1979: September 29-October 5

The long, lonely Lane
Since the collapse of his much-publicised romance with architecture student Carmen van Hoorn, Don Lane (pictured) has kept a much lower profile, keeping largely to himself in his luxury $400,000 bayside home in Melbourne, and is accepting of the fact that he may not find love again:  “I have sort of accepted the fact that I’m not going to find a permanent relationship.  I’m trying to keep a low profile from here on in.  I’m a loner, sure, but I don’t think I’m lonely.  I have a couple of close friends.”  Lane also admits that the demands of The Don Lane Show and other public commitments, such as his more recent theatre concert appearances, leave little room for other pursuits.

Bushie returns to film his near-death ordeal
Ron Ansell, the star of a documentary made on his real-life survival experience in the Northern Territory wilderness, is ready for criticism of his treatment of animals in the re-enactment of his lonely, near-death saga after a fishing trip down the Victoria River went horribly wrong.  The 90-minute documentary, To Fight The Wild, is a production of Richard Oxenburgh Productions in association with TVW Enterprises and the Australian Film Commission, and is being considered by TV networks in Australia, the United States, United Kingdom and Japan.  But the 26-year-old professional bull-catcher is prepared for criticism over scenes in the re-enactment which show Ansell shooting bulls, slitting them open with his knife and eating the raw meat on the spot:  “Well, I felt very strongly that if the story was going to be told on film, everything would have to be done exactly as it happened.” 

A busy ARVO for kids
Peter Cousens and his young crew of Earthwatch presenters this week will co-host ABC’s special to highlight the International Year of the Child.  The two-and-a-half hour program will also feature ARVO regulars Alexander Bunyip (pictured, with Earthwatch presenter Marianne Howard), Ron Blanchard, Norman Hetherington, Mr Squiggle and Miss Jane (Jane Fennell).  The special presentation will highlight some of the range of programs produced by ABC’s Children’s, Education and Features departments and screened during school hours throughout the year.

A chance for the deaf to ‘hear’ PM
Deaf TV viewers will have their first chance to ‘hear’ Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser when a girl using sign-language will translate his words in a televised address to the nation on 30 September.  Increasing attention is being given to deaf viewers following the formation of the Australian Centre for Visual Television (ACVT).  The company has already produced a weekly five-minute program, Shhh … Don’t Say It, which has been shown during ABC’s children’s program ARVO.  ACVT co-partners Alexandra Hynes and Adam Salzer have been asked to make thirteen more episodes of the show for next year and are also planning to make a half-hour pilot for a new show for ABC.

Briefly…
Prisoner guest star Jeanie Drynan, playing the role of a sophisticated lawyer, is so impressed with her on-screen wardrobe that she plans to buy the clothes for her own use after she has finished in the series.

Jacqui Gordon, the step-daughter of actor Vic Gordon, has changed her mind about becoming a mothercare nurse and is now planning an acting career after she finishes school at the end of the year.  She has already won an award for her 1975 role in Sally Go Round The Moon and appeared in a guest role in Cop Shop earlier this year.

The 0-10 Network’s cameras were fast on the scene when fire engines screeched to a halt outside Sydney’s Sebel Town House Hotel.  Turns out there was no fire, but rather the hotel’s fire alarm had been activated by heat from the lights being used for filming of a story for Simon Townsend’s Wonder World.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”I totally disagree with M. Caffery (Viewpoint, 8 September 1979) on homosexuality being shown on Cop Shop.  I cannot see anything disgusting about it – not compared with some of the filth on TV nowadays.  Why on earth should homosexuality be hidden away?  It’s a part of life that should be accepted, and it’s only the narrow-minded who pretend it doesn’t exist, or at least find it unacceptable.”  M. Eeles, VIC.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read M. Caffery’s letter (Viewpoint, 8 September 1979).  I thought that people who viewed gays as morally sick died out in the last century.  M. Caffery and friends should see a doctor.  This is 1979.”  A Happy Gay Couple, VIC.

“We live in the country, so we only get ABC.  There are too many documentaries and sports programs and repeats on this channel.  If we ever get movies we have almost always seen them before.” B. Harvey, A. and L. Osbourne, WA.

“I am 12 and want to see something practical on TV for children my age.  Fat Cat And Friends, Rainbow, Shadows, Porky Pig, Family Affair and Gomer Pyle aren’t very exciting for us.  We want to see programs that interest us – perhaps quiz shows, or maybe serials, but not those sloppy soap operas like Days Of Our Lives.”  G. Aitchison, NSW.

