Talking TelevisionAU

1992: February 15-22

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:53:00 +0000

Just 18… and Kym’s got it all!
She might be only 18 years old, but Kym Wilson (pictured) has emerged from an acting novice to a talented professional, with acclaim for her performances in the film Flirting, stage production The Crucible and mini-series Brides Of Christ. And she is optimistic that her decision to join A Country Practice is a positive career move. “You have to choose roles that are going to fulfil you,” she told TV Week. “That is why I chose A Country Practice as the soap I wanted to do. It has been going for 10 years, the people I work with are fantastic actors and it has that extra dimension by dealing with issues in society, which perhaps the other soaps do not do.” The young star has also taken on an additional on-air role as co-host of Seven’s Saturday morning Video Smash Hits, although is wary of becoming over-exposed or being pigeonholed as a “personality” rather than an actress. “That was my concern when I chose to do Video Smash Hits – that I wouldn’t, without degrading Sophie, become another Sophie Lee, who is seen more as a TV personality than an actress because she did The Bugs Bunny Show before she did The Flying Doctors.”

Axe for Hard Copy?
It may be a ratings winner for the Ten Network, but its weekly “tabloid” current affairs show Hard Copy (hosted by Gordon Elliott, pictured) could soon be axed due to a falling out between the network and Paramount, the owners of the concept. Paramount is believed to have notified Ten that it wants out of the deal when the current batch of 13 episodes is completed, due to Ten failing to comply with certain changes that had been requested of the Australian franchise. The termination of the agreement would mean that the show’s title can not be used in Australia, or that any reports from the US version can be broadcast here. But Network Ten boss Gary Rice has denied any rift with Paramount and insists that production of Hard Copy is business as usual.

Frozen out!
E Street star Alyssa-Jane Cook (pictured) always insisted that she wanted her exit from the show to be dramatic, but admits that her final scenes with the series have been her most challenging. Her character, Lisa Bennett, finds herself at the mercy of E Street’s serial killer Mr Bad (Vince Martin) who has kidnapped her and locked her in a freezer in a bid to lure his targets Sheridan (Kate Raison) and Wheels (Marcus Graham) to their deaths. Cook is not about to give away the outcome of the storyline, but says the scenes were amongst her most difficult. “By the end of the 14-hour shoot, I was emotionally and physically exhausted,” she said.

Briefly…
TV Week has announced a new era as it embarks on changes to production techniques and its format. This week’s edition includes a special eight-day program guide – Saturday to Saturday – as from next week the magazine will feature program listings from Sunday to Saturday, while the magazine’s on-sale day will change from Monday to Thursday. This change, incorporated with tighter production deadlines, will see the magazine report more up-to-date stories and offer a more accurate program listing. Despite the changes, the cover price of TV Week will remain at $1.70.

All Together Now star Rebecca Gibney has broken her silence on her private life by denying reports that while on a three-week holiday to the United States that she and her fiance, singer Jack Jones, had been secretly married in a Las Vegas chapel. “Marriage crossed our minds at some point, but we decided against it,” she told TV Week. “But we haven’t run off to Las Vegas to have a quickie wedding.”

Former The Flying Doctors cast members Lenore Smith and David Reyne (pictured) have embarked on a new project, appearing in the stage production of Love Letters which begins at the Sydney Opera House before touring regional centres in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Reyne has also started work on a new travel series, Getaway, for the Nine Network. Getaway, which also features former Beyond 2000 reporter Jeff Watson and two yet-to-be-named female reporters, makes its debut on Nine next month.

John Laws says…
”Perhaps, as a nation, we should all have been watching the documentary about the Snowy Mountain hydro-electric project, aptly screened over the Australia Day weekend on the ABC. By any standards the Snowy project was a heroic undertaking, in both engineering and human terms. It took 25 years to complete and it ranks as one of this nation’s greatest achievements. Here was a mammoth engineering feat brought to life by Australians and “new” Australians from Europe, most of them displaced persons from World War II. The ABC documentary team interviewed a handful of the thousands of people who worked on the Snowy project, but their stories seemed to embrace all its spirit and courage. Interestingly, the general feeling among them was that a scheme like the Snowy could never be built today. Way back in 1949, when Ben Chifley’s government got it off the ground, there was no conservation movement!”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, February 15-22):
Saturday: Saturday afternoon sport includes golf on both ABC (West Australian Ladies’ Classic) and Seven (Australian Masters), while Nine presents a highlights package of the Winter Olympic Games. Nine’s evening is dominated by the return of Hey Hey It’s Saturday, followed by more live coverage of the Winter Olympic Games from Albertville, France.

Sunday: More golf on ABC and Seven, while Nine presents highlights of the Reebok Blacktop Basketball, from Adelaide’s Clipsal Powerhouse Stadium. Evening programs include the return of multi-lingual current affairs program Vox Populi (SBS) and Brian Naylor’s documentary Australia From The Outside Looking In (Nine). Sunday night movies are Good Morning Vietnam (Seven) and K-9 (Ten), up against the Winter Olympics (Nine).

Monday: In Mother And Son (ABC), Arthur (Garry McDonald) brings a pet budgie home for Maggie (Ruth Cracknell) after she is upset by her son Robert (Henri Szeps) – but how this leads to 10 naked dentists dancing on a golf course has to be seen to be believed!

Tuesday: ABC’s consumer affairs program The Investigators is back for another year, followed by drama series GP where a new locum (played by Christopher Bailey) arrives at the practice, only to have his wife turn up and reveal that he is not who he says he is. In SBS’ current affairs program Dateline, reporter Maeve O’Meara profiles influential Irish writer Colm Tóibín.

Wednesday: Astrophysicist Graham Phillips and journalist Cathy Johnson join ABC’s science program Quantum as it returns for its eighth year. This year is the International Year of Space and, to mark the occasion, Quantum will begin a series of reports on everything from space junk to space technology. The 40th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne is documented in a two-hour BBC special, Elizabeth R (ABC), following the Queen on her many official duties over 12 months and giving a rare glimpse of her more informal moments.

Thursday: In Acropolis Now (Seven), Effie (Mary Coustas, pictured) suspects Suzanne (Nicky Wendt) of treachery and plots her revenge – murder by haircare products. ABC’s documentary series The Big Picture presents When The War Came To Australia – Our Melancholy Duty, the first of a four-part series tracing the social history of Australia during World War II and the effects of Japan’s attack on Darwin, which occurred fifty years ago this week.

Friday: Dateline (SBS) features a report on Simone Harvari, France’s top TV producer, who heads a company where the majority of employees are female. In Neighbours (Ten), a reunion with old mates has devastating implications for Doug (Terence Donovan).

Saturday: Nine debuts its new Saturday morning show, Saturday At Rick’s, hosted by Steven Jacobs with Tania Lacy, featuring cartoons, video clips and interviews. Nine then crosses to New Zealand for the Benson And Hedges World Cup cricket – Australia versus New Zealand. ABC also has cricket with live coverage from the North Sydney Oval of the Ladies’ International Super Test: Australia versus England.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 15 February 1992. Southdown Press

C31 joins early analogue switch-off

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:12:00 +0000

C31, Melbourne’s community television channel, is soon to join its Sydney counterpart TVS in an early shutdown of its analogue signal – well ahead of the scheduled shutdown of other analogue services in their respective cities.

On their website, C31 advises that it will cease analogue transmission (from UHF 31 and from UHF 64 in South Yarra) on Thursday 1 March, even though the analogue shutdown is not scheduled for Melbourne until late 2013.

From 1 March, viewers will only be able to access C31 on digital television channel 44 (UHF 32 from Mount Dandenong, or UHF 66 from the South Yarra translator).

The shutdown of the analogue signal marks an end to over 17 years of transmission from UHF Channel 31, dating back to when the channel first launched in October 1994. Back then, Channel 31 was broadcasting a program schedule only on Monday to Thursday evenings and on Saturday nights broadcast live coverage of races from Harness Racing Victoria, then a sponsor of the channel.

C31 now broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and also has some programs available via a catch-up facility on their website.

TVS will also be closing its analogue signal from 1 March, while Brisbane’s 31 Digital and Perth’s WTV are already broadcasting solely in digital.

Source: C31

Ten’s ready to rise for Breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:09:00 +0000

Network Ten’s new breakfast news program, creatively titled Breakfast, is set to debut on Monday, 27 February at 6.00am.

Breakfast will be fronted by Andrew Rochford (The Block, The Project and recently breakfast co-host at Mix 106.5 in Sydney), Kathryn Robinson (Ten News), Magdalena Roze (The Weather Channel, Ten News) and outspoken New Zealand presenter Paul Henry, who was signed up for the new program for $NZ1 million by Ten’s interim CEO Lachlan Murdoch.

Even before Henry makes his Australian TV debut, his appointment to the network has already sparked divisive debate largely due to controversial comments made while host of TVNZ’s own Breakfast program which led to his resignation from the national broadcaster and subsequent million-dollar offer to cross the Tasman. He will also continue to appear on New Zealand television with plans to host a weekly comedy show on commercial network TV3.

Ten’s head of news and current affairs, Anthony Flannery says Breakfast aims to be ‘must-see’ TV for Australians as they start their day:

“Breakfast is a tough, competitive environment and we can’t wait to get into the game. Already, the opposition is taking cheap pot shots – I couldn’t be happier that they’re taking us so seriously, so soon.”

“We plan to make Breakfast a must-watch part of Australia’s day. From fact to fun, it’s going to be a fresh start to the morning TV schedule.”

The new show will have a tough job ahead of itself, entering a market dominated by the long-running Today and Sunrise programs as well as alternatives ABC News Breakfast and Sky News’ First Edition and AM Agenda.

Ten’s new show will also be under pressure to deliver numbers to lead in to mid-morning show The Circle which currently suffers by not being handed a large audience from the preceding early morning children’s shows. The Circle, despite winning a TV Week Logie last year for Most Popular Light Entertainment Program, is currently rating well behind Seven’s The Morning Show and Nine’s recently-launched Mornings.

1992: February 8-14

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:10:00 +0000

‘Don’t call me Betty!’
While Hey Dad! star Julie McGregor (pictured, centre, with co-star Rachael Beck) loves playing the role of ditzy secretary Betty Wilson in the long-running sitcom (“I’m not sure that there is anything around that would be as rewarding to do,” she says) don’t ask her to “do a Betty” when she’s not working. When McGregor leaves the studio after a taping, she leaves Betty behind in the prop cupboard. “You just shut off, put the toys away, and you come home,” she told TV Week. “Of course, every now and then you say something and you think, ‘Oh gosh, that sounded like Betty’.” In the series’ return to air this week, Betty’s old boyfriend Stan (Bill Young) is looking for work, but his potential new employer sparks a brawl when he makes some less than polite remarks about Betty. The punch-up is not shown on screen, but it’s the talk of the Hey Dad! household.

Gay murder rocks GP
ABC’s medical drama GP makes a controversial return to screens this week with scenes depicting graphic violence and a storyline surrounding a gay bashing and murder. Simon Radley (Felix Nobis) joins the Ross Street practice as a locum and possible replacement for Dr Nicola Tanner (Judy McIntosh) – but after work hours he frequents gay bars looking for sex, while his partner David Robinson (Scott Burgess) is keeping the home fires burning. A vicious assault on Dr Radley is witnessed by Dr William Sharp (Michael Craig), who identifies one of the culprits in a police line-up. A second attack on Dr Radley leaves him beaten to death. “It’s pretty heavy stuff,” Burgess told TV Week. “Simon and David share a house, but while Simon is driven by his urges to seek clandestine sex, David is settled and stable. The story is as much about their private dilemma as it is about the prejudice that gay people who live in the city have to face – being supposedly different from everybody else.”

