ABC1 presents The Real Graham Kennedy

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

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

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

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

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

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

TV Week Logie Awards: 25 years ago

Hey Hey It’s Saturday host Daryl Somers (pictured) was awarded the Gold Logie for the Most Popular Personality on Australian Television at the 28th annual TV Week Logie Awards, presented at Sydney’s historic State Theatre on Friday, 18 April 1986.

It was the first time the Awards were held in Sydney since 1981.

Current affairs host Mike Willesee was Master of Ceremonies of the night’s presentation which was broadcast via the Nine Network.  The awards ceremony paid tribute to 30 years of Australian television.

The Gold Logie was Somers’ second, having also won the premier award at the 25th Anniversary TV Week Logie Awards in 1983.  His second Gold Logie followed a year which saw the prime-time Hey Hey It’s Saturday shift to the earlier 6.30pm timeslot, and his hosting of Nine’s afternoon game show Blankety Blanks.  On a personal front, it was also a year he married long-time partner Julie Da Costa.

Somers also collected a second award on the night, for Most Popular Male Personality in Victoria.

In winning the Gold, Somers had beaten fellow nominees Greg Evans (Perfect Match), Ray Martin (Midday With Ray Martin) and Anne Tenney (A Country Practice).  The year had been significant for all three fellow nominees.  As well as hosting Perfect Match, Evans (pictured) had also hosted the previous year’s TV Week Logie Awards and a new talent quest series, Star Search, for Network Ten.  Nine’s Ray Martin had made the risky move from 60 Minutes to host the new Midday program, taking over from the long-running The Mike Walsh Show which had moved into prime-time.  And Tenney had made her farewell from A Country Practice with the emotional departure of character Molly Jones.  She also featured in the ABC mini-series Flight Into Hell, scoring a nomination for Most Popular Actress In A Single Drama Or Mini-Series.

The Nine Network mini-series Anzacs won three Logies, including individual Logies for actor Andrew Clarke and actress Megan Williams.  The ten-hour mini-series was the most ambitious television drama production ever undertaken in Australia, costing more than $8 million and was six years in the making.  The series also featured Paul Hogan in his first dramatic role, and popular young actor Jon Blake.

Seven’s long-running A Country Practice took away four Logies, including Most Popular Drama and Silver Logies for Grant Dodwell and Anne Tenney (pictured).  Tenney also won a Logie for Most Popular Female Personality in New South Wales.

Network Ten series Neighbours, which had only recently made the move from Seven, scored its first ever Logies.  Actor Peter O’Brien was awarded Most Popular New Talent, while Neighbours won the award for Most Popular Program in Victoria. 

Network Ten’s afternoon game show Perfect Match won Most Popular Light Entertainment Program, following a year which saw co-host Debbie Newsome replaced by newcomer Tiffany Lamb. 

The Nine Network won the award for Outstanding Sports Coverage for its coverage of the first Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Adelaide, beamed around the world to an estimated 700 million viewers and which won high praise from the Formula One participating nations.

60 Minutes won the Logie for Most Popular Public Affairs Program and one of its reporters, Ian Leslie (pictured), was awarded Reporter Of The Year.  Nine’s Sunday program won the award for Best Public Affairs Report for Jennifer Byrne’s coverage of the 1985 Tax Summit. 

Brisbane-based TVQ0’s Eyewitness News won Best News Report for its report of the Eagle Farm siege, when a deranged man threatened to fire a shotgun and ignite a tankerload of fuel at Brisbane Airport.

As well as hosting the Logies presentation, Mike Willesee (pictured) also scored an award for Most Popular Documentary Series for his series of specials for the Nine Network.  One of the most talked-about programs from the Willesee series during the year was Tommy Doesn’t Exist Any More, a sympathetic look at the lives of three transsexuals.  Another program, Sink Or Swim, looked at the life of one of Australia’s leading underwater naturalists, Neville Coleman.  And before the age of Big Brother, Willesee presented More Than A Game – a two-hour special which observed the behaviour of 15 people from different walks of life who were taken to a remote rural location where they had to form their own new society.

Teenage actress Nadine Garner from the Network Ten series The Henderson Kids won the Logie for Best Performance by a Juvenile; and long-running children’s program Simon Townsend’s Wonder World was awarded Most Popular Children’s Program.

National broadcaster ABC won two awards.  The comedy series The Gillies Report – featuring Max Gillies in various guises including then prime minister Bob Hawke (pictured) – won Best Light Entertainment Series, and documentary series Sweat Of The Sun, Tears Of The Moon – featuring Jack Pizzey’s travels through South America – was awarded Best Documentary.

Mini-series producers Kennedy-Miller were presented a Logie for Sustained Excellence – having produced landmark series The Dismissal, The Cowra Breakout and Bodyline.

The local newscast, Newshour, from Bendigo channel BCV8 won the Logie for Outstanding Contribution by Regional Television.  One of the news bulletin’s highlights from the year was its coverage of the Murray River tour of HRH Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

News cameraman Neil Davis (pictured) was posthumously inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall Of Fame.  A war correspondent for over 20 years, Davis had been gunned down in September 1985 while covering a coup attempt in Thailand. 

Among the overseas guest stars at the Logies were Hill Street Blues star Veronica Hamel, actress and comedienne Phyllis Diller and singer John Denver.

