Talking TelevisionAU

1990: March 10-16

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:26:00 +0000

Logies 1990: Who’ll grab the glittering prize?
Last year’s TV Week Gold Logie winner Daryl Somers has been nominated for the 1990 TV Week Gold Logie, but has some tough competition – Nine Network colleagues Jana Wendt (A Current Affair) and Ray Martin (Midday), and soapie heart-throb Craig McLachlan (Neighbours). Somers has already won three TV Week Gold Logies (1983, 1986, 1989) and another Gold will almost rank him with as many Gold Logie wins as predecessors Graham Kennedy (five Gold Logies) and Bert Newton (four Gold Logies and a Hall of Fame Award).

TV Week Logie Awards nominations (Publicly voted categories):
Gold Logie: Ray Martin, Daryl Somers, Jana Wendt, Craig McLachlan.
Most Popular Actor: Andrew McFarlane, Shane Porteous, John Tarrant, Craig McLachlan
Most Popular Actress: Nicolle Dickson, Rachel Friend, Dannii Minogue, Georgie Parker
Most Popular Series: A Country Practice, The Flying Doctors, Home And Away, Neighbours
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Program: The Comedy Company, Fast Forward, Hey Hey It’s Saturday, Hey Dad!
Most Popular Sports Coverage: Cricket, Grand Prix, Tennis
Most Popular Telemovie or Mini-Series: Bangkok Hilton, Fields Of Fire III, The Heroes, The Magistrate
Most Popular Public Affairs Program: A Current Affair, Hinch, 60 Minutes
Most Popular Children’s Program: C’mon Kids, Play School, Wombat
Most Popular New Talent: Matt Day, Marcus Graham, Georgie Parker

Other public-voted awards: Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Personality, Most Popular Music Video, Most Popular Lifestyle Program, Most Popular Actor and Actress in a Telemovie or Mini-series, Most Popular Program (for each state) and Most Popular Personality (for each state).

The joke’s on us!
With Mark Mitchell at the helm, comedy will be the emphasis of this year’s TV Week Logie Awards, to be held at the Hyatt On Collins, Melbourne. Among those joining Mitchell on the Network Ten telecast will be Kim Gyngell (Col’n Carpenter), Steve Vizard (Tonight Live) and the cast of the Seven Network series Acropolis Now.

‘No commercial network could touch this…’
Gerard Kennedy, Terry Gill and Frankie J Holden are among the cast of a controversial ABC telemovie, Police Crop. The 100-minute dramatisation exposes the extent of police collusion with the Mafia in Australia over several years, leading up to the death of Superintendent Colin Winchester. The program is the culmination of painstaking research and goes to air the day after the Winchester inquest resumes. Director Ken Cameron says that such a program could never air on a commercial network: “No commercial network could touch this. They’ve been advised not to.”

What a shocker!
Jason Donovan’s role in the $3.7 million mini-series Shadows Of The Heart will no doubt shock his many fans. “They’ll certainly see something that’s a bit different and unexpected,” he tells TV Week. The former Neighbours star plays Alex Fargo, a dark-haired, drunken and unkempt farmer who has a relationship with his bed-ridden cousin, Indy (Sherrie Krenn). “My role as a singer and what I’ve done with Neighbours before has always been fresh and wholesome. But it’s nice to play someone different.”

Briefly…
John Waters (pictured) and Peta Toppano starred together as hippies in the stage production Godspell and have now been re-united as lovers in upcoming mini-series All The Rivers Run II.

William McInnes will be making a guest appearance in A Country Practice as the new love interest for Cathy Hayden (Kate Raison) in a storyline that will lead to Raison’s exit from the series.

US actress Cybill Sheppard is coming to Australia to star with John Waters in the $7 million mini-series, Which Way Home, a production of the McElroy brothers who also brought Dynasty star Linda Evans to the outback for The Last Frontier. Which Way Home will start production in New Zealand before heading to Thailand and then finishing up with seven weeks in Sydney. It is expected to air on Network Ten and the American TNT network in 1991.

John Laws says…
”What a pity Steve Vizard (pictured) got off to such a shaky start with his Tonight Live program on Seven. You’ll recall that I was underwhelmed by his first week’s antics. Vizard, to put it mildly, was unprepared for the challenge of hosting a live-to-air show. That first week was a shambles. But it’s a surprising what a few weeks in the “hot seat” can do. Vizard, through sheer grit, determination and hard work, has turned the show around. Vizard’s show rated a 9 in Sydney the other week, three points ahead of its chief rival, Coast To Coast (without Graham Kennedy) on Nine. Coast To Coast – let’s be frank – is struggling. Without Kennedy, the heart seems to have been ripped out of it.”

Program Highlights (March 10-16):
Saturday: ABC crosses to Auckland, New Zealand, for the One Day International Cricket – Australia versus New Zealand. Coverage starts at 7.55am and continues through to 3.45pm.
Sunday: HSV7 presents coverage of NBL, Sydney Kings versus Illawarra Hawks, from the State Sports Centre, Homebush – followed by the Australian Touring Car Championships, live from Tasmania. Sunday night movies are Perry Mason: Case Of The Avenging Ace (HSV7) and The Couch Trip (ATV10). GTV9 presents the first instalment of mini-series Something Is Out There.
Monday: ABC and HSV7 both cover the annual Moomba procession, from the streets of the Melbourne CBD. HSV7 then devotes the afternoon to Moomba Masters water-skiing from Melbourne’s Yarra River. After The 7.30 Report, ABC launches a new series, The Party Machine, featuring Andrew Denton as he takes an in-depth look at the upcoming Federal Election. GTV9 presents the second and final instalment to the mini-series Something Is Out There.
Tuesday: In Beyond 2000 (HSV7), Simon Reeve examines a robot designed to shear 300 sheep in a single day, Amanda Keller investigates an alternative to hysterectomies, and Bryan Smith takes an amazing journey through the human body.
Thursday and Friday: ABC presents a late-night cricket highlights package of Day One of the Trans-Tasman Test – Australia versus New Zealand.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.
10 March 1990. Southdown Press.

1990: March 3-9

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 11:01:00 +0000

‘I want to show the real me!’
Sale Of The Century hostess Alyce Platt (pictured) wants to dump her conservative, quiz-show image. The former Sons And Daughters star is now in her fourth year on the Nine Network quiz show and is daring to bring a new daring look to the long-running program. “It was frustrating when people kept coming up to me in the street and telling me I looked younger in real life. What has happened in the past on Sale Of The Century is that I’ve developed an image that is not really me. I don’t dress as you’re used to seeing me on Sale. I’ve just signed a new contract with the show and told them I wanted a say in how I look,” Platt told TV Week. “I feel I might as well make a huge statement. We’re finding that a lot of younger people are watching the show now.” The new-look is set to feature designs from three major designers – Covers, Mariana Hardwick and Jenny Bannister.

Is this the new Kylie?
Beth Buchanan, the younger sister of Hey Dad! star Simone Buchanan, is to become a new resident of Ramsay Street. The 17-year-old has been offered a high-profile role in Neighbours, following the departure of actress Rachel Friend from the show, sparking speculation that she is set to become “the new Kylie.” A Network Ten spokesperson is staying tight-lipped, though: “She has been offered the part, but I cannot confirm whether she has signed on the dotted line.”

Are Denise and husband about to be reunited?
The year just passed is not one that Denise Drysdale (pictured) will want to cope with again. The Hey Hey It’s Saturday and In Melbourne Today co-star is still coming to terms with the announcement that her ten-year marriage to actor Chris Milne had ended, and the impact it has had on her two boys, aged 9 and 7. But there is no evidence of bitterness or discomfort when it comes to her former husband. When asked if she would consider reuniting with Milne, she only responds “I just don’t know. Stranger things have happened… I’m the sort of person who lives day to day.” As well as working on her farm property in Gippsland, a 90-minute drive from Melbourne, Drysdale commutes to Melbourne twice a week for tapings of In Melbourne Today and Hey Hey It’s Saturday, hosts a weekly magazine show for local Gippsland channel GLV8 and is in constant demand for club appearances with long-time colleague Ernie Sigley. Drysdale also responds to rumours that all is not well with her Hey Hey It’s Saturday co-stars, with reports that they’re miffed that she was doing and saying too much. “Because Jacki MacDonald had been there for so long, I think it’s taken a lot of time for the others to realise there’s someone there to make a lot of noise… I can’t just stand there. But I don’t think I would have been put in the job if they (the producers) didn’t like the way I work. They know I’m not like Jacki. I still think it will take more time to settle in.” And when asked if she tires of her co-stars constant references to her anatomy, she only responds “No, they’ve been hanging around for years!”

Briefly…
Joining the list of guests jetting in for the upcoming TV Week Logie Awards is actor John Travolta, on the eve of the Australian release of his latest movie, Look Who’s Talking, and Aussie actress Sigrid Thornton, currently based in Los Angeles as the star of the CBS series, Paradise.

The arrival of Julian McMahon’s (pictured) character, Ben Lucini, in Seven’s Home And Away triggers a whirlwind romance with Carly (Sharyn Hodgson) with the pair becoming engaged within only a couple of weeks.

This week sees comedian Glynn Nicholas take over from Wendy Harmer as host of ABC’s popular comedy program, The Big Gig. Harmer is now working on her own show, In Harmer’s Way, which is set to debut on ABC in April.

