Thursday, January 19, 2012

A real Hot Potato.

(I know, I know, but it is the obvious pun for this story, isn't it?)


(smh.com.au)

The news of the week in the world of children's entertainment is that
Greg Page has returned to reclaim his yellow skivvy.

While the medical condition that sidelined him is still present,
he says that it is manageable and that he should be able to
meet the commitments necessary to return to the super group.

Sam Moran,
after 5 years as the Yellow Wiggle
and part of the Wiggles "family" for nearly 10 years,
has gone.

A usually media savvy group of men,
there was some uncomfortable pauses and responses in interviews
given on this morning's entertainment shows here in Australia.

When other groups members were asked (in Sam's absence)
 how Sam feels and what he is doing now,
well, Anthony, Jeff and Greg just didn't seem to know.
...his contract was up,
he'll do his thing,
 haven't spoken to him since he left,
you'd better ask him...

They just didn't know.

How does that happen?

I have always liked the Wiggles.
There was worse stuff to listen to with your toddlers,
they had worked their way up from a questionable pop group
and they are, while very wealthy, philanthropic.
Unlike Hi-5, the group didn't get upgraded to ever younger personalities
every few years.
(Indeed, we are all asking what succession management the Wiggles have in place.
Old men in skivvies is not the most marketable commodity for the kids' entertainment market)

Basically, they seemed like nice guys.

But today I feel like I have just found out that the Wiggles
aren't my friends anymore.

I am not commenting on media reports that Sam was called the "salaried" Wiggle around the office.
The founding members of the Wiggles worked hard for a long time
to get where they are
and they essentially run a business.
(The emotional business of kids' entertainment, admittedly)

The kids will bounce back.
When Greg was sick 6 years ago,
the stand-in was a short blonde guy
and my then 3 year old was still very excited to see "Greg Wiggle" on stage.


(blackman.com.au)

But I wonder if us parents will cope anywhere near as well.

Sure, the basic facts are that Sam was on a contract,
Greg was asked back
and the deal has been done.
I don't know what else may have gone on behind the scenes.

But surely the PR department would have been well aware of the inevitable questions
that were going to be asked this week.

The cold, dismissive and impersonal nature of the Wiggles in the media interviews so far
has left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

After spending 5 year recording and touring with an associate,
unless he is a complete wanker,
why wasn't Sam offered some respect from his peers?
Really, calling him a "hired hand"?
My love for the Blue Wiggle just disappeared in an instant.

Sam did the best job...well, the best job that any grown man
wearing a bright coloured skivvy in public
can be expected to do...
and kept the Wiggles Big Red Car moving smoothly.

I am glad that my youngest is 4 and has really outgrown them
so that I don't have to wrestle my conscience at the moment.
For once, I am glad that my daughter is Fairies-mad.
Let's hope that they all have long contracts.

6 comments:

bec said...

I personally think Greg looks old and creepy now! Dark hair suited him so much better! You know Jeff is in his 50's? My daughter wanted to name our dog Greg when we first got him, after the yellow Wiggle. She was 4 at the time. We agreed on Murray instead! It is all a bit dodgy, isn't it?

bec said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tanya said...

That's interesting Tas, I saw a clip of the interview & I agree So awkward...but I felt sorry for them- they said they thought they were going on to sing a couple of songs as a 'welcome back Greg' thing, and weren't expecting an interview, naive probably. But they are entertainers, not the negotiators or or people, big business I imagine. I wonder if parental response has anything to go with age of kids, I am fine with Greg being back, but he was in yellow when my kids were little. I think of it as his skivvy, not sams, cause I never knew Sam. I wasn't very good at accepting other leads for inxs either! I still think of them as The Cockroaches too...

Marie said...

I am happy enough that Greg is back. No problem with that. But yes, the interview I saw was interesting. Sam was used to make lots of money and then spat out when he was no longer needed.

Sally said...

I wish Sam all the best for his future and really I think he'll be better off. Who wants to hang around with a bunch of old men?

Mary said...

I'm looking forward to seeing Sam go out on his own. And now he can get a real tatt rather than that UV poor excuse for one ;)