I vaguely remember It’s Academic when Andrew Harwood was hosting it. Being a fan of Alex Trebek’s Jeopardy, I wish there were some snippets around of the version he hosted for Seven. I’ve seen Razzle Dazzle mentioned elsewhere but don’t recall ever watching it.
I can’t remember the name, it was around the late 80s early 90s, and it had a talking robot??
I think it might have been on channel 10.
Perfect Match? lol
Nah, it was a kids game show.
Now You See It
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Now You See It had a Tomy Omnibot robot called Melvin sitting at the desk with the host.
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Those early episodes of Challenger with Diarmid were gold. Even as a kid, you could tell he did not want to be there.
Challenger was one of the more decent ones imo- anything with actual games was more fun to watch than straight quiz formats.
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Yep that’s the one. I remember watching replays in the early 90s on a Sunday morning. It was channel 7, not 10.
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Yep. I used to like that show as an 8-9 year old. It aired at 9.30am every Saturday morning, if i’m not mistaken.
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Interesting history with the revival of It’s Academic, TVW produced a local version for Perth with weather presenter Jeff Newman in the late 90s - early 2000s hosting before a national version was brought back.
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I seem to remember them screening on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Were they only ever shown on those days?
Yeah A*mazing is definitely the standout kids game show when I was in primary school. I remember as kids at home we would sometimes put the couches together in the lounge and use blankets to make our own little obstacle course version. I also loved how they used to play Mario Kart on Nintendo 64 and how bad some of them would be.
I also remember Go Go Stop but that seemed to be the popular show for the next generation. My sister who is 9 years younger used to watch that when I was in late high school or early uni days. It only ended in 2007 according to wiki.
I remember It’s Academic. It was another show that my sister also watched when I was a bit older. From memory it was around the same time as Go Go Stop or there was a time when they shared that after school 4pm timeslot throughout the year.
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Here’s a more obscure kid’s game show, TV Powwww! which screened on regional channels such as the TV8 and RVN-AMV networks in Victoria around 1981-82. The show would call contestants and there was a video game where you have to shoot the spaceships when they are in the target zone. You shoot them by saying “Powwwww!”. The following Youtube clips are from a US version:
Theme song:
courtesy KLXT77
A game of TV Powww:
courtesy Barney’s Army
Pretty much. I don’t know if Seven is still producing It’s Academic and burying it on 7TWO, but the production values (same graphics, set, theme music, etc.) hadn’t changed a bit from the time it started until at least 2013-14.
Those weren’t game shows either.
But just on The Shak, didn’t that show have a ridiculous change in format towards the end? 
That’s correct. Featured the science-y guy from “The Shak” who’s non-character name escapes me right now.
Yeah, I think it aired at 4pm in 2007 with some repeats at like 10am or something on a Saturday morning. Presented by Miranda Deakin…who I think might’ve also been on Hot Source (afternoon kids magazine show on Nine during the mid-2000s that was the predecessor to The Shak in its original format).
A pity that the “Sharky” character wasn’t kept around for something else though. Could’ve easily become a Nine Network, 21st century equivalent to Agro on a Saturday morning kids wraparound under the right producers!
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I think it was Drew Jarvis.
I remembered his first name being Drew but I had to check on the surname.
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From what I remember, Sharky’s Friends only aired at 4pm for a few months during Late 2007. Most of it’s run was actually at 10am on Saturday mornings. The Shak and Lab Rat’s Challenge filled that 4pm slot during 2008 and the first-half of 2009, while Pyramid was scheduled at 4pm during Late 2009.
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Yeah, I think that sounds about right.
The 10am Saturday morning run of Sharky’s Friends (which was probably repeats, especially if the original Late 2007 run was only for a short series between seasons of The Shak) was in Late 2008 and maybe Early 2009.
Lab Rats Challenge towards the end of 2008 and maybe Early 2009, with Pyramid in Late 2009/Early 2010.
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Yep. I can confirm that the repeats of Sharky’s Friends aired into Early 2009 as well, because I actually have a recording of an NBN Ident which aired just prior to the start of a Sharky Friends repeat from January 2009.
Also, repeats of Lab Rats Challenge used to air at 9.30am on Saturday mornings, just before Sharky’s Friends.
I think, from what I remember, Pyramid debuted around September 2009. I know that it only started just weeks before Nine’s 2009-2012 On-Air Presentation was launched.
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So what kids game shows are there currently??
Don’t ask how or why I remember, but I think it was something like Curio…
After that it became a schools based format I think produced in Brisbane with Sofie Formica hosting (sans Melvin) before being revived as Download with Scott McRae (who was also the 2nd host of Vidiot after Eden Gaha).
Of course we all remember the prime time family version that lasted 2 episodes in 1989…
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