John Laws says…
”Kerry O’Brien, for whom I have a high personal regard, launched his promising new show Lateline at a time when a transport workers’ strike was gripping NSW and elsewhere, when Andrew Peacock was reeling from another pre-election poll tumble, when TNT had announced a dramatic fall in profits due to the airline dispute, and when the nation was on the brink of another national election campaign. But what did O’Brien serve up on his first Lateline? South Africa! Sure, Nelson Mandela had been freed a couple of days earlier and South Africa was dominating TV news and hogging all the newspaper headlines. But that’s my point: By the time Lateline arrived, I suspect we were all totally overdosed on Mandela and the South African issue. How much more were we expected to take?”

Program Highlights (March 3-9):
Saturday: GTV9’s Cartoon Company returns to early Saturday mornings, but is now also joined by C-Company, presenting three-and-a-half hours of C-rated programming, including The Curiosity Show and Tasmanian-based KTV.
Sunday: ATV10 crosses to the banks of the Yarra River to televise the 1990 Birdman Rally, part of the annual Moomba festival, hosted by Greg Evans and Colette Mann. Sunday night movies are Cop (HSV7), White Mischief (GTV9) and Rambo III (ATV10).
Monday: ABC and GTV9 interrupt their normal Monday night schedules for a half-hour Liberal Party policy speech, leading up the the Federal Election. A re-run of the early-‘80s soap opera Holiday Island begins to get a late-night re-run on ATV10, screening Monday to Thursday nights after midnight.
Wednesday: In E Street (ATV10), Alice (Marianne Howard) learns the truth about Paul (Warren Jones) and Lisa (Alyssa-Jane Cook). A new beginning for Chris (Paul Kelman) and Megan (Lisbeth Kennelly) fuels the Abby (Chelsea Brown) and Vi (Bunney Brooke) feud.
Thursday: After Tuesday night’s Liberal Party speech, it is now the ALP’s turn with Prime Minister Bob Hawke getting equal time with a half-hour policy speech on ABC and GTV9.
Friday: Mark Mitchell hosts the 32nd annual presentation of the TV Week Logie Awards, live from the Hyatt On Collins Hotel, Melbourne, and televised on ATV10. The two-and-a-half presentation culminates with the presentation of the Gold Logie to Australia’s most popular TV personality. Up against the Logie Awards are movies The Dirty Dozen (HSV7), Every Which Way But Loose (GTV9) and The Last Innocent Man (ABC).

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.
3 March 1990. Southdown Press.

Neighbours: 25 today!

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:48:00 +0000

When Daphne Lawrence (Elaine Smith, pictured) was doing her striptease at the buck’s night for Des Clarke (Paul Keane) on the eve of his marriage to Lorraine Kingham (Antionette Byron) on the premiere episode of Neighbours, nobody’s wildest predictions would have foreseen that the show would survive to see its 25th anniversary.

Even the most optimistic predictions would have only permitted Neighbours to have a lifespan of a few years. At the time of the show’s debut – 18 March 1985 in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide (Brisbane followed with a 90-minute launch a week later) – the longest running Australian soaps had been Number 96, The Sullivans, The Young Doctors, Cop Shop (all around six years each) and Prisoner (which had entered its seventh year in 1985).

As well as TV newcomers like Smith and Keane, Neighbours’ founding cast included a few familiar faces – Anne Haddy (Play School, Prisoner, Sons And Daughters), Alan Dale (The Young Doctors), Peter O’Brien (Starting Out), Darius Perkins (All The Rivers Run and the telemovie Matthew And Son), Stefan Dennis (Prisoner) and David Clencie (The Sullivans, Starting Out).

But after only a few months on air, Neighbours was headed for TV landfill when the Seven Network pulled the plug after a lack of support from ATN7, Sydney, and despite strong-ish ratings elsewhere. But the show’s producers, the Grundy Organisation, felt there was still life in the concept – after all, the UK’s neighbourhood drama, Coronation Street, was into its third decade by that stage – so the show was successfully offered to Network Ten, creating Australian TV history as the first drama series to swap networks.

The re-launch on Ten, on 20 January 1986, gave the show a fresher, younger emphasis with a bunch of young newcomers enlisted to the cast – Jason Donovan, Guy Pearce, Annie Jones, Geoff Paine, Charlene Fenn and, a few months later, Kylie Minogue (then a 17-year-old known from The Henderson Kids and for being the older sister of Young Talent Time cast member Danielle Minogue) Also added to the line-up were Anne Charleston (fresh from a former Grundy’s drama, Possession), Ally Fowler (Sons And Daughters) and Vivean Gray (The Sullivans).

Then the show was given an international audience with its debut on BBC1 in a daytime timeslot in 1986, but it was a shift to the 5.30pm timeslot in 1988 that saw Neighbours catapulted to ratings domination, even bumping stalwart Coronation Street and relative newcomer EastEnders from the top of the ratings.

The show went on to win a swag of TV Week Logie awards, including Gold Logies for Kylie Minogue (1988) and Craig McLachlan (1990) and the show being inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame to coincide with its 20th anniversary in 2005.

With success in the United Kingdom and even further abroad (though the Americans never took to it), Neighbours’ longevity was all but certainly confirmed – as without such widespread international support and income, Neighbours could well have had a similar lifespan to its predecessors.

As well as its 25th anniversary, which will be officially celebrated over the coming weeks, Neighbours is also approaching its 6000th episode, scheduled to air in Australia sometime around August.

TelevisionAU: Neighbours (written for its 20th anniversary in 2005)
Suddenly… it’s 20 years
Neighbours star quit fame for family
Jim Robinson ‘spotted’ in Channel 4 promo

The VCR isn’t dead, says Freeview

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:53:00 +0000

Reports on the death of the VCR have been greatly exaggerated.

Yesterday it was reported that Freeview was about to embark on a campaign to declare “the VCR is dead” – presumably to promote the technological advantages of switching to Freeview-branded equipment for managing the viewing of digital broadcasts.

Today, Freeview has responded to these reports with the following statement:

Freeview, Australia’s free digital television service, today moved to correct inaccurate reports in the media that it is planning an advertising campaign about the future of the VCR.

Media reports have this week suggested that Freeview will soon roll out an ad campaign proclaiming that the VCR is dead. These reports are incorrect and Freeview is not intending any ad campaign about the VCR.

Freeview CEO Robin Parkes said: “Speculation in the media this week that Freeview is planning an ad campaign about the VCR is not correct.

“We do have plans for an exciting new advertising campaign which will be launched soon highlighting the many benefits viewers of Freeview free digital TV for Australian viewers, so stay tuned,” she said.

Source: Freeview

Nine Perth and Adelaide get their dots back

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:00:00 +0000

For the first time in over two years, the Nine Network now has a uniform logo (pictured, right) across the five major capital cities.

When Nine re-instated its famous ‘dots’ to its logo in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Darwin in 2008, the Perth and Adelaide stations, owned by regional broadcaster WIN, opted to stay with the former logo – no dots (pictured, below left).

This arrangement, also affecting WIN’s regional Nine Network affiliates covering NSW, ACT, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia, had meant that the WIN-owned stations had to adapt any marketing material from the Nine Network to suit their own branding – no doubt a time intensive exercise for no discernable benefit to the viewer.

Local viewers also had to endure sometimes unattractive and intrusive on-screen logos, sometimes very crudely, covering up the Nine logo from the east coast.

But even though Nine has its dots back on STW9 Perth and NWS9 Adelaide, the regional WIN network (pictured, below right) has not made any change so far.

R.I.P. Video Cassette Recorder

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:54:00 +0000

Freeview, the free-to-air networks’ digital platform, is to unveil a new advertising campaign declaring that “the VCR is dead” as new technologies such as personal video recorders (PVRs) are being adopted by households in growing numbers.

The Australian reports that around 100,000 digital tuners are being sold every month – as Australia converts from analogue to digital television – and that households are also upgrading their old VCRs to digital recorders such as PVRs to manage their viewing.

VCRs, while they were celebrated in the ‘70s (pictured) shortly after the advent of colour TV, have limited functionality and compatibility in recording digital signals, as they generally only have analogue tuners installed and rely on a digital tuner being plugged in via AV input. Sophisticated PVR devices such as Topfield, TiVo or Foxtel’s IQ are packed with features to allow complete flexibility in viewing habits, and often in high-definition formats.

It is estimated that as many as 50 per cent of households may already have PVR devices – a figure that’s on par with digital TV penetration, currently around 61 per cent nationally.

Bert Newton to host the Logies

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 07:24:00 +0000

TV Week is expected to announce Bert Newton as the host of this year’s TV Week Logie Awards.

The TV legend, a four-time Gold Logie winner and inductee into the Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame, has hosted the awards a record-breaking 18 times already – the last time he hosted the awards was in 1993 (pictured) but has returned on several occasions to hand out the Gold Logie and also co-hosted in 2006 as part of the celebration of 50 years of television.

His talent to adlib alongside the best – and possibly worst – in the business, both from Australia and overseas, have earned him some of the most defining moments in Australian TV history. In 1973, Newton had to cope with the rather emotional, and occasionally mumbling, overseas guest Michael Cole dropping the word ‘shit’ while accepting an award. A few years later, in 1979, an innocent wisecrack from Newton almost led to blows from boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

The decision to appoint Newton as the Logies host comes after former Big Brother host Gretel Killeen received criticism for her hosting of last year’s event and in previous years before then the awards had relied on multiple co-hosts rather than a single presenter.

Previous hosts and co-hosts of the event include Eddie McGuire, Ray Martin, Andrew Denton, Shaun Micallef, Andrew O’Keefe, Rove McManus, Fifi Box, Dave Hughes, Hamish Blake, Andy Lee, Adam Hills, Lisa McCune, George Parker, Wendy Harmer, Daryl Somers, Mark Mitchell, Don Lane, Mike Willesee, Michael Parkinson, Greg Evans, Andrew Daddo and Noni Hazlehurst.

