Footy Show (AFL), The-Greatest Hits: The First Decade (1994-2004) (1994)

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General		Extras
Category	Sports	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Scene Selection Anim & Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	1994
Running Time	211:46 (Case: 229)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (35:26)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Nine Network Sony Music	Starring	Eddie McGuire Sam Newman Trevor Marmalade
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$34.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	Varies
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Varies	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    First going to air on 24 March 1994, The AFL Footy Show recently celebrated its 300 episode in early 2004 and now in its 11th season does not seem to show any sign of slowing down. The game of Australian rules football may have evolved since the early 1990s and become even more professional and slickly promoted, but The Footy Show has continued on in much the same format since it first went to air. The Nine Network may now hold the rights to the games and allow the show to show game footage, the players appearing on the panel may have changed considerably over the time, with many retiring or moving to rival networks, but the three main 'stars' of the show are still there and still going strong.

    The Footy Show was the vehicle for Eddie McGuire to showcase his presenting talent and become a household name outside of Victoria. It also brought the antics of former Geelong ruckman and self-confessed ladies man John 'Sammy' Newman to the fore. Backing them both up behind the bar and ready with many a memorable gag is resident funny-man Trevor Marmalade.

    At its heart The Footy Show is a television variety show, featuring many gags, jokes, send-ups, faux drama series, zany interviews, and heaps of other over-the-top antics often not even remotely related to Australian rules football. But it has proved a success over the last decade, usually winning its Thursday night timeslot with ease and becoming a virtual institution in its home state of Victoria. What this disc provides us with is a sentimental and hilarious look back over the past decade with a shade over three hours of crazy antics and memorable moments. Who could forget Sam walking on set at the end of one show with face blacked out with boot polish and impersonating Nicky Winmar? Or the time Sam smashed a cream pie into the face of Melbourne forward David Schwarz? What about the time Shane Crawford went one step too far and dacked Sam Newman live on the show for all and sundry to see his tackle? or the emotional moment when the death of footy legend Ted Whitten was announced live on the show in 1995? All those segments are included on this disc guaranteed to provide plenty of laughs and tears all over again. The main feature of highlights runs for 117:44 and includes the abovementioned segments plus some classic interviews with the likes of Brent Crosswell, Ted Whitten, and Jack Dyer, some classic live-links where Dermott Brereton or Billy Brownless were usually up to no good somewhere out in the city, plus all the hilarity of the many sketches performed on the show. There are also four additional segments labelled the Best Of, which look at the best moments from some of the regular segments on the show such as Street Talk. These are detailed below:

Street Talk

    Fans will need no introduction to the crazy antics of Sam Newman and the weird and wonderful people he manages to talk to during his weekly Street Talk segment. This runs for 35:26 and includes the best victims (sorry interviewees) for each of the years 1994-2003. All years are able to be selected individually or there is a play-all option.

Almost Football Legends

    Before they were allowed to show footage of any real AFL game, Almost Football Legends was the only way the show could have highlights of real games in action. Viewers would send in their video footage of any speccy mark or crazed happening on the footy field, be it local little-leaguers, country or state league games. This 17:40 of highlights showcases some of the best, the funniest, and the downright wet yourself moments from the last ten years.

Grand Final Show

    From very humble beginnings in 1994, the Grand Final edition of the Footy Show has grown into something of an extravaganza. Staged at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena in front of more than 10,000 people, the recent editions of the show have been slick and highly professionally staged events. This 19:40 segment looks at some of the best moments from the Grand Final editions, but for some reason does not include any of the much-anticipated player review material.

Sam's Walk Ons

    Poor old Eddie must silently cringe every time that Sam Newman walks on at the start of the show dressed up in some crazy outfit (or sometimes not dressed at all). This 21:16 segment highlights some of the best (and worst) of Sam's walk ons, including his completely stark-naked effort (save only for a strategically positioned football).

Video

    Broadcast television has changed considerably over the last ten years, and with this highlights package containing footage from the very first Footy Show back in March 1994 right through to the end of 2003, there is plenty of different quality material on display. The whole transfer is 16x9 enhanced, with the older 1.33:1 aspect ratio footage presented in the frame with black bars running down the left and right hand sides. The newer material from around 2001 onwards is presented using the full 1.78:1 frame.

    With the exception of the Almost Football Legends segment, all the material is sharp, with the newer digital based material obviously that much sharper than the material from circa 1994. Grain is not a problem and there is no low level noise. The Almost Football Legends segment runs for around 18 minutes and features plenty of old video footage contributed by viewers. As a result there are many video and other tape-based artefacts appearing for virtually the full length of the segment.

    Overall, the colours are well rendered and there are no problems such as bleeding or over-saturation.

    No MPEG artefacts are evident and there are few film or video artefacts.

    Unfortunately there are no subtitles.

    This disc is dual layered with RSDL formatting and the layer change is located at 35:26 during the Best Of segments. It occurs right at the end of the Street Talk best of segment and is virtually invisible.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    A fairly basic audio selection graces this disc. We get an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack as the only option.

    Aside from a few musical numbers during the grand final editions of the show, dialogue is pretty much all this is about and thankfully it is handled nice and clearly and there are no audio sync issues.

    There is no surround or subwoofer use at all.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Introduction

Main Menu Audio & Animation

Scene Selection Animation & Audio

    This title is not available in Region 1.

    Love 'em or hate em, there's no denying that the AFL Footy Show is one of a kind and has enjoyed amazing success and popularity over the last ten years. Showing no signs of slowing up, it is almost a given that it will continue for at least another ten years and beyond. This disc highlights some of the craziest, the zaniest, the emotional, and the downright silly moments of the last ten years. Fans of the show will love every single minute of it.

    The video quality is about as expected, with the newer widescreen digital material appearing much sharper and clearer than the older analogue sourced material.

    The audio is functional.

    There are no real extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall