Hey Dad..!

I was reminded of Hey Dad! by a site called "Jump the Shark". It's been a very long time since I've seen it but looking back it was surprising I grew up with an Australian sitcom alongside other shows such as Growing Pains and Family Ties.

As everyone probably knows the show's early years were the best but I persisted with it until a little kid showed up in the house and wasn't just a guest star. Hey Dad! didn't leave any real impression on me and the only jokes I remember today are Betty putting white-out on the screen of her new computer and Dad's Volvo being taken out for a joy ride with the car being put in reverse at 60 km/h.

I avoid Australian programs on commercial TV nowdays and I wonder if that's just because I'm older or because the programs in the 80's and early 90's were a lot better.

Hey Dad..!'s appeal is in making the lives of the characters something we all wish we could have. It is so easy to identify with them, and although their lives seem crazy, we wish sometimes our lives could be a little crazy, which would be better than our day-to-day lives. Hey Dad..!'s comedy is usually reliant on sarcasm, the quintessential feature of Aussie humour, although by today's standards it doesn't seem so bad anymore. It takes us back to the good old days of comedy without necessarily criticising other people, as well as some decent morals, things today's television lacks.

Its finest hour would have to be its 1992 season, probably the reason Channel Seven runs it so often. This is when the writing quality reached its peak.

Don't criticise it because of its non-aggressive humour. Just take it as it is. It'll do you good.

Hey dad would have to be the best Australian sitcom they made for awhile it was great all the way through thanks to Julie McGregor who played Betty if it wasn't for her the show wouldn't have been the same i find it much more entertaining then different strokes which i found a big joke glad they stop making that crap i rate Hey dad 10/10 well acted.

As my title says, it started off quite well, but constant character changes and a general lack of material to work with effectively killed the show.

Personally the show started going awkward for me when Paul Smith was replaced as 'Simon' - Christopher Mayer was ok but he never quite made it for me. And this was right in the early seasons.

Anyway, aside from that, the show was pretty good until in the space of 1 season or so Debbie, Simon and Nudge (practically half the main cast) just disappeared and were replaced. The biggest problem here was not that they were replaced but rather their replacements were almost IDENTICAL to the earlier characters. Ben was Simon with a bit of Nudge thrown in. Arthur was also a bit of Nudge. Samantha was Debbie.

Needless to say that after this the show started going downhill quite rapidly. Even the replacement of Martin Kelly was for naught because Greg Russell was (surprise surprise) yet another identical replacement. If you're going to replace characters, please make them DIFFERENT. Making them practically identical to the originals only serves to remind us of how good the original cast was compared to the current one.

The only character that stayed with the show throughout was Betty (Jenny doesn't count because she was played by 2 different actresses, who both played her differently), which was pretty sad. Betty may have been funny at first but in the end all she did was mess up everything again and again and again. Was funny at first, but after a couple of years you want something else for a change.

In all, the series was enjoyable, but it's best years were 1986-1991 when the original cast (well at least most of it) was in.

I never quite got into Hey Dad - it was so hit and miss. But worse was the spin off TV show set in a share house. When Mr Kelly turned up to check if it could be turned into a colloseum, that was about it's lowest point! And then it turned out to be heritage listed for Banjo Patterson! Jaysus.. but anyway, Hey Dad - we all know Nudge was cool. But Betty was one of the worst characters on Australian television. Simone was borrowed from Paradise Beach. Stan from Walgatt was underused gold! The stuttering guy should never have been allowed on television. And the little fat kid probably grew up to be heath ledger.

I have heard there's a Hey Dad MOVIE being made? Can anyone confirm this for me??? PLEASE Say NUDGE has taken over the Kelly Business!!