The ABC mistakenly replayed an old episode of current affairs comedy show Mad As Hell on Wednesday night.
The show’s host Shaun Micallef tuned in to watch his skit show in its usual time slot of 8.31pm only to find that the episode airing was a week old.
Micallef began, perhaps appropriately, to vent on Twitter, as a chorus of fans of the ABC comedy also aired their frustrations on the platform.
They're playing the wrong one. #idiots #madashelltv
— Shaun Micallef (@shaunmicallef) July 17, 2019
Ok, any episode of #Madashell is a good episode of #Madashell. But given that the cast and crew put a decent effort in each week to make a new one, maybe it would be nice to them if the ABC actually aired them, rather than repeating the previous week's ep accidentally? K thanks.
— Ryan Smedley (@Smedsta) July 17, 2019
Micallef said his wife rang the ABC switchboard while he called the production company in an attempt to fix the error. “Hopefully we’ll at least get the right one up on iView. It’s a good episode too. Nice and topical. Maybe they’ll play it next week,” he said.
My wife is ringing the ABC switchboard. I rang ITV. Hopefully we'll at least get the right one up on iView. It's a good episode too. Nice and topical. Maybe they'll play it next week. #madashelltv #idiots https://t.co/FzYRHuuISv
— Shaun Micallef (@shaunmicallef) July 17, 2019
Cast member Tosh Greenslade tried to look on the bright side. “They played the wrong episode of Mad As Hell and I got 160 new followers.
They played the wrong episode of #MadAsHell and I got 160 new followers. They’re gonna be furious when they realise I’m just a repeat of Francis...
— Tosh Greenslade (@ToshGreenslade) July 17, 2019
The new episode had been recorded on Tuesday.
The mix-up meant the show started trending on Twitter overnight on Wednesday and into Thursday morning. Meanwhile, TV Tonight reported on Thursday that despite the episode being a rerun, Mad As Hell still rated highest for its time slot.
Trying to get the correct episode up on iView now so you can switch over. Tried ringing the switchboard but Peter Dutton answered so I hung up. #madashelltv #wrongepisodegate https://t.co/0gIsfa0vfH
— Shaun Micallef (@shaunmicallef) July 17, 2019
The ABC issued a statement saying last week’s episode had been replayed due to a “technical error” and the new episode would be aired on Thursday night.
lol, a repeat of last week's Mad As Hell beat every commercial station in the same time slot last night. https://t.co/OMmvLogoEc
— Josh Taylor (@joshgnosis) July 18, 2019
The new episode is also now available on iView.
