Couch Potato is an Australian children's television show broadcast on ABC TV in Australia and a staple of Classic ABC.
Airing on Sunday mornings, it was a "wrapper" show linking three or four animated or live action shows aimed at older pre-teen and young teenage audiences.
Contents
Programs
The Adventures of Sam
Alias the Jester
Alvin and the Chipmunks
The Angry Beavers
The Animals of Farthing Wood
Animated Classic Showcase
Aquila
Archibald the Koala
The Baby-Sitters Club
Bananaman
Bangers and Mash
The Biz
Bump in the Night
The Cat Came Back
Clowning Around
Cro
Danger: Marmalade At Work
Danger Mouse
The Demon Headmaster
Dog Tracer
The Dreamstone
EC Plays Lift Off
Educating Marmalade
Escape from Jupiter
Finders Keepers
The Genie From Down Under
Ghostwriter
Inspector Gadget
Johnson and Friends
Kideo
Lift Off
Minty
Mot
Odysseus: The Greatest Hero of Them All
Orson and Olivia
Plasmo
The Real Story of...
Return to Jupiter
Rocko's Modern Life
Roland Rat
Roland Rat Goes East
Roland Rat's Winter Wonderland
Round the Bend
Round the Twist
Santo Bugito
The Secret World of Alex Mack
Simon and the Witch
SimsalaGrimm
Ship to Shore
Stickin' Around
Sun on the Stubble
SuperTed
Toucan Tecs
The Trap Door
True Tilda
The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat
Watt on Earth
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends
You Can't Do That on Television
Presenters
Grant Piro was the original host and stayed on the show for six years from 1991 to 1996.
During its run, Couch Potato's presenters included Grant Piro, David Erskine a.k.a. Gilbert Gusset, Joey Kennedy, Jess Keeley, Jane Nield, Sam Prest, David Heinrich and Abby Coleman.
History
The show debuted on 17 March 1991 and ended on 24 June 2001.
Originally intended to be an educational program for children, Grant Piro was asked to host by an Adelaide producer of the ABC. Ten episodes were initially filmed, based on science experiments in conjunction with the education department at the ABC.
According to Grant Piro, "a producer and I decided to hijack the program. We said, 'how about we try and make it a bit more anarchic?’ We decided to break some of the ABC's rules and see how much we could get away with and we ended up breaking a lot of rules over the next six years. Couch Potato stopped being educational and became more about comic sketches and I think that's where the appeal took off”.
In February 2005, Couch Potato had a spiritual successor in a similar show called RollerCoaster which aired on weekday afternoons and Sunday mornings until 30 January 2010.