When will the killings stop?
Has E Street’s serial killer storyline gone too far? While insiders at the Ten Network claims that the ongoing storyline has boosted ratings, what effect does having a sustained storyline based on murder and having a deranged killer as the focal point have on the viewer – and is it appropriate for a 7.30pm timeslot? Although the actor who plays the character of serial killer Steven Richardson, Vince Martin (pictured), is concerned that “there was perhaps too much killing… and I still feel this is the case because there are more deaths to go to air”, the show’s producer Forrest Redlich defends the storyline as “just storytelling”. “I’ve got the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal’s code on violence,” he says. “We have to stick to the letter of the law and we are doing that. When you look at how the story is presented, it isn’t a violent storyline. You don’t see a lot of violence in it when the murders are taking place. I just think it’s basically about storytelling and working within the tribunal guidelines.” Pat Manser of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal has expressed concern over the material being depicted but stresses that viewers do not have to just accept what is presented to them. “The best method of attack is to go straight to the station, because the stations are quite sensitive to public criticism,” she says. “If they get more criticism than pats on the back, they will do something about it.”

Briefly…
Jacki MacDonald (pictured) has described her new Network Ten show Healthy Wealthy And Wise as “a show that’s not really like anything else” and, after a decade as the funny girl on Hey Hey It’s Saturday and a year as host of Australia’s Funniest Home Video Show, is excited at the prospect at doing “something serious” for a change. “In this show I’m not zany, silly or crazy,” she said. “We all enjoy ourselves, laugh and have a good time – but it’s not a format for outrageous antics.” Healthy Wealthy And Wise, which also features Ronnie Burns as co-host, is produced by former Hey Hey It’s Saturday co-producer Gavan Disney. Although the show has only just debuted on Network Ten, it has already been sold for screening in New Zealand, Singapore and Papua New Guinea.

After six years of reading the news for ABC in Victoria, Mary Delahunty (pictured) is returning to current affairs television as she takes over as host of the Victorian edition of The 7.30 Report – replacing John Jost who has left the ABC to join the Nine Network as host of its new Melbourne Extra current affairs program. Ian Henderson, a former European correspondent for the ABC, has taken over as newsreader for the 7.00pm ABC News in Victoria.

Mike Hammond, the former host of Ten’s Star Search and now the sole host of Good Morning Australia, is enthusiastic about the breakfast show’s new format. “It has a totally new look, and a new format which is a world first. Breakfast television has never before recognised the fact that daily routines don’t allow you extended periods of time to sit in front of the box watching long interviews. Our new program informs you while you get ready to start your day. If you want to compare us to Today, we still offer more news and weather, more financial news, more politics and sport, and more relevant stories. And in what is probably a television first, there is up-to-the-minute traffic information as well.”

Former Quantum reporter Andrew Waterworth (pictured) has moved to the Seven Network as a reporter for Beyond 2000. “I was with Quantum for five years and I put a lot into the show,” he told TV Week. “But you get to a point in your life where you feel you would like a change.”

John Laws says…
”Whether Seven’s Real Life is going to offer any serious long-term problems to Jana Wendt’s A Current Affair on Nine is yet to be assessed, though the early signs are that ACA will be the toughest of nuts to crack. Real Life’s problem may be that it has hyped itself up as being completely different to the current affairs shows we have become accustomed to – and this, as any viewer will tell (producer) Gerald Stone, is a load of old cobblers. Real Life is a mixture of everything – a sort of mini-version of 60 Minutes, with shades of ACA and The 7.30 Report thrown in for good measure. It really can’t be anything else.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, February 8-14):
Saturday: Nine presents a two-hour preview of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, hosted by Ken Sutcliffe, taking a look at the behind-the-scenes preparations and focusing on the Games venues and competitions as well as the Australian team. On Seven, AFL is back for the new year with its pre-season competition, the Foster’s Cup, live from AFL Park, Waverley.

Sunday: The first day of ratings for 1992 – and Nine’s current affairs line-up of Business Sunday, Sunday and the evening 60 Minutes are back for another year. Seven crosses to Darwin for live coverage of the afternoon match between Collingwood and the West Coast Eagles for the AFL Foster’s Cup. Sunday night movies are Air America (Seven) and The ‘Burbs (Ten), while Nine presents live coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games from Albertville, France.

Monday: Nine’s regular daytime line-up is back for the new year – with In Melbourne Today, What’s Cooking and Midday With Ray Martin all returning. At 5.00pm, Nine launches its new game show Supermarket Sweep, hosted by Ian Turpie, followed by the debut of Melbourne Extra, with John Jost (pictured) presenting local current affairs as the lead-in to National Nine News. Sale Of The Century (Nine) returns for another year at 7.00pm, while ABC launches a new series of comedy Mother And Son at 8.00pm. Stuart Littlemore’s Media Watch is also back for the new year, at 9.15pm on ABC. Nine starts its routine coverage of the Winter Olympic Games, hosted by Ken Sutcliffe, with over four hours of coverage each night from 8.30pm.

Tuesday: The return of ABC’s medical drama GP focuses on the gay bashing of the new doctor at the Ross Street surgery.

Wednesday: Seven presents live coverage of the AFL Foster’s Cup match between Geelong and St Kilda from AFL Park, Waverley. In E Street (Ten), Alice (Marianne Howard) and Penny (Josephine Mitchell) try to cope with their new business venture – meanwhile someone else in the neighbourhood receives a surprise visit from Steven Richardson (Vince Martin).

Thursday: Seven begins four days of coverage of the Australian Masters golf, live from Huntingdale, Melbourne. In the evening, sitcom Acropolis Now (Seven) returns, while ABC presents a movie-length debut of its new police drama Phoenix, starring Paul Sonkkila, Simon Westaway, Nell Feeney, Sean Scully and Andy Anderson.

Friday: Burke’s Backyard (Nine) is back for another year, hosted by Don Burke with presenters Peter Harris, Dr Harry Cooper and Densey Clyne.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 8 February 1992. Southdown Press

Humphrey rescued from receivers

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:37:00 +0000

Humphrey B. Bear is set to entertain a new generation of children with the rights to the character being bought by an Adelaide company.

A feature of the Nine Network for over 40 years, Humphrey was feared to be gone forever with his former owner Banksia Productions going into liquidation three years ago.

Last year, the rights to the Humphrey brand were among Banksia’s assets put up for sale by accounting firm BRI Ferrier. More than 100 groups had shown interest in purchasing Humphrey, but it was Adelaide-based games and entertainment company Imagination that won the deal for an undisclosed sum.

The company is now exploring options for re-inventing Humphrey for a new generation of youngsters – with the potential for another TV series, charity work or even an animated series spin-off.

Imagination chief Shane Yeend told Adelaide’s Sunday Mail that he plans to celebrate Humphrey’s return with a reunion of those who have worked with the “funny old fellow” over the years:

"For the last few months, we have been going through 40 years worth of material. We have come across all these people who have had something to do with Humphrey and we thought it would be nice to have a reunion later this year to celebrate how he has affected so many people."

Humphrey was created by Rex Heading of Adelaide channel NWS9 in 1965 – with the Here’s Humphrey program screening across the Nine Network on an ongoing basis until 2003, with a brief return in 2007-08. The show won TV Week Logies for Best Children’s Program in 1970 and 1982.

Source: Adelaide Now

ABC1 presents The Real Graham Kennedy

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:59:00 +0000

When TV looks back on the man that was Graham Kennedy, it rarely drifts from the public side of the talented performer: The hilarious moments from In Melbourne Tonight, his comic rapport with Bert Newton, the portrayal of the mega-camp ‘Cyril’ in Blankety Blanks, and the 1980s success of Graham Kennedy’s News Show, just to name a few.

But as well as the very public Kennedy, it was well known that there was also an equally private one. A shy, somewhat reclusive person who rarely gave any real insight into his life away from the cameras.

In The Real Graham Kennedy, a one-hour documentary screening tomorrow (Sunday) night on ABC1, a number of Kennedy’s former colleagues, friends and employees recall some of their experiences and memories of Kennedy, giving some insight into this private persona. Some of those appearing in the program include Val Wesley, Ernie Carroll (the man behind Ossie Ostrich), Toni Lamond, Joy Westmore, Rosemary Margan (who confessed having to ask a friend what was that word that Kennedy had disguised as a “crow call” on that infamous night in 1975), Mike McColl-Jones, Philip Brady, Pete Smith, Denise Drysdale and Susan-Gaye Anderson.

The program also includes rare home movie footage and some early comedy sketches, depicting some of Kennedy’s early comic influences, as well as audio commentary from Kennedy himself as he recalls some of his family and his early background.

The Real Graham Kennedy was produced in 2009 by Bob Phillips, a former producer of In Melbourne Tonight.

The Real Graham Kennedy. Sunday 5 February, 10.00pm. ABC1

1992: February 1-7

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:00:00 +0000

How to succeed away from Wandin Valley
A Country Practice star Georgie Parker (pictured) is suddenly hot property on the theatre circuit, with two producers vying for her services for upcoming stage productions. Parker, who is currently taping her final scenes for A Country Practice, has been offered the lead role in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, scheduled to premiere in Sydney in September, and has been called for a second audition for the revival of the classic Gypsy. Parker has also been offered a role in the Seven Network’s upcoming comedy Newlyweds, but has turned it down citing reluctance to accept another television series role so soon after ACP.

‘We’re great together!’
Garry McDonald and Ruth Cracknell, about to return to screens in a new series of Mother And Son, believe the series could go on indefinitely… or at least as long as writer Geoffrey Atherden writes the scripts. “Over the years it’s become funnier,” Cracknell told TV Week. “Good comedy doesn’t go away.” And the two actors quite happily continue their light-hearted banter even when the cameras stop rolling. Cracknell confides that McDonald tells all the jokes, but her trademark one-liners on screen are carried over off screen with just as much success. “We’re great together,” she chuckles. “It would have been a wonderful marriage!”

‘I was absolutely shaken…’
When A Country Practice star Joyce Jacobs (pictured) heard that her fellow cast-mates Syd Heylen and Gordon Piper were being written out of the series, she thought she would be next. “I was absolutely shaken!,” she told TV Week. “It was a great shock and my first thought was, ‘It’s me as well’. I have been more involved with the doctors in the past year or two and in fewer scenes with Cookie (Heylen) and Bob (Piper). We’ll miss them. There was always laughter, although you could thump them sometimes.” Jacobs is now in her 11th year in A Country Practice as snoopy Esme Watson, but she was not the first choice for the role. In the series pilot she played an extra, Wilma, who had little dialogue. It was a character that Jacobs didn’t think would go anywhere, much like the woman she used to play in Number 96. “I used to go into Mr Godolfus’ shop and buy a quarter of a pound of tea, but they blew them all up didn’t they?,” she said. But she was later chosen to play Esme Watson in A Country Practice after the actress originally cast for the role had dropped out. But like any television performer, Jacobs admits nothing is forever. “I think if and when A Country Practice finishes I’d be glad to do a little cameo role in a film now and then. It would be nice. I couldn’t go into another series. I’m too old… past retirement age, you know.”