Public-voted Categories:
Gold Logie: Daryl Somers (Hey Hey It’s Saturday, Blankety Blanks)

Silver Logie – Most Popular Actor: Grant Dodwell (A Country Practice)
Silver Logie – Most Popular Actress:  Anne Tenney (A Country Practice)

Most Popular Drama Series:  A Country Practice (Seven)
Most Popular Single Drama or Mini-Series:  Anzacs (Nine Network)
Most Popular Actor In A Single Drama Or Mini-Series: Andrew Clarke (Anzacs)
Most Popular Actress In A Single Drama Or Mini-Series: Megan Williams (Anzacs)
Most Popular Light Entertainment Program: Perfect Match (Network Ten)
Most Popular Public Affairs Program: 60 Minutes (Nine Network)
Most Popular Documentary Series:  Willesee Documentaries (Nine Network)
Most Popular Music Video:  What You Need (INXS)
Most Popular Children’s Program: Simon Townsend’s Wonder World (Network Ten)
Most Popular New Talent:  Peter O’Brien (Neighbours)

Industry-voted Categories:
Best News Report:  Eagle Farm Siege, Eyewitness News (TVQ0, Brisbane)
Best Public Affairs Report: Tax Summit (Jennifer Byrne, Sunday, Nine Network)
Reporter Of The Year: Ian Leslie (60 Minutes)
Best Performance By A Juvenile: Nadine Garner (The Henderson Kids)
Outstanding Sports Coverage: Australian Grand Prix (Nine Network)
Best Documentary: Sweat Of The Sun, Tears Of The Moon (ABC)
Best Light Entertainment Special: Cliff Richard – The Rock Connection (Nine Network)
Best Light Entertainment Series: The Gillies Report (ABC)
Special Award For Sustained Excellence:  The Kennedy-Miller Organisation
Outstanding Contribution By Regional Television:  Newshour (BCV8, Bendigo)
TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame: Neil Davis (journalist) – awarded posthumously.

State-based Categories (Most Popular Male Personality, Most Popular Female Personality, Most Popular Program):

NSW: Ray Martin, Anne Tenney, A Country Practice
VIC: Daryl Somers, Delvene Delaney, Neighbours
QLD: Glenn Taylor, Jacki MacDonald, State Affair
SA: Keith Conlon, Anne Wills, State Affair
WA: Rick Ardon, Susannah Carr, State Affair
TAS: Tom Payne, Jenny Roberts, Midweek

Source: TV Week, 19 April 1986.  TV Week, 26 April 1986

Turning the lights out at Television City

It started life at the turn of the 20th century as a piano factory, and then a soup factory.

Then, in 1956, the building at Bendigo Street, Richmond, became part of the dawn of the new industry of television and went from producing 57 varieties of soup to a variety of a completely different kind.

For over fifty years it has been ‘Hollywood-on-the-Yarra’ as it has produced television programs – variety, drama, comedy, children’s programs, sports, news and current affairs – that are among the most loved and most popular in the country.

It was where the Victorian governor Sir Dallas Brooks (pictured, above) made his grand entrance on GTV9’s opening night – 19 January 1957 – by entering the studio in a chauffeur-driven limousine. The two-hour variety program that followed, featuring names like Bob and Dolly Dyer, Toni Lamond, Frank Sheldon, Ron Blaskett, Terry Dear and Lou Toppano’s orchestra, certainly set the tone that this new channel was going to have a clear focus on light entertainment and variety – and it certainly delivered that in the decades that followed.

A few months after GTV9’s lavish opening night, a shy radio star named Graham Kennedy made his first TV appearance and shortly after made his TV hosting debut on a variety show, In Melbourne Tonight. The show would continue for over a decade and earned Kennedy the nickname of the King of Australian TV. It is a title that nobody has dared to challenge ever since.

In 1959, Kennedy was joined by Bert Newton (pictured, right, with Kennedy in 1964) – a personality from rival channel HSV7 who had resigned from his employer on-camera before making the move to GTV9. For his debut at GTV9 he was placed next to Kennedy to present a commercial during IMT. It was the beginning of a long-running professional partnership and a personal friendship that would last decades.

In 1964, with a new rival TV channel – ATV0 – about to debut, GTV9 expanded its premises to a new state-of-the-art studio, Studio 9. It was a studio built specifically for IMT but would go on to host a list of productions in the years that followed – including New Faces, The Graham Kennedy Show, The Don Lane Show (pictured), The Ernie Sigley Show, Hey Hey It’s Saturday, The Paul Hogan Show, Family Feud, Sale Of The Century, The Daryl Somers Show, Tonight With Bert Newton, Blankety Blanks, All Together Now, The Price Is Right, The Footy Show, Burgo’s Catch Phrase, Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush, Starstuck, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Temptation, Bert’s Family Feud and Millionaire Hot Seat.

As well as variety and light entertainment shows, 22 Bendigo Street – or ‘Television City’ as it became known – was home to several drama series including Emergency, one of the earliest TV drama series ever made in Australia, Division 4, The Sullivans, Starting Out, The Flying Doctors, All The Way, Chances, Halifax fp and Stingers.

Eric Pearce (pictured) and American Jack Little formed Melbourne’s (if not Australia’s) first newsreading duo, later making way for others including Brian Naylor, who read the news from Bendigo Street for twenty years, Peter Hitchener and Jo Hall. Mike Walsh hosted a 1960s version of Today, and Tanya Halesworth (and later Mickie de Stoop) hosted a daytime current affairs program, No Man’s Land, in the 1970s.

This Saturday night, the Nine Network pays tribute to the stars and the shows that have come from the famous studios as it prepares to move out from the building.

After Daryl Somers and his team sign off from the final episode of Hey Hey It’s Saturday for 2010 from Studio 9, Nine will cross to Bert Newton and Eddie McGuire in Studio 1, back where it all began with Sir Dallas Brookes and the early days of IMT, to present Lights, Camera, Party! – Television City Celebrates.

The two-hour special will feature some of the people, programs and magic moments that have featured from the legendary television studios over the past 53 years. The studio audience for the program will be made up entirely of past and present Nine Network personalities.

The building at 22 Bendigo Street was purchased by Vivas Lend Lease earlier this year with a plan to redevelop the historic site as a residential and retail precinct. The building’s original red brick exterior is heritage protected but the remainder of the site, including extensions such as Studio 9, will be redeveloped and will include some design aspects that will acknowledge the site’s significant heritage.

