The Goodnight Kiwi

The animation was originally played out before closed down on Television One and Television Two between 1980/1981 and October 19, 1994, when TV2 began 24-hour broadcasting and was the last thing you saw before the TV turned into fuzz (the fuzz like in the movie Poltergeist). This animation returned on 6 September 2007 for use on TVNZ 6.

TVNZ Goodnight Kiwi

The one minute long animation begins with Goodnight Kiwi and the Cat in the master control room. Kiwi shuts down the screens, and starts an audio cassette playing an instrumental arrangement of the traditional Maori lullaby, Hine e Hine. or Sometimes God save the Queen Kiwi walks through the studio while Cat jumps and pulls faces into a camera. Kiwi turns out the lights, puts a milk bottle on the porch and locks the door. while the cat heads upstairs to the studio roof. The Kiwi follows and rides an elevator (presumably just used by the cat) to the top of a transmission mast. At the top, Kiwi covers himself in blankets (in which the cat was already curled up) and goes to sleep in a satellite dish with the Cat sitting on his stomach. The short closes with the words: "Goodnight from TELEVISION NEW ZEALAND."

An alternate version of the Goodnight Kiwi clip was used by South Pacific Television between 1976 and 1980 and saw the Goodnight Kiwi and his companion living in a television camera. At the end of the clip, the kiwi would close the side flaps on the camera and then the South Pacific Television logo would appear as the music faded out.

During transmission breakdowns, a still picture of the Goodnight Kiwi was often used, in poses including one of sweeping the floor and accidentally pulling out a power cord.

The characters are regarded as part of New Zealand broadcasting culture.