Rollercoaster is a children's television show which was broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from between February 2005 and January 2010. Hosted by Elliot Spencer, it was aimed at an older audience than that for ABC For Kids.
Rollercoaster was a "wrapper" show, usually incorporating three to five externally produced animated programs of varying lengths, which were interspersed with locally-produced studio or location segments hosted by Spencer. It was aimed at older children and young teenaged audiences. The host, Elliot Spencer was usually the sole presenter, dressing up as characters for short sketches sometimes; on occasion members of Rollercoaster crew also appear in gags and sketches. The show also included regular features jointly presented by Spencer and Ruben Meerman, "The Surfing Scientist".
Rollercoaster followed a well-established format for Australian children's television. In order to comply with government-mandated Australian content regulations, local broadcasters have traditionally engaged a local presenter or team of presenters to "wrap" pre-produced segments such as cartoons. These shows offer a relatively inexpensive means of filling children's viewing times on Australian TV—the wrapper segments are generally made with a small crew and feature minimal production values; in the early days of Australian television the wrapper segments were performed live, although today they are now usually pre-recorded. The outsourced content is often purchased at relatively low cost, and for many decades Australian networks have been offered package-deal rates by American production houses and networks, as an incentive to purchase bundled content.
