Exactly 20 years ago today, Spicks and Specks premiered for the first time.
And in just four weeks, longtime host Adam Hill will be back – along with Myf Warhurst and Alan Brough – with a new season of Spicks and Specks.
Ahead of the new season, and in honour of the show’s 20th anniversary, The Weekly’s Editor Sophie Tedmanson has penned an ode to Spicks and Specks – which happens to be one of her favourite shows…
Spicks and Specks is one of my favourite shows, and has been for a long time because I am a Gen X and I was obsessed with music as a teenager, so it taps into my musical nostalgia.
I had every band t-shirt. From 13 to 16, my go-to outfit was a band t-shirt, shorts, Doc Martin boots, and henna-dyed hair.
Not to mention, I used to go and see all the bands in my hometown of Adelaide. I saw INXS and Madonna; then Nirvana when I was 16, just a couple of years before Kurt Cobain died; I had my first full emotional experience to live music watching Jeff Buckley, crying with the power of his voice. Then cried even more when he died a couple of years later. I was (and still am) a huge fan of The Cure, Radiohead and Britpop; and The Big Day Out music festivals were the highlights of my youth.
As a teenager, my girlfriends and I went to those concerts, usually with an older brother or sister chaperoning as we were too young to go on our own.
Suffice it to say, I was one of those girls who were constantly listening to music.
And I’m also a fan of trivia (and very competitive!), so for me, Spicks and Specks is the perfect blend of both passions.
Because the show lives on ABC iView, you can watch it anytime. During the COVID lockdowns, I was on my own in an apartment in Canberra – just me and my cat – and along with bingeing the entire series of Schitts Creek and Normal People, I re-watched old episodes of Spicks and Specks because it sparked joy. I found myself yelling the answers at the screen, my cat watching on with disdain.
I love the nostalgia of music: songs can connect you to any moment in time and evoke memories. From Fleetwood Mac and Bruce Springsteen – which take me straight back to my parents playing them nonstop when I was growing up – through to now, when Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan are on the highest rotation on my phone. Old memories and new.
For me, that’s really special.
And trivia is something that I share with my family.
We do the Good Weekend quiz every weekend – via Zoom, as we are spread across three states. I’m known as the “culture expert” in the family. I’m not good at geography, I’m not particularly good at history, and so culture is my speciality. My family also love Spicks and Specks and often attend the stage shows when they tour around the country.
It’s for everyone – that blend of old music nostalgia as well as current chart toppers, the old and the new, and great guests and fab hosts in Adam, Myf and Alan that makes Spicks and Specks so special. Maybe they’ll consider a Tedmanson Family special?
Spicks and Specks’ new season kicks off on June 15 at 7.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iView.
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