The Go!! Show
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The Go!! Show (also known simply as Go!!) was a top rating Australian popular music and variety television series which aired on ATV-0 Melbourne from 1964 to 1967, and filmed at the station studios in Nunawading, Victoria. The show ran in parallel with a similar show on the same station called Kommotion (produced by Willard-King), with Go!! focussing on the more sophisticated segment of the newly discovered youth market. Other competing television music shows aimed at the teenage demographic at the time were Bandstand, the Saturday morning Uptight and Happening '70 (which became '71 and then '72).
DYT Productions, run by Horrie Dargie, Arthur Young and Johnny Tillbrook made the show, with the first episode appearing in August 1964, just after the Beatles' Australian tour and the television station's inaugural broadcast. It was filmed with a live audience, with early episodes being one-hour long and screened 3 nights per week. In its third season of 1966-67, it was shortened to thirty minutes. As the television industry at that time pre-dated any sophisticated networking capability in Australia, it was believed to only have been screened in Victoria.
The presenters of Go!! over the years were: English comedian Alan Field, who had come out to Australia as compere of the July 1964 Beatles tour, Ian Turpie (who took over from Field at episode 26) and Johnny Young (from the start of the 3rd season).
The show almost exclusively featured local performers and included many of the major stars of the time including Bobby & Laurie, Lynne Randell, Johnny Devlin, Colin Cook, The Twilights and Normie Rowe. Olivia Newton-John and Pat Carroll were regulars with Newton-John making at least 16 appearances between February 1965 and December 1966. Singer Buddy England (later a member of The Seekers) auditioned for the premiere episode and became a regular for the entire run of the series. A featured segment showed local performers (including a young Ian Meldrum and Denise Drysdale) miming audio recordings made by overseas performers. This was prior to the advent of music video clips which are used widely today.
House band The Strangers backed guest solo singers and performed their own material on weekly basis throughout the show's life. DYT opened their own record label Go Records at the same time and The Go!! Show frequently cross-promoted acts with recording contracts. Unconnected pop magazine Go-Set (1966-1974) which coincidentally shared the "Go" brand and market formed a marketing triumvirate.
The show was cancelled in August 1967 after more than 200 episodes, and at around the same time as the axing of Kommotion. The whole DYT enterprise including the record company soon disappeared, with the means of cross-promotion having been removed.
