The Upside Down Show (lost unaired pilot of Noggin comedy series; 2004)

This article has been tagged as Needing work due to its plagiarism.

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The show's logo.

Status: Lost

The Upside Down Show was an Australian-American live-action children's comedy series produced by Blink Films and Sesame Workshop. It ran for 13 episodes in the mid-2000s and was created by the Australian comedy duo known as "The Umbilical Brothers," Shane Dundas and David Collins, who also starred in the program as fictionalized versions of themselves. Made for the TV channel Noggin, the show was made with the intention of appealing to both children and their parents with its surrealist humour.

Unaired Pilot

In 2004, Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop commissioned a pilot episode of the show. It was in production from December 2004 to March 2005. One month later, the pilot was first screened by Nickelodeon at the MIPTV event.

It was shown again at the 2006 MIPTV screening in preparation for the main show, which debuted later in the year.

Differences

For the pilot, the show's art department glued the entire living room set to the ceiling to give the appearance of an "upside down" room. Whereas in the final series, the camera is simply turned around at various points to create the upside-down illusion.

The character Puppet had a different design as well as a different name, Stretch. While it's unknown why the name was changed, we do know why he was redesigned. According to David Collins on Facebook in 2019, the crew weren't too fond of Puppet's initial design, deeming it unoriginal, and were glad that it was changed.

David and Shane also wore different costumes: simple T-shirts with swirl designs on them. Shane's was teal and David's was brown. They were also barefoot instead of wearing their usual sneakers.

The story of the pilot episode revolved around David and Shane looking for the beach, with help from early versions of characters familiar to fans of the show, such as the loveable Schmuzzies, fancy neighbour Mrs. Foil, and the aforementioned Puppet.

Later on, this story would be rewritten and adapted into the main series episode entitled simply "Beach."

However, it should be noted that "Movie Theater" was the first episode made after the pilot, not "Beach" (the beach episode was actually the eighth episode made).

Availability

As of writing this article, there has currently been no attempt to find the pilot. It is unknown where it's location is or if the Umbilical Brothers themselves have a hold of it.

Gallery

Screenshots

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  Promo for the pilot, depicting Shane stuck to the ceiling upside down, while David is also stuck to the ceiling, but the right side up.

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  The crew with the upside down set.

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  Behind the scenes of the set.

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  Shane sitting on the couch with what appears to be a prototype of Puppet.

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  "Pilot" Puppet at the Sydney Opera House.  

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  The set.

Footage

The episode "Beach" which which is said to have been based on the pilot.

External Links

• The Upside Down Show Wiki page on the unaired pilot.