The School Days (2009 TV Show)

The School Days began in 2009 after such a failure in 1982, after it launched in 1979, therefore ending it in 1983 due to poor ratings.

The show had initially broadcasted in 4:3 in 2009 and briefly in late 2011 before updating to 16:9 from 2010 onwards. It had broadcasted in HD in 2011 and in 2013 - 2019. The production office for The School Days closed on 1 November 2019.

 **Program Run:** 20th April 2009 - 31st December 2015 (original run)
 **Spinoffs:** The School Days House (2015 - 2016)
Networks:
Sam's Seven (2009 - 2012, 2014 - 2015)
Sam's Seven Education Schools (2012 - 2013)
Sam's 7TWO (2014)
Sam Wilkes Radio (2015)
Sam Wilkes Radio Kids (2017)
Neon Kids (2017, 2019)
 **Episodes aired:** approximately between 1100 - 1200 (original series)
 **Production Teams:** Australian Outback Productions (2009 - 2012)
Queensland High School Productions (2013)
McJunior Supplies (2013 - 2015)
Sam Wilkes Productions (2009 - 2015)
Visual Art Productions (2015 - Visual Art Studies segments)
Sam Wilkes Radio Productions (2017)
 **First Run:** The Beginning (20th April 2009) (original incarnation)
 **Last Run:** The Epilogue (31st December 2015) (original incarnation)
 **Latest Episode:** The Epilogue (31st December 2015) (original incarnation)

## The New Beginning of the TV Show (2009)

The idea was announced at Sam Wilkes Incorporated in late 2008. Despite the warnings of the show ending up in poor ratings and ending within a few years afterwards as was the case in the early 80s, Sam began the new show hoping for big views. Filming began on 20th April 2009.

## The Hi-5 Band Return (2009 - 2011)

The show was running with Sam keeping up with his Hi-5 Band and The School Days at the same time. He had come up with several concepts throughout 2009 - 2011 but most of them were short-lived. By 2011, it was announced Sam left Hi-5 (now defunct Hi-5 Brisbane) band for a second time to focus on The School Days. Following his resignation, he added a new segment to the show that garnered some praise. This was a special Science-related book series known as the "Young Scientist" book series. This format lasted until around Spring 2011 when one of the main characters were transferred to the intermediate class. This segment would later be independently spun-off as its own series in 2019 and 2022. In addition, The School Days started broadcasting in HD around 2009 but was downscaled to 576i around the late half of 2011, the show had briefly reverted to 4:3 broadcasting in late 2011 but moved back to 16:9 in 2012, this being the first long-duration show to broadcast in widescreen.

## The Hi-5 Band gets sold and keeping Karumba State School afloat (2012)

Months later, in 2012, Sam sold his Hi-5 Band to Hannah for an undisclosed amount and Sam invested most of the money from the sale in to The School Days funding, with a portion of the profits going to Karumba State School in order for the school to stay afloat for the time being.

## Filming Continuation (2012 - 2015)

Filming has continued from Normanton in 2012, Karumba in late 2012, Innisfail from 2013 until Sam's departure on June 17. Filming discontinued from June 17 until July 2015 when filming continued until 1st December 2015. A prologue was created and broadcasted on 20th April 2009. The epilogue appeared on the final episode of this show. This show interests the viewers with the show reaching over 20.7 million viewers.

In early 2013, Sam announced he went back to Hi-5 Brisbane but he resigned from them a few months later and replied with "My journey with my created band was fantastic but now it's time for me to move on with my life as it is with the other original members of the band. Sam continued to focus on his famous show, The School Days until 31st December 2015 when he announced to all the Innisfail State College students that he is moving down to Brisbane legitimately very soon. The Innisfail students will truly miss him, especially various student actors and actresses. Sam says he'll be alright and if they want to see him, he says that there will be YouTube videos of himself online if they're interested. Sam says Goodbye then a black screen with white text says "Sam moved to Brisbane in Early December 2015, Sam returned to his dad on 22nd December 2015 but left 13th January 2016 to go back to Brisbane". Then more white text says on the next black screen says "Thanks for joining my 6 year journey. Let's go back to the start of the journey". The next video shows Karumba State School and Sam going to the school. Sam sees that the school has shut down and is upset about this and gives up and goes away from Karumba forever and pursues his career in photography after the episode ends. Sam also announced that The School Days will be discontinued after Season 24 in December 2015 as he had created a spinoff show. In November 2016, Sam announced to revive The School Days with a new cast, though he would not star in the program.

Holahan was the last original actor in the program, making his debut in April 2009 and his final regular appearance in December 2015 and his final appearance two years later.

## Revival (2017 - 2019)

   Sam announced plans to revive The School Days with a new cast and has also sold this franchise. The new host for the TV Series was confirmed. This show is filmed at the same location as The School Days House was filmed at between 2015 and 2016. When the series was revived in 2017, the show was moved to Sam Wilkes Radio Kids. It was then subsequently transferred to Neon Kids throughout the remainder of 2017. At the start of the 2018 school term, it was broadcasted on Neon Entertainment where it would stay until mid-2019. It would then move back to Neon Kids in a last ditch effort to boost ratings on the channel. This has failed though and the production office was downsized and towards the end of the year had closed down.

In January 2018, Austin (then Sam) announced that he will ultimately end being part of The School Days crew effective immediately. This is because he moved in with Paw Patrol Team days prior to the announcement. This put The School Days in a deadly placement. A new format and logo was also introduced. The series has been renewed for 2019. Season 25 & 26 will be the last seasons as the production office for The School Days in Australia closes in November 1 2019. This marks the end of The School Days after 10 years. Austin has confirmed he will make an appearance in the season finale provided that his filming scene take place in the United States. Of his time on the show, he said "The School Days became a success over the years and I'm happy to be part of something very special. Although I'm sad to see it go, the majority like my teaching style better. This was one of the earliest shows to make it on to Neon Entertainment after numerous format updates, numerous relocations and numerous channel rebrands. After ten years, it was time to let go". The cause for this was to extend preschool programming time and to accommodate more time in to teen and older children's programming. With The School Days gone from the airwaves, this will vacate six hours of programming on Neon Kids which most of the allocated block will be reserved for older children and teens. The production office closed on 1 November 2019 and with the death of Sam Wilkes Holahan in August of the same year, Sam Wilkes Radio Network then ended The School Days after the office closed, marking the end of an era after 10 years.

The final episode of The School Days broadcasted on 15 November 2019, ending The School Days after 10 years.

After the program ended, many had speculated that the program went downhill immediately after Austin's departure in 2018. Although it had done okay in the ratings, 2017 was the final year of high ratings.

## Cast

Sam Wilkes - Himself (2009 - 2015, 2017)

??? - ??? (2013 - 2015)

### Locations

Karumba (2009 - 2011, 2012)

Normanton (2012)

Innisfail (2013 - 2015)

Brisbane (2017 - 2019)

## Related TV Shows

The School Days (1979 - 1983)

The School Days House (2015 - 2016)