What’s On (September 29-October 5):
Following the Football Marathon from last Friday night, HSV7 goes into Saturday morning with live coverage of the traditional Grand Final Breakfast then follows with documentaries on two of the great names in Australian Rules football, Barry Cable and Peter Hudson.  TV Times has no listing for live coverage of the Grand Final, pending approval of the live telecast from the VFL, but has HSV7 scheduled to screen a replay of the game at 6.30pm.  ABC has a one-hour review of the Grand Final at 6.00pm with a full replay at 9.20pm.

Sunday is dominated by HSV7’s all-day coverage of the 1979 Hardie Ferodo 1000, the legendary motor race held at the Mt Panorama circuit in Bathurst.  Coverage starts at 7.55am and continues through to 5.30pm.

ABC presents its International Year of the Child special telecast on Sunday afternoon.  Featuring the presenters of children’s programs ARVO, Earthwatch and Mr Squiggle And Friends, the special includes four programs made specifically for the International Year of the Child.

In Cop Shop (HSV7, Monday and Thursday), a man is knocked down by a motorcyclist after he gives the police some important information and Georgiou (John Orcsik) has a mysterious visitor at the station.  The Press decide to give Vic Cameron (Terence Donovan) a hard time and his past comes back to haunt him.  In Skyways (HSV7, Monday and Thursday), Pacific International Airport is closed down due to fog.  Peter Fanelli (Bill Stalker) sets a trap for a team of pick-pockets, using George Tippett (Brian James) as a decoy.

Bush artist Jack Absalom (pictured) presents a new series on ABC, Outback.  In the first episode he introduces his theory which suggests that the entire inland of Australia is rapidly becoming a huge claypan where soon nothing will grow.  He looks at the animal that he considers to hold the key to preserving the land – the kangaroo.

On Friday, HSV7 presents live all-day coverage of Australia versus the US in the Davis Cup tennis from White City, Sydney.

Friday night becomes a battle of movie greats with The Wizard Of Oz (HSV7), The King And I (GTV9) and The Greatest Show On Earth (ATV0).

Sunday night movies: The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (HSV7), Rider On The Rain (GTV9), Sherlock Holmes In New York (ATV0).  The Men is the final instalment of the series of A Place In The World on ABC, featuring the reunion of the key characters from the previous instalments.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 29 September 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: August 11-17

Cover: Jamie Gleeson, Peter Mochrie, Lenore Smith (The Restless Years)

La Stupenda on the move
This week’s ABC special Joan Sutherland: A Life On The Move is the culmination of 13 months of production.  The 80-minute documentary is a rare glimpse into the private life of opera singer Dame Joan Sutherland who, with husband Richard Bonynge, divides her time between two permanent homes – in Australia and Switzerland – and a busy calendar of opera performances, recitals, recording sessions and public appearances.  The documentary is a joint production between Brian Adams, ABC and Munich-based RM Productions.

Graffiti written off
US sitcom MASH is doing so well that Sydney’s TEN10 is in no rush to find another show for the 7.00pm timeslot.  Program director Pat Cleary said that the 0-10 Network had decided not to buy Graffiti, a topical light entertainment show from the Reg Grundy Organisation.  “The Graffiti pilot was presented by Grundy’s as a half-hour show to be screen weeknights at 7.00pm.  We looked at it a couple of months ago and decided it didn’t fit into that slot.  The problems that we have had with that particular timeslot have been solved by MASH, which is doing very, very well.”

500 not out: Tony’s still feuding
Quizmaster Tony Barber (pictured) has just recorded his 500th edition of afternoon game show Family Feud.  A production of the Reg Grundy Organisation, Family Feud started production in Perth two years ago and recently moved to the studios of Melbourne’s GTV9.  For Barber it rounds out almost a decade of hosting TV quiz shows, with five years as host of Great Temptation and the shorter-lived Name That Tune for the Seven Network before hosting Family Feud, but he does not miss the pressure of working in prime time: “I’m glad in fact it isn’t a big prime-time show.  I’ve done that, and life is much better now without the pressure.  These days I work to live – I don’t live to work, and to be honest I don’t miss the days of Great Temptation.  They were hectic days and I was always so busy I didn’t have time to turn around.  Today, I’m comfortable.  I’m working in show business and yet I can still enjoy my family life.”

Prisoner’s disc over the top
The single release of the theme song to the 0-10 Network series Prisoner has broken all local sales records.  The song, On The Inside, was recorded by Lynne Hamilton and is claimed to be the biggest-selling single from a female artist in the history of the Australian recording industry.  Hamilton recently appeared on Peter Couchman Tonight to receive a gold record to commemorate 50,000 sales and platinum could be not far away with sales now creeping closer to 100,000.  With Prisoner now about to go to air in the United States and Canada, the single may be released there and could make Hamilton an international star.

