Moon TV

MooN Television
Created by	Moon Enterprises
Starring	Leigh Hart ("That Guy")
Country of origin	New Zealand
Production
Running time	30 minutes per episode (inc. commercials)
Release
Original network	TV 2, Comedy Central (New Zealand)

Moon TV is a New Zealand television comedy show. It is produced by Leigh Hart (better known as "That Guy", both on and off the show). In 2006 the show received NZD$176,324 in funding from New Zealand On Air for six half-hour episodes, to screen on TV2.^[1]

The show has run for five seasons, all available for purchase on DVD. The sixth season began on 25 August 2010.

Episode guide

Season 1

Season 1 was screened weekly by Sky 1 on Thursday 8:00 p.m. in 2002.

#	Name	Original airdate
1		2002
2		2002
3		2002
4		2002
5		2002
6		2002
7		2002

Season 2

#	Name	Original airdate
1	Red episode	Late 2004
2	Blue episode	Late 2004
3	Yellow episode	Late 2004
4	White episode	Late 2004
5	Black episode	Late 2004
6	Static episode	Late 2004

Season 3

Season 3 of Moon TV was screened weekly by TV2 on Tuesday 10:30 p.m. from 31 October 2006 to 5 December 2006. The season's theme was Leigh Hart's trip across several countries, "following the footsteps of Great Uncle Kenny".

Leigh's fictitious "Great Uncle Kenny" who has had a very adventurous and seemingly unlimited life. He has done many things in his time, some of which seem to have taken place centuries ago. In Season Three, Leigh was following his great uncle’s footsteps around the world by re-tracing his movements noted within a secret diary he discovered hidden in a wall. The travels have been extensive and it is more of a self-indulgent trip around the world using funding from NZ on Air instead of anything else, hilarious results usually ensue. Uncle Kenny is referenced in most shows, however the only evidence of his existence has been in a picture of him dressed as a British Naval officer from the 18th century.

#	Name	Original airdate
1	N/A	31 October 2006
2	Peru	7 November 2006
3	America	14 November 2006
4	Croatia	21 November 2006
5	Hong Kong	28 November 2006
6	Australia	5 December 2006

Season 4

Season 4 of Moon TV is screening on TV2 on Tuesdays at 10:30 p.m. from 27 March 2007. The season's theme surrounds Leigh Hart and his crew's trip across New Zealand, titled the "Great New Zealand Road Trip". This season has also seen the return of Season 2's mini-shows (such as Hamsterman from Amsterdam and Bookzone), which were absent in Season 3.

Season 5

Episode One

Moon TV is back and this time it's bigger than just one show, it's an entire network! Speedo Cop Marty Hernandez has trouble with his traffic cones, all your light hearted entertainment and more.

Episode Two

Leigh and Matt attempt the grueling coast to coast just a year after Matt was taken out in the cycle section by his own team. Plus, Naan Doctors, Late Night Big Breakfast and more.

Season 6

Season 6 of Moon TV started screening on 25 August 2010. In this season, Moon TV goes to New York as the Late Night Big Breakfast is picked up by an American TV Network. However, it fails badly as no one interesting comes on the show, and it eventually gets cancelled. Also in this season, Speedo Cops go to New York on a police exchange with the NYPD and Hamsterman opens a new pet shop in New York, both of which go badly.

Other Skits that appear are The Doctors (this time working in a gym calling themselves Bleep Doctors), BookZone and Speed Cooking.

Episode 1

- - The Late Night Big Breakfast moves to New York. In this episode, they talk about how they are prerecorded live and then shown to New Zealanders on a later date. Gets a psychologist who wasn’t supposed to be there which then allows Jason Leigh and Matai to talk about how expensive strip clubs are. Jason does an infomercial for a New York Subway stored value card. After it there is also a wrap party Also the Speedo cops, Taylor and Scott get held up by 2 black guys in Harlem who stole their second camera and want $100 for it. They eventually get it back after many failed attempts By Scott and Taylor to give the black guys the money. Hamsterman relocates his store to New York to escape the credit crunch and after leaving his shop to go to a bar to talk about how he got the name for his store, has impatient customers waiting in the store and later a man stealing all the money from the till. In BookZone, Joe Bennett says he has written over 18 books since they last met and gets angry when he finds out that all Leigh has done is to create a wine cask with 2 taps.

