The Goodnight Kiwi, later also called TV Kiwi, is a character in an animated short which has been used to signal the end of nightly broadcasts on Television New Zealand channels. The animation was introduced in 1975 on TV2, and used on South Pacific Television between 1976 and 1980. Between 1980 and 19 October 1994, the animation was screened again on TV2. This animation returned on 6 September 2007 for use on TVNZ 6 when the channel ends transmission at midnight. TVNZ 7 and TVNZ U continue the Goodnight Kiwi at midnight before overnight service.
The Goodnight Kiwi's companion is simply known as The Cat.
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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 Māori 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 after it had been 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." There was a slight variation of the ending, with the TVNZ channel ident and the announcer fading down the volume to announce "and it's goodnight from Channel . . ." (this being directly followed by the channel number e.g. "and it's goodnight from Channel 2").
When the cartoon debuted in 1975, the Kiwi had been a director. The cartoon began with the Kiwi yawning in the director's chair. Kiwi wakes up the cat, and the two race each other down a series of cameras and other broadcasting equipment. The Kiwi then goes outside, cuts the power and turns on the lights from inside. No footage can claim what happens after that.
An alternate version of the Goodnight Kiwi clip was used by South Pacific Television somewhere 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.
Eric Kearley, head of the TVNZ Digital Channel Launch team stated in a messageboard response that the Goodnight Kiwi would return to TV on Freeview on TVNZ 6 which began broadcasting on 6 September 2007, a move which proved popular with New Zealand television viewers.[2] The clip is now used to close down the station at midnight, as it did with TV ONE and TV2. New Christmas animations featuring the Kiwi and Cat characters were introduced by TV One on 1 December 2008.