Were you out of the house on the night of Saturday, October 3, 1992? (Why weren’t you home watching The Late Show!)

Those with the latest Panasonic VCRs needn’t have worried.

In the late 80s and early 90s, programming your VCR could prove to be quite a hassle, Panasonic claimed. That’s why it really pushed its barcode scanning system — by running your remote control over the show’s barcode in TV Week and confirming the selection, you could be safe in the knowledge that the timer recording for your favourite show would work — every time. With a handy five whole minutes added to the end of each show, any potential overrun would still be captured!

Yes, every day in TV Week, you would be able to scan your remote across a range of selected programs (The Late Show included) and program your VCR, with this section taking up half a page. (Later, these barcodes would be replaced by numerical G-codes.)

For what it’s worth, we were almost always in on Saturday nights when The Late Show aired, and recording it was only ever a manual affair. But it’s nice to know that The Late Show could have been a Pre-Programmed Favourite for many fans who would have preferred staying home than going to an odious dinner party.

Ah, the mid-90s. When penpals were still a thing, everyone under 20 knew who Colour Me Badd was and Bruce Samazan had not yet entered the world of real estate.

The 1993 Readers’ Poll featured The Late Show

Oh, and there was one other Australian ’90s phenomenon: The Late Show. Indeed, after two successful seasons, the ABC sketch comedy show had become so popular that it was voted “Best Comedy Show” of 1993 by TV Hits readers in their March 1994 issue, which celebrated all things pop culture from the previous year.

Looking back the the poll results reads like a quintessential mid-90s “who’s who”. The top comedy shows were:

1. The Late Show
2. Home Improvement
3. Rosanne
4. Full Frontal
5. The Simpsons
6. Blossom
7. Fast Forward (the 1993 winners)
8. Mr. Bean
9. Married… with Children
10. Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper

TV Hits poll results

Another popular category included the Funniest Person on TV. That honour went to US comedian Roseanne, with Tim Allen (Home Improvement) and Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) following suit. But wait! Two Late Show cast members were also honoured, with Mick Molloy taking in fourth spot, and Rob Sitch coming in a respectable 7th, just behind Bart Simpson and Married…’s Ed O’Neill and one spot ahead of Homer Simpson.

Let’s not forget that this was an age before the prevalence of e-mail and internet voting, so votes were painstakingly cast on paper and sent in, meaning it was impossible for bots or hackers to tamper with the results — and only the really desperate would have cast multiple votes by stocking up on copies of the magazine (which cost $3.30 back then). Therefore, we can confidently say, that these results are quite scientifically robust.

Other cateogories included “Event of the Year”, number 1 being the Madonna tour, and number two being Sydney winning the Olympic Games. River Phoenix‘s untimely death also came in the top five. The “Most Annoying Single of 1993” was Ween’s Push Th’ Little Daisies, which we all know was parodied to ear-piercing perfection with Mick Molloy at the helm.