Australian Television History (WA TV History) - Annette Purvis sang the theme to FAT CAT’S FUN SHOW. — Preceding unsigned comment added by SevanMilis (talk • contribs) 07:16, 26 May 2012 (UTC)


 * 'Fat Cat' Reg Whiteman rests in peace, From: PerthNow, July 30, 2011


 * 

patsybiscoe
http://www.flickr.com/photos/patsybiscoe/

Melanie George
http://portside-messenger.whereilive.com.au/news/story/detective-mates-to-investigate-retirement/

Melanie George writes: Posted on 31 Jul 09 at 06:55pm

Original Fat Cat? Hmmmmmm. No it wasn't. I know the original Fat Cat and the second. I was the third Fat Cat and well and truly finished the job by 85. I think those facts need to be checked.

Cancellation
I found a clipping which said: "Fat Cat and friends was axed by Channel 7 in 1992, after 15 years on the air, when the then Australian Broadcasting Tribunal ruled the show was 'not clearly defined, might confuse the young and had 'poor production values'". I found it in 2016 at the (now dead) link: https://scontent.fadl1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/11667326_912467245488814_4888327794998549172_n.jpg, and unfortunately cannot find it now. I am posting here to correct the "encouraging of bestial adoration" quote, which I assume was inserted as a joke. Adpete (talk) 03:29, 22 August 2020 (UTC)

Here is a 1992 article: "When Fat Cat failed to meet the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal's children's television standards and four episodes of Skippy had the same fate, it did not mean they had been banned, but merely that the networks could not count them among the minimum number of hours they must show of children's programming. Yet it sparked a debate which involved a campaign by the Nine Network and led to the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal disbanding the Children's Program Committee which has monitored and advised on children's programming for the past 14 years... Fat Cat, a Seven Network programme, had been rejected by the CPC last year..." -- NETWORKS CLAW BACK KIDS' TV, By Patricia Edgar, Australian Financial Review, May 26, 1992, Adpete (talk) 04:56, 22 August 2020 (UTC)

And another from 1992: "Fat Cat has been banished from our screens in one of the most profound decisions made in the history of the Broadcasting Tribunal. The tubby tom’s character was deemed “still not clearly defined” and his show was accused of having “still generally poor” direction.  It took 15 years for someone to reach this momentous decision, years in which the lives of whole generations of Australian children must have been corrupted irreparably." -- Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here, TV Week, 1-7 March 1992. Adpete (talk) 05:13, 22 August 2020 (UTC)

"Designed for pre-school children, Fat Cat and Friends was broadcast on weekday mornings on Network Ten between 1977 and 1987, and then on the Seven Network until 1992. It featured Fat Cat (Francis Aloysius Tom Cat), an orange cat with a green hat and red braces, played variously by Ralph Hadzic, Reg Whiteman and Melanie George. Other performers included John Oster and Jane Reilly, and musician Patsy Biscoe. The program was written, directed and produced by Murray George in the studios of SAS10 in Adelaide... In 1991, the [Children’s Program Committee] committee reviewed Fat Cat and made extensive recommendations for changes to Fat Cat and Friends to make it more educational; there was also some concern about the ambiguity of Fat Cat’s gender. The Seven Network decided to cancel the program and begin again with a new pre-school program. This generated a media storm,...", Fat Cat and Friends, companion entry, Nick Herd (c. 2014), AustLit. Adpete (talk) 05:42, 22 August 2020 (UTC)

Extensive Senate Estimates Committee discussion (27-March-1992) here: "'' Senator BISHOP --What happens if you get a P?

Mr Westerway --That is a preschool classification for a different age group--nought to five instead of six to 14--but it is roughly the same system. The major difference there is that it is 130 hours of programs that each licensee has to show each year.

...

Senator BISHOP --So Fat Cat would have come into what category?

Mr Westerway --It was category P.

...

Senator BISHOP --Tell me about the criteria that are used by this Committee to allocate those classifications. Is that set of criteria published and known?

Mr Westerway --Yes, it is a standard. It is called standard CTS2, children's television standard 2. In brief, the five criteria are: be made specifically for children; be entertaining; be well produced--script, direction et cetera; add something to a child's understanding and experience; and be relevant for Australian children.

...

Mr Westerway --No, there was something similar for the C classification. The P classification did not exist until January 1990.

...

Senator BISHOP --So when `the standard' was introduced, and you introduced a P classification, presumably both Fat Cat and Here's Humphrey applied for a classification. Is that right?

Mr Westerway --Yes, that is correct.

Senator BISHOP --Initially both of them were denied. Is that right?

Mr Westerway --Yes.

...

Mr Westerway -- In the case of Fat Cat, the producers of the program--the network concerned, or one of its hired-in producers--decided that they were not going to put the sorts of resources that were needed into Fat Cat in order to bring it up to the standard

...

Senator BISHOP --Thank you. We have heard a lot about the reasons that Fat Cat was denied, but we have not heard much about the reasons why Here's Humphrey got a yes.

Mr Westerway --The network in that case, which was also the producer, decided to put substantial resources into the program and made a higher quality, more expensive program.

...

Senator BISHOP --All right. Let us look at some of the infamous reasons why Fat Cat was canned. We were told that one of the reasons was `the role of the cat was not defined in sufficiently clear terms'. Now what does that mean?

Mr Westerway --Senator, I did not make the decision but I will get you the reasons. I cannot speculate on that. That is one particular thing that has been mentioned in the media. Adpete (talk) 00:33, 23 August 2020 (UTC)