Briefly…
Olivia Hamnett, one of the lead actresses in the telemovie The John Sullivan Story, will extend her character Captain Meg Fulton, a British Secret Service agent, to an ongoing role in The Sullivans.

Actor-humourist David Kossof has recorded a half-hour special to celebrate the International Year of the Child (IYC).  The special, Kossof With Kids, was produced in association with ABC’s children’s program ARVO and will screen as part of ABC’s upcoming three-hour IYC telecast next month.

Following a recent TV Times story, The Young Doctors star Eric Oldfield (pictured) has received numerous letters from young readers thanking him for speaking up about ocean pollution.

Chin Yu Williams, the half-Chinese mother of The Sullivans’ Megan Williams, is likely to be offered a leading role in the upcoming 0-10 Network series Arcade.

Actress Colleen Clifford, who made her TV debut in the United Kingdom forty years ago, will soon appear in a guest role in Prisoner, playing a little old lady who “kicks over the traces” when she is evicted from her home and her life starts to fall apart around her and ultimately ends up at Wentworth Detention Centre.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”People who complain about The Sullivans (pictured) and Cop Shop should sit down one night and watch one of these shows through and try to understand what it’s about, and then, if you still don’t like it, watch something else.  Remember, these shows will last a long time, so complaining will get you nowhere.” S. Clark, QLD.

“Why do they ruin The Sullivans with that soppy, overgrown Jeff, with his short pants and his “aunties” and “uncles”?  If the part called for a boy of 16 or so, why don’t they get a boy that looks 16?” P. Johnson, VIC.

“My family and friends have been watching Cop Shop for a long time, then all of a sudden the timeslot changes to when we normally watch The Restless Years.” C. & N. Leoni, QLD.

What’s On (August 11-17):
This Fabulous Century (HSV7, Sunday) looks at Australia’s moral attitudes over the course of the century, in particular to the subject of sex.  Peter Luck looks at the history of censorship as it was applied to films and other popular culture.

Marcia Hines and Daryl Braithwaite host the Australian Popular Song Festival, Sunday night on ATV0, including performances by Delilah, Ray Burgess, Tony Pantano, Mary Jane Boyd and Russell Hitchcock.  The winning song will go on to represent Australia at the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo later in the year.

The Curse Of The Bangerang Prince is this week’s episode of Matlock Police (ATV0, Monday).  A Melbourne lawyer goes missing in the Matlock bush.  Constable Gary Hogan (Paul Cronin, pictured) receives news of his future in the police force and the police station the plagued by astounding bad luck with the arrival of the Bangerang Prince. 

A new prisoner arrives at Wentworth Detention Centre in Prisoner (ATV0, Tuesday and Wednesday), but the authorities keep her identity a secret.

Sunday night movies: Sunday Too Far Away (HSV7), The Man Who Haunted Himself (GTV9), The Good The Bad And The Ugly (ATV0).  ABC presents an 80-minute special Joan Sutherland – A Life On The Move.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 11 August 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: February 17-23

Good medicine!
The Seven Network's new comedy series Doctors Down Under promises that the only treatment viewers will get from St Barnabas Hospital over the next three months will be a dose of laughs from Doctors Waring (Robin Nedwell) and Stuart-Clark (Geoffrey Davies).  The two actors decided to adapt the long-running English comedy series to an Australian version after touring the country in 1977 with the stage production Doctors In Love.  Joining the medicos for the Australian series will be Frank Wilson, former host of New Faces and actor in numerous Crawford dramas, and Sydney actor John Derum.  Doctors Down Under is already screening in Sydney and Melbourne and debuts soon in Brisbane and Adelaide.

Nationwide is set to roll
ABC's new current affairs program Nationwide premieres this week.  "Nationwide will meet the growing demand from a substantial section of the public for a quality current affairs program that will get stuck into its topics," says executive producer John Penlington.  The program will run for 40 minutes each night, with the first half containing national stories and the second segment compiled in each state capital to cover local issues.

Countdown back with a bang!
Countdown returns for 1979 this week with French pop star Plastic Bertrand appearing as guest compere.  The singer was a Countdown "discovery" last year and negotiations to have him appear had been going on for some time.  Also a highlight for Countdown this year will be a two-hour celebration for the show's 200th episode later in the year.  Talent co-ordinator Ian 'Molly' Meldrum and producer Grant Rule will be heading overseas in April to line up international acts for the special show which is expected to include a three-way link-up between studios in London, Los Angeles and Melbourne.