Episode 3

This week the Late Night Big Breakfast (LNBB) sinks to its lowest level when it refuses Shaun Penn for a guy off the street who sings a bad unsigned Pepsi Jingle apparently produced by Al Lewis. There is a fashion segment where a Hispanic guy says corduroy isn't coming back into fashion and an infomercial for stain defender pants which you can wipe stains off and are made from the same material as heat tiles from the Space Shuttle. Another wrap ensues at the end which makes Bernard Lang (bankroller of LNBB) angry. In Speedo Cops Taylor gets himself handcuffed to a pole and can't be released as Scott left the keys behind in Papakura. Eventually Scott calls it in Chief Inspector Reeves parades around with an erection making Lt Chicowski disgusted which makes him give up on them and Marty Hernandez can't control Black guys on a train and has to call for backup. Hamsterman talks about how everything is bigger in New York and loses a sale of a pet fish by saying "do you want it battered" when a customer expresses interest in a fish. In Bookzone Leigh reads an article he "submitted" to Cuisine magazine (which never got submitted) which contains grammatical inaccuracies e.g. Western region of east coast and a phrase about a testicle.

Episode 4

In this episode the guest on LNBB is "Funny Freddy" a clown who only got himself employed in 1990. Leigh then says that there a cliche for clowns to be sad and depressed which embarrasses everyone then Leigh gets a call about another clown which he denied ordering this is then interrupted by Speed Cooking (described below). After that jokes happen about his accommodation.In a diner Leigh says he will put sex scenes into LNBB to sex it up to Bernard Lang's standards and tells them to come up with scripts for sex scenes. Jason brings one up for approval by Leigh only to find out that Leigh is doing his part which actually goes really well. Funny Freddy then performs live by making a dog on a leash and disgusts everyone including Bernard Lang by pulling a boy's underpants out of a funnel.

In Speed Cooking, Leigh tries to make a double souffle with corn fed chicken in 3 minutes, resulting in a lot of mess as among other things. He uses a drill as a blender, smashes an egg carton to get yolks with a pan and throws a chicken and milk into a microwave and shakes the microwave around. An obviously previous-completed souffle is taken out of the microwave.

Speedo Cops: Lt Chicowski gives the Speedo cops a case where they infiltrate the Fish Smoking facility in Brooklyn to see if they are selling anything other than fish products. Constable Taylor is eventually fitted with a wire and an undercover camera as Constable Scott had too much hair to do it. the footage shows Scott and Taylor in uniform going into the market and asking for various kinds of fish like chum fish. Lt Chicowski flips out at the Speedo cops in his car eventually when he sees that Chief Inspector Reeves office has bought a lot of fish.

Booktime Leigh keeps interrupting Joe's views on Steven King with sounds that sound like Mr Bean noises that he insists are changes in pitch which just make Joe more angry.

Episode 5

LNBB- Leigh decides to do 3 recap episodes (6,9,10) to get more material into the show.This causes an argument between him and Aj as Aj doesn't want to tell the network that they are doing 3 recap shows. Also AJ gets in trouble as everyone else blames him for mishaps and Jason derides his directing saying how good he is. For example, Ritt Parker in Naan Doctors and how Aj is not giving him is full potential. This week's Guest on LNBB is Paranormal investigator Lawrence Hewitt who Leigh had wrongly introduced as Dave Rodgres. They generally annoy him by telling stupid paranormal events e.g. Matai got up one morning house was trashed, all alcohol was gone and he had no recollection.

Bleep Doctors Dr Bojangles says that they have the best Cardiologists and that it has been his dream to open a cardio bleep clinic. Ritt Parker annoys Dr Bojangles by saying he is close to becoming a fully registered cardio instructor. Ritt promptly takes over from Dr Bojangles after he storms off.