Briefly…
All Together Now’s Steven Jacobs (pictured) and former Countdown Revolution co-host Tania Lacey have signed on as presenters of Nine’s new Saturday morning show, Saturday At Rick’s. The program, to go to air live for two hours each week, is reminiscent of the early days of Hey Hey It’s Saturday. The new show, to debut later this month, is expected to be produced at Warner Bros Movie World on the Gold Coast. Two more presenters are also to be signed up.

Network Ten has commissioned a second series of sitcom Bingles before the first series has even gone to air. The series, set in a panel-beating workshop, stars Shane Bourne, Tammy MacIntosh, Nick Bufalo and Russell Gilbert.

Acclaimed young actor Russell Crowe (pictured) will be a guest star in the second series of ABC’s Police Rescue. Crowe, who won an AFI award for his role in Proof, is currently appearing on the big screen in the long-awaited Spotswood. In Police Rescue he plays Senior Constable Tom Younger, a local football hero and new member of the squad. Producer John Edwards is excited about Crowe joining the show. “Russell is a fabulous actor,” he said. “He’s also a charismatic and exciting personality.”

Lawrie Masterson’s Sound Off
”When he took my call, Ian Frykberg was on the Gold Coast in Queensland. It was windy rather than sunny, but, anyway, he was doing some work preparatory to a 12-metre yacht challenge later this year. Then he was due to leave for Albertville, France, not just for a dramatic change of climate, but for the 1992 Winter Olympics. Before the Winter Olympics are over, Frykberg is going to be casting an anxious eye towards places as far flung as Mackay in Queensland, Berri in South Australia and Napier, New Zealand. They are just some of the venues for the World Cup of cricket. And before that’s over, there’s the not inconsequential matter of the NSW Rugby League starting its 1992 season on 20 March. Such is life when you’re director of sport at the Nine Network…”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, February 1-7):
Saturday: Afternoon sport includes a repeat of last Monday’s NFL Superbowl (ABC) and Fifth Test Cricket, live from Perth, on Nine.

Sunday: ABC’s rural affairs program Landline returns for another year. Afternoon sport includes Test Cricket on Nine and the Ironman Super Series on Ten. At 6.30pm, Ten launches Bert Newton’s New Faces, reviving the title and format that Newton hosted at the Nine Network from 1976 to 1985 in the same timeslot. Also at 6.30pm is the return of Seven’s The Main Event, hosted by Larry Emdur, followed by US sitcom Full House and debut of new US series Dinosaurs. The Simpsons returns with new episodes on Ten at 7.30pm, followed by the debut of locally-made sitcom Late For School, starring Frankie J. Holden, Sarah Chadwick and Matthew Newton. Sunday night movies are Runaway Train (Seven), Gulag (Nine) and Uncle Buck (Ten).

Monday: Current affairs programs Four Corners and Lateline are back for another year on ABC, while Seven’s late-night variety show Tonight Live With Steve Vizard returns for its third year. Although it was widely tipped for a Saturday night timeslot, Ten debuts its new lifestyle/magazine show Healthy Wealthy And Wise on Monday, hosted by Jacki MacDonald (pictured) and Ronnie Burns and featuring Iain Hewitson, Ross Greenwood, Jim Brown and Lyn Talbot.

Tuesday: In A Country Practice (Seven), Shirley (Lorrae Desmond) is suspicious of Muldoon’s (Brian Moll) sudden generosity, while Matron Prior (Maureen Edwards) tries to keep Kate (Michelle Pettigrove) away from Harry (Andrew Blackman). Gordon Bray and Karen Tighe present the 41st annual ABC Sports Awards, from the New Maritime Museum in Sydney. In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Amanda Keller (pictured) examines virtual reality systems where the observer exists in a 3D, computer-generated world.

Wednesday: In E Street (Ten), Steven (Vince Martin, pictured) makes a bold move, while Alice (Marianne Howard) gets an offer she can’t refuse, and CJ (Adrian Lee) gets advice on wooing the modern woman.

Thursday: In The Flying Doctors (Nine), Penny (Sophie Lee) turns to Guy (David Reyne) for comfort, little realising the strength of their mutual attraction. In Home And Away (Seven), Sophie’s (Rebekah Elmaloglou) fears for her baby’s future seem justified. Seven presents an ‘encore’ screening of US series Dinosaurs from Sunday night.

Friday: Documentary series A Big Country returns to ABC, this week focusing on the Spencer family who live in the far north of the Cape York Peninsula. Seven years ago they made the break from society. Nine crosses to the Sydney Football Stadium for the Seven’s International Rugby League, with commentators Ray Warren and Darrell Eastlake. Nine’s late-night music show MTV returns for the new year, hosted by Richard Wilkins.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 1 February 1992. Southdown Press

Willesee at Seven… again

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:36:00 +0000

Veteran journalist and producer Mike Willesee, the man who popularised current affairs on commercial television in the ‘70s and dominated the genre for more than two decades, is returning to television to join the Seven Network’s Sunday Night.

Willesee, a reporter and presenter of Four Corners and This Day Tonight for the ABC back in the 1960s (pictured), was the first host of A Current Affair when it debuted on Nine in November 1971. Although serious current affairs had been done on commercial TV before it was still largely seen as the domain of the ABC, though Willesee and A Current Affair in its original form did much to change that perception.

He later left Nine and had a stint as news and current affairs director at the 0-10 Network, where he also presented a weekly interview program, before joining the Seven Network in 1975. At Seven he hosted the first Australian version of This Is Your Life and then the long-running nightly current affairs program Willesee At Seven. The program claimed victory over A Current Affair in the then 7.00pm current affairs battle when ACA was axed in 1978.

Although Willesee At Seven (later to become Willesee ‘81 and Willesee ‘82) ended early in 1982, he had handed over the host role to Derryn Hinch in the show’s later stages while he produced documentaries for the network. He returned to Nine in 1984 to revisit the nightly current affairs genre with Willesee as well as producing specials for the network, winning a Logie for Most Popular Documentary in 1986.

Willesee was the predecessor to the revival of the A Current Affair brand when Jana Wendt took over as host in 1988 – with Willesee later returning as a guest host on occasions before taking over as Wendt’s successor in 1993. His interview with then Liberal Party leader John Hewson is said to have lost the Liberals the 1993 federal election by highlighting the confusion over their proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST).

He has twice hosted the TV Week Logie Awards, first for the Ten Network in 1983 and then for Nine in 1986. In 2002 he was inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame for his contribution to television news and current affairs.

Willesee joining Sunday Night will give it some added clout up against Nine’s Sunday night flagship 60 Minutes in the two networks’ perennial battle in news and current affairs.

Sunday Night, with host Chris Bath, returns for 2012 next Sunday, 5 February, at 6.30pm on Seven.

NBN celebrates 50 years

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:00:00 +0000

This year will be one of celebration for Newcastle-based regional network NBN as 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of its debut.

Launching on Sunday, 4 March 1962, it was the first regional television station in New South Wales and the fourth nationally. Construction of the station’s premises in Mosbri Crescent, Newcastle, had been 18 months in the planning – culminating in a two-studio complex capable of producing large-scale “live” production as well as news bulletins, women’s and children’s programs, weather reports and commercials. Programs were then beamed from Mosbri Crescent to a 450-foot mast atop Mount Sugarloaf which would then broadcast the NBN3 signal to an area of over 420,000 people, stretching from Gosford and Sydney’s northern suburbs in the south, almost as far north as Taree and out west to Scone and Muswellbrook.

TV Week previewed the station’s opening night a week beforehand:

“The Postmaster-General C.W. Davidson will officially open the new Newcastle station, NBN3, during the station’s first program beginning at 6.00pm on Sunday night, March 4. Before the official opening NBN3’s production executive Matthew Tapp will welcome viewers and talk briefly about the programs the station will show.”

“Women’s show compere Ken Eady will then conduct a 20-minute tour of the station to show NBN3 viewers how its programs are made.”

“Ken will introduce NBN3’s children’s compere and newsreader Murray Finlay, who will complete the tour with a look at the station’s newsroom.”

“Matthew Tapp will then introduce the Postmaster-General for the official opening. This will be followed by the station’s first news service read by Murray Finlay.”

NBN3 initially promised a schedule of around 56 hours of programming a week, starting transmission each day from around 2.30pm. Like with many Australian stations at the time, programming was predominantly American but with the addition of popular Australian programs like BP Pick-A-Box (with presenters Bob and Dolly Dyer welcomed to the NBN3 studios at the time of its local debut).

But despite NBN3 being the region’s first television station many locals were more than familiar with television. Much of NBN3’s coverage area also received fortuitous coverage of the Sydney channels – leading to a proliferation of high-mast antennas sprouting up on top of many homes to get a clearer picture of the Sydney-based signals.

To compete with the imposing signals from Sydney, NBN3 had a slate of local production from Mosbri Crescent. A Saturday afternoon teenage music program, Tempo, was hosted by local radio 2KO personality Allan Lappan. Ken Eady hosted women’s program Home At 3, with a special Friday edition sub-titled Anything Goes, promising “community singing, quizzes and what Ken Eady calls ‘some crazy stunts’.”

New Zealander Murray Finlay (pictured) presented NBN3’s first children’s program, The Three Cheers Show, and was also the station’s first newsreader. NBN3’s first news service (produced in association with 2KO) was a half-hour bulletin each night at 6.30pm, comprising a mix of local, national and international news. The bulletin was later extended to 35 minutes, then 40 minutes and then, in 1972, a one-hour newscast – the first regional-based one-hour newscast in Australia – in a format that continues to this day.

Finlay was the front man for NBN’s evening news for over twenty years and his successor, Ray Dinneen, also served at NBN for over thirty years before retiring in 2010.

NBN has always maintained a level of local production – with programs over the years including a local franchise of pre-school program Romper Room, the long-running Travel Time With Jayes, morning shows The Breakfast Club and Today Extra, and telethons and community announcements for local charities. The station’s mascot Big Dog (pictured) has also been a favourite with junior viewers for many years and can still be seen each evening as he wishes boys and girls a good night.

NBN3 also provided production support for an early 1970s drama, Silent Number, for the Nine Network and produced the national program Variety Italian Style.

Over the years, the station has been acknowledged for its contribution to television – winning a TV Week Logie in 1963 for excellence in programming by a country station and then another six Logies between 1976 and 1995 for outstanding contributions by regional television.

The advent of aggregation saw NBN’s signal expand across the wider Northern NSW/Gold Coast market from December 1991, adding the markets of Tamworth, Taree, Lismore, Coffs Harbour and the Gold Coast to its coverage area as the Nine Network affiliate.

NBN now broadcasts to a market of 2,109,000 viewers – ranking it as Australia’s fourth largest market behind Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane – and won the 2011 ratings year with 31.6 per cent market share (comprising NBN’s 23.6% and digital channels GO! 4.8% and GEM 3.2%).

NBN has had a number of owners since its inception in 1962, but since 2007 it has been owned by Nine’s parent company PBL Media (now Nine Entertainment Co.).

To celebrate its 50th anniversary NBN will be holding a reunion of past and present employees on Saturday, 10 March. The event will include a collection of nostalgic footage and photos from the past 50 years. Any past employees wishing to attend the reunion are invited to contact NBN by email turning50@nbntv.com.au or contact Promotions Manager Mike Rabbitt on telephone (02) 49292333.

And throughout 2012, NBN News will be presenting a series of special reports on different aspects of the station’s history and significant community events of the last half century.

Later this year it will be the end of an era when NBN switches off analogue transmission across its coverage area (excluding Gold Coast and Gosford, which will occur later) in the conversion to digital-only broadcasting – but more significantly it will mark the end of transmission from Channel 3 from Mt Sugarloaf, the signal that launched NBN 50 years ago.

