Hey Hey It's Saturday is a long running variety television program on Australian television. It ran for 27 years (there was a recess in 1978), debuting on the Nine Network on 9 October 1971 and broadcasting its last episode on 20 November 1999. Its host throughout its entire run was Daryl Somers, who would later become executive producer of the program. Gavin Disney, the show's co-creator and original producer, left the series in the 1980s and Somers then jointly formed his own production company, Somers Carroll Productions with on-screen partner Ernie Carroll, the performer of Daryl's puppet sidekick Ossie Ostrich.
On 25 July 2009, the Nine Network announced the show would return for two reunion specials in late 2009 and hinted if they rated strongly, the show could return full time.[2] The first reunion show aired on 30 September 2009 and the second on 7 October. On 7 December 2009, it was announced that the show was planned to return in 2010 with an estimated run of 20 episodes. On 26 March 2010 it was announced that the new series of Hey Hey It's Saturday was to commence on 14 April 2010.[3] During the 2010 premiere on 14 April, it was indicated that the 20 episode run would be split into two groups, with a break between them, and the second group would be aired at an unspecified period of time later in 2010.
