Despite being canceled, the final broadcast in 1972 finished with the ABC announcer telling kids throughout Australia, "The Diddly-Dum-Diddlies will be back after their holidays". According to TV Week, this was because ABC moguls thought the finale appeared too final when they had generously agreed to screen a year of repeats. When the program returned in 1973, it was merely repeats from 1969, which led TV Week to ponder "how many kids will lose faith in the Diddlies when their drawings don't appear on the show because they've been filed in the wastepaper basket".