Source: NBN. TV Week, 24 February 1962. TV Times, 21 July 1979. TV Week, 15 May 1982. The Newcastle Star, 4 March 1987. TV Eye – Classic Australian Television. Regional TV Marketing. Regional TAM.

YouTube: markspyreport

Geoffrey Rush – our Australian of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:42:00 +0000

Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush (pictured) was last night announced as our Australian of the Year in recognition of his contribution to the arts.

The 60-year-old, who this year celebrates 40 years in the industry, gained international fame in 1996 for his portrayal of pianist David Helfgott in the movie Shine which led to him winning the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Despite much of Rush’s acting work being in the theatre and on film, the Queensland-born actor has also worked in television. He made his TV acting debut in the ABC mini-series Menotti in 1981.

He later appeared in Twisted Tales and played the lead role of newspaper editor Bill Wyatt in the 1996 series Mercury.

Rush also made a guest appearance in Kath And Kim in 2004.

Also on this Australia Day, a number of television identities were among the hundreds recognised in this year’s Australia Day honours list:

Maggie Beer – “For service to the tourism and hospitality industries as a cook, restaurateur and author, and to the promotion of Australian produce and cuisine.” Beer was a co-presenter on the popular ABC series The Cook And The Chef for five years and has also been a regular guest on MasterChef Australia.

Jamie Durie – “For service to the community as an ambassador and supporter of a range of charitable and environmental organisations, and as a landscape designer.” Durie came to national fame as the presenter of Backyard Blitz and The Block. He has more recently appeared on the Seven Network’s The Outdoor Room and gained international fame when he caught the attention of Oprah Winfrey.

Gus Mercurio (posthumously) – “For service to boxing as an administrator and sports commentator, as a film, television and stage actor, and to the community.” Mercurio appeared in numerous television series over his career, including period dramas Cash And Company, The Sullivans, Power Without Glory, Tandarra, Five Mile Creek and All The Rivers Run, and was a boxing commentator for 12 years.

Oscar Whitbread – “For service to the Australian film and television industry.” Whitbread has been a television producer since the 1960s, working on ABC dramas including Bellbird, Marion, And The Big Men Fly, Power Without Glory, Rush, Catspaw, The Truckies, Outbreak Of Love and I Can Jump Puddles. He later worked on The Flying Doctors, Ratbag Hero, Cluedo and Acropolis Now.

Source: ABC, Governor-General of Australia, IMDB, IMDB.

1992: January 25-31

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:05:00 +0000

Jana: ‘I welcome the challenge’
A Current Affair host Jana Wendt (pictured) talks to TV Week about the changing news and current affairs environment taking place – in particular, the launch of Real Life, produced by her former 60 Minutes boss Gerald Stone, going head-to-head with ACA. “I think anything that increases the competition is good,” she said. “It will sharpen our edge and I welcome that. I’m confident we can deliver. I don’t want to sound masochistic, but I welcome the challenge.” Not only will ACA be duelling with Real Life, but it will also have Derryn Hinch’s new Network Ten show at 6.00pm, giving him a half-hour head start on ACA and Real Life for the day’s big stories. Ten has also re-launched Ten Eyewitness News as a 5.00pm bulletin, and Nine has its own 5.30pm local news programs coming soon in each state. Asked how she feels about this changing landscape, Wendt said: “We’ll have to wait and find out, but Nine believes there is a market for news at 5.30pm, so perhaps there is at 5.00pm.”

Stan: ‘It’s the only gig in town’
Former ABC reporter Stan Grant (pictured) said that he had been made offers before to change to commercial television but had always knocked them back in loyalty to the national broadcaster, but then the offer to front Seven’s new Real Life came “out of the blue”. “This offer came along initially as a reporter,” Grant told TV Week. “Then (producer) Gerald Stone came to me and said, ‘How would you feel about presenting it?’ It basically came out of the blue, and I said, ‘Yes’. I’d given presenting a bit of thought at the ABC. I’d piloted a program there. I’d also read news updates during the Gulf War, but I was committed to Real Life. This was to me the only gig in town.” But although Grant will be the front man of the new show, he emphasises that Real Life is a team effort. “There’ll be a lot of interaction between myself and the other reporters. You’ll get a sense of a team at work here, as opposed to a presenter and a lot of sort of faceless, nameless reporters. It’s definitely not the Stan Grant Show, but I think A Current Affair is the Jana Wendt show.”

Kym’s rockin’ role
A Country Practice star Kym Wilson (pictured) has signed on as the new co-host of Seven’s Saturday morning Video Smash Hits. Wilson replaces Emily Symons who recently left the show after a two-year stint to pursue acting full time, and will be leaving Home And Away later this year. “It’ll be interesting to meet the people whose music I love,” Wilson told TV Week. “I’m an avid music listener. It’s going to be great fun.” Wilson, who previously starred in Brides Of Christ, will be continuing in her A Country Practice role as Darcy Hudson. “I just hope people don’t forget about my acting and consider me just a TV personality,” she said.

Briefly…
Andrew Daddo (pictured) is making his return to Australian television in Nine’s new ‘whodunnit’ game show, Cluedo. Daddo, who has returned from the US after a year with MTV, will join Frank Gallacher, Jane Badler, Nicki Paull, Joy Westmore and Peter Sumner as the principal characters based on the Cluedo board game. George Mallaby is also tipped to be joining the show, but this has yet to be confirmed.

E Street star Toni Pearen, whose character Toni is the next potential victim of mass-murderer Mr Bad (Vince Martin) in episodes to air this week, says that the serial killer storyline has done wonders for the show’s ratings. “Every soap has mediocre times and E Street was going through such a period when, all of a sudden, this serial-killer storyline comes along,” she told TV Week. “I just think it is something that no other soap has done before, so viewers have really taken to it.” When it is pointed out that in the Seventies, Number 96 shocked the nation with its pantyhose strangler mystery (pictured), she is nothing less than amazed. “Wow, a pantyhose murderer! Okay, so I wasn’t around then. This serial killer thing is new to my generation.”

Actress Tammy MacIntosh (pictured) is looking forward to her new role in the ABC series Police Rescue after a year of setbacks. After quitting The Flying Doctors in 1990, a collarbone injury saw her withdraw from a role in the $4.5 million film Garbo. Then a role in feature film It’s Now Or Never, alongside Jason Donovan, came to an abrupt end when the film’s finance fell through. Things looked better when she signed on for Nine’s Chances, but a controversial incident over a nude scene saw that role short-lived. “I rang my agent every day for a month to find out if I’d got the Police Rescue part,” she told TV Week. “When I found out I had the role, I just burst into tears. I couldn’t believe it. I feel very lucky about the way things have turned out.”

The Nine Network has announced that Lisa Patrick (pictured) will replace Jacki MacDonald as host of Australia’s Funniest Home Video Show. “I just feel so privileged,” she said. “I’ve watched Jacki for years and she always made me laugh. Now, to go in after her… well, I don’t quite know what to say.” Patrick, 26, was a former model who hit the big time in 1989 with a role in the US sitcom Live In, although the series was axed after ten episodes.

John Laws says…
”You have to admire the tenacity of the people behind Nine’s The Flying Doctors. I’ve lost count of the number the times the series has almost crash-landed. Yet – amazingly – it remains airborne, its continuing survival achieved by switching the route and turning a handful of hapless actors into free-fall sky divers. But, in television, and especially in the soapies field, survival is the name of the game. Any actor who joins a soapie realises only too well that he or she could be out on their ear in weeks or months, depending on the acceptance level of their character. In the latest shake-up, there appears to have been a casting slaughterhouse, with one actor – Sarah Chadwick – already gone and six others, described as playing “favourite” characters, pencilled in for departure. This is draconian, even by soapie standards. Crawfords, though, are old hands at the soapie business and the tendency is to believe that they know what they’re doing. In the case of The Flying Doctors, let’s hope so, because it has been around a long time, providing employment for hundreds of people, and enjoyment by millions.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, January 25-31):
Saturday: Saturday afternoon sport includes tennis (the Women’s Singles Final for the Australian Open) on Seven, test cricket on Nine and golf followed by lawn bowls on ABC.

Sunday: Australia Day is dominated largely by sport – more golf on ABC, more cricket on Nine, and the Men’s Singles Final of the Australian Open on Seven. ABC presents the Australia Day Address by the Governor-General just before the 7.00pm news. Sunday night movies are The Fremantle Conspiracy (Seven), City Heat (Nine) and Stealing Heaven (Ten), up against soccer (Australia versus Sweden) on SBS, and ABC’s tribute to conductor, the late Stuart Challender on Sunday Stereo Special.

Monday: ABC crosses to Minnesota, USA, for live coverage of the NFL XXVI Superbowl, hosted by Don Lane. Seven’s morning news program Eleven AM returns for the new year, as does ABC’s evening current affairs program The 7.30 Report.

Tuesday: Beyond 2000 (Seven) returns, with Simon Reeve reporting on Jamaica’s solution to pollution from bauxite mining. Amanda Keller takes a ride on a turbo swing, and Bryan Smith discovers growing food in space is a tricky business.

Wednesday: In Home And Away (Seven), Sally’s (Kate Ritchie) first day at high school does not go well.

Thursday: In E Street (Ten), an anxious neighbourhood awaits news on Toni (Toni Pearen, pictured), who is missing and has found herself trapped in dense bush and tied to her car bumper by serial killer Mr Bad (Vince Martin).

Friday: Blackout (ABC) looks at the topics of assimilation, adoption and sexual abuse in the Aboriginal community, and how these circumstances have prompted the creation of addictive personalities.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 25 January 1992. Southdown Press

The Playlist revisits the Arcade

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:09:00 +0000

Soap opera historian and TV commentator Andrew Mercado recently paid tribute to Australia’s most famous soapie flop, Arcade, on his Showcase program The Playlist.

Featured in the program last week was Arcade cast member, TV Week Gold Logie winner Lorrae Desmond and one of the show’s creators, David Sale, to discuss with Mercado just what went wrong with the show that was hoped to be the ratings hit of the 1980s.

Sale was the creator and writer for the successful drama Number 96 (1972-77) and in 1979 was hired along with Number 96’s former executive producer Bill Harmon and story editor Johnny Whyte to turn the then 0-10 Network’s concept of a shopping centre-themed drama into a prime-time series that could take on ratings heavyweights like Willesee At Seven and The Sullivans. The team came up with a quirky mix of characters that would run the stores that made up the fictional shopping centre in a series that would feature a broad mix of comedy and drama.

Arcade was rushed into production late in 1979 and debuted across the newly-relaunched Ten Network in a movie-length episode on Sunday night, 20 January 1980, before settling into a regular half-hour timeslot each weeknight with the hope that it would gain a following before the ratings season was due to kick off in February.

Despite Ten spending a fortune on constructing a mock shopping centre in its main Sydney studio, and hiring a cast featuring veteran performers such as Desmond (pictured, as newsagent proprietor Molly Sparks), Peggy Toppano, Mike Dorsey, Syd Heylen and Aileen Britton, the end result left viewers and critics dumbfounded by some fairly rudimentary storytelling and some stilted performances, including one infamous scene where a young actress is shown to be virtually reading straight from the script.

After copping much criticism and dismal ratings the series, originally heralded by Ten as being “a breath of fresh air”, ended up being removed from the schedule after six weeks – a duration that in today’s terms seems like a lifetime considering its shaky start.