Speedo Cops-operation Sturgeon continues with Scott and Taylor surveying the fish smoking operation from a house across the street with a child in it which Scott comes to like. LT Chicowski gets angry at Chief Inspector Reeves as Scott and Taylor are importing beer from NZ and eating more pizza than 15 men under Chicowski. Chief Inspector Reeves lectures Scott and Taylor about these problems. Later Operation Sturgeon gets canceled as the fish smoking operation in Brooklyn was legit.

Hamsterman- Hamsterman loses another sale when while he is talking to a customer about her dog, a pile of poorly stacked pallets falls on him causing the woman to walk out and him to lose a sale.

BookZone- Joe talks about the difference in brain states between reading and writing and then gets annoyed at Leigh when he sees that Leigh is reading the back of a video which he is going to place on a shelf to make it look like a book.

Episode 6

LNBB- This week's guest is Johnathon Alpert the psychologist from episode 1 who they tell weird stories to like a man getting his testicle ripped off in a Brazilian wax. AJ also reports on the explosion of a sperm bank and Leigh does an infomercial for TFP some polymer that apparently cleans your car. Matai gets his sex scene for the show rejected and Jason gets his 2nd sex scene accepted but Leigh will again be doing his part. At the end Leigh attacks media on rumors he is sleeping with Salma Hayek.

Speedo Cops- Scott and Taylor do an elaborate running sequence around New York Jumping from building to building.Then They along with Hernandez go to a tavern where they share work stories. Chief Inspector Reeves joins them but gets drunk and falls backwards. He later apologizes to Scott and Taylor for this.

Hamsterman-Colin loses another sale when he tries to loan a customer a cat because that cat is the only one left and then says that a rabbit a customer is interested in is a rapist.

Bleep Doctors- Dr Bojanglestells Dr Chavez who just finished doing a class that both of them are too old to do dance classes for young women and tells Dr Chavez to clean the pool instead.

Episode 7

LNBB-This week's guest on the "Space Special" is John Pazmino an astronomer who they talk to about monkeys in space, UFOs and other things. They are also wearing tight purple suits thinking it will make the show rate higher which Bernard Lang doesn't like. Aj also moans about the fact because of how terrible they are they can't get good people on the show.

Speedo Cops- Constables Scott and Taylor arrest a potential prostitute on the streets. Later Chief Inspector Reeves is seen having sex with the prostitute in his office, apparently thinking it was late at night, when it was actually 3:00 pm, which embarrasses Scott and Taylor and then Lt Chicowski

Hamsterman- Colin loses another sale this time of fish due to the fact that he doesn't give enough room to the fish and some are dying.

BookZone: Leigh says that maybe to make it more exciting Joe should come in after the show starts and sits down which he says is a waste of time.

Episode 8

LNBB-This week's guest is Relationship expert Judy Brown who is introduced by new host Jason. Leigh reveals that 98% of Koala bears are lesbian. They also ask her some questions about relationships. The infomercial is for a mop that Leigh says is good value even though ( with fares) it will cost a New Zealander $2500 and only last for 2–3 years. There is also a meeting where Leigh can't remember hiring Kelly( the production assistant) and asks her to write down what she does and personal things about herself.

Speedo Cops: Constables Scott and Taylor go to a guy's house an ask him to put on a mic so they can hear him as they are doing a reality show then tell him that his wife is dead. They go to the station in the guy's car. Later a situation arises which results in Constables Scott and Taylor being given a glove and ball to play catch. Chief Inspector reeves Comes as well but gets hit accidentally by a ball from Constable Taylor.

Hamsterman, Colin who has passed out gets up and tells us that the animals haven't any idea that there has been a time change from New Zealand to New York. He also tries to match a man to animals and makes a joke that "rabbits are going out like dogs". He doesn't make a sale but is the MC at the wedding of that guy.

BookZone- Leigh reads out a romantic tale to Joe Bennett which isn't really romantic e.g. it has very confusing metaphors such as ocean brown eyes and there is a lot of screaming and stuff because the guy has had a Vietnam freak-out.