The 2010 TV Week Logie Awards are to be held on 2 May at Melbourne’s Crown Casino and will be telecast on the Nine Network.

Source: TV Tonight

The series they tried to ban in Australia!

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:34:00 +0000

With today marking the 38th anniversary of ‘the night Australian TV lost its virginity’ and the release of the third DVD of Number 96, here’s a brief look at how the Americans adapted Australia’s hit show of the ‘70s for their own market.

America’s network giant NBC approached Network Ten early in 1980 to enter into discussions over acquiring the concept for the US market. The deal also needed the approval of Bill Harmon, co-producer of the original Number 96, as his company Cash-Harmon Productions jointly owned the rights with Network Ten. Harmon helped complete the deal with NBC in mid-1980.

NBC debuted Number 96 on 10 December 1980, following an advertising blitz that saw the show launched during “96 Week” – with the series debuting over three nights before settling into a weekly Friday night timeslot. Leading storylines in the opening episodes included no less than five seductions, a robbery, a fight, a blackout and an earthquake.

But NBC, with America’s strict censorship laws, could not dare to bare as much flesh or uncover such seedy storylines as its Australian original. So the series that saw Australian television ‘lose its virginity’ was a lot more subdued in the US, although it did try to stretch the boundaries with regards to casual discussion of sex, but instead put the emphasis on comedy rather than titillation.

It also seems that the American producers, while envying the show’s earlier success in Australia, weren’t too impressed with the Australian original. “All we have taken from their series is the title. We got the basic idea from them. We’re not enchanted with the Australian version. We felt it was badly written and badly acted. Their show had broad jokes like we did here 15 years ago. They had very heavy characters. What sold their show was full-frontal nudity,” producer Bob Ellison told TV Week at the time of the US series’ launch.

The US adaptation was set in an apartment block at 96 Pacific Way, West Hollywood, and included a cast of around 18 actors, though most of them were largely unknown to viewers. Ellen Travolta, John’s sister,, played the co-proprietor of the local bar and grill. Other characters in the series included a beautiful would-be concert pianist who decided that playing the field is the cure for a boring marriage; a retired naval commander who keeps a keen eye on the happenings at 96 through a pair of binoculars; a middle-aged widow who loses far too many inhibitions when she moves into the building; a psychologist with a secret greater than anything his patients, or neighbours, could imagine; a newly-married football hero who gains the amorous attention of his next door neighbour; and a love-sick policeman who won’t leave his British girlfriend’s apartment.

However, despite the larger-than-life storylines and award-winning producers and writers – Ellison and writer David Lloyd had won awards for their work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show – Number 96 was a spectacular bomb in the US. Viewers didn’t take to the comedic adventures of the swinging tenants of the apartment block, and the series was ripped from NBC’s schedule in January 1981 – just as TV Week in was informing Australians about the show’s debut.

Number 96 was not to be the only hit Australian series to be re-worked for the American market. Prisoner was re-invented as Dangerous Women in the US, largely recycling many of the opening characters and storylines from the Australian original. In more recent times, the top-rating comedy Kath And Kim was adapted for NBC, with less than pleasing results.

Source: TV Week, 10 January 1981. TV Guide (US), 6 December 1980.

C31 seeking dollars for digital

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:47:00 +0000

While the Community TV sector was successful (finally!) in gaining access to Digital Television, now comes the hard part where they have to now make the actual transition.

So while Melbourne’s C31 acknowledges that it received a donation from the Federal Government to help facilitate its move to digital, they claim it is not enough, so is calling on the wider community to get behind their community TV station and become a subscriber via their website.

Subscriptions for community media are nothing unusual – radio stations have lived on subscriptions for years and C31 in its early days also ran on subscriber funds but these days rely predominantly on program sponsors.

C31 is offering a three-tiered subscription structure – offering subscriptions of $31, $75 or $100 for one year – where members will receive quarterly updates on the station’s activities and programs as well as the knowledge that they are helping C31 make the long-awaited move to digital transmission which should give the station a clearer reception across Melbourne and increase the station’s potential audience as more viewers switch to digital televisions and tuners.

While C31 is preparing to upgrade to digital, its Sydney counterpart, TVS, is already up and running with a digital signal on UHF 29 (digital channel 44).

And it’s not only the community stations getting government assistance, regional commercial network WIN is also putting its hand out for government money to assist in its digital transition in regional areas of South Australia and Western Australia. The network, owned by Bermuda-based billionaire Bruce Gordon (pictured), is currently faced with the task of upgrading transmission facilities in both states – amounting to over 200 transmission sites – as it races to meet the analogue shutdown dates set down by the Government.

In Western Australia, WIN’s regional network covers the entire state, outside of Perth, via satellite and terrestrial transmission with a mix of Nine and Ten network programming. WIN’s regional South Australian operation comprises SES8 Mt Gambier and RTS5A Riverland, with both stations broadcasting the Seven Network on their primary service and a relay of the Ten Network on a secondary signal.

WIN also owns Nine Network stations NWS9 Adelaide and STW9 Perth.

Source: C31, AdelaideNow

1990: February 24-March 2

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:17:00 +0000

‘Stay out of my life!’
While actress Simone Buchanan (pictured) is often portraying the unlucky-in-love tales of the elder daughter Debbie in Hey Dad, she says her real-life romances have been less than comical. Even though she is in a happy relationship at present, Buchanan’s past has been tainted with a number of unhappy romances – including one which ended with threats of violence. The popularity of the show has also led to some unwanted attention from fans – a persistent fan in London kept sending her letters and expensive gifts and promised to visit her in Australia. “In the end I did write and tell him that he had to stop wasting his money on me,” she said. Another incident saw Buchanan come home to find graffiti all over the walls in her new house, and one night she awoke to find guys standing outside her bedroom window yelling things at her. Meanwhile, the actress denies any rumours that she is leaving the sitcom (“like the rest of the cast, my contract expires in October and at this point I haven’t made any decision to leave or stay”) but would like to do more film work, following acclaim for her role in the movie Shame.

‘They treated me like …!’
Aussie actor Peter Phelps has walked away from the hit US series Baywatch. “It was my decision to leave at the end of this season,” Phelps told TV Week. “Before Christmas a few of the cast – including me – weren’t happy about the way the scripts were going. I expressed my dismay about everything – which I guess is not what you’re supposed to do in Hollywood when you’ve got a job everybody else wants. Instead of using my suggestions, they changed the format to emphasise on the action-adventure stuff and they brought in a new character. He wasn’t supposed to replace me, but I’ve hardly worked on the show since. To them (TV executives), you’re just a product and they treat you like crap.” A star in Australia following roles in popular soaps The Restless Years and Sons And Daughters, Phelps (pictured, with Baywatch co-star Shawn Wetherly) admits that if he “had shut up and didn’t complain, I’d probably be there as long as the series runs, getting paid a lot to pop in every so often to do my Australian novelty act, and driving a Porsche and owning a house.” Instead, Phelps is returning to Australia to star in a feature film, Back Street General. Baywatch debuts in Australia on Network Ten in March.

Rebecca’s rockin’ role
Former Zoo Family and The Flying Doctors star Rebecca Gibney is negotiating a role for an upcoming sitcom being produced for the Nine Network. Producer Alan Bateman says the new series, Rhythm And Blues, is “a lovely piece about a rock ‘n roll singer from the Seventies who’s only ever had one hit. His career is diminishing when, to his astonishment, he discovers he has a family.” Production for the new series is set to begin in March.

Briefly…
Network Ten’s Good Morning Australia (with Mike Gibson and Kerri-Anne Kennerley, pictured) has entered its tenth year and is celebrating its milestone on air. Producer Gail Jarvis says “in some ways it’s more a celebration of Kerri-Anne Kennerley’s involvement with the show. She has been with the show for eight years now. That’s a lot of live television and we’ll look back at what she has contributed over the years.”

TV Week columnist John Laws wants to make it clear that he doesn’t expect to “turn Melbourne on its ears” in networking his Sydney radio show to bottom-rating station, 3AK. “Someone said that the station needed help, so I’m giving it for free as a favour to a friend – that’s what friends are for,” he says. Although Laws has admitted that he would prefer to have the entire three-hour program broadcast in Melbourne, instead of only the one hour, from 9.00am to 10.00am weekdays.

British showbusiness couple John Alderton and Pauline Collins have been announced as special guests at the 1990 TV Week Logie Awards, to be held at the Hyatt On Collins in Melbourne and hosted by Network Ten’s Mark Mitchell.

John Laws says…
”When it comes to sport, it’s hard to beat the Nine team, even though their Commonwealth Games coverage came in for plenty of stick, especially in the commentators and “delayed telecast” area. Nine has now unveiled its “stump cam” cricket camera. It had to happen, I suppose – a tiny camera inserted into the stumps to give a worm’s-eye view of the action. There’s no doubt it’s a clever innovation, providing a completely new perspective on the game. But, for me, it’s a major disappointment that Nine and the Australian Cricket Board have agreed NOT to use “stump cam” for disputed or controversial decisions…”

Program Highlights (February 24-March 2):
Saturday: Nine’s Wide World Of Sports returns for the new year, filling four hours of Saturday afternoons with coverage of various sports and interviews with sporting identities. SBS’s international current affairs program Dateline returns for a new year, hosted by Paul Murphy.
Sunday: HSV7 crosses to Canberra for the AFL Fosters Cup: Hawthorn versus Sydney Swans. GTV9 crosses to the Sydney Cricket Ground for the second final of the Benson and Hedges World Series. Meanwhile, ABC’s arts program, Sunday Afternoon, features the Bolshoi Ballet and an episode of The Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole. Sunday night movies are Spaceballs (HSV7), Heartbreak Ridge (GTV9) and Throw Momma From The Train (ATV10). ABC presents Esso Night At The Opera, featuring the Australian Opera’s production of La Boheme.
Monday: Rebecca Gilling, Ed Devereaux, Nikki Coghill and Richard Roxburgh star in the telemovie The Saint In Australia (HSV7).
Tuesday: The third final of the Benson and Hedges World Series is on GTV9 from 2.20pm, live from the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Thursday: ABC’s Creative Spirits this week features choreographer Graeme Murphy rehearsing Daphnis and Chloe with Kim Walker and Paul Mercurio.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.
24 February 1990. Southdown Press.