The upside from the experience is that two of the show’s stars, Desmond and Heylen, went from Arcade to long-running roles in the popular series A Country Practice, while some of the show’s younger cast members, such as Jeremy Kewley, Tracy Mann and Christine Harris, went on to have their own career success.

With only around 30 episodes aired before Ten pulled the plug (and hopefully they’re all still in the archive) and given its legacy of being such a monumental flop, Arcade seems a prime candidate for getting a DVD release so that it can be re-lived in all its bargain basement glory.

The Playlist is an entertaining panel discussion of all things related to television – although at five minutes per episode it is far too brief – and appears every Monday and Friday evening on pay-TV channel Showcase and is repeated the following day. It can also be viewed online at http://www.theplaylist.com.au.

Source: The Playlist – Arcade of broken dreams

Prime7 shifts Tamworth news to Canberra

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:47:00 +0000

It’s another nail in the coffin of regional television production with news that Prime7 plans to shift production of Prime7 News’ Tamworth and Taree bulletins to Canberra.

The move, due to happen in April, comes after the centralisation of production of the network’s other newscasts from Orange, Wagga Wagga and Albury to Canberra.

With five newscasts ultimately to be produced from Canberra every weeknight there will be a certain amount of pre-recording of bulletins, meaning that reporters will now have earlier deadlines to get stories prepared for airtime. But Prime7 chief Doug Edwards told ABC Radio that this would still not impact on the standard of local news reporting and that late breaking news will still get to air.

Mr Edwards said that the move to centralise its news production is to take advantage of digital facilities installed in Canberra and also gives the network scope to adopt new technologies such as mobile apps and online streaming of news stories. He also said that the three production staff to be made redundant in Tamworth are looking to be redeployed to Canberra. There is not expected to be any change to news reporting staff in Tamworth, although newsreader Fiona Ferguson will not be making the move to Canberra – with the newsreading role to be taken over by Daniel Gibson, weather presenter for Prime7 who is also newsreader for the Albury bulletin.

The move out of the Tamworth studios located in Goonoo Goonoo Road will mark the end of almost fifty years of production from the site. The station opened in April 1965 as local channel NEN9. The channel later partnered up with Taree station ECN8.

In the late 1980s, NEN9/ECN8 became part of the Prime regional network. From December 1991, NEN9/ECN8 formed Prime’s move into the expanded Northern NSW/Gold Coast market with aggregation as the Seven Network affiliate.

Last year, Prime changed its on-screen branding to Prime7.

Apart from Prime7 News the only other local television news into the Tamworth-Taree regions are inserts into the Newcastle-based NBN News and brief updates broadcast throughout the day from Southern Cross Ten’s Canberra news room.

Source: ABC, Northern Daily Leader.

1992: January 18-24

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:29:00 +0000

Cover: Kevin Costner

Is Jennifer set to quit?
Tonight Live host and producer Steve Vizard has denied rumours that the show’s resident newsreader Jennifer Keyte will not be with the show when it returns for 1992, although he has conceded that she has not renewed her contract with the show. “I can tell you she’ll be back,” he told TV Week. And Seven Nightly News reporter Naomi Robson, who has filled in for Keyte on Tonight Live, denies suggestions that she will be Keyte’s replacement on the show. “I don’t know where these stories come from. There is no talk about it at the moment,” Robson said. “Jennifer is well entrenched in both her jobs at Seven.” Rumours over Keyte’s position have been sparked by her apparent concern that her appearances on the late night show are affecting her credibility as the main news anchor for Seven in Melbourne. It is believed that she wants to concentrate on what is shaping up to be a fierce battle for early evening ratings this year with the launch of Seven’s new current affairs show, Real Life.

The naked truth about Jeremy Sims
Chances star Jeremy Sims wants people to know that despite his character Alex’s readiness to strip off (as pictured, with co-star Annie Jones), in real life there is an intelligent head on those often bare shoulders and that he takes his job very seriously. Sims has no desire to be a “personality” and as a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) wants to be taken seriously as an actor – adding that Chances presents some significant challenges. “I’ve had to go into scenes after minimal rehearsal and put myself on the line,” he told TV Week. “This means day in, day out, every week, in what is probably the most dramatic – if over-the-top – role on television. I’m really grateful for the role of Alex. It’s the only role I think I’d be happy doing on television in an ongoing soap. I’m sure there are other guys who are happy doing their bits on Home And Away and E Street, but I would be bored out of my mind doing that stuff.” Sims also responds to some of the jokes and send-ups made about the show and his frequent bouts of nudity. “I’m fascinated that people still make such a big issue out of it. People are puerile on the subject, you know. Tits and bums are the most amazing subjects. You can get endless publicity over the fact you show a part of your body on television,” he said. “Apart from the political satire, Fast Forward is nearly all tits and bums jokes. It’s all cheap innuendo, yet they can get away with it because they have the facade of being intelligent satire. It is mostly just puerile, schoolboy humour. I’m not saying I don’t laugh at it.”

Man of Meni talents!
Hard Copy reporter Meni Caroutas (pictured) will do anything for a story – even if it means crawling through Melbourne’s drains. On a recent assignment, the policeman-turned-reporter joined the Cave Clan for a trip around a part of the metropolis few ever see. “When I heard of the Cave Clan I thought it was just a bunch of kids, but they are all about 20 and well organised,” he said. “They just do it for kicks, a bit of fun. They get maps of the drains. It’s all carefully planned.” As a member of the NSW Police Force, Caroutas was an undercover detective but a set up saw him charged with theft of cash and amphetamines. Even though he was exonerated and received a settlement, his career with the force was ruined. Officially he is still a member of the NSW Police Force but is hoping to soon be discharged. “I’m just a number at the moment,” he said. “Hopefully all the paperwork will be processed soon. I don’t consider myself a copper.”

Briefly…
Dinosaurs, a new US co-production between Jim Henson Productions and Walt Disney Television, is set to be Seven’s new weapon against long-running current affairs show 60 Minutes. Not since The Comedy Company has a rival show managed to consistently knock 60 Minutes in the ratings – although Seven’s ALF and Ten’s The Simpsons had tried – but coupled with popular US sitcom Full House, Seven hopes Dinosaurs is a strong contender against the current affairs ratings giant.

GP star Brian Rooney might not be returning to the popular ABC drama when production resumes this year. The 18-year-old, currently appearing in the stage production of Wizard Of Oz in Adelaide, will be taking on a leading role in the upcoming production of Neil Simon’s Lost In Yonkers but it is uncertain if he will be able to combine that commitment to production of GP. “Hopefully, I can do both,” he told TV Week. “I did that when I was doing Les Miserables and GP. We might be able to work GP in.”

Former Brides Of Christ star Melissa Thomas is looking forward to making the move from Sydney to Melbourne for her new role as schoolgirl Lily Price in the upcoming Network Ten sitcom Late For School. The 17-year-old has been the victim of an ongoing campaign of obscene phone calls and intruders at her home. “It’s been pretty scary stuff,” she said, adding that the new job offer came at just the right time. “I desperately needed some excuse to get away from Sydney.” Late For School, which also stars Frankie J. Holden, Sarah Chadwick, Ross Higgins and Matthew Newton, is set to debut soon on Ten.

John Laws says…
”We are in for a heady year, it seems, on the current affairs front. Even Ten is getting into the act, but I suspect it’s going to be trailing the field in the ratings with Mr Shame (though its much-criticised but entertaining beat-up series, Hard Copy, could well prove a ratings winner throughout 1992). My prediction is that A Current Affair will maintain its momentum in the long haul, but its control of the important 6.30pm timeslot is no longer guaranteed. Seven executives and Gerald Stone are, I’m told, supremely confident that their new product, Real Life, can knock off Jana (Wendt) and company. If nothing else, the battle is going to be brutal and unrelenting.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne/Regional Victoria, January 18-24):
Saturday: There’s golf (Palm Meadows Cup) and lawn bowls (Qantas Jetabout International) on ABC, tennis (Australian Open) on Seven/Prime and cricket (Benson And Hedges World Series) on Nine/VIC TV. With the cricket being held in Melbourne, regional network VIC TV has live evening coverage of the cricket, while Nine in Melbourne has a repeat of the 1983 movie BMX Bandits, the movie which launched the career of Nicole Kidman.

Sunday: Sunday night movies are Thunderball (Seven/Prime) and The Star Chamber (Nine/VIC TV) up against mini-series Bride Of Violence (Ten/SCN), while ABC presents Bruce Beresford’s production of the Richard Strauss opera Elektra for the State Opera of South Australia.

Monday: Ten launches some major changes to its daytime and early evening line-up. At 8.30am, Bert Newton (pictured) returns to TV as host of The Morning Show, presenting 90 minutes of entertainment and infomercials. The new program replaces ‘Til Ten. Ten also debuts US talk show Sally Jessy Raphael and moves Oprah Winfrey to an afternoon timeslot after a trial run in a late-night timeslot over the last few months. However the biggest change is late in the afternoon, with the move of Ten Eyewitness News to the 5.00pm timeslot, followed by the debut of current affairs program Hinch at 6.00pm (following Derryn Hinch’s recent axing from the Seven Network). At 6.30pm is American dating game Studs, followed by Neighbours at 7.00pm. Regional network SCN breaks away from the Ten schedule in the early evening to run alternative programming: The New Candid Camera at 5.00pm, Neighbours at 5.30pm, Southern Cross News (Bendigo/Gippsland) and Studs (Albury/Shepparton/Ballarat) at 6.00pm, and then at 6.30pm Rob Gaylard (ex-GTV9) presents Southern Cross Eyewitness News, a half-hour bulletin of national news broadcast statewide, followed by a delayed broadcast of Hinch at 7.00pm before re-joining the Ten schedule. Seven debuts its long-awaited current affairs program Real Life at 6.30pm, and after Home And Away presents the series return of A Country Practice. Then in the wee small hours of the morning, at 4.00am, Ten resumes repeats of classic Australian drama Prisoner.

Tuesday: After the late news, Ten/SCN debuts the new US drama series Dangerous Women, a production of the Australian Grundy organisation largely based on its former series Prisoner, with scripts and storylines in early episodes almost directly copied from the Australian original.

Thursday: Seven/Prime starts a repeat of the popular 1981 mini-series A Town Like Alice, starring Bryan Brown, Helen Morse (both pictured) and Gordon Jackson.

Friday: In the lead up to Australia Day, ABC presents the first of two nights of The Aussie Picture Show – a collection of films representing Australian life over the past 80 years. Tonight’s line-up of films include Leisure, the 1977 Academy Award-winning animation depicting the world of work and leisure through history; Bingo, Bridesmaids And Braces, tracing the lives of three working-class women as they grow up over a 12-year period; This Is The ABC, a 20-minute review of the operations of the ABC in the 1950s; and the 1979 telemovie A Good Thing Going, starring Chris Haywood and Veronica Lang.

Source: TV Week (Victoria Country edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 18 January 1992. Southdown Press

NBC Today at 60

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 09:23:00 +0000

On Friday, the American NBC network's Today show celebrated 60 years of broadcasting. It is the longest-running morning television program in the world. Today began on 14 January 1952, hosted by Dave Garroway with newsreader Jim Fleming and panellist Jack Lescoulie. The concept was created by NBC vice-president Sylvester (Pat) Weaver (father of Hollywood actress Sigourney Weaver).

