By Wilma Acosta
It’s a sunny weekday in the 90’s. After a long day at school you are itching to get home, turn on the telly, switch to ABC and watch VIDIOT!
You’ve discussed and predicted with friends who will be the special guest this week; will it be the cheeky rat Rattison from popular kids show The Ferals or perhaps national treasure Tammy MacIntosh, famously known for her role on McLeod’s Daughters? (All real contests by the way!)
But if you were a teen anytime after 1995, there is a good chance that you have never heard of this show, or potentially any of these people.
For a show that generated hundreds of episodes and was aired on the national broadcasting network, it remains a relatively unknown program. And even when scouring the internet for more information I was met with surprisingly low results.
Leisa Price was the contestant and audience co-ordinator for Vidiot in 1994, and then became associate producer of the show in 1995. The two years in which Price worked on the program gave her an excellent understanding of its value and operation.
“A significant percentage of content that was aired on Vidiot would probably not be seen as commercially viable today. How many pop culture shows give obscure bands a shot at live TV now? As for pop culture quiz shows, in this current industry climate this kind of show for teens is just not a priority,” said Price.
For anyone reading this article who is unsure what Vidiot is, let me explain it to you.
Vidiot was a youth-focused pop culture game show that aired from 1992 to 1995. Produced by ABC, the show featured three or four high school contestants from across the country.
Part of Price’s job was to audition high school students and choose the “shining stars to be contestants”.
Once chosen the actual show consisted of five to six rounds, each designed to challenge the contestants’ knowledge of various pop culture topics including music, celebrities, art, and more. Unlike traditional game shows, Vidiot kept things dynamic by introducing different types of rounds that tested the contestant’s knowledge beyond just question and answer.
An example is the round named Whose Junk is This? Contestants were presented with a series of six items that were associated with a well-known celebrity. They could earn up to 60 points for correctly identifying the celebrity, with the score increasing based on the number of items shown.
On studio days Price “baby sat” the contestants assisting them with the recording process. She remembers that all the students that would come in were all passionate about pop culture, and their peers who came to watch them in the audience were all incredibly excited.
“It was the kind of job that was so good you couldn’t believe you were being paid to do it.”
So if the kids enjoyed filming it, and loved the content they were being quizzed on, and the crew members, like Price, loved their jobs, why is there no youth-oriented shows like this around now?
The program shone a spotlight on Australian culture in particular, bringing out celebrity guests each week that were well-known in Australia and asking questions that were related to Australian culture. Despite this being a successful show, Price said that it is unlikely that we will see these shows being produced any time soon.
“There was a commonality between the contestants, everyone pretty much knew the same as everyone else … there wasn’t a huge scope of culture which teens have access to now.”
It is safe to say pop culture has significantly changed. The introduction of mobile phones has made our consumption of pop culture a lot more individual and globalised.
“There is not the same communal experience of watching television at a certain time with family and friends,” Price said.
Alongside this Australian culture has taken a huge hit. Content on platforms such as YouTube or Instagram is a lot more Americanised and there is not that same sense of national identity and homegrown production. Because there is an incredible amount of content being published there isn’t that same sense of shared knowledge which a pop culture game show relies on to be fun and successful.
Eden Gaha, who was host of the show at the peak of its success, revealed in an interview years later with TV Tonight that he “hated being famous” and that he didn’t “enjoy the process of television”.
So perhaps with the age of social media, people are creating content and engaging with pop culture in a way that they are more comfortable with.
Price added that there was a particular association that teens felt with the show claiming that and “teens saw themselves represented in a very clear way”.
Ultimately Price said that it is “same, same but different, if you love pop-culture you will find every drip of content you need by simply going online”.
Feature image: The contestants face off with Eden Gaha on the Vidiot set. Source: YouTube
