The Penthouse Club
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The Penthouse Club was a weekly variety program produced live to air from the studios of HSV-7 Melbourne from 1970. It was originally hosted by Michael Williamson (also a football commentator for HSV) and comedian Mary Hardy.
The program, screening each Saturday night from around 8.30pm (the starting time varied over the years depending on HSV-7's Saturday night VFL football commitments), was a mix of comedy, light entertainment and live coverage of harness racing from Moonee Valley racecourse. The weekly lottery draw Tattslotto was incorporated as a segment in the program from around 1972. The Penthouse Club was considered a welcome alternative on Saturday nights which is often regarded as a wasteland of reruns and low-grade movies on other channels.
In 1979, Williamson was replaced by Ernie Sigley and the program was re-titled Saturday Night Live before being cancelled later that year. Rival television station ATV-10 attempted to resurrect the format in 1980 with little success.