Basically Black


Basically Black is a 1973 Australian television comedy program, notable as the first television program written and created by Indigenous Australians. It was produced as one of a series of pilot programs called The Comedy Game.
A single half-hour of sketch comedy, the program was based on a satirical political revue of the same name by the National [Black Theatre (Australia)|National Black Theatre] that had been performed at the Nimrod Theatre in Sydney the previous year.
It premiered on 7 July 1973 as part of a series of ABC [Television (Australian TV network)|ABC Television] comedy pilots, The Comedy Game. Some elements of the original script had been censored by Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and it was described by Gary Foley as a "politically watered-down" version of the stage show.
The pilot was deemed a success, but the ABC did not proceed with creating a series from it.