Basically Black

Australian TV series or program

Bob Maza
Gary Foley
Aileen Corpus
Zac Martin
Bindi Williams

Country of originAustraliaOriginal languageEnglishNo. of seasons1No. of episodes1 (list of episodes)ProductionExecutive producerAlan MorrisProducerBill MunroRunning time28 minutesOriginal releaseNetworkABCRelease7 July 1973 (1973-07-07)

Basically Black is a 1973 Australian television comedy program, notable as the first television program written and created by Indigenous Australians. It was produced as one of a series of pilot programs called The Comedy Game.

A single half-hour of sketch comedy, the program was based on a satirical political revue of the same name by the National Black Theatre that had been performed at the Nimrod Theatre in Sydney the previous year.^[1]^[2]

It premiered on 7 July 1973 as part of a series of ABC Television comedy pilots, The Comedy Game.^[3] Some elements of the original script had been censored by Australian Broadcasting Corporation,^[4] and it was described by Gary Foley as a "politically watered-down" version of the stage show.^[1]

The pilot was deemed a success, but the ABC did not proceed with creating a series from it.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Gary Foley, Gary. "Images from history". The Koori History Website. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
^ Jones, Margaret (2 November 1972). "Review of "Basically Black"". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 August 2022 – via The Koori History Website.
^ "Lively Russian dancers in TCN9 special". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 40, no. 50. 16 May 1973. p. 10. Retrieved 17 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^ "Five trail-blazing indigenous TV shows that paved the way for Cleverman". Daily Review. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2016.