The program celebrated its 60th anniversary with current day hosts Matt Lauer and Ann Curry joined by a reunion of former Today presenters and newsreaders, including Tom Brokaw, Barbara Walters, Bryant Gumbel, Jane Pauley, Deborah Norville, Katie Couric, Willard Scott and John Palmer, while various national landmarks were emblazoned in the Today logo colours.

Since March 1985, NBC’s Today has been beamed to Australian screens. Hosted at that stage by Gumbel and Pauley, Today was the flagship of the Seven Network's News Overnight, starting every weeknight at midnight. As well as Today, News Overnight included newscasts and current affairs programs from the NBC and CNN networks.

While the News Overnight programming block was soon disbanded, Today (not to be confused with the Australian version of Today on Nine) continues as part of Seven’s overnight schedule – currently screening in an edited version at 4.00am on Tuesday to Saturday mornings, with the Sunday edition and NBC’s Meet The Press airing early on Monday morning.

NBC’s Today is also screened weekday mornings from 9.00am on the digital 7mate channel.

Source: Wikipedia, Today

Aussie TV classics on 7TWO – including an ABC favourite

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 03:37:00 +0000

Although the Seven Network’s digital channel 7TWO tends to feature a line-up heavy in classic British fare of drama, comedy and lifestyle shows, the channel manages to squeeze in some classic Australian content.

With its coverage of the minor tennis tournaments now out of the way – and the Australian Open about to start on the main Seven channel – 7TWO from Monday will resume screening classic soap Sons And Daughters and early episodes of Home And Away in their morning timeslots.

From Monday afternoon, 16 January, 7TWO will also roll-out two more vintage classics. Young Ramsay, a family drama that ran from 1977 to 1980 starring John Hargreaves (pictured with co-star Barbara Llewellyn) as a country vet, and Five Mile Creek, a period drama set in the early gold rush days of Australia that featured Liz Burch, Gus Mercurio, Michael Caton and a young Nicole Kidman.

Although Young Ramsay is being played out from episode one, Five Mile Creek is being resumed from season three as it had a brief run of episodes on 7TWO last month.

Both dramas were originally screened on Seven and produced by Crawford Productions, though Five Mile Creek was a co-production with the American Disney Channel in the early-‘80s and gained a loyal following in the US.

From Friday, 20 January, 7TWO begins a re-run of one of the most popular dramas to come from the ABC – Seachange.

Seachange told the story of city lawyer Laura Gibson (Sigrid Thornton) who after a string of personal crises adopts a change of lifestyle and moves her family to the fictional seaside town of Pearl Bay, hoping for a more peaceful and less dramatic existence as a local magistrate but finding herself immersed in a town of somewhat eccentric characters.

Although Thornton played the central character in Seachange, the series featured a strong supporting cast of veteran performers and new talent, including John Howard, Kerry Armstrong, David Wenham (pictured with Thornton), William McInnes, Jill Forster, Kevin Harrington, Fiona Corke, Tom Long, Alan Cassell, Shaun Micallef and Mark Mitchell.

The series, produced by Artist Services (best known for producing Fast Forward), delivered high ratings for ABC in the competitive 7.30pm Sunday timeslot and its popularity led to the initial batch of thirteen episodes in 1998 being followed by another in 1999 and a third in 2000.

Over its three-year run Seachange collected nine TV Week Logies – including three for Most Outstanding Drama Series – and three AFI awards.

The series has been repeated on a number of occasions on ABC but this is its first airing on a commercial channel.

Other ABC titles to have featured on 7TWO since its inception are Mother And Son and Barry Humphries’ Flashbacks.

Young Ramsay and Five Mile Creek, weekdays from 12.00pm, starting 16 January. Seachange, Fridays 7.30pm, starting 20 January. 7TWO.

Source: Five Mile Creek, Seachange, Australian Television Information Archive

1992: January 11-17

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:00:00 +0000

There’s nothing psycho about this shower scene
E Street star Kate Raison shares her thoughts on the steamy closed-set shower scene that marks a turning point in the relationship of her character Sheridan Sturgess to Wheels (Marcus Graham). Although Raison describes the steamy scene as not so much raunchy but “more your first kiss”, it is apparent that the scene – which lasts for two minutes – is a lot more than that. But she points out that in reality neither actor was nude for filming of the scene and that it was nowhere near as romantic as the end product appears. “I don’t want to take the romance out of it for people, but it’s not romantic at all,” she told TV Week. “It’s very technical and difficult to film. We had two cameras and we were trying to pivot in a baby’s bath… it took about three or four hours to film. It’s one of the worst things you could ever imagine. They were very difficult scenes to create and it’s a very technical thing in the end. Hopefully, it will look romantic to the audience. We want to make it look, and be, as real for the audience as possible.”

Luck of the draw!
Although he has appeared in commercials and occasionally gets caught on camera on Hey Hey It’s Saturday, the show’s resident cartoonist Andrew Fyfe is about to take on a new challenge as he faces the cameras in the new children’s show, Guess What? Despite the challenge of a prominent role in a new show, Fyfe – who also produced the former Ossie Ostrich cartoon strip in TV Week and had been a cartoonist for satirical magazine Mad – has a positive outlook. “The first thing I like about this is that it’s great fun. The second thing I like is that it’s great fun. And thirdly, I like it because it’s great fun,” he said. Guess What?, which also stars Alison Brahe (recently Mrs Cameron Daddo), is being taped in Adelaide and debuts on Nine in February.

Red-hot for Silver!
TV Week takes a look at who could be strong contenders for this year’s Silver Logies for most popular actor and actress at the TV Week Logie Awards. Neighbours stars Mark Little, Richard Huggett, Gayle and Gillian Blakeney and Melissa Bell are listed as potential nominees – while E Street also boasts a strong field, including Tony Martin, Marcus Graham, Kate Raison, Bruce Samazan, Alyssa-Jane Cook, Toni Pearen and Melissa Tkautz. Home And Away has popular cast members including Les Hill, Rebekah Elmaloglou, Mat Stevenson, Nicolle Dickson and Emily Symons. A Country Practice’s Georgie Parker and Shane Porteous have both won Silver Logies in the past and may do so again this year, but TV Week reminds readers not to underestimate other favourites such as John Tarrant, Matt Day and Joyce Jacobs. Former The Flying Doctors star Rebecca Gibney now has new fans with her role in All Together Now, and Col’n Carpenter stars Kim Gyngell and Anne Phelan and Hey Dad!’s Julie McGregor are also listed as potential contenders. TV Week also reminds readers of cast members of other series Chances, GP, Embassy, Police Rescue and The Flying Doctors that could also be worthy of votes.

Briefly…
Home And Away star Rebekah Elmaloglou talks about her teenage character Sophie coping with falling pregnant – and with the baby’s father David (Guy Pearce) now dead, she fears that she will lose custody of the child to her parents. “Sophie’s got no husband or boyfriend, no money and not a happy future,” she told TV Week. “Sophie starts to think that the only way she is going to be able to keep David’s child is by running away. Her hormones are clouding her better judgment.”

It was a lavish event on the grounds of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron in Kirribilli as former ‘Til Ten host Joan McInnes married Sir James Hardy just before Christmas. The wedding was attended by many TV and showbiz identities, including Midday’s Ray Martin and Geoff Harvey and Wheel Of Fortune hostess Adriana Xenides.

Home And Away star Dee Smart’s recent outburst in TV Week about how unhappy she is about being in the show has caused quite a stir at Seven. The network is now believed to be trying to release her from her contract to appease her, but this is proving difficult with planned storylines for the show written well in advance – so she may be in Summer Bay still for some time yet.

Lawrie Masterson’s Sound Off
”It is inevitable that Australia – already overserviced by television networks, in my opinion – will now get a Pay TV system. How it is implemented, the number of licences to be granted and who gets them, and some guidelines on content, are among the contentious issues still to be ironed out.”

John Laws says…
”What is it about A Current Affair that grabs the imagination of the nation? In my view it’s because the program has become the evening newspaper that modern Australians don’t buy any more. Combine 30 minutes of news and 30 minutes of A Current Affair and you have all the elements of what evening newspapers used to be about.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne/Regional Victoria, January 11-17):
Saturday: Summer sport continues with tennis (NSW Open and the Rio International Challenge) on Seven/Prime, golf (Sanctuary Cove Classic) on ABC and cricket (Benson And Hedges World Series Cricket) on Nine/VIC TV.

Sunday: Sunday night movies are Inspector Morse: The Ghost In The Machine (Seven/Prime) and Buster (Ten/SCN), while Nine/VIC TV presents the first instalment in the re-run of mini-series Ellis Island.

Monday: The Australian Open, the premier Australian tennis event of the year, begins its two-week competition today at Melbourne’s National Tennis Centre – with live coverage throughout the day and evening on Seven and Prime. Nine/VIC TV begins a daytime re-run of the landmark 1970s US mini-series Roots.

Tuesday: Australian Open on Seven/Prime and World Series Cricket on Nine/VIC TV are the only real highlights today, with both events taking up most of the afternoon and evening timeslots.

Wednesday: E Street (Ten/SCN) returns for its fourth year. Wheels (Marcus Graham) moves in with Sheridan (Kate Raison) to protect her from serial killer Steven “Mr Bad” Richardson (Vince Martin), but it doesn’t take long for their attraction for each other to become apparent.

Thursday: ABC begins four days of coverage of golf with the Palm Meadows Cup, live from the Gold Coast.

Source: TV Week (Victoria Country edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 11 January 1992. Southdown Press

Kerri-Anne dances across to Seven

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:51:00 +0000

Just weeks after hosting her final Kerri-Anne show on the Nine Network, Kerri-Anne Kennerley has now departed the network despite previous reports she was staying on board for “future projects”.

It ends a nine-year association with Nine as host of Kerri-Anne (previously Mornings With Kerri-Anne) although her history with the network goes back way further – as host of Midday and brief stint as co-host of What’s Cooking in the 1990s, and in the 1960s was a presenter on Everybody In at Brisbane channel QTQ9. She was also a regular performer on Nine’s The Mike Walsh Show.

The future of the Kerri-Anne show was subject to a lot of speculation during 2011 as it was being soundly beaten in the ratings by Seven’s The Morning Show, and towards the end of the year she was on leave for several weeks while guest presenters filled in. Kennerley later said in a radio interview that the first she knew of her axing from the show was from a newspaper article.

The irony in her departure from Nine is that she appears to be heading to Seven as a contestant in the upcoming season of Dancing With The Stars, the show whose co-host Sonia Kruger has just severed ties with Seven – after more than a decade – to take Kennerley’s place at Nine.

Kruger is set to co-host Nine’s revival of the Mornings brand (with singer David Campbell) as well as the network’s upcoming return of former reality giant Big Brother.

Apart from Dancing With The Stars it is not known if Seven might have other plans in mind for Kennerley but they have been known to use the show as a vehicle for cross-network promotion, and DWTS would provide a strong platform to promote any new Kennerley venture.

Source: news.com.au, news.com.au

Obituary: Carl Bleazby

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:41:00 +0000

Actor Carl Bleazby, best known from the long-running ABC series Bellbird, died late last month at the age of 95.

Born in Melbourne in 1916, Bleazby was a radio announcer and actor at Melbourne station 3XY when he enlisted at the break out of World War II in 1939. He served with the AIF in the Middle East for two-and-a-half years and rose to the rank of captain, but when his radio background was discovered he was transferred to broadcasting duties for the AIF at Radio Jerusalem.

