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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.

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

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

See also

• Black Comedy

References

1. ^ Gary Foley, Gary. "Images from history". The Koori History Website. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
2. Jones, Margaret (2 November 1972). "Review of "Basically Black"". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 August 2022 – via The Koori History Website.
3. "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.
4. "Five trail-blazing indigenous TV shows that paved the way for Cleverman". Daily Review. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2016.

External links

• Basically Black on YouTube (28 mins)
• Basically Black on Vimeo

• Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming
• 1970s Australian comedy television series
• 1973 Australian television series debuts
• 1973 Australian television series endings
• Indigenous Australian television series