This fabulous century!
A one million dollar documentary series, This Fabulous Century, will give Australians a graphic record of Australia's history from Federation to the present day.  The series of 30 episodes, hosted by journalist Peter Luck (pictured) and produced by Hanna Barbera for the Seven Network, begins this week in Sydney and Brisbane and later in other states.  Luck said that until he started work on the series two years ago, he had no interest in Australian history at all:  "As a current affairs reporter I had an interest and knowledge of contemporary history but in Australia, all we ever learn of the history of this country is about bushrangers and convicts.  But so much has happened this century, and I found it interesting."   Researching archival footage for the series took over a year and a further six months was taken in arranging interviews and securing access to various locations for filming.  With a $1 million budget, This Fabulous Century is the most extensive, and most expensive, documentary series produced in Australia to date.

Prisoners of love
The budding romance in the new series Prisoner between inmate Karen Travers (Peita Toppano) and prison doctor Greg Miller (Barry Quin) sounds like classic soap opera fare, but pales in comparison to the real-life affair between the two actors (pictured).  The English Quin had discovered Toppano on a visit to Australia and decided to emigrate but had to deal with immigration, Actors Equity and the frustration of an Australian postal strike before he could stay in Australia.  Through Toppano's efforts Quin landed the Prisoner role which meant he could stay in Australia.  The real-life couple will be married in April, while the 0-10 Network is so pleased with the first thirteen episodes of the new series that it has ordered a further 29 even before the series makes its on-air debut.

Briefly...
ABC's new afternoon children's show ARVO isn't just short for "afternoon" but actually stands for Alexander's Recycled Visual Offerings, Alexander being the bunyip who will co-host the program.

ATV0 is working to revamp the magazine segment of its Sunday night news bulletin.  Former radio and TV presenter Paul Jennings, who joined ATV0 as a weather man, is now in charge of the fifteen-minute segment which he hopes to revamp from pre-packaged films to more topical segments and interviews.

Melbourne-born opera singer Jon Weaving and his French wife Monique Brynnel will be the stars of this year's first Music To The People concert to be staged at the Myer Music Bowl.  The second half of the concert will be televised live through HSV7.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
"I like live shows, in preference to movies, and when TEN10 put on The Steve Raymond Show, I was most delighted.  Oh boy, was I in for a complete let down.  Steve Raymond is a very, very poor imitation of Mike Walsh, or any other compere." J. Long, NSW.

"I'm no sports fan, but I'd like to congratulate the TV channels for their excellent sports coverages, which many people do enjoy, particularly elderly or incapacitiated persons, who are unable to attend these events." B. Reynolds, VIC.

"Thank heavens the World Series Cricket cricketers are leaving for the West Indies soon.  The Nine Network once had some pretty good programs.  But one has become bored with the same players and the same ads all the time.  Good luck to the well-paid players but can't they just take their circus away from the air-waves and give us a respite from what used to be a dignified game?  I think the commercial over-kill of a once grand game could really slaughter it." F. Howard, NSW.

"Why, oh why, do ABC newsreaders - on both TV and radio - say "following" when they usually mean "after"?  Once I even heard a news item about a man who died "following" a funeral - which gave the impression he was in the cortege at the time." J. Jessup, NSW.

What's On (February 17-23):
On Saturday afternoon, ABC presents live coverage of the 1979 Victorian Open Golf Championship from Kingston Heath Golf Course, while at the same time, HSV7 presents live coverage from the World Of Sport Expo being held at the Melbourne Exhibition Buildings with special guests including Ron Barassi, Mike Willesee, Sir William McMahon, George Mallaby, Michael Pate and Jon English.

ATV0's weekday morning line-up gets a revamp with the launch of magazine program Everyday, hosted by Roy Hampson and Annette Allison (pictured).

Monday night sees the debut of ABC's Nationwide current affairs program, while ATV0 starts a re-run, continuing over six nights, of the hit US mini-series Roots in the lead-up to the sequel mini-series, Roots: The Next Generations, to air later in the year.  Later in the evening, HSV7 starts a repeat screening of the former ABC comedy series Alvin Purple.

GTV9's The Don Lane Show returns for another year with the first show highlighted by a satellite interview with Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood.  The first show will also include a direct coverage of a stunt in the GTV9 carpark performed by American stunt star Evel Knievel.  ATV0's Peter Couchman Tonight also returns for another year, screening five nights a week.

Sunday night movies are The Tamarind Seed (HSV7) and Vegas (GTV9).  ATV0 screens the UNICEF Concert: A Gift Of Song, held at the UN General Assembly in New York in January as the launch event for International Year Of The Child.  Hosted by David Frost with Henry Fonda, Gilda Radner and Henry Winkler, the concert includes performances by the Bee Gees, Olivia Newton-John, ABBA, John Denver, Earth Wind And Fire, Andy Gibb, Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson.  ATV0 then follows up the concert with the movie comedy What's Up Doc?

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 17 February 1979.  ABC/ACP