Episode 9

LNBB- tonight's guest is Paul Bozen a guy who rents cars to be used in movies. They ask him questions about what he does. He also gives a long history of his favourite car the Model T Ford which Leigh says will be edited out. Bernard Lang then says that his company will not fund the show any more and has pulled out which pretty much means that the show is canceled. Then there is a wrap party for it here Leigh's band sing the whole tune to the Hamsterman segment.

Speedo Cops- Constables Scott and Taylor hire a taxi for their patrol of Brooklyn and get mugged for their lunch money by the same guys who mugged them for their second camera in Episode 1. Constable Marty Hernandez gets promoted from the subway to picking up dog poos in central park while Cosntables Scott and Taylor who are also in Central Park are investigating a homicide that happened 20 years ago. They talk about the history of the art in the area which gets chief Inspector reeves angry at them for being art historians instead of police.

Hamsterman- Colin wants to be a shoe maker then falls into a door into a basement in the street.

Bookzone- They talk about their favourite authors. Leigh gets into an argument into the name Harper Lee which he insists should have Lee at the front as lee is a first name. Leigh also says that he shared a sap with Bill Bryson.

Episode 10

In this episode after they get axed they try to find a way forward but eventually they do go and get drunk. After this (for most of the episode) there is a clip show of scenes from past episodes including the Speed Cooking Segment, Leigh's romantic story from BookZone, the LNBB show with Funny Freddy and the controversy after it, a tribute to Aj with scenes that featured him throughout the series, Hamsterman killing his favourite parrot and taking some others on a migration, and the scene where Chief Inspector Reeves falls over backwards. There is also the scene where Chief Inspector Reeves is found having sex with a prostitute and some scenes showing the wrap parties after each episode.

Recurring themes

Each episode may contain some of the following recurring sketches.

Speedo Cops

This section is a spoof of reality cop shows. The main characters are Constables Scott, Martinez, Taylor, Hernandez and more recently Chief Inspector Reeves who replaced Chief Inspector Creech after 2 seasons. These characters play police officers who wear Speedos (reminiscent of character Lieutenant Jim Dangle in Reno 911!), investigating serious crimes such as minor graffiti, DVD piracy and shoppers exceeding New Zealand fishery quotas when purchasing seafood. The result of all of their investigations is to "call it in" or suggest that one of their colleagues "call it in". They are all grossly incompetent but seem unaware of this.They go on an "exchange" to New York (except Martinez)in Season 6 and appall their supervisor Lt Chicowski with their incompetence.

Speed Cooking

In this section Hart attempts to cook a complex three-course meal in less than two minutes, using original methods of preparing the food to try to get it done quicker. In reality he doesn't cook much but ends up causing great mess, and damage to the kitchen. He is sometimes accompanied by another person, such as Jo Seagar, celebrity chef.

The Doctors

A spoof of medical dramas such as ER. Throughout the seasons the doctors move their practice to various out of the ordinary locations. The main characters are Doctors Chavez, Haaughn, Buttachikan, Waverwee, Bojangles, Fabio, Bernaise, Nurse Yee and the evil Ritt Parker. This segment involves scenes of exaggerated tension between the doctors, heightened by dramatic background music.

In Season 2, this segment was called 'Sea Doctors' and was set in Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World, an aquarium in Auckland, but the operation at Kelly Tarlton's was shut down after being caught running a takeaway shop after hours.

The clinic was then moved to the Paradise skating rink for seasons three and four. Here the doctors risk being demoted to skate hire and the evil Ritt Parker plots to kill Doctor Bojangles. This fails as Dr. Bojangles uses his male companion for 'warmth' in a manner parodying Brokeback Mountain.

In Season five we find the doctors running an "Authentic Indian Restaurant" in the series "Naan Doctors". Here they must turn the failing business around and cure patients. It deals heavily with Dr Bojangles' survival of the harsh Antarctic winter and the tension between Dr Bojangles and Ritt Parker.

In Season 6, we find the doctors running a gym in the series Bleep Doctors. It was originally going to be called Zumba Doctors, but due to some controversy with the Zumba company they are not allowed to be called Zumba Doctors.

Bookzone: A Show About Books

According to Hart, "it's a relaxed book show where, as you can see, I'm wearing my blue jeans, and it's where we talk to acclaimed writers and people like that."