1990: February 17-23

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:15:00 +0000

Cover: Johnny Depp, Dannii Minogue

Fast lane to death
After 20 years in the industry, journalist John Budd recalls the last 18 months have been a nightmare. “When the industry collapsed it left a lot of people without jobs,” he says. Facing unemployment following the axing of Network Ten’s Public Eye current affairs program, Budd landed a job at ABC’s Four Corners – and after three months’ gruelling research, his first report, Amphetamines: The Quiet Achiever Of The Drug Trade, is ready to go to air this week. Dubbed the “fast-lane drug of the Eighties”, amphetamines are set to become the big issue of the Nineties, he told TV Week. “They’re very much a yuppie drug, socially acceptable and mix nicely with alcohol to create a euphoric state of confidence, well-being and hyped-up vigilance.” Budd interviewed 30 reformed drug users and dealers and also worked with Victoria Police “who are alarmed at the rapid pace of this quiet achiever of the drug trade.”

Keyte’s flying high
”It all happened fairly quickly,” is how HSV7 newsreader Jennifer Keyte (pictured) describes her rise to national stardom as the news presenter on Steve Vizard’s new national variety show, Tonight Live. “I had seen Steve around the station last year and we used to have make-up room chats. He made me laugh so much. The make-up girls hated him because they couldn’t get my lips done. I guess we established a rapport then.” As well as her booming TV profile, Keyte also has other matters to attend to – a mid-year wedding to Melbourne nightclub owner Brett Kochner.

“I had to beat the animal that controlled me…”
Actor Tony Bonner, best known from TV series Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, Cop Shop and Skyways, is looking relaxed and healthier than ever. Currently in Los Angeles following good reviews for his work in the Tom Selleck movie Quigley Down Under, Bonner recalls the day only three months ago when he walked into a Melbourne clinic for help in overcoming alcohol problems. “I came to a proverbial crossroad in life and there were three options – the first was to become a down-and-out lost soul; the second was to be committed to an insane asylum; and the third was to die. So the option to take was simply to beat the animal that controlled me – alcohol.” Bonner feels his career is now on a new direction and, since the Quigley movie, is meeting heads of drama at two US networks keen to cast him in telemovies and is also discussing offers with Disney studio Hollywood Pictures.

Briefly…
Former Perfect Match host Cameron Daddo (pictured) has just finished a long run in the stage production Big River but already has two other projects in planning – one is to join veteran Leo McKern to play the legendary roles of Dad and Dave in the $6.3 million feature film On Our Selection, and the other is a potential lead role in the Grundy Television production of Bony, based on the 1972 series of the same name.

Singer Kate Ceberano, having just completed a cameo role in the film Till There Was You, is now in negotiation for a guest appearance in the new Nine Network series Family And Friends.

Home And Away star Dannii Minogue admits to being nervous over public reaction to her new single, Love And Kisses, and the $50,000 video to promote it – but is determined to silence critics that she is cashing in on the success of her older sister Kylie. “A lot of people thought I’d copy Kylie and have a sound exactly like hers. But that’s just not the sort of stuff I do. This is more my style – but yes, it’s good to be different.”

John Laws says…
”By any standards, Steve Vizard’s opening show was a crushing disappointment. The second night was not much better. The third showed a slender improvement. Much has been expected of Vizard because of his fine work with Fast Forward. If anyone could hold a Tonight show together it should be him. Yet on debut night Vizard was flailing around like a beached whale within seconds of the studio audience’s contrived hysteria being stilled. Vizard, I’m sure, does have the talent to put on a better show. It’ll take time to get it right. I hope Seven has the cash and the patience.”

Lawrie Masterson’s Sound Off
”Steve Vizard has established Tonight Live as an energetic, cheeky show which goes just far enough – but not too far – to sit nicely in its adults-only timeslot. Many of the lines have induced a good laugh, some of the music has been top class and somehow – just somehow – a touch of serious news has been shoved in without upsetting the applecart. But what’s most infectious from where I sit is that the host himself appears to be enjoying it all enormously. And when he’s having a good time, so am I.”

Program Highlights (February 17-23):
Saturday: Hey Hey It’s Saturday returns for a new year with Daryl Somers, Denise Drysdale, Ossie Ostrich, John Blackman, Red Symons and Wilbur Wilde. ABC presents the ABC Sports Award Of The Year, live from the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra.
Sunday: Sunday night movies are Someone To Watch Over Me (GTV9) and The Man From Snowy River II (ATV10). HSV7 presents the first instalment of mini-series Small Sacrifices.
Tuesday: GTV9 crosses to the SCG for the Benson and Hedges World Series: Australia versus Pakistan. Coverage starts at 2.20pm and, after breaking for National Nine News, A Current Affair and Sale Of The Century, continues through to 10.30pm.
Wednesday: David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz return for a new series of The Movie Show on SBS.
Thursday: SBS launches a new series, Viva World Cup, hosted by Les Murray and Andy Paschalidis in the lead-up to the 1990 World Cup, including reports on the venues, personalities and the final 24 teams.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.
17 February 1990. Southdown Press.

Prime News goes less local

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:16:00 +0000

Regional network Prime Television is set to wind back its local news production with news that its various local bulletins, covering parts of NSW and North East Victoria, are to be centralised to the network’s main programming hub in Canberra.

From 1 July, production will begin to be phased out from local studios, in towns such as Wagga Wagga, Orange, Tamworth and Albury, to be taken over by centralised facilities in Canberra. Reporters will still be based in each local area, just that the half-hour bulletins will be compiled from the national capital.

The move is expected to cost at least one full-time position from each local Prime station.

It is not known how the cuts will affect the local news coverage of Prime’s Western Australian outlet, GWN, which currently provides a statewide half-hour news bulletin each weeknight from studios in Bunbury.

For many of the affected areas, Prime’s move from the local studios will effectively mark the end of local television production – as rival operators such as NBN, WIN and Southern Cross Ten already have centralised facilities for the provision of local news.

Source: Daily Advertiser, TV Tonight

South Australia next to go digital

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:57:00 +0000

Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy has announced that Regional South Australia and Broken Hill will be the second region in Australia to switch off analogue television transmission.

In a media release issued today, the affected areas will lose analogue television transmissions on 15 December 2010, two weeks before the original deadline of 31 December 2010.

The transition will affect local transmissions of ABC, SBS, Southern Cross GTS/BKN and WIN.

The Adelaide metropolitan market and remote regions of South Australia are scheduled to shut down analogue transmissions by the end of 2013.

In the latest Digital Tracker survey, released by the Government last week, 61 per cent of Australian households have now converted to digital television – up from 56 per cent in the previous quarter. This figure includes 79 per cent of households in the Mildura/Sunraysia district (scheduled to lose analogue transmission in four months’ time) and 64 per cent of homes in the Regional South Australia/Broken Hill region.

For viewers in regional Australia that may lose access to terrestrial TV broadcasts in the transition to digital, as digital signals may not reach the same distances as analogue, the Government announced in January that those areas will be able to receive digital television via satellite in time for when the analogue transmissions are to be shut down in their respective areas.

Source: DCBDE, DCBDE, Digital Ready

Logies Hall of Fame names leaked

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:01:00 +0000

The Australian’s media columnist Amanda Meade has leaked an “unauthorised” list of names being considered for this year’s TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame.

Normally the award is nominated and voted in private by an industry panel, with the winner announced prior to the awards ceremony.

According to Meade the following names are on the short list:

Brian Henderson, host of ‘60s pop music show Bandstand and a newsreader for TCN9, Sydney, for almost forty years, retiring in 2002.

Brian Naylor (pictured), host of children’s talent show Brian And The Juniors before becoming newsreader for HSV7 and later GTV9 before retiring in 1998. Hosted Nine’s Carols By Candlelight for ten years. Was tragically killed last year in the Black Saturday bushfires.

Les Murray, one of the founding presenters at SBS and has led the network’s World Cup soccer coverage since it first telecast the event in 1986.

George Negus (pictured, in 1981), former This Day Tonight journalist who became a household name as one of the founding reporters on 60 Minutes in 1979. Later hosted Today, Foreign Correspondent and George Negus Tonight and is currently host of Dateline and contributor to The 7PM Project.

Ken Sutcliffe, sports presenter who got his big break being hand-picked by Graham Kennedy to co-host his new late night show, Graham Kennedy’s News Show, in 1988. Continues to present the sports report for Nine News in Sydney and various Wide World Of Sports telecasts.

Maggie Tabberer (pictured, in 1970), former fashion model turned publishing identity and TV personality. A two-time TV Week Gold Logie winner (1970, 1971) and more recently a presenter on pay-TV.

Ian Ross, long-time journalist and newsreader for National Nine News in Sydney and, for several years, for Today nationally. Came out of a brief retirement to front Seven News in Sydney, and led the 6.00pm timeslot for the next six years at the expense of traditional rival Nine. Retired from Seven at the end of last year.

Ray Meagher, veteran actor and the only founding cast member of Home And Away to still be on the series, 22 years on.