GTV9 has entered into a long-term agreement with the inner city Docklands Studios for future large scale productions – while other functions of the channel will be relocated to new premises in the Docklands precinct nearby.

Somers, whose TV career began as host of Cartoon Corner and Hey Hey It’s Saturday in the early 1970s, had previously suggested that part of the redevelopment be reserved for a TV museum and he has now been reported to be considering producing a documentary on the history of the famous studios.

Lights, Camera, Party! – Television City Celebrates. Saturday 27 November, 9.40pm. Nine (Melbourne – other areas check local guides)

Source: Herald Sun

ACA interviews Reg Grundy

It is not often that this site actively promotes A Current Affair but will make an exception for this coming Monday’s edition as host Tracy Grimshaw interviews legendary television producer Reg Grundy (pictured) and wife, actress and author Joy Chambers at their home in Bermuda.

Grundy first appeared on TV in 1959 as the host and producer of an afternoon game show, Wheel Of Fortune, which had made the move from radio to Sydney’s TCN9.  He then went on to produce more game shows during the 1960s before branching out into TV dramas and movies in the 1970s.  The list of Grundy productions read like a timeline in the history of Australian television, including Ampol Stamp Quiz, I’ve Got A Secret (where he met his future wife), Temptation, Moneymakers, Class Of ‘74, Pot Of Gold, Family Feud, Blankety Blanks, The Celebrity Game, The Young Doctors, Chopper Squad, The Restless Years, Sale Of The Century, Prisoner, Sons And Daughters, Perfect Match, It’s A Knockout, Neighbours, Secret Valley, Wheel Of Fortune, Australia’s Most Wanted, Richmond Hill, Embassy and The Price Is Right. 

Wife Chambers, a winner of two TV Week Logie awards for most popular female personality in Queensland in the late 1960s before becoming Mrs Grundy, went on to appear in a number of Grundy productions including The Restless Years, The Celebrity Game and Neighbours (most recently appearing in the lead-up to the show’s celebrated 6000th episode).  She is also an accomplished author in her own right.

As well as many Grundy dramas selling internationally – most notably Prisoner (pictured), The Young Doctors, Neighbours and Sons And Daughters – he also successfully franchised various game show and drama formats overseas, producing international versions of Sale Of The Century, Prisoner and The Restless Years.  He also produced a game show, Scrabble, for US network NBC.

He sold Grundy Television Productions to UK-based Pearson International in the mid-1990s – it has since been incorporated into the global Fremantle Media group.

Grundy was inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame in 1993 and received Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2008. 

Despite his many years in television, Grundy has remained a very private figure and has very rarely allowed to be interviewed and the appearance on A Current Affair came as the expense of Sunday Night and 60 Minutes which had both also tried to secure an interview.

The interview is said to coincide with the release of his autobiography.

A Current Affair.  Monday 20 September, 6.30pm.  Nine*

Source: The Daily Telegraph (via The Spy Report), Sydney Morning Herald.

 

* Melbourne.  Other areas, check local guides.

GTV9 sells off Hollywood-on-the-Yarra

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

Melbourne moves up from Channel 0 to 10

It is now 30 years since Melbourne’s ATV0 made history and changed its broadcast frequency to Channel 10.

When Reg Ansett was awarded the licence to operate Melbourne’s third commercial channel in 1963, he was given the frequency of Channel 0 – down the low end of the dial, and, being a ‘new’ frequency, most older TV sets did not have a Channel 0 position on the dial.  The conversion of older sets and antennas to include access to Channel 0 was a short term financial boon for TV repairers and installers as viewers moved to ensured that they were ready to ‘Go for 0’ when it eventually went to air on 1 August 1964, although test transmissions for the new channel had started as early as May.

The challenges inherent in the low broadcast frequency, such as deficiencies in reception across large portions of Melbourne, coupled with fierce competition from older rivals HSV7 and GTV9, made life tough for Ansett’s new channel – resulting in it often struggling in third place in the ratings.  Even though Ansett had budgeted that his new channel, ATV0, would be making a profit after three years with a lineup heavy in Australian content, it would be many more years before it would end up paying dividends.

By 1969, still faced with the challenges of the low-end frequency and trying to break the dominance of its two older rivals, Ansett ended up underwriting a boxing match between Australian title holder Lionel Rose and British champion Alan Rudkin.  The match was a huge ratings hit, scoring 72 per cent of the viewing audience, setting a ratings record that would not be broken until the Sydney Olympic Games more than thirty years later. 

But despite the massive audience boost from the Rose-Rudkin title fight, it would be 1973 before ATV0 would post its first weekly ratings win – heralded with full-page newspaper ads (pictured) – largely due to the controversial, top-rating soapie Number 96, which had dominated ratings around the country. 

By the late-‘70s, ATV0 was in ratings decline.  By this stage it had bid farewell to Number 96 and other major ratings drawcards The Box and Blankety Blanks.  The landmark US mini-series, Roots, had delivered massive ratings but the boost to the station was short lived.  By the end of 1978 the Federal Government had received an application from ATV0 for permission to change its broadcast frequency to Channel 10 – giving it a stronger broadcast signal at the top of the dial which would hopefully eliminate any gaps in the old channel’s coverage and would also provide an opportunity to re-launch the struggling ATV0 as a “new” channel and would also match up the station with the same frequency as its Sydney network partner, TEN10.  The Government approved the changeover early in 1979.

The hitch in changing to Channel 10 was that it would conflict with neighbouring Gippsland channel GLV10, causing interference by sharing the same frequency.  ATV0 then agreed to pay the costs incurred by GLV to have it moved to an alternative frequency, Channel 8.  It was not a cheap exercise, as ATV paid around $800,000 to fund GLV’s conversion costs and also to fund the distribution of filters to attach to viewers’ sets – as it was apparent that GLV on Channel 8 would interfere in areas where viewers could also receive Melbourne channels HSV7 and GTV9 and the filters would rectify that.