On every episode, Hart interviews the same person—columnist Joe Bennett. He invariably fails to interview Bennett but talks aimlessly about himself and his own supposed writing career and they drink "Country Medium White" cask wine (Bennett from a wine glass, Hart from a large tumbler). As every show begins Hart makes the common error of introducing the show as "Booktime"—having to have Bennett correct him on all occasions until Episode 4 Season 6 where he says "Welcome to Booktime, Bookzone, Bookworld". Hart claims to have written a book about his time in the "Himalaya", Battling the Yeti and Alcoholism. It allegedly received mixed reviews.

Outdoors, Outdoors, Outdoors

A show on a fishing boat where conventional wisdom and Leigh's more unusual methods mix to produce drama.

The Hamsterman from Amsterdam

A spoof of the Lion Man, Hamsterman from Amsterdam revolves around Colin, an alcoholic pet shop owner from Takanini who has never actually been to Amsterdam. His wife is having an affair with a furniture upholsterer. The Hamsterman wears an iconic woolen jumper with green and black stripes matched with black stubbies and is rarely seen without a pottle of yoghurt, whose contents sticks to his thick moustache. The cameraman has great difficulty in getting him to talk about anything other than pellets, even though the shop also sells fish, birds and other mammals. When audited, the Hamsterman could produce no receipts as evidence of transactions because he had shredded them all for the hamsters cage linings.He moves to New York in Season 6 and doesn't have much luck there, mostly just making customers angry and being stupid

MooN Explorer TV

A series of mock documentary shows, including Deep Probe which investigates issues such as alien abductions and mock animal documentaries. A notable entry was The Hunt for Te Kaka. Amongst the cast of Bono O'Rielly and Salted Nuts McPherson are the two submersibles Chesney and Ronan on board the Te Aroha, which is on the search for the mythical sea beast Te Kaka. The hunt is a mixed bag until there is drama and Salted Nuts McPherson fires a shot and coincidentally but not relatedly the harpoon rope gets tied to the Auckland City Council wheelie bin rather than the pontoon.

Buckchoi

A surreal puppet show in which two puppets attack each other. It usually ends with the head of at least one puppet falling off. This segment was canceled in the fourth season with a farewell episode in which a gunshot causes the puppet's head to fall off.

'It's Ray!'

A man wearing a bright orange bodysuit and a name badge saying 'Ray' on it jumps out from various hiding places, while a voice announces, 'It's Ray!', while Ray makes various wheezing sounds. Ray appears in between the main skits.

Chico

Chico Roparty is a stand up comic that fails to realize his comedic incompetence. He is introduced onto stage by New Zealand comedy persona Mike King. Chico makes jokes at 1 hour photo labs, cheese slices in the packets, (is anyone here from) Hastings, cell phones, e-mails, computers, shoes and other mundane everyday occurrences.

Sniffing Murder

A parody of the show Sensing Murder. This is a segment where "psychics" try to solve missing persons cases, using questionable methods, such as smelling women's underwear.

Late Night Big Breakfast

A parody of real life New Zealand breakfast programmes being filmed from the Target Furniture Hyper-mart on Dominion Rd, Auckland. This segment was based on Leigh Hart's concept of having a television network in a limited half-hour time slot, which is aired at night. The concept being: all good networks have a breakfast show, so why shouldn't MTN? Despite idealising leading news journalism, Leigh Hart concedes that the show discusses issues of no interest to non-everyday New Zealanders.^[2] The show was moved to New york in Season 6 and now is broadcast from the Oriental Marriott Hotel, New York

Other One-off or Minor Segments

One-off segments that were not a part of a series (such as MooN Explorer TV) included Homework, a house renovation show that saw the near destruction of a house. Another segment that debuted in Season 4 and was repeated in episodes 2 and 3 was a spoof of the TV3 Promo featuring Mike McRoberts and a landslide in the Philippines. The first episode featured an additional Close Up promo spoof.

References

External links

• MooN TV official website
• YouTube MooN TV Page
• TVNZ On Demand - MooN TV Episodes Online (NZ Only)
• TV2 MooN TV Information