Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos - Cancellation

Cancellation

We apologise for this interruption. Unfortunately, a technical problem prevents us continuing our scheduled program for the moment. In the meantime, we bring you a brief, alternative program.

—An announcement made after the show was pulled and just before a rerun of Cheers aired.

Kerry Packer, the owner of the Nine Network at the time, was informed of the show's content by friends while at a dinner. He tuned in to watch the show, which was being transmitted on TCN-9, and was so offended by its content that he phoned the studio operators and shouted, "Get that shit off the air!" Within minutes, the series was pulled. After the break, the Nine Network announced that it was unable to continue airing the show, allegedly due to 'a technical problem', and aired re-runs of Cheers immediately afterwards to fill in the remaining airtime. Bert Newton commented in 2008, "; Technically it's very difficult to keep a show on air with Mr. Packer on the phone, yelling at you."

Although the same bumper and announcement interrupted the show during every broadcast across Australia, it occurred in different parts of the program depending on the area it was airing in, due to time differences. In Melbourne and Brisbane, the station simply started airing an episode of Cheers after a scheduled commercial break. In other areas, the last part of the show broadcast was of Mulray giving a monologue about "bosoms" or the aforementioned clip of a child grabbing a kangaroo's scrotum. The show was cancelled before it was scheduled to air in Perth, and thus its Nine Network affiliate showed a brief message mentioning that the special won't be aired, before beginning an episode of Cheers.

Despite Packer's objections to the series' content, it was popular among viewers. The special was recorded to a record studio audience. After the announcement, Nine reportedly received "thousands" of phone calls from viewers, with 65 percent of callers upset with the program being pulled, in contrast to the 60 callers who called in during the show's broadcast, complaining about the show. Viewers were generally bewildered by the sudden interruption and the cut to Cheers, not knowing about the show's cancellation until it was widely reported by the Australian media outlets the next day.

The day after the special aired, a furious Packer showed up at Nine's headquarters. He held meetings in which he loudly berated Nine's managers and censors, referring to the program as "disgusting and offensive s**t." Mulray and many of the staff who were involved with the creation of the special were fired, and Mulray was banned for life from Channel Nine. On his radio show the next day, Mulray commented, "I am the first man in Australian history to be pulled off by Kerry Packer."