In preparing the changeover to Channel 10, ATV managed to sign up one of its former leading stars, Graham Kennedy (pictured), to front the new channel’s advertising campaign – including radio and television commercials.  It was no mean feat, as only 18 months earlier Kennedy was less than subtle in his criticism of ATV0 due to the channel’s poor performance impacting on his Blankety Blanks game show.  Kennedy told The Age that money was certainly a factor in accepting the position of being the channel’s spokesman during the conversion period: “They did offer me a very attractive deal.  And it immediately appealed to me because it will be an historic occasion.  A television station changing its frequency will probably never happen again in our lifetimes.”

There was also talk that Kennedy would also have the opportunity to present a new tonight show on the revamped channel, though was not to be.

By January 1980, the channel was ready to flick the switch.  Thousands of brochures had been distributed to households around Melbourne to advise of the changeover, while a telephone hotline had been set up to enable viewers to get assistance in retuning their sets from Channel 0 to 10.  And without much time to spare, GLV10 made the switch to GLV8 on 17 January.

Then the big day – 20 January – had arrived.  ATV0 had signed off for the last time at around 3.00am that morning – the last program to air on the channel was the 1948 movie, Angel In Exile.  Then, just prior to 2.00pm on the Sunday afternoon, Kennedy, standing atop of the channel’s studio building in Nunawading, welcomed viewers to Channel 10:  “Come on up to Ten, you’ll enjoy the view!”  Then the new ATV10 broadcast its launch promotion ‘You’re On Top With 10’, with catchy lyrics sung by Mike Brady.

The first program to follow on ATV10 was 10’s Summer Sunday, a three-hour outside broadcast from Torquay Beach, south of Melbourne, hosted by former ATV0 newsreaders Bruce Mansfield and Annette Allison. 

Jana Wendt presented ATV10’s first Eyewitness News bulletin at 6.00pm – and barely a few months later Ms Wendt would be promoted to co-anchoring the main weeknight bulletin on the channel.  Kennedy was back on air at 6.30pm, presenting a one-hour special, You’re On Top With Ten, previewing some of the upcoming shows on the new channel, including the documentary series The Human Face Of China, mini-series Water Under The Bridge and an Australian adaptation of the British comedy Are You Being Served?, as well as the return of familiar titles including Prisoner, The Restless Years, Peter Couchman Tonight and Young Talent Time.

At 7.30pm, ATV10 presented the movie-length debut of the network’s new highly-anticipated, big-budget soap opera, Arcade, from the producers behind the former Number 96.  Despite ambitions for the series to be the flagship of the network’s lineup heading into the new decade, the series failed to grab even a modest share of the audience and was taken off the air six weeks later.

Following Arcade was the Sunday night movie, Summerfield, starring John Waters, Nick Tate and Elizabeth Alexander.

Viewers that had still yet to make the change to their sets from Channel 0 to 10 were given a slight reprieve, as ATV would simulcast on both channels for an interim period to enable viewers some extra time to make the necessary adjustments and to get used to the new channel position.

Industry magazine B&T reported at the time that the changeover of ATV from 0 to 10 would be the first time that a TV station in a major metropolitan market had changed frequencies – outside of the United States.

The changeover from Channel 0 to 10 in Melbourne led to the network changing its name from the 0-10 Network to Network Ten, with its Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide stations all broadcasting on the Channel 10 frequency.  Although Brisbane’s network partner, TVQ0, would continue to broadcast on the Channel 0 frequency until the late ‘80s.

Source: The Age, 12 October 1978.  The Age, 10 January 1980.  The Age, 17 January 1980.  TV Week, 19 January 1980.

1979: December 8-14

Sergeant O’Reilly’s ball and chain!
A happy occasion on Seven’s Cop Shop with the wedding of Senior Sergeant Eric O’Reilly (Terry Norris) and Lorna Close (Moya O’Sullivan).  The wedding, held in an outdoor setting, will go to air this week in Melbourne and Brisbane and later in Sydney.

Arcade builds into a blockbuster
Production on Cash-Harmon’s new soap opera, Arcade, has started at the studios of TEN10, Sydney.  The new big-budget series is hoped be a hit with viewers the same way as their previous hit show, Number 96.  However, unlike 96, Arcade is expected to rely on humour rather than sex and violence.  Among the scriptwriting team for Arcade are former Number 96 writers Johnny Whyte and David Sale.  Whyte was flown in from London especially to work on the Arcade script.  TEN10’s Studio A has been re-modelled into a mock shopping complex, with shop sets designed down to the last detail, while a shopping complex in the suburb of Cremorne is being used for outdoor shots.  More than 1300 people were auditioned for roles in Arcade, and some of the actors and actresses chosen will be making their TV debut in the series, joining more familiar cast names including Lorrae Desmond, Peggy Toppano (Blankety Blanks), Olga Tamara, Greg Bepper (Class Of ‘74, Glenview High) and former Number 96 stars Aileen Britton and Mike Dorsey.  Although a timeslot for Arcade has yet to be decided, producers are hoping to launch the series with a movie-length debut in mid-January.

Future shocks
Robert Moore, the former host of the long-running Monday Conference, is now presenting Faces Of The Eighties, a series of seven half-hour interviews with influential Australians heading into the new decade.  But Moore predicts that there may be tough times ahead in the 1980s: “We’re a lot more frightened today.  For instance, people have now come to believe – and not just the experts – that we may never see full employment again.  The idea of full employment may just have been a passing phase in human history.  We were lucky enough to enjoy it, but it’s running out now.”  Moore also predicts that Australians will continue to become fonder of a warmer climate, which will see a population boom in Queensland and Western Australia: “If this is true, you’d be pretty dumb buying land for houses in Tasmania and Victoria today.”