In 1945 he returned to 3XY and furthered his acting career, leading to roles in early TV drama productions including Seagulls Over Sorrento, Consider Your Verdict and Homicide. In 1967 he was cast as Col. Jim Emerson in ABC’s Bellbird. It was his first ongoing TV role, but it was a series that he didn’t give much of a chance. “I gave it about three months,” he told TV Times in 1974. “It was surprising to me at the time that it took off the way it did but it has developed a lot since then. I think the very ordinariness of the people helped viewers identify with them and helped its early success.”

Despite the ongoing commitment to Bellbird, production breaks allowed him to make guest appearances in other dramas such as Ryan, Hunter, Matlock Police, The Long Arm, Division 4 and Power Without Glory.

After Bellbird wound up in 1977, he made guest appearances in Skyways, Sons And Daughters, Prisoner, The Flying Doctors and Home And Away. He also starred in films Country Town (the movie spin-off from Bellbird) and Annie’s Coming Out.

Carl Bleazby died peacefully in a nursing home in Killara, NSW.

Source: TV Times, 18 March 1972. TV Times, 23 February 1974. IMDB. Radio Heritage. TV Tonight.

Rage goes retro in January

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:35:00 +0000

For years now it’s been an annual tradition – when ABC1’s Rage goes into retro mode during the month of January.

Every year Rage digs through the archive to bring viewers a mix of retro hits and repeats of classic ABC shows. In previous years the retro playlists predominantly featured old Countdown and Rock Arena footage and episodes but these days features a slightly broader mix of shows, interviews and performances from the vaults.

This weekend the retro hits kick off at 10.00am today (Saturday) with an hour of classic hits – but this only acts as the warm up to tonight, starting at 11.30pm, when the Rage playlist (below) includes video clips and studio performances of 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s hits and interviews with stars of the era, including footage from classic shows Hit Scene, GTK, Be Our Guest (which featured regular cast members Jack Allan, Jacki Weaver, Sean Scully, Lorraine Bayly and Gordon Glenwright, pictured) and This Day Tonight (TDT).

Saturday 7 January:
11:30pm
THE EASYBEATS Wedding Ring (EMI)
NILSSON Everybody's Talkin' (Independent)
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND Sweet Jane (Warner)
TDT: TEENAGE ACTIVITIES/DISCOTHEQUE April 3rd, 1967 (ABC)

Sunday 8 January:
12:00am
PYTHON LEE JACKSON - Live on Be Our Guest, 1966 I Idolise You (Independent)
HIT SCENE (host Dick Williams, pictured below) May 24th, 1969 (Rage)

12:30am
HIT SCENE May 31st, 1969 (Rage)

1:00am
ALLUSIONS, THE - Live on Be Our Guest, 1966 The Dancer (Independent)
ALLUSIONS, THE - Live on Be Our Guest, 1966 Gypsy Woman (Independent)
FUSIONS Tully - Live on Fusions, July, 1969 (Rage)

1:30am
APPROXIMATELY PANTHER Documentary on youth culture, 1967 (Rage)

2:00am
BLACK DIAMONDS, THE - Live on Be Our Guest, 1966 See The Way (ABC)
BLACK DIAMONDS, THE - Live on Be Our Guest, 1966 I Want, Need, Love You (ABC)
HIT SCENE July 12th, 1969 (Rage)

2:30am
GTK Frank Zappa Rehearsing at the Hordern Pavillion (ABC)
HIT SCENE July 26th, 1969 (Rage)

3:00am
HIT SCENE August 2nd, 1969 (Rage)

3:30am
GTK Interview with Ravi Shankar (ABC)
HIT SCENE August 16th, 1969 (Rage)

4:00am
LITTLE RICHARD Operator (Warner)
THE TEMPTATIONS All I Want From You (Motown)
MARVIN GAYE Can I Get A Witness (EMI)
MARVIN GAYE Sexual Healing (Sony)
HIT SCENE November 8th, 1969 (Rage)

4:30am
RICHARD WRIGHT GROUP - Live on Be Our Guest Miss Hargreaves (ABC)
RICHARD WRIGHT GROUP - Live on Be Our Guest No No No No (ABC)
HIT SCENE December 20th, 1969 (Rage)

5:00am
ATLANTICS, THE - Live on Be Our Guest It's A Hard Life (ABC)
ATLANTICS, THE - Live on Be Our Guest Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do (ABC)

5:30am
GTK Renee Geyer Interview & Performance (ABC)
SANDY EDMONDS - Live on Be Our Guest Sunny (ABC)
JULIE DRISCOLL & THE TRINITY Indian Rope Man (Polydor)
THIS DAY TONIGHT: DANCING August 19th, 1977 (ABC)
NEWS EXCERPT - October 1st, 1978 Babe's Disco (ABC)
IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS Reasons To Be Cheerful (Festival)

6:00am
THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER Twilight Zone (Atlantic)
PORTSMOUTH SINFONIA Classical Muddly (Festival)
TED MULRY GANG Jamaica Rum (Independent)
NOOSHA FOX The Heat Is On (Chrysalis)
TELEX Rock Around The Clock (BMG)
DONNA SUMMER This Time I Know It's For Real (Warner)
SYLVESTER Mighty Real (Festival)
THE POINTER SISTERS I'm So Excited (BMG)

Rage Goes Retro continues every Saturday night (late night through to 6.30am Sunday) during January on ABC1.

Source: Rage

Crawfords classics on DVD

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:02:00 +0000

Over the last few years a selection of classic Crawford Productions series – including Homicide, Division 4, Matlock Police, Skyways, Carson’s Law and Holiday Island – have been screened in late-night timeslots on regional network WIN, which has owned the Crawfords business since the late 1980s.

Recently, Crawfords Australia (as it is now) have started to release episodes of other series on DVD.

The Flying Doctors, based on a fictional adaptation of the real-life Royal Flying Doctor Service, began as a mini-series on the Nine Network in 1985 – with a cast led by Andrew McFarlane (The Sullivans) and US actress Lorna Patterson – and its popularity led to production of an ongoing weekly series from 1986 with a mix of cast members from the original mini-series and the addition of new characters to sustain an ongoing production. (Among those joining McFarlane in the ongoing series were Liz Burch and Rebecca Gibney, pictured above)

The series gave the Nine Network one of its few drama successes in the '80s, among a string of failures such as Starting Out, Taurus Rising, Waterloo Station, Possession, Prime Time, All The Way and Kings.

The Flying Doctors was a success in Australia and overseas and ran until 1992. The series was relaunched as RFDS in 1993. RFDS, which featured few of the Flying Doctors cast and shifted the focus of the show from the fictional town of Coopers Crossing to the real-life town of Broken Hill, failed to catch on with viewers and was not extended beyond its first series.

Crawfords Australia have recently released a DVD box set featuring 234 episodes of the series. The Crawfords website does not mention if this also includes the initial 1985 mini-series and/or the RFDS spin-off.

The 48-disc box set is certainly one of the largest DVD releases in Australia but is still a far cry from the long-running Australian series Prisoner which has just had all 692 episodes re-released in a 174-disc set – believed to be the largest DVD release in the world.

And another Crawfords series is also getting a new life on DVD. The Sullivans was the highly-acclaimed series depicting the life of a Melbourne family during the time of World War II. The series debuted on the Nine Network in November 1976 and was an immediate success. The Sullivan family was led by Dave (Paul Cronin, formerly from previous Crawford dramas Matlock Police and Solo One) and Grace (Lorraine Bayly) with daughter Kitty (Susan Hannaford) and sons John (Andrew McFarlane), Terry (Richard Morgan) and Tom (Steven Tandy). The Sullivans was a hit in Australia, winning a swag of awards, and sold to 20 countries. Even though World War II ended in the series in 1981 the show continued to depict life in post-War Melbourne.

Bayly had left the series in 1979 but production of The Sullivans wound up after Cronin decided to leave in 1982. After 1114 episodes The Sullivans came to an emotional end on screen in early 1983.

To coincide with the 35th anniversary of the show’s debut Crawfords Australia released the first 50 episodes of The Sullivans on DVD before Christmas and are planning to release the next 50 episodes this year.

Both The Flying Doctors and The Sullivans DVDs are available via the Crawfords Australia website.

1992: January 4-10

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:33:00 +0000

Goodbye E Street
Alyssa-Jane Cook (pictured) says that now is the best time to leave E Street after the string of tragedies that have struck her character, Lisa Bennett. “After everything the character has been through she definitely needs a break, so she heads to Queensland to contemplate life,” Cook told TV Week. “But I think I’ve been there three years and I just think it is time to have a look around and see what else is happening, and to look at my life and decide which way I want to go next.” Although Cook describes her character’s departure from the series as “scary, thrilling, hot and cold”, she is not ruling out a return at a later date. “If Lisa Bennett comes back, let’s hope she smiles a lot more,” she said.

Coopers Crossing crisis!
Despite the show going into an extended “production break” two months ago, the Nine Network has given the go-ahead for thirteen more episodes of The Flying Doctors – but six of the show’s cast will not be returning. Robert Grubb, who plays Dr Geoffrey Standish, is unavailable to do the new episodes, while co-stars Lenore Smith, David Reyne, Nikki Coghill, Paul Kelman and Chris Stollery have reportedly been axed. Producers have confirmed that Sophie Lee and showbiz favourites Maurie Fields and Val Jellay (pictured) will be staying. With the current backlog of episodes set to resume broadcast in February, production on the new series is due to start in March and the new episodes should screen by the end of the year.

Ian’s the prime suspect
Cluedo, a new game show based on the popular board game, is set to begin production for the Nine Network next month. The hour-long show will be hosted by Ian McFadyen (The Comedy Company) and will have a regular cast who will play various roles in a murder mystery. At the end of the episode, members of the studio audience – each equipped with computer-linked electronic selectors – will be asked to nominate who the murderer is, how he or she did the crime, and where. The first to guess all criteria correctly wins the prize. Cluedo is being produced by Crawfords Australia and will debut on Nine later in the year.

Briefly…
TV Week has opened voting for the 34th annual TV Week Logie Awards, to be held at the Radisson President Hotel, Melbourne, in March and telecast via the Seven Network. As well as the Gold and Silver Logie categories – for most popular personality and most popular actor/actress respectively – TV Week readers will be asked to vote for their favourite drama series, mini-series or telemovie, light entertainment/comedy program, public affairs program, lifestyle program, sports coverage, music video and children’s program. Other categories open to the public vote are Most Popular Actor and Actress in a Telemovie or Mini-series, Most Popular New Talent as well as state-based awards for Most Popular Personality and Most Popular Program.

Former Young Talent Time cast member Debbie Hancock (pictured with YTT host Johnny Young back in the ‘70s) made a recent return to television as a contestant on Network Ten’s Blind Date, and since returning from the trip to Italy that she won with her date Mike Neat, the couple have announced their engagement. “I never expected to find a man on Blind Date,” she told TV Week. “Having had failed relationships, this is fairytale stuff.”

Network Ten drama Neighbours makes an early season return for 1992 – with Glen Donnelly (Richard Huggett) taken to hospital in a coma following a fall from a building site in the 1991 season cliff-hanger. Glen wakes to learn he is paralysed from the waist down. The storyline will lead to Huggett’s exit from the series, making his last appearance on screen in February. “I am glad I left with something dramatic rather than just wandering out,” he told TV Week.

John Laws says…
”Does the title of Gerald Stone’s new current affairs show on the Seven Network (Real Life) imply that until now we have been experiencing something less than actual reality? But let’s not be unkind to Gerald. It’s quite a task to promote a new current affairs program these days – and promote it in such a way that the viewing public ends up believing it’s going to be something completely different. But where will Real Life fit into the scheme of things, and just how different will it be? If you look closely at the advance trumpeting you could be excused for thinking that, well, isn’t it all just a teeny-weeny bit A Current Affair-ish?