Prisoner (pictured), the Grundy Productions drama series that broke new ground when it launched in 1979 with a predominantly female cast and without the usual gloss of prime-time soap operas. The series ran for eight years, sold well overseas and won a swag of TV Week Logie awards. As testament to its long-standing popularity, all 692 episodes of the show have been released on DVD – the largest such DVD release in Australia, if not worldwide.

One name that this blog might suggest would be worthy of a Hall of Fame award is Western Australian TV personality Jeff Newman (pictured). Newman recently retired from TVW7, Perth, after over 40 years of service, including an outstanding commitment to TVW7’s annual Telethon. Although Newman is not well known outside of Western Australia, his commitment and service to the television industry in WA is a fantastic achievement.

Previous winners of the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame have included Graham Kennedy, Bert Newton, Mike Walsh, Don Lane, Mike Willesee, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson, James Davern, Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, Ruth Cracknell, Maurie Fields, Sam Chisholm, Bruce Gyngell, Johnny Young, Bill Collins and Steve Irwin. Three programs have also been entered into the Hall of Fame – 4 Corners, Neighbours and Play School.

Expect TV Week to announce this year’s inductee to the Hall of Fame prior to this year’s Logies telecast, scheduled for 2 May.

Source: The Australian

GTV9 sells off Hollywood-on-the-Yarra

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 06:20:00 +0000

The address of 22 Bendigo Street, Richmond, has been one of Australian TV’s most famous and iconic addresses.

The century-old building has for more than 50 years been home to GTV9 – a channel that began test broadcasts, covering the Melbourne Olympic Games, in 1956 before launching proper operation early in 1957.

The building was initially a piano factory when it was built in 1908 and was later converted to a Heinz factory in the 1930s before it became home to one of Melbourne’s first two commercial TV stations.

Governor Sir Dallas Brookes (pictured) was chauffeur-driven into the studios, live-to-air, before officially opening GTV9 on 19 January 1957. Less than four months later the channel launched its new nightly variety show, In Melbourne Tonight, featuring a young radio announcer, Graham Kennedy. Two years later Kennedy would be joined by a former HSV7 rival, Bert Newton, and the pair became an unbeatable double act.

With daytime productions, including quiz shows and children’s programs, and IMT’s nightly cavalcade of singers, dancers and performers, the building that was known as Television City became Melbourne’s own “Hollywood on the Yarra”. In 1964 the channel expanded the premises to include a new state-of-the-art studio, Studio 9, specifically for IMT. The new studio opened up the possibilities of large-scale variety performances and productions – hopefully to fend off competition from newcomer ATV0 which had launched from modern studios in suburban Nunawading in the same year.

Kennedy resigned from IMT at the end of 1969, but the legacy of IMT saw decades of variety and tonight shows from the same studio – including The Ernie Sigley Show, The Graham Kennedy Show, The Don Lane Show, New Faces, Tonight With Bert Newton, Hey Hey It’s Saturday, The Footy Show and, to bring the list to full circle, a ‘90s revival of In Melbourne Tonight.

Radio DJ Mike Walsh hosted a 1960s version of the breakfast program, Today, while Eric Pearce read the evening Television City News from GTV9 before handing over to Brian Naylor at the end of 1978, who in turn handed over to Peter Hitchener twenty years later.

Game show Family Feud moved its production from TVW7 Perth to GTV9 in the late-‘70s. Host Tony Barber then moved on to Sale Of The Century (pictured, with hostess Victoria Nicolls) from the same studios in 1980, continuing for over 20 years and more recently revived as Temptation. Daryl Somers hosted a revival of Blankety Blanks in 1985, and, a decade later, Tim Ferguson hosted Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush. Other game shows from the studios included Supermarket Sweep, Crossfire and two versions of The Price Is Right. Eddie McGuire hosted Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and it’s current spin-off, Hot Seat. In 2006, twenty years after he was suddenly axed from Nine, Bert Newton was back at Studio 9 hosting a game show, Bert’s Family Feud.

Also to come out of 22 Bendigo Street were dramas including Emergency (one of the first TV dramas ever made in Melbourne), Hunter, Division 4, The Sullivans, Starting Out, The Flying Doctors, All The Way and Chances.

A young comedian called Rove McManus came to GTV9 to present a late-night comedy show for ten weeks in 1999. Former D Generation cast member Mick Molloy also had a stab at a weekly show in the same year. Neither show would see in the new millennium, though McManus took his act across to rival Network Ten.

Not content with just being “Television City”, 22 Bendigo Street was also home to radio station 3AK for nearly 30 years – after GTV9 bought the station in the early ‘60s – with its ‘Good Guys’ and ‘No Wrinklys’ pop music line-ups in the 1960s and the more relaxed ‘Beautiful Music’ in the ‘70s and early ‘80s.

Two years ago the building was expected to be sold for $10 million but the sale was aborted amidst the global financial crisis. This week it was announced that the three-hectare site occupied by GTV9 has been bought by developers Lend Lease, with plans to redevelop the site into residential complex expected to be worth $400 million.

GTV9 is expected to move over the next 12 months to smaller, high-tech premises in the inner-city Docklands precinct, mirroring similar moves by rival HSV7, to the Docklands, almost a decade ago, and ATV10, to inner suburban South Yarra in the early ‘90s . Larger studio productions are expected to be outsourced to the nearby Central City Studios.

Source: SMH, The Age, Lend Lease, City of Yarra, Australian TV Archive

1990: February 10-16

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 07:09:00 +0000

‘I’m anchored to the chair!’
Despite her recent working trip to Czechoslovakia, A Current Affair host Jana Wendt (pictured) says it’s likely to be a long time before she goes anywhere else for an extended break. “I am anchored to this chair,” she told TV Week. “I wish I had a chain to prove it to you.” But combining the job of current affairs host and mother to two-year-old Daniel she says is never easy, and, if she ever does move on from ACA in the distant future, considers doing something a bit more laid back in television. “Peter Ross is on a lovely wicket at the ABC doing nice things where you can sit back and relax and enjoy it… Something where you can take a deep breath, be a bit more reflective and work consistently for a while without having to keep up with this kind of momentum.” TV Week also reveals one of TV’s best kept secrets – the day that the Nine Network almost lost Wendt to Network Ten. While it was widely reported that Wendt was headed to the American Fox network, at the invitation of former boss Gerald Stone, in reality she was involved in negotiations for an even bigger deal with Ten. Wendt said she only consider moving to Ten if most of her A Current Affair team could come over as well – so Ten managed to verbally tie up most of the ACA crew. Then news of the deal leaked out, and Nine chief Sam Chisholm reacted quickly and signed up Wendt and her team with generous contracts – leaving Wendt with a contract worth $2 million over three years.

Dannii’s set to quit Summer Bay
Home And Away star Dannii Minogue is set to leave the series when her contract expires in June. “(The producers) want me to stay, but I’ve got other commitments,” she told TV Week. Her first single, Love And Kisses, will be released later this month and she plans to finish recording her debut album while on a two-week break from Home And Away in March. Minogue plans to promote the new album’s release in London after she finishes up on Home And Away. “I may go back to Home And Away but it’s too hard to do that and promote the record too.”

Family first for Carol
The recent premiere of Nine’s Family And Friends also marked another long-awaited TV debut – the TV acting debut of Carol Willesee (pictured), former wife of current affairs host Mike Willesee. The mother of three made headlines in 1987 when she walked off the set of new series Home And Away after only two days of production, citing fears that the role of Pippa Fletcher would take too much time away from her family. But producers of Family And Friends are happy with Willesee’s performance in her guest role and have already indicated that an ongoing role is ready for her, but appreciate that her family commitments are still a priority. “That’s quite understandable,” says producer John Holmes. “It’s up to Carol.”

Briefly…
Former The Comedy Company stars Mark Mitchell and Kim Gyngell make their debut in their own new shows on Network Ten this week. Mitchell stars in a sketch comedy series, Larger Than Life, and Gyngell reprises his popular character Col’n Carpenter in a new half-hour sitcom also starring Vicki Blanche, Monica Maughan and Stig Wemyss.

60 Minutes reporter Jeff McMullen spent four weeks of his Christmas break in blizzard conditions in Antarctica, filming a story for the current affairs show. “People are outraged that I was allowed to take this risk… but I was the one who wanted to do it,” he told TV Week. The 6400 kilometre trek, reported to be the longest polar journey ever made, was led by six scientists and three dozen huskies.

US actor Telly Savalas, best known for his role as New York cop Kojak, is in Melbourne for a major role in the Seven Network mini-series Rose Against The Odds, based on the life of boxer Lionel Rose. Savalas plays boxing promoter George Parnassus, who promoted many of Rose’s professional fights in Los Angeles in the 1960s and ‘70s.

John Laws says…
”Little did I know when I heartily praised ABC’s Inside Running drama series that it had already fallen victim to the axe. Inside Running was a compelling and wonderfully scripted and acted series about barristers in Melbourne. I regard it as one of the best drama productions made in Australia.”