Young Doctors take the cake
It was a multiple birthday celebration when TCN9, Sydney, threw a party for the cast of The Young Doctors to celebrate its third birthday last month.  The party, a four-hour cruise of Sydney Harbour, also coincided with cast member Alfred Sandor’s birthday, with a cake and a kiss for the birthday boy from colleagues Rebecca Gilling and Karen Pini.

 

Briefly…
Actor Gary Gray and his new wife Honor Walters were in the money when the horse they co-own, Miss Pere, won the first race at Sandown recently.

Country music star and host of Country Homestead, Reg Lindsay is finally noticing, after ten years of regular visits to the United States, that he is starting to be recognised.  “They know me in Nashville.  They say ‘Why, that’s the Australian fellow’.  I’ve had half a dozen singles released in the US and the album I made in Nashville will be released later this year.  We’re still thinking of a title.”

Mike Dorsey, starring in the new series Arcade, has had to grow a beard to try and distance himself from his former on-screen persona of Reg ‘Daddy’ McDonald in Number 96.  Despite appearing in The Young Doctors since Number 96 ended two years ago, he is still recognised as the former character.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”Complaints to TEN10, Sydney, for not televising the 1979 Custom Credit Indoor Championships at a respectable time.  We were very disappointed at not being able to view their outstanding matches, along with their respective interviews, and feel other viewers share our opinion that 10.30pm to 1.30am is not a suitable timeslot for people who work and have to rise early.”  K. Kand, NSW.

“When the commercial channels screen a film in the 7.30pm timeslot, why do they almost double the viewing time by screening innumerable commercials?  People who view at this time usually like, or need, to go to bed early, and if you are enjoying the film, it is annoying to have to switch off halfway through.” M. Walker, NSW.

“Why do we have to put up with Diana Fisher and her silly remarks on The Inventors? Vic Nicolson and Professor Stephenson both know what they’re talking about, but what does Diana Fisher know?  Her remarks about colours etc must nearly drive most people mad.” B. Heald, NSW.

What’s On (December 8-14):
Weekend sport includes the World Series Cricket, live from Melbourne, on GTV9, and tennis with the NSW Women’s Classic, from White City, Sydney, on HSV7.

HSV7’s movie host Ivan Hutchinson presents a 90-minute special previewing all the big-screen movies to be released over the Christmas break – titles including The Muppet Movie, Star Trek, Apocalypse Now, Rocky 2, Meteor, 10 and More American Graffiti.

Former Monday Conference host Robert Moore (pictured) presents the first in a seven-part series, Faces Of The Eighties, interviewing Sir Roderick Carnegie, chairman and managing director of Australia’s second largest company and largest mining company, CRA.

GTV9 has some long-gone Australian series in its late-night summer line-up – Luke’s Kingdom, King’s Men and the comedy Last Of The Australians.

In Skyways (HSV7, Monday and Thursday), Simon (Ken James) and Kelly (Joanne Samuel) set a date for their wedding.  Meanwhile, in Cop Shop (HSV7, Monday), the marriage of Senior Sergeant Eric O’Reilly (Terry Norris) and Lorna Close (Moya O’Sullivan).

Sunday night movies: A Howling In The Woods (HSV7), Night Flight From Moscow (GTV9), The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 8 December 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: December 1-7

