In a further blow to real journalism, Channel 10 has decided to axe the long-running Totally Wild which debuted in 1992 and touched more kid’s hearts than a paediatric cardiologist.
The formula was simple – get presenters who looked like Christian youth workers to launch a 30-minute fact offensive on the front line of children’s minds.
It cannot be disputed that the show’s golden era was the 90’s and early 2000s. In an age before Wikipedia, these frosted tipsters only had a brief read of Encarta to prepare them for explosive interviews with real business owners, children or masters of Australian beasts.
You’d learn more superficial facts about shit like Koalas, local primary schools and Go-Kart parks in 30 minutes than you would reading the so-called online “news” for 30 straight days.
Over its life, the show was aired at various times and on various days but you knew it was about to get real when you heard the distinctive theme song blaring out in the finest Dolby surround sound.
Simply put, the song sounded like a Zoo swinger’s party during a lube drought. Wild animal noises were played over a synthesised beat you could chew your face off too.
Presenters came and went but there was always one light that never went off during the storm of your adolescence – Ranger Stacey. An actual Veterinarian- yep, this was an age of journalism that actually relied on experts.
Ranger Stacey is an O.G of the children’s TV circuit and Irwin-esque in her love of animals. Your socks may have been crusty but at least your mind wasn’t rusty, so one can forgive her for being a Queenslander.
Now with both Totally Wild and Cheez TV being axed, we must ask serious questions about the future of our children’ education. Will they know 5 amazing facts about platypus or mere sink deeper into the void of ignorance that we find ourselves careening into at a fast pace?
Vale, Totally Wild.