Program Highlights (February 10-16):
Saturday: HSV7 crosses to Port Douglas, Queensland, for the Super Skins Golf, then in the evening covers the Fosters Cup, Essendon versus West Coast Eagles, live from VFL Park, Melbourne. GTV9 crosses to the Gabba, Brisbane, for the Benson and Hedges World Series: Pakistan versus Sri Lanka.
Sunday: The 1990 ratings season kicks off in earnest. GTV9’s Sunday morning news programs Business Sunday and Sunday are back for another year. Super Skins Golf (HSV7) and World Series Cricket (GTV9) dominate the afternoon, and the evening is highlighted by ATV10’s new comedy double, Larger Than Life and Col’n Carpenter. GTV9’s Our World presents Part 1 of G’day Comrade, featuring George Negus on location in Russia, followed by the return of 60 Minutes. Sunday night movies are Three Men And A Baby (HSV7), The Last Emperor (GTV9) and The Golden Child (ATV10).
Monday: Midday With Ray Martin (GTV9) returns for another year, and ABC’s The Afternoon Show and Countdown Revolution return in the late afternoon and early evening. Four Corners and Media Watch both return to ABC in the mid-evening.
Tuesday: Returning shows for 1990 include The Investigators (ABC) and Candid Camera In Australia (ATV10). Kerry O’Brien presents the debut of a new late night current affairs program, Lateline, on ABC.
Thursday: HSV7 crosses to Huntingdale Golf Course, Melbourne, for the annual Australian Masters.
Friday: ABC’s rural affairs program Countrywide returns for a new year, as does Burke’s Backyard (GTV9).

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 10 February 1990. Southdown Press.

1990: February 3-9

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:50:00 +0000

Justine’s back… but is Alex set to take off?
Justine Clarke and Alex Papps, former Home And Away couple Roo Stewart and Frank Morgan, are now both on the Nine Network. But while Papps is settled in at The Flying Doctors, Clarke has moved into TV’s newest suburb, Kingsmead, in the new series Family And Friends. Clarke admits that she had second thoughts about signing up with another series. “I did um and ah for a while. But I knew I was working with the same team who developed Home And Away, so I was confident and it was easier for me to make the decision,” she told TV Week. But the future of her former colleague is unknown as production has finished filming the sixth series of The Flying Doctors, but there is no word as to whether there will be a seventh. Nine has asked to reduce the show’s budget, but Crawford Productions don’t want to lower the standard of the show. “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Papps told TV Week. “Ratings-wise it’s doing well. It’s just the cost. If it goes into series seven, I’ll definitely be there.”

Annie lands in Cooper’s Crossing
Now sporting a short-cropped haircut, former Neighbours star Annie Jones is forging ahead with her career. The TV Week Logie Award-winning actress has just completed work on the Crawford Productions’ mini-series Jackaroo and is now embarking on a new role as an opal miner’s daughter in The Flying Doctors. Her character’s arrival in the outback drama leads to a romance with Dr David Radcliffe (Brett Climo). For the former Neighbours star, Ramsay Street feels a million miles away: “It was such an intense time and all of a sudden it was gone. I was lucky I had something else (Jackaroo) to go to.”

Well, what a start!
The Nine Network’s new drama Family And Friends kicks off with a cliffhanger when two of the main characters are stuck in a well. Young lovers Jennifer Chandler (Roxane Wilson) and Robert Rossi (Renato Bartolomei) are caught in a Romeo And Juliet-style romance as it brings together two families with long-standing feuds. After a fight between the two lovers’ fathers, the pair are told to leave and not come back. In their bid to secretly elope, they meet at an old well which is covered but as they walk across it, the cover breaks. The new series also stars Sean Myers, Robert Forza, Simon Westaway, Anna-Maria Monticelli, Diane Craig, Anne Phelan and Dinah Shearing.

Briefly…
Nine’s long-running quiz show Sale Of The Century returns for its 10th year, starting the year with a masters’ challenge featuring world champions from the past three years over a two-week battle. Previous Sale contests, such as “the Ashes” and “the Commonwealth Games”, have been a hit with viewers and it is hoped this latest contest will be a new year ratings hit.

A cast shake-up in Network Ten’s E Street will see no less than five characters written out of the series. Lawyer Jennifer St James (Virginia Hey) will upset the pending nuptials between Daniel Windsor (Chris Orchard) and Dr Elly Fielding (Penny Cook), and will result in Jennifer departing with Daniel to Switzerland, taking three of his four children. His eldest daughter, Toni (Toni Pearen), will remain in Westside.

Actor Paul Keane was ready to resign from his long-running role as Des Clarke in Neighbours, but has instead opted to take a four-month break and is expected to return in April. Keane’s break from the show comes as cast morale is at an all-time low following the departure of several key cast members, but producers are confident that Des will return with some good storylines.

On The Grapevine…
The Vine was really knocked out by the astrologer who “predicted” that former Perfect Match hostess Kerrie Friend would be doing some travelling overseas this year. This amazing prediction hit the streets after Friend, who’d announced her intentions well in advance, had left Australia for Los Angeles.

John Laws says…
”There’s some good news in the comedy area with confirmation of a new 13-episode series of Acropolis Now on Seven. Making its debut last year, it provided one of the ‘sleeper’ hits, pulling in ratings in the low 20s in the major cities.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne):
Saturday: GTV9 presents the last day of competition and the Closing Ceremony from the Commonwealth Games, live from Auckland.
Sunday: ATV10 crosses to Manly, Sydney, for the Ironman Super Series. Competitors include Grant Kenny, Guy Leach and Trevor Hendy. HSV7 presents live coverage of the Davis Cup tennis, from Royal Kings Park, Perth, and GTV9 crosses to the SCG for Australia versus Pakistan in the Cricket Third Test. Sunday night movies are At Close Range (HSV7), Smokey And The Bandit (GTV9) and the first instalment of the re-run of mini-series Vietnam (ATV10), starring Nicholas Eadie, Barry Otto and Nicole Kidman.
Monday: GTV9’s morning chat show, In Melbourne Today, returns for a new year with hosts Ernie Sigley and Denise Drysdale.
Wednesday: The debut of GTV9’s new drama Family And Friends is up against E Street (ATV10). HSV7 presents the AFL pre-season competiton, the Fosters Cup, featuring Footscray versus Richmond.
Thursday: The second episode of Family And Friends is followed by The Flying Doctors’ return with a new series.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 3 February 1990. Southdown Press.

Sun now rises on Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 04:41:00 +0000

The battle between breakfast rivals Sunrise and Today steps up another notch this week, the first week of the official ratings for 2010, with the announcement that Sunrise is now extending to Saturdays.

The move now sees the two perennial rivals competing seven days a week. Today has, for a while, had a seven day presence, while Sunrise initially expanded only to a Sunday edition, Weekend Sunrise, leaving the Saturday early morning timeslot to long-running children’s program, Saturday Disney. It is not known at this stage what will become of Saturday Disney, a show which has been on-air for 20 years now, in the wake of Weekend Sunrise extending to Saturday mornings.

The battle between the two shows also intensified last month with Sunrise re-launching, with a new-look studio, refreshed on-air presentation, the return of former weather presenter Grant Denyer and a move towards a more serious news focus – although the show’s recent “election”, over the issue of whether or not male presenters on the show should wear a tie, does blur this focus somewhat, but there has to be a balance between serious and flippant.

And while Sunrise and Today are fighting it out – and summer ratings data indicates that this year’s ratings battle will turn out to be the tightest yet between the two, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne – national broadcaster ABC continues its very serious ABC News Breakfast on ABC2 and gears up for the launch of its new 24-hour news channel.

John McCallum

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:29:00 +0000

Actor and producer John McCallum, co-creator of the iconic TV series Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, has died in a Sydney nursing home at age 91.

Born in Brisbane in 1918, McCallum was trained at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before a career that included stage, film and television in both the United Kingdom and Australia. In the mid-1940s, McCallum met actress Googie Withers and the pair were later married and would work together on numerous occasions during their married life.

In 1958, after a decade in the UK, McCallum returned to Australia to run theatre company JC Williamsons.

By the mid-1960s, McCallum had produced the popular Australian film, They’re A Weird Mob, based on the book about an Italian immigrant settling into life in Australia.

The success of the film led to McCallum and producer Lee Robinson to devise an Australian-based TV series that would have wide international appeal. Their co-creation would become Australia’s first global television hit, Skippy The Bush Kangaroo. (Although McCallum later credited Robinson for being the brains behind the concept, devising the show’s premise around a boy and his pet kangaroo and for naming the pet Skippy) The children’s series put an Australian twist on a well-travelled genre of overseas shows to feature multi-talented animal characters, such as Flipper, Lassie and The Littlest Hobo, and was sold to over 120 countries including syndication throughout the United States.

Forty years after production on Skippy ended, the series is still shown on a semi-regular, late-night basis on the Nine Network.

Apart from Skippy, McCallum also produced TV series Barrier Reef, Boney, Shannon’s Mob and Bailey’s Bird.

John McCallum is survived by wife Googie and children Joanna, Nicholas and Amanda.

Source: news.com.au, TV Eye, Talking Heads, ABC News, IMDB

Who you can’t vote for in the Logies…

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:33:00 +0000

It is that time of year when TV Week asks its readers, and the wider TV viewing population, to vote for their favourite personalities and programs for the annual TV Week Logie Awards.

This year’s presentation, to be held on 2 May, marks the 52nd annual presentation of the awards first named by Graham Kennedy, who decided that the middle name of TV pioneer John Logie Baird sounded like a good name for an award and, in naming the award after him, it would forever be a tribute to his achievement. (It was remarked in later years that had Kennedy known just what an impact the Logies would have had on Australian TV culture, he would named them after his own middle name – Cyril)

These days, viewers can vote for the awards without having to buy a copy of TV Week. In the past, votes could only be made via coupons printed in the magazine or by using a unique PIN printed inside the magazine when voting online.

However, despite the voting being conducted online for a few years now, the online interface used to collect the votes is essentially just a basic web poll. None of the glamour or excitement of TV’s night of nights here. No colour. No pictures, or even video clips of the people we are being asked to nominate (and this can be handy when trying to identify some of today’s TV starlets who aren’t easily recognised by name alone). In fact, voting for your favourite TV stars and programs now looks to be as clinical and enjoyable as filling in your average tax return, especially now as the stars and shows are reduced to mere numbers or tick boxes.