Two Restless Years old
It is two years ago since newspaper ads appeared about a new series from the 0-10 Network, The Restless Years: “an action-packed story of what happens to today’s school leavers when they go out in the world to try and get jobs.”  TEN10 general manager Ian Kennon described it as “a show about life.”  Two years later, who would have thought that the road to employment was so fraught with danger?  Are real-life teenagers attempting suicide, getting pregnant, having miscarriages, ending up in prison and being raped, bashed, robbed and murdered with the same regularity as the kids in The Restless Years?  And it’s not just the young characters having a rough time – Miss McKenzie (June Salter) and Dr Bruce Russell (Malcolm Thompson) have had their fair share, too.  In fact, in two years the show has been so turbulent that only four of the original cast members – Salter, Thompson, Zoe Bertram and Nick Hedstrom – still remain.
No more blues for Ugly Dave
Bright times are ahead for Ugly Dave Gray (pictured).  He and his new wife, Val, are expecting their first baby next month, and in the new year he will be hosting a new game show, Celebrity Tattletales, for the Seven Network.  The new show, set to run in the 6.00pm timeslot, marks a return to TV for Gray a year after the demise of Blankety Blanks.  But for Gray, it was worth the wait:  “Some people will grab anything to get their head back on TV.  That’s fatal.  I’ve had two offers of my own show but neither was suitable.  Then the Grundy Organisation offered me Celebrity Tattletales.  I think this is it.  I hope people don’t compare it to Blankety Blanks – it’s a different show.  But I’m sure gimmicks and catchphrases will come out of the blue.”
Plumber’s pin-up has million dollar plans!
Cheryl Rixon (pictured) has come a long way since her first modelling job, posing for the cover of the WA Plumbers’ Annual, paid her a mere $40.  The former star of the sexy soap The Box now lives in Manhattan, models in London and New York, and is looking to buy a beach house in California.  The 25-year-old, who earned $250,000 for posing nude for Penthouse magazine, is well on the way to her first million: “I should reach it in 1980 as it’s going to be a big year for me.  I’ve spent three years in America getting myself established and setting things up, and next year should be the beginning.”  Rixon plans to use some of that million to set up her own production company to make TV variety specials, but in the meantime she has been starring in Stephen Spielberg’s comedy, Used Cars, and is set for a part in the new $30 million epic, Flash Gordon.
The milkman who came in from the cold During his school years in New Zealand, Alan Dale (pictured) had a yearning to get into showbusiness.  He had sung, acted, danced and played musical instruments and, at the age of 18, had tried to get a job as a radio announcer but was told he was too young.  The thought of going overseas to further his showbusiness prospects was daunting, and not affordable.  He instead went into the car industry, starting as a salesman and working up to manager.  A chance meeting with the local milkman later led to him ditching the car business and picking up a milk run:  “I thought, what a way to earn a living, trotting around keeping fit delivering milk for a few hours.”  When Dale heard about a vacancy at a local radio station, Radio Hauraki, he tried to get the job.  He was unsuccessful, but did eventually end up with the midnight-to-dawn shift and later the afternoon show.  The radio announcing job led to an offer to star as a radio manager in a new local TV series, Radio Waves, for TV2.  The series was cancelled after 72 episodes, but  “I didn’t really want to go back to radio so I decided to hell with it.  I’ll go to Australia.  I’d had a taste of acting by then.”  Dale is now well-known to Australians as Dr John Forrest in the popular Nine Network series, The Young Doctors.
Briefly… There will be no expense spared in the production of the 0-10 Network’s new soap Arcade.  Apart from three production teams, a cast of around 30, authentic props and studio scenery, an average of 180 extras will be employed each week.  The new series is set to debut in January.
Former Young Talent Time cast member Jane Scali will be joining the cast of ABC’s The Saturday Show when it returns to air in the new year.  As well as The Saturday Show, Scali is currently in rehearsals for the Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of Cinderella.
Jonathan Coleman of Simon Townsend’s Wonder World has attempted to break the record for the biggest interview of all time.  The interview, with the 120,000-strong crowd at the recent 2SM Rocktober concert in Sydney, has been submitted to Australian Guinness Bureau of Records.
Comedy writer Mike McColl-Jones, who has worked with the likes of Graham Kennedy, Don Lane and Peter Couchman, has compiled a book, My Funny Friends, featuring anecdotes and photographs from his twenty years of working in television.
Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”I am 16, and I feel that a lot more should be done to promote Australian child actors and singers.  Look at America, they have many fine talents like Brooke Shields, Leif Garrett and Tatum O’Neal.  Australia has also got some good talent but it is not put to use.  There should be more shows like Young Talent Time, where children and teenagers can display their talent.” J. P., VIC.
“There is one thing I must beg of NBN3 (Newcastle).  Please, oh please, don’t put Norman Gunston on again.  I really feel embarrassed looking at that zany grin, and all those bits of sticking plaster all over his face.  Please, do me a favour and send him to Hong Kong, or somewhere like that.” D. Dickey, NSW.
“In reply to F. Gregory (Viewpoint, 20 October 1979), Peter Lochran may be one of the best actors on TV, but certainly not the best actor (even though he is gorgeously handsome – is this what you’re going by to pick a good actor?).  The Young Doctors is one of the most popular serials on TV at the moment, for sure.  But why?  Maybe it’s because all those dinner invitations from handsome doctors to the nursing staff keep all the women wrapped up in the show.  I’ll tell you what, it’s certainly not the acting that keeps everyone involved.” J. Stanley, QLD.
“S. McLaughlan’s letter (Viewpoint, 27 October 1979) is a gross example of generalisation.  Molly Meldrum (pictured) does not “rave on” through the entire show.  In fact, on most shows, he only puts in an appearance for 10 minutes to do his Humdrum segment.” K. Manton, NSW.
What’s On (December 1-7):
HSV7’s tennis coverage continues throughout the week with the final days of the Toyota Women’s Classic on Saturday and Sunday, followed by the NSW Women’s Classic from Monday through to Friday.  Commentators include Peter Landy, Allan Stone and Garry Wilkinson.
GTV9 crosses to Brisbane for live coverage of the cricket First Test,  between Australia and the West Indies, on Saturday through to Wednesday.  Coverage starts at 11.50am, with breaks at 2.00pm and 4.40pm, and ending at 7.00pm.
60 Minutes (GTV9, Sunday) presents its final show for the year, and New Faces with Bert Newton moves to Monday nights.
ATV0’s Eyewitness News, now with Michael Schildberger and Peter Hanrahan, is cut to 30 minutes at 6.00pm from Monday, with a new 8.30pm news bulletin launched for the summer period.
ABC’s daytime schools programs finish up for the year on Friday, and the weekly magazine program Statewide At Six, with David Johnston, also presents its final edition. 
ATV0’s morning show Everyday, with Roy Hampson and Annette Allison, finishes up for the year on Friday, as does the 7.00pm magazine show Peter Couchman’s Melbourne.
Sunday night movies: The Deadly Tower (HSV7), Future Cop (GTV9), Midnight Man (ATV0).
Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 1 December 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: September 15-21

Cover: Mike Walsh

Top job for Robyn
Actress Robyn Nevin has scored a major role in the upcoming mini-series Water Under The Bridge.  Nevin will play the role of over-possessive foster mother Shasta in the mini-series based on Sumner Locke Elliott’s novel.  The role will also provide Nevin a more personal challenge – she scored the role of chain-smoking Shasta only days after quitting the habit in real life, “but I plan to stop again once the series has finished.”  The million-dollar production, funded by the Victoria Film Corporation, Australian Film Commission, South Pacific Television (New Zealand) and the 0-10 Network, will be produced in Melbourne even though the story is set in Sydney in the 1930s and 1940s. 

Jarratt tip for TV Kelly
Sydney actor John Jarratt (pictured) is the hot favourite to win the lead role of Ned Kelly in the new Seven Network mini-series now in production.  Ian Jones and Against The Wind producer Bronwyn Binns are now working on locations, scripts and other logistics for a start to production soon.  Jones, however, was reluctant to give away any clues as to who would play the lead role: “It would be dreadful to release a statement about such a thing and then have the actor miss out on the role.”

