This is a copy of a post I made in r/tipofmytongue. It's about a show that appeared on ABC3 somewhere around 2013 to 2016. Some people seem to think it sounds familiar.
Link to the original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmytongue/comments/1x074pm/tomttv_show2000s2010s_australian_childrens/
r/AskAnAustralian is apparently a bit of a misnomer considering my post was removed there, which suggests you cannot ask Australians about any Australian topic. It received 5 upvotes quickly before being removed.
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I've attempted to find this before to no avail. I also looked at ABC3's archive and couldn't find it. In this post I will be referring to the channel as ABC3 but it changed name. Also, I call the thing a puppet, but I think it was some kind of plush toy. I don't know.
I would have watched the show anywhere from 2013 to 2016. Unlikely to be later. That's a range of possible times not the span of the show. It may have only been shown in one year.
During school hours, ABC3 would show educational shows so that children still learned in those hours. I was not exactly a child that was fascinated with education but for some reason, I was obsessed with this show. I found it surreal and uncanny. I just loved seeing the puppet, who I think seemed to get lost sometimes? There was a very very slight disturbing nature to it. But I felt that vibe existed and it only made me more into it. By that I mean the puppet's habit of getting lost or exploring large industrial spaces. Which was perhaps liminal?
Aesthetically it had a kind of industrial, maybe desaturated look. And the narrations were a specific kind of boring education accent I've heard in other shows.
It probably had minimalistic editing. Not a whole lot of flair beyond the surreal talking puppet.
I suspect that the premise may have been that the owner of the puppet keeps losing it (which is kind of nightmare fuel for the puppet considering it's sentience) and it would move around different environments with a narrator explaining the location and how things work there. You know, as if the important thing is not to help the puppet get back to its owner. Yes, poor puppet thing, anyway, this is a glue factory. See, how those machines are mixing those ingredients? Here comes an inspector, checking that everything is running smoothly.
Almost a bit voyeuristic lol. Look at the workers, watch them work.
The puppet would talk to people and I am not sure anyone considered it strange that it could talk. Ah yes, just some sentient fabric. That's alright.
The puppet was meant to be a learner I suppose, like the audience. Children's shoes often have a character or multiple that are learning and viewers learn while things are being explained directly to you and sometimes to the character.
I think the puppet was red or purple and would go into a backpack in the end. I just thought the show was really weird and cool. It doesn't seem to think much of itself. Mundane narrations and whatever, but there's the whole deal with the puppet which is odd to gloss over.
It's absurd. Obviously the intention was just to have a friendly character to learn with but why does it need to basically get neglected most of the time?
I believe there was a scene with luggage in a conveyor belt. I think it might have given me an obsession with airport conveyor belts.
Breakdown
Puppet appearance: Red or purple I reckon. Two eyes probably. I'm pretty sure it was a real physical fabric thing. Maybe a bit like those bead filled scarf thingos (I don't know what they are called) you heat in a microwave. Might have been corduroy texture. I don't know.
Premise: The puppet would end up in various locations - I believe via getting lost and moved around by either people, of its own accord or machines and a narrator would explain the location and how things work there
Vibe: A lot of big spaces. Industrial. Stuff normal people don't see outside of educational videos. Liminal?
Aesthetic: Live action. Not particularly vibrant I don't think besides the puppet.
Also, I keep imagining a noise when I think of the puppet moving. I don't know if that's just from other shows though. Maybe the puppet made a kind of "Whoaaa" sound.
I think I thought the puppet was cute, albeit uncanny. And lastly it may have just been a plush toy, not a puppet but it still might have been some kind of puppet.