VH1 is plucking an oft quoted phrase from the most sensationalized trial in Australian history for the title of a new music-video show for cellphones, Dingo Ate My Video.
The VH1 Mobile show, created by New York-based production company City Lights Television, will be hosted by puppet versions of a dingo (a type of wild dog) and a baby. Short-form episodes will feature clips of music videos introduced by the two puppets, who also engage in comic banter.
The weekly music-video show takes its name from the 1980 Chamberlain incident, a trial in which a couple was convicted of murdering their 9-week-old baby, Azaria, while vacationing in the Australian Outback. Lindy Chamberlain, the baby’s mother, said the baby was taken by a dingo. That eventually proved to be true, and the parents were awarded more than $1 million in compensatory damages.
The Chamberlain incident was later made into a book and a 1988 movie starring Meryl Streep. Since then, the “A dingo took my baby!” phrase Lindy Chamberlain was said to have uttered has become a well-known pop-culture catchphrase, referenced in television shows including The Simpsons, Seinfeld and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Dingo Ate My Video was created and written by City Lights’ director of production Chris Stout.