Graham Kennedy: The man and the myth
TV Times presents the first instalment on a series of articles about Graham Kennedy.  Born on 15 February 1934, the young Kennedy lived with his grandmother after his parents had separated.  As a Melbourne schoolboy, he worked at his uncle’s barber shop in Collins Street, in the same building as the newsroom for Radio Australia – he was then offered a job as copy boy for the broadcaster.  But his big radio break came at the age of 17, as the sidekick to Melbourne radio legend Cliff Nicholls “Nicky” Whitta on 3UZ: “Nicky became my mentor.  I was his straight man.  He taught me how to use radio, not just be in it.  He taught me how to send up a commercial and sell it at the same time.”  A guest appearance on a GTV9 telethon in 1957 brought him to the attention of TV producers, looking for a host for the channel’s new tonight show, In Melbourne Tonight.  IMT producer Norm Spencer said of Kennedy, “I think Kennedy is the greatest TV salesman ever.  If he advertised a product, it sold.  He got comedy out of the commercial spots and his unique rubbishing a product made fortunes for manufacturers.  Mind you we often got into trouble with the (then) Control Board because sometimes an ad spot might run for five minutes, but how do you judge where a commercial pitch stops and the comedy starts?”  Writer Hugh Stuckey, who was one of the writers for the early In Melbourne Tonight shows, writing as many as 16 comedy spots a week plus nightly topical gags, remembers Kennedy would sometimes insult his writers on camera, particularly if a gag fell flat:  “Sometimes I had to be physically restrained while watching this at home on TV from driving back to the studio and donging him one!  (But) off-camera he was always pleasant to us and never complained about his material.”  Philip Brady, the butt of many Kennedy jokes, has worked with Kennedy for years but seldom saw him lose his temper.  Though, the 1975 incident where Kennedy’s ‘crow call’ saw him banned from appearing on live TV led to some cutting remarks about the Minister for the Media.  Watching the delayed telecast from his dressing room, he exploded when he saw that his comments had been cut out.  He stormed out of the studio and, according to Brady, “I don’t think he ever came back.” While many took the attitude that the King had lost his crown, he was back on-air in 1977 as the host of a new game show, Blankety Blanks, an adaptation of an American format.  The Kennedy ad lib magic turned the show into one of the biggest hits of the year.  Next Week: Graham Kennedy – Myths, money, movies and women.

Briefly…
The Seven Network has turned down the McCabe-Paradine series Paradise Valley, though they still want to show the pilot as a telemovie.

The Sullivans will be taking production overseas next year, with plans to tape scenes in the Netherlands.  It will be the first time that location filming for the series is to be done outside of Australia – as storylines that featured Changi prison, the Middle East and Europe were all filmed in Australia.

Actor Paul Karo has returned to Australia after a lengthy stay overseas.  The former The Box star has been offered a role in a touring stage production, Flexitime, as well as a guest role in The Sullivans.

Tom Burlinson (pictured) has announced he is leaving The Restless Years, having played the role of Mickey Pratt for over a year:  “I want to work in other areas, such as films and stage.”

Despite his recent return to The Sullivans, Andrew McFarlane is not in any hurry to re-commit to an ongoing role in the series.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”I haven’t seen the movie Picnic At Hanging Rock, but I liked the book very much and was wondering when the movie will screen on TV.” D. Findlay, VIC. (TV Times responds: The Seven Network will screen it next year.)

“Congratulations on the new series of The Inventors, but the viewing public are still stuck with the ever-boring Diana Fisher.” R. Nelson, WA.

“I have watched every episode of The Sullivans, The Restless Years, Prisoner and The Young Doctors, and in my opinion the two outstanding actresses are Victoria Nicolls and Susan Hannaford.  Val Lehman, as Bea in Prisoner, is also excellent.  I know that June Salter won a best actress title last year, but she was always June Salter and not really Miss Mackenzie in The Restless Years.  I am over 80 and I always read every word in TV Times.” N. Montagu, NSW.

What’s On (September 15-21):
Ask The Leyland Brothers (GTV9, Saturday) travels to New Zealand to visit Queenstown and take a ride down the Shotover River.  The Leylands also visit South Australia’s Coorong Lagoon and discover some of the unique wildlife it supports.

In Prisoner (ATV0, Tuesday and Wednesday), Monica (Lesley Baker) is worried about her parole.  Bea Smith (Val Lehman) is released from solitary and is a changed woman.  Karen (Peita Toppano, pictured) gets involved in the prison reform group.

GTV9 reruns a one-hour telemovie, Do I Have To Kill My Child?, looking at child abuse, both physical and emotional, its causes and effects.  Starring Jackie Weaver, Brendon Lunney and Willie Fennell.

Jimmy Hannan hosts the 1979 Quest of Quests, a direct telecast from the Albert Hall, Canberra.  (GTV9, Wednesday)  A repeat of The Barry Humphries Show screens the same night on ATV0.

Sunday night movies: The Fourth Wish (HSV7), The Three Musketeers (GTV9), Hannie Calder (ATV0).  ABC screens A Family Man, starring Paul Mason, Jenny McNae, Moya O’Sullivan and Arkie Whiteley, the fourth instalment of the series of plays A Place In The World.  Other movies to appear during the week include: Last Tango In Paris (ATV0), Yours Mine And Ours (HSV7), The Great Escape (ATV0) and Rescue From Gilligan’s Island (GTV9).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 15 September 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: August 4-10

The Sullivans’ war secrets
Jovan, the Yugoslav name for John, is the name of the telemovie telling the story of the missing years of John Sullivan (Andrew McFarlane, pictured), the eldest son of The Sullivans.  McFarlane returned to reprise the role, describing it as “the most satisfying and stimulating role of my career.”  Jovan also features Frank Gallacher (Against The Wind), Olivia Hamnett (Rush), Carol Burns (Prisoner) and, in her first acting role, Vera Plevnik. The telemovie was written by Brian Wright, who wrote the Biggles and Hop Harrigan serials for radio and was a founding member of the management team of ATV0 in the mid-‘60s before becoming a scriptwriter for ABC and Crawford Productions.