Also curious are the omissions from TV Week’s list of voting ‘suggestions’ (although they are our only options, there is no “other” allowed here). Just a few that this author noticed missing from the categories:

Most Popular Actor: Tom Oliver (Neighbours), Alan Fletcher (Neighbours), Andrew Supanz (All Saints), Kip Gamblin (All Saints), John Waters (All Saints)

Most Popular Actress: Janet Andrewartha (Neighbours)

Most Popular Presenter: Larry Emdur (The Morning Show), Kylie Gillies (The Morning Show), David Reyne (9AM With David And Kim), Kim Watkins (9AM With David And Kim), Sandra Sully (Ten News), Dave Hughes (The 7PM Project), Peter Everett (Ready Steady Cook), Sam Pang (ADbc), Grant Bowler (Border Security), Ed Kavalee (TV Burp), Daryl Somers (Hey Hey It’s Saturday – The Reunion), Jonathon Holmes (Media Watch), Magda Szubanski (The Spearman Experiment).

There also seems to be some inconsistency in what qualifies as “presenter” – Masterchef’s three judges are listed as potential nominations for the category, but the show’s (then) host, Sarah Wilson, is not. The Biggest Loser’s fitness coaches, Shannan Ponton and Michelle Bridges, are listed in the “presenter” category, but the show’s (former) host, Ajay Rochester, is not. The Seven Network’s talent quest, Australia’s Got Talent, gets a guernsey, with host Grant Denyer and judge Dannii Minogue qualified for a mention, but no mention of Minogue’s colleagues, Red Symons and Tom Burlinson. For rival show Australian Idol, Andrew Günsberg is listed as host, but no mention of any of the show’s three judges, Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson, Marcia Hines, Jay Dee Springbett and ousted judge Kyle Sandilands (who did appear in the preliminary stages of the show in 2009). SBS newsreader Anton Enus qualifies for a vote, but his weekend counterpart, Lee Lin Chin, does not.

Australia’s Got Talent qualifies in the category of “most popular light entertainment program”, but a rival show of essentially a similar format, Australian Idol, is categorised under “reality”.

Most Popular Light Entertainment Program: TV Burp, Hungry Beast, Double Take, Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?, Hot Seat, The Einstein Factor and The New Inventors are all missing from the nominations list. The one-off special Rove Presents Hamish And Andy’s American Caravan Of Courage is allowed to be voted, but another one-off special from the same network, Shaun Micallef’s New Year Rave, is not.

These are just the omissions noticed by this one author. There may be plenty more that TV Week and the networks have failed to acknowledge as being worthy of a vote – and yet the Logie Awards are intended to be the ‘people’s choice’ awards covering all the various genres of television and allowing all on-air talent – with the only eligibility being that they appeared in a credited role during the 2009 television year – an equal opportunity of being voted for.

It is surprising that, after 52 years, TV Week and the publicity agents from all the networks can not get together and muster up a complete list of eligible personalities and programs and be consistent in what, or who, qualifies for a particular category. The gaps in these voting categories only serve to add ammunition to growing public sentiment that the Logie Awards are no longer a credible recognition of the achievements of our television industry.

TV Week’s Logie Awards site (with the link to vote online) is at tvweek.com.au.

Ken Austin

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:38:00 +0000

Ken Austin, well known radio and television identity in Shepparton, has died at the age of 86.

He started his radio career as a teenager at Warragul-based radio station 3UL in 1941 and after serving with the army returned to the station. In 1949, he was promoted to the position of chief announcer at sister station 3SR in Shepparton. Four years later he moved to 2GZ, Orange, before returning to 3SR in 1955.

In 1968 Austin made the full-time move into television, to local station GMV6 (now a branch of the WIN television network). For the next 20 years Austin maintained a number of roles at the station. “I did everything, but cut the lawns I think,'' he once told the Shepparton News. “I compered shows, read news, chaired live commercials in the studio and spent my last few years there as the community affairs director.”

Austin retired from the station in 1988 but maintained a profile in the local community, through charity work and, for 17 years, presenting a radio program on community station ONE FM. He was also named an Honorary Life Governor of Melbourne’s Royal Children's Hospital as recognition of his work at GMV6.

Ken Austin is survived by three children Brian, Vivienne and Wendy, seven grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. Wife Peg died in 2002.

Source: Radio News, Shepparton News

Number 96: Aftermath Of Murder DVD

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 05:20:00 +0000

13 March 1972 was the night that Australian TV ‘lost its virginity’ with the Sydney debut of Number 96. (Melbourne followed the next night)

And on 13 March 2010 – 38 years later – the third DVD of the hit ‘70s series is to be released, a year after it was first announced.

The 4-disc set, Number 96: Aftermath Of Murder, will include 32 episodes from the first half of 1975, picking up from where the last DVD left off when the identity of the mysterious Pantyhose Strangler was revealed.

This compilation features many of Number 96’s favourite residents, joined this time by former showgirl Trixie O’Toole (Jan Adele), landlord Maggie Cameron (Bettina Welch), Don Finlayson’s(Joe Hasham) zany aunt Amanda von Pappenburg (Carol Raye), town clerk Mr Buchanan (Brian Moll) and Norma Whittaker’s (Sheila Kennelly) snooty mother, Mrs Florentine (Aileen Britton).

Andrew Mercado has a preview of the upcoming DVD release and Number 96 historian Ian McLean’s blog, Have Phaser Will Travel, has the list of episodes to feature on the DVD.

Number 96: Aftermath Of Murder is being released by Umbrella Entertainment.

1990: January 27-February 2

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:59:00 +0000

Cover: Cher

Steve lays down the law
When Fast Forward’s Steve Vizard threw in a lucrative legal career to go into television comedy, everyone told him he was an idiot. “And I am an idiot,” he says. “You can see what a fundamentally good decision it was to leave a great job in law to join Qintex at this particular time.” Vizard’s company, United Film Completion, is busy preparing comedy and variety program ideas for the Seven Network. In 1989, the network had a hit with sketch comedy program Fast Forward, and Vizard’s new venture, Tonight Live, launches this week. Vizard also says that there are “three or four other projects in the pipeline.” In the lead-up to Tonight Live’s debut, Vizard and Seven are in negotiation for the network’s Melbourne newsreader, Jennifer Keyte, to read news on the program.

Glamour in three easy steps
Actress Anne Phelan, famous for playing rough inmate Myra Desmond in Prisoner and the frumpy Mama in Harp In The South and Poor Man’s Orange, is taking a somewhat more upmarket tone in her new role as cafe owner Dawn Dickson in the Nine Network’s new series, Family And Friends. “With Family And Friends, I’m actually going to look like myself, only a bit tarted up – and to be truthful I’m not looking forward to all that. I would rather be disguised,” she commented. The new series follows the lives of two families, the Chandlers and the Rossis, divided by hatred over three generations.

Rowena shares a secret
Former Neighbours star Rowena Mohr (pictured) has decided to pursue an acting career in the UK, but is leaving behind her most treasured fan, her younger sister, Judy, who has an intellectual disability. “Judy’s biggest thrill was when I joined Neighbours. She thought it was wonderful and told all her friends about it. I even had to get her special photographs and sweatshirts signed by the cast,” Mohr says. “She’s the only one who writes to me regularly.” Since settling in the UK, Mohr has had to cope with the English press. In one interview, she jokingly told a reporter she would have to find an English husband – and was then inundated with offers.

Briefly…
Singer Tina Turner has just departed Australia after filming a series of commercials for the NSW Rugby League. The $2 million ad campaign, featuring Turner’s hit The Best, was filmed around Sydney and the Gold Coast.

Actress Mary Regan (pictured) is to replace Joan Sydney as matron of Wandin Valley Hospital in A Country Practice. The new matron could well be a romantic interest for either of the hospital’s doctors, Chris Kouros (Michael Muntz) or Terence Elliot (Shane Porteous). Sydney has already finished taping for A Country Practice and is now preparing for her next role in the stage play Mrs Klein, co-starring Helen Morse and Michelle Fawdon.

TV funnyman Jonathan Coleman has married his long-time girlfriend, Margot Fitzpatrick, at a ceremony at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. The newlywed couple are honeymooning in Thailand, followed by London and Paris. Coleman in interested in working in the US and Europe, but is not about to cut ties with Australia – he has been in talks with Steve Vizard over a possible involvement in new show Tonight Live. Coleman has also taped a pilot for an Australian version of Entertainment This Week.

Bert Newton (pictured), whose last radio gig was at 3DB, has said that he would like to get back into radio and has confirmed that there have been some offers. “I’d have to be in the right shift,” he says. “I proved to myself at 3DB that I’m not a breakfast man. I don’t think my conversational style is right for the corn flakes. Lately I’ve been listening to quite a bit of radio and I’ve found that what is good is very good and what is bad is terrible.”

On The Grapevine…
An out-of-work soapie actress has taken to playing the didgeridoo in the pedestrian tunnel at Sydney’s Central Station in order to bring home the bacon.

Who was the popular young Sydney actor, well acquainted with playing the role of a car thief, who found himself on the receiving end recently? A shopping spree to Bondi cost him a lot more than he expected when he returned to the car park to find his chariot missing. Even more tragic, the car wasn’t insured.

John Laws says…
”The demise of female newsreaders in Sydney doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. Perhaps 1990 will be remembered as the year of living gentlemanly. The past few years have seen women move into a wide area of high-profile TV jobs. Some were competent – such as Jana Wendt – but others lacked the necessary “zing” that captures huge ratings and all-round public approval. Woman after woman was thrown up against TCN9’s Brian Henderson (pictured) to try to break his iron grip on the news ratings in Sydney – and all failed. Now we have a male line-up confronting him, including former 60 Minutes heavyweight Ian Leslie on Ten. It’s desperate stuff. Ten’s one-hour format – I’m assuming here it’s going to remain – is also a problem. By the time it’s waddled halfway through its bulletin, Nine and Seven have wrapped up and have moved on. The result is that Ten gets the image of being a slowcoach, even though it presents a fuller news service.”

