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.
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.”
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.
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.
”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.
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