96 team back in harness
The team behind the top-rating series Number 96 have re-united to make a new drama series for the 0-10 Network.  Producer Bill Harmon, script editor Johnny Whyte and writer-director David Sale are devising a new series, tentatively titled Arcade, to begin production later this year and to debut early in 1980.  Details of the new series are sketchy, though it is believed that it will be shown once or twice weekly.  Arcade will be produced at TEN10’s Sydney studios where The Steve Raymond Show was produced before it was axed last week.  Harmon said the new show will not be like Number 96:  “It’s not 96 set in a shopping centre.  At this stage, with only four scripts in hand, it’s too early to tell you what it will be like.  All we can say is what it will not be like.”  Casting for the new series is to commence in the next month.

Cop Shop shock: Paula’s ‘recaught’
Actress Paula Duncan (pictured) has decided not to drop out of the popular series Cop Shop.  Several weeks ago, Duncan informed producers that ill-health would force her to leave the show.  However, a successful operation, followed by a Queensland holiday, has given Duncan a clean bill of health. 

Nine plans new series for kids
The Nine Network has commissioned an action/drama pilot for a children’s TV series from the Reg Grundy Organisation.  The new series, proposed for the ‘C’-rated 4.00 to 5.00pm timeslot, will be produced by Roger Mirams, a veteran of many children’s productions including The Terrible Ten, The Magic Boomerang, Animal Doctor and The Lost Islands.

Busy time for Paradise people
Some of TV’s most familiar actors and actresses are taking part in what could be the first drama series to be based on the Gold Coast.  A pilot for a new series, Paradise Village, is being produced by McCabe-Paradine Productions and BTQ7 Brisbane, with financial assistance from the Queensland Film Corporation.  The pilot stars Gerard Kennedy (Division 4), Syd Heylen (Sunnyside Up), Lynette Curran (Bellbird), Joan Bruce (Certain Women), Dennis Grosvenor (Chopper Squad), Anne Haddy (Play School, Prisoner) and Bill Kerr.  Other names cast in the pilot include Suzy Gashler, Stephen O’Rourke, Paul Chubb, Olga Tamara and Christine Broadway.

How Bunney stays together going to bits
Barely three years ago, Bunney Brooke (pictured) was on TV screens several nights a week as the much-loved Flo Patterson in Number 96.  Since the show wound up late in 1977, Brooke has been keeping a much lower profile on screen, playing smaller bit parts in dramas including The Young Doctors, Kirby’s Company, children’s series Wayzgoose and telemovie Good Thing Going.  Her latest role is as Granny Jones in ABC’s Ride On Stranger.  “I love doing these character parts.  They’re a challenge and they pay the rent,” she says.  Brooke has also just finished the outline for a TV comedy series which, after a brief rundown, suggests that there could be parts for herself and former Number 96 colleague Pat McDonald.

Briefly…
Peter Couchman is suddenly going to be seen a lot more on Melbourne’s TV screens.  From this week, ATV0’s late-night program Peter Couchman Tonight extends to early evenings with Peter Couchman’s Melbourne.  The new program comes after some other ill-fated attempts to fill the 7.00pm timeslot since the demise of Blankety Blanks.

Denise Drysdale is about to wed actor Chris Milne, and for the former ‘60s go-go dancer and Ernie Sigley Show co-host, her new married life will be a lot quieter with the pair settling in a country property outside of Melbourne.  “From now on I will be working a lot less.  I don’t want to earn a fortune – just enough to pay the bills.”

TV Times’ Eric Scott recently spent a day on location at the mock version of Singapore’s Changi prison, constructed in Melbourne by Crawford Productions for an upcoming storyline in The Sullivans.  Freezing in the middle of a Melbourne winter, wearing nothing but a wet sarong and having brown make-up dabbed on with a cold, wet sponge, Scott wonders why anyone would want to be an actor.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”Surely the skipper of the warship in the series Patrol Boat should be wearing a naval cap, and not that awful American baseball cap?”  M. Tringham, NSW.

“As I once wrote a letter to you complaining about Cop Shop not being what it should be, I thought it only fair to express my new reaction to this series.  I am happy to say that it has improved beyond all I ever expected of it, and has now become one of our favourite programs.” D. Dickey, NSW.

“Congratulations to the complete staff and printers on a fine example of an Australia publication – TV Times on its 21st birthday (TV Times, 7 July 1979).  May the same standards apply to all future issues.  I find the features included most absorbing and palatable and the simplicity of program layout most rewarding.” N. Gray, NSW.

What’s On (August 4-10):
Just The Way We Are, featuring The Four Kinsmen, is this week’s Saturday Special on ABC.

On Sunday afternoon ABC presents live coverage of Round 6 of the Australian Sports Sedans Championship, from Calder Raceway.  Geelong and Collingwood are this week’s teams in the Sunday afternoon Commodore Cup on HSV7, live from St Kilda Football Ground, and ATV0 presents live coverage of VFA Football.

On Monday, ATV0 debuts Peter Couchman’s Melbourne, an extension of the late-night Peter Couchman Tonight.  The new 7.00pm program includes special reports and contributions from Derryn Hinch, Marie van Maaren, Tony Porter and Bob Maumill.

In Skyways (HSV7, Monday and Thursday), MacFarlane (Tony Bonner) leaves his assistant, Louise (Tina Bursill) in charge of the airport while he attends to a domestic problem.  Her dismissal of a drunken baggage handler sparks off a strike.

Sunday night movies: Westworld (HSV7), Jovan – The John Sullivan Story (GTV9), Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (ATV0).  ABC presents a two-hour BBC special, Einstein’s Universe, presented by Peter Ustinov.  The documentary coincides with the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s birth.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 4 August 1979.  ABC/ACP