Program Highlights (Melbourne/Regional Victoria, January 4-10):
Saturday: Seven (and regional affiliate Prime) has more tennis with the semi-finals of the Australian Women’s Hardcourt Championships, live from Brisbane, in the afternoon, and the Australian Men’s Hardcourt Championships, live from Adelaide, in the evening. Nine (and regional VIC TV) crosses to Sydney for Test Cricket – the Third Test between Australia and India.

Sunday: Seven/Prime cover the final of the Australian Women’s Hardcourt Championships in the afternoon, and the final of the Men’s competition in the evening. Nine/VIC TV has more Test Cricket from the SCG. After Seven Nightly News, Seven/Prime debuts children’s drama Clowning Around – the story of a boy who fulfils his dreams against all odds – starring Noni Hazlehurst, Ernie Dingo, Rebecca Smart and Clayton Williamson. Sunday night movies are Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (Nine/VIC TV) and Baywatch: The Trophy (Ten and regional Southern Cross Network).

Monday: Aussie soaps Home And Away (Seven/Prime) and Neighbours (Ten/SCN) return for 1992 – now both screening against each other in the 7.00pm timeslot.

Tuesday: The summer of tennis continues on Seven/Prime with the NSW Open, live from White City, Sydney. In Neighbours (Ten/SCN), Madge (Anne Charleston, pictured) learns that she is to receive a $250,000 payment from her late husband Harold’s (Ian Smith) life insurance policy.

Wednesday: Marcia Hines, Simon Gallaher and Tina Arena are among 25 performers at the Australian AIDS Benefit Concert, screening on ABC, introduced by Ita Buttrose and hosted by Jean Kittson (The Big Gig).

Thursday: Nine presents limited live coverage in Melbourne of the Benson And Hedges World Series Cricket, due to the match being held at the MCG, with only two hours in the afternoon and a highlights package from 11.30pm. Regional network VIC TV presents live coverage of the full day’s play.

Friday: In Blackout (ABC), Aboriginal singer and songwriter Archie Roach talks about his life and his forced removal from his family for assimilation into white society.

Source: TV Week (Victoria Country edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 4 January 1992. Southdown Press

2011: We remember…

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 04:11:00 +0000

David Jull

Another year gone… already…?

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:21:00 +0000

It doesn’t seem that long since we welcomed 2011!

Australian television reached a number of milestones this year: Ten years of digital TV; 40 years of Sesame Street on the ABC; Mal Walden celebrated 50 years in broadcasting and Tracy Grimshaw reached 30 years at Nine; Play School turned 45; Four Corners turned 50; TV turned 40 in Darwin; David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz celebrated 25 years together on television; and it was 50 years since the launch of regional stations GLV10, BCV8 and GMV6.

Ratings-wise, it was all about Seven, winning their fifth year in a row. There was little they could do wrong, while at Network Ten there was not much that they could get right – even MasterChef took a battering – with Nine falling somewhere in between.

ABC’s Spicks And Specks made a dignified exit off the stage, while Ten’s Video Hits was pushed off the stage – after 24 years – in a bout of cost cutting. ABC put the axe to Collectors, The New Inventors and Arts Nation.

Showbiz stalwarts Denise Drysdale and Kerri-Anne Kennerley signed off from their respective daytime programs.

Network Ten launched its new digital channel Eleven, and attempted to raise the bar in current affairs reporting with 6PM With George Negus (later 6.30). It was a tumultuous year at a management level for Ten with the dismissal of CEO Grant Blackley and the appointment of interim CEO Lachlan Murdoch before James Warburton, a former Seven Network executive, takes over the role in January. Under Murdoch’s watch, sports channel One HD was re-worked into a general entertainment and special interest channel, Ten News suffered a number of format changes, budget cuts and staff departures (including Deborah Knight and George Donikian), while Late News and 6.30 With George Negus were both axed. Newspaper columnist and blogger Andrew Bolt was given his own show, and the network walked away from AFL after ten years.

Nine’s A Current Affair revisited some TV classics during the year, including Young Talent Time (pictured) and Big Brother (coincidentally both programs are to make a comeback in 2012). ACA also took a trip to Wandin Valley to remember A Country Practice. Meanwhile, Today Tonight took ‘70s sex symbol Abigail to task for no good reason.

There were cosmetic changes made to ABC1, ABC2 and ABC 4 Kids, and SBS appointed a new Managing Director.

Karl Stefanovic (pictured) won the TV Week Gold Logie, and veteran political journalist Laurie Oakes was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

After a quiet few years in drama, ABC made a stellar comeback this year with Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo and The Slap both receiving critical acclaim and good ratings. The broadcaster also launched a new legal drama, Crownies. SBS scored a hit with its reality-documentary series Go Back To Where You Came From, triggering a wave of social commentary on what has always been a controversial topic.

Regional Victoria and Regional Queensland made the final switch from analogue to digital television – while remote area networks Imparja and Southern Cross have only now switched on to digital transmission and Regional WA is now seeing the roll-out of the digital multi-channels from the commercial networks.

Millions watched the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton – it was an event that was hard to miss with saturation coverage on free-to-air and multiple pay-TV channels.

So what will 2012 bring?

Network Ten will hope for a better, more stable year with a new CEO and News Director on board. Last year the network took a gamble with George Negus and more News bulletins. This year Ten is taking a gamble with launching a new breakfast show up against Sunrise, Today and ABC News Breakfast – will this risk pay off? And will the re-named and expanded The Project lead to improvement in Ten’s embattled 6.30 timeslot?

Also, will MasterChef be able to knock out the few dents it copped in its armour this year? And how will Young Talent Time fare with its return after 23 years off our screens? As Hey Hey It’s Saturday and more recently It’s A Knockout have shown, the nostalgia factor can bring high ratings but the novelty can wear off pretty quickly.

Nine had something of a late-year resurgence this year with The Block winning ratings in its new 7.00pm timeslot and Celebrity Apprentice also bringing in strong figures. The success of these will see Nine delve further into the reality genre in 2012 with another series of The Block, the return of Big Brother and an Australian version of singing contest The Voice.

In Aussie drama there will be more Neighbours, Home And Away, Packed To The Rafters, Offspring and Winners And Losers. Nine will launch a new series, Tricky Business, and is set to present another instalment of the Underbelly franchise as well as its dramatisation of the Beaconsfield mine disaster of 2006. Nine will also relive former owner Kerry Packer’s 1970s challenge to the cricket establishment with Howzat! – The Kerry Packer Story. Ten will have a mini-series Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms as well as an updated adaptation of the book Puberty Blues. The network is also to launch a new series, Reef Doctors, starring Lisa McCune.

Andrew Denton and Shaun Micallef are set to return to ABC with new programs – and there will be another series of Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight.

In sport, Seven becomes the sole free-to-air broadcaster of AFL for the first time since 2001, while sharing the rights with Foxtel – while Nine and Foxtel are off to London for the Olympic Games. It will be Nine’s first coverage of the Summer Olympics since 1976.

2012 will mark 50 years of television in regional New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and in Canberra. Analogue television will be switched off in regional New South Wales and the ACT.

The ground-breaking drama of the 1970s, Number 96 (pictured) will have its 40th anniversary commemorated with another DVD release of episodes – this time revisiting some of the few black-and-white episodes to still be in existence, as well the episodes surrounding the bomb-blast storyline of 1975.

And right here we will be continuing the theme of documenting the TV year of 20 years ago as reported in the pages of TV Week.

Happy New Year to you all and best wishes for the year ahead!

Aggregation anniversaries: NNSW and VIC

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:50:00 +0000

It is twenty years since the final stages of the aggregation of regional markets were launched in the eastern states – finally bringing viewers in those areas the same amount of choice of commercial television as their capital city cousins.

Following implementation in Southern NSW and Canberra (1989) and Regional Queensland (1990) came the aggregation of Northern NSW markets (Newcastle/Hunter Valley, Tamworth/Upper Namoi and Taree, and Coffs Harbour and Lismore/Gold Coast) starting from 31 December 1991.

The change saw NBN Television (NBN3 Newcastle) align to the Nine Network for program supply, Prime (NEN9 Tamworth, ECN8 Taree) to the Seven Network, and NRTV (NRN11 Coffs Harbour, RTN8 Lismore) to the Ten Network, as they expanded their coverage into each others’ markets.

Prime had a delayed launch in the Coffs Harbour and Lismore/Gold Coast markets – scheduled for completion by May 1992 – while NRTV (now Southern Cross Ten) had delayed its expansion into the Tamworth/Upper Namoi and Taree regions until late January.

And from 1 January 1992 came the first stage in the aggregation of regional Victorian markets Ballarat, Bendigo/Central Victoria, Shepparton/Goulburn Valley, Albury/Upper Murray and Gippsland – with VIC TV (BTV6 Ballarat, GMV6 Shepparton) and Southern Cross Network (BCV8 Bendigo, GLV8 Gippsland) launching their signals in competition across the expanded market. Aggregation was initially scheduled for 1993 for Regional Victoria but had been brought forward a year.

VIC TV (now a part of the WIN network) was affiliated to Nine for programming, and Southern Cross Network (now Southern Cross Ten) linked to the Ten Network.

Albury-based Prime (AMV) had a delayed expansion across the remainder of the regional Victorian market, commencing transmission in its new regions by March 1992. Like its NSW counterparts, Prime was affiliated to the Seven Network.

The delayed implementation of Prime across regional Victoria effectively denied viewers outside of Albury any access to Seven Network programs for two months. With Seven having telecast rights to major sporting events the Australian Open tennis and the Australian Masters golf over those two months, Southern Cross came to a special arrangement to broadcast those events across the aggregated market despite them being a Ten Network affiliate – but Prime ensured it was up and running across Victoria in time to cover the AFL season!

Mildura, in north west Victoria, was excluded from the aggregation scheme, with its local channel STV8 part of the VIC TV network, therefore gaining access predominantly to Nine Network programming only. Some exceptions were made for major sporting events and other special telecasts from the Seven and Ten networks to be broadcast into Mildura via VIC TV.

With aggregation then completed in the major regional markets of New South Wales (including ACT), Queensland and Victoria the next step was to consider options for additional choice of commercial television in other regional markets and smaller capital cities. Aggregation was then introduced into Tasmania in April 1994, with Hobart-based TAS TV (TVT6) and Launceston-based Southern Cross Network (TNT9) expanding into each others’ markets in competition with each other – while Darwin, Mildura and Regional Western Australia would each be assigned a second commercial licence in the late ‘90s.

The satellite-based remote commercial television services of Imparja (primarily covering central Australia but also isolated regions of Victoria and NSW) and Ten Satellite (remote Queensland) were permitted to expand into each others’ coverage areas in competition from 1999 – with Imparja aligned to the Nine and Ten networks for programming, and Ten Satellite re-branded as Seven Central (now Southern Cross) for its new affiliation to the Seven Network.

It was to be the early 2000s before the regional South Australian markets of Mount Gambier, Riverland and Spencer Gulf (including Broken Hill) would get a choice of commercial TV channels with their existing monopoly broadcasters permitted to open a second channel.

The advent of digital television has since seen the launch of a third commercial signal in Tasmania, Darwin, Mildura, Regional Western Australia, regional South Australian markets and central Australia.

More on aggregation at Television.AU