Lawrie Masterson’s Sound Off
”From initial impressions anyway, the first new Australian soap of the Nineties certainly looks handsome. Family And Friends blends some fresh new faces with a few who are tried and true. My tip? This one will work. Nine at last has a soap with a potentially long and healthy life.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne):
Saturday: HSV7 debuts two new Saturday morning programs, Saturday Disney and Video Smash Hits, the latter hosted by Michael Horrocks (Cartoon Connection) and Emily Symons (Richmond Hill, Home And Away). That night, HSV7 crosses to Tamworth for the Australasian Country Music Awards. SBS interrupts its Saturday evening programming for a live, ten-minute cross to Moonee Valley, Melbourne for the Victoria Cup harness racing.

Sunday: The Men’s Singles Final of the Australian Open is telecast live on HSV7 in the afternoon, up against GTV9’s continued daily coverage of the Commonwealth Games from Auckland, New Zealand. Sunday night movies are Hoodwink (HSV7) and Brubaker (ATV10), while ABC presents the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of The Ham Funeral, starring Kerry Walker, Max Cullen, Robyn Nevin and Maggie Kirkpatrick.

Monday: From 10.00am, ABC presents live coverage of the 1990 NFL Superbowl, direct from New Orleans. And with the tennis season now over, HSV7’s weekday line-up returns, including current affairs program Eleven AM, the midday movie and afternoon re-runs of US shows Perry Mason, Beverly Hillbillies, I Dream Of Jeannie and Get Smart. Nine’s Sale Of The Century returns for 1990 in its traditional 7.00pm timeslot. SBS screens the Australian movie Kostas, starring Wendy Hughes and Takis Emmanuel. Steve Vizard presents the first edition of his new late-night show, Tonight Live.

Tuesday: GTV9’s coverage of the Commonwealth Games gets an early start, 4.50am, to cover the men’s marathon. ABC’s popular medical drama GP (pictured) begins its second series.

Friday: HSV7 presents live coverage from Perth of the Davis Cup, Australia versus France. GTV9’s late-night music video program, MTV, returns for the new year.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 27 January 1990. Southdown Press.

1990: January 20-26

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:13:00 +0000

Matt goes in to bat for the street kids
A Country Practice star Matt Day (pictured) is fed up with the media focusing on sensationalist issues surrounding street kids and homeless youth, such as prostitution and drug abuse, while ignoring possible solutions. “The media should be dealing with issues that cover getting housing for these kids and better support. Instead they just want to talk about the tragic stories and sell a few more papers,” he told TV Week. These issues so close to Day’s heart will feature in upcoming storylines for his character Luke in A Country Practice, and he will also be volunteering his services for various refuges that need assistance.

Nine won’t admit it, but…
Graham Kennedy (pictured) has not negotiated a new contract for hosting his popular late-night Coast To Coast program and he has advised Nine that he won’t be returning to the show in 1990. Despite the shock resignation, Nine continues to show its lavish 1990 ‘Shout!’ promos, featuring Kennedy and co-host John Mangos, and has only issued a statement that “we have no further comment to make than discussions are continuing for Mr Kennedy’s return to television in 1990.” Nine is keen to sign up Kennedy for later in the year and to keep him away from any other network. Rumours that Kennedy’s resignation is connected to the upcoming launch of Steve Vizard’s new show, Tonight Live, for the Seven Network have been denied. It is believed that Kennedy’s decision was related the strain of a recent court case against his manager, Harry M Miller.

Dynamic Duo!
Former Neighbours star Jason Donovan and E Street’s Marcus Graham (pictured) have been signed up for roles in the new $3.7 million mini-series, Shadows Of The Heart, being produced for Network Ten by the South Australian Film Commission. The new series, which also stars Jerome Ehlers (Bangkok Hilton), Nadine Garner, Colleen Hewett, Harold Hopkins, Barry Otto, Robyn Nevin, Sherrie Krenn and NIDA graduate Josephine Byrnes, is set in the summer of 1927 and is described as “a romantic epic set in the Twenties with Nineties morals.” Production commences this month on location in Adelaide and Kangaroo Island.

Briefly…
Former A Country Practice star Di Smith and The Flying Doctors’ Liz Burch are set to bare all in the upcoming Melbourne production of the stage play Steaming. The controversial comedy also stars Gwen Plumb, Rosey Jones, Valerie Bader and Jenny Hall.

Former Prisoner star Colette Mann has spoken out about her recent shock resignation from Melbourne radio station 3UZ. Despite a number of consecutive ratings rises for her morning program, Mann says she “never felt comfortable working at 3UZ” and objected to a proposed service agreement that could have her “given verbal notice if I was deemed unfit for work (and if given that notice) I couldn’t work within a 50 km radius of Melbourne.” She also felt entitled to ask for “a little extra money” following the ratings rises, but station boss Clyde Simpson responded that Mann asked for a significant 43.5 per cent pay increase. Despite her controversial departure from the station, Mann has said that she would like to do radio again but in the meantime is currently planning some TV work, including a mini-series and some special event work for Network Ten.

Model-turned-actor Julian McMahon (pictured) has spoken out briefly about his relationship with Melissa Cornell, daughter of The Paul Hogan Show and Crocodile Dundee producer John “Strop” Cornell. “Melissa and I have been together for just over a year now. She moved down to Melbourne with me when I was doing The Power The Passion. Now that I am back in Sydney for Home And Away, she has moved back with me. It is only now that we are beginning to realise where we are and what we are going to be doing.”

On The Grapevine…
Who is the celebrity hairdresser who how walks to work each day… and not by choice, either, courtesy of a blood-alcohol reading considerably in excess of the legal limit.

So desperate was one showbusiness reporter to secure an interview with one of Australia’s favourite daughters, that she had started to woo the star with chocolates and even had a jingle company pen a song for the lovely lady.

John Laws says…
”Sometimes it’s difficult to understand the reasoning of the ABC board members. On the one hand, they complain of lack of funds; on the other, they refuse to agree to advertising on the ABC. Advertising is part of the lifeblood of economics in this country. There is nothing shameful about it. The ABC would attract only a minor percentage of the estimated $1.8 billion of TV advertising every year – but even the injection of a few million dollars would make a lot of difference to the ABC’s slate. So let’s not have too much humbug cluttering up this debate. After all, the ABC is not shy in aggressively advertising its own ABC Shop products on TV, is it?”

Program Highlights (Melbourne):
Saturday: ABC presents the Coca Cola International Golf Classic, live from Royal Melbourne Golf Course, while HSV7’s coverage of the Australian Open tennis continues live from the National Tennis Centre.

Sunday: Sunday night movies are Gloria (HSV7), Liar’s Moon (GTV9), Blame It On Rio (ATV10).

Monday: Singer Maria Venuti (pictured, with Syd Heylen) guest stars in the first episode of A Country Practice for 1990, and the Nine Network’s breakfast show, Today, returns for another year.

Wednesday: GTV9 presents live coverage of the opening ceremony of the 1990 Commonwealth Games from Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand. Ken Sutcliffe, Ray Martin and Max Walker head the coverage.

Thursday: GTV9’s live coverage of daily competition from the Commonwealth Games starts at 10.00am and continues through to 11.00pm, taking a break in the early evening for National Nine News, A Current Affair and US sitcom Growing Pains. ABC presents the first of a two-part documentary, The Way We Really Were, hosted by Caroline Jones – a retrospective and nostalgic look at life in Australia taken from film and documentary footage of the past 30 years.

Friday: For Australia Day, Today is broadcast live from Admiralty House, Sydney, for the presentation of the Australia Day Awards, including the announcement of Australian of the Year by Prime Minister Bob Hawke. In the evening, SBS presents a repeat of documentary Being True Blue and ABC presents the second part of The Way We Really Were, followed by the Governor General’s Australia Day Message. ATV10’s Friday night movie is Tudawali, the 1988 movie starring Ernie Dingo, Jedda Cole, Peter Fisher and Frank Wilson – and SBS presents two Australian movies, Silver City and Backroads.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 20 January 1990. Southdown Press.

SBS starts up STVDIO

noreply@blogger.com (TelevisionAU) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:55:00 +0000

SBS has announced the launch of its new pay-TV channel, STVDIO, dedicated to entertainment and the arts.

The new channel will debut on 1 April as a replacement for the Ovation Channel which is to close after not being renewed by Foxtel and Austar in favour of the new channel to be run by PAN TV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SBS.

PAN TV also operates the World Movies Channel on Foxtel and Austar.

SBS’ director of marketing, Jacqui Riddell, explains the identity of the new channel:

“The name STVDIO represents the new channel perfectly. Every art form – be it dance, fine art, music, theatre, film or writing – is created in a studio. In addition to performance, our new channel will take audiences into how art is made and what makes artists tick. Both the channel name and logo have been stylised to include the letters “TV”.”

STVDIO (pronounced “Studio”) will present arts and entertainment genres, including opera, music, film, ballet, art and design, from Australia and overseas.

SBS’ investment in PAN TV is one of a few pay-TV ventures to be owned by free-to-air interests. The Seven and Nine networks are joint venture partners (with Rupert Murdoch) in the pay-TV channel, Sky News Australia, while regional network WIN owns alternative pay-TV provider SelecTV.

STVDIO will broadcast on Channel 132 on Foxtel and Austar from 1 April.