1992: March 22-28

Cover: Josephine Byrnes, John Stamos, Georgie Parker

Now cop this!
The 34th annual TV Week Logie Awards, held at Melbourne’s Radisson President Hotel, gave the audience and viewers some surprises.  After the show’s opening production number – a parody of Michael Jackson’s Black Or White, recalling the old days of black and white television, featuring Cathy Godbold (Home And Away), Nick Giannopoulos (Acropolis Now) and Bruno Lucia (All Together Now) – introduced to the Logies stage were three TV veterans who hadn’t appeared on screen together for years.  George Mallaby, Alwyn Kurts and Leonard Teale, all from the halcyon days of the pioneer Australian drama Homicide, got the most rousing welcome of all those that appeared that evening.  But the on-stage reunion of the Homicide trio wasn’t to be the last big surprise of the night – as for the first time in Logies history the winner of the Gold Logie, Jana Wendt, was not present to accept her award.

Jana – What really happened…
It was the biggest disappointment of Logies night that Jana Wendt, the winner of the Gold Logie for Australia’s most popular television personality was not present to accept the award personally.  TV Week had about a week’s prior knowledge that Wendt was unlikely to attend – being told that her commitments to A Current Affair plus the fact that daylight saving was still in place in some states that throws production schedules into havoc and meant that Wendt had to stay at Nine’s Sydney studios into the evening in case a major news story broke.  Nine had offered to work around these logistics if they could be assured that Wendt had won the Gold Logie.  TV Week, in the interests of maintaining the security of the Logies results, decided that such information could not be released to the network in advance, even in the strictest confidence.  Wendt’s Gold Logie was accepted on stage by her boss Peter Meakin (pictured).  “I’m sorry she’s not here.  She’s sorry she’s not here,” he told the audience.  “Jana, as she always does, put the program first.  I know she regrets not being here.  It’s a shame.” 

TV Week Logie Winners 1992: Public Voting Categories:
Gold Logie – Most Popular Personality On Australian TV: Jana Wendt

Silver Logie – Most Popular Actor On Australian TV: Bruce Samazan (E Street)
Silver Logie – Most Popular Actress On Australian TV: Georgie Parker (A Country Practice)

Most Popular Series: E Street (Ten)
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Program:  Fast Forward (Seven)
Most Popular Lifestyle Information Program: Burke’s Backyard (Nine)
Most Popular Telemovie Or Mini-Series: Brides Of Christ (ABC)
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Male Performer: Steve Vizard (Tonight Live With Steve Vizard/Fast Forward)
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Female Performer: Magda Szubanski (Fast Forward)
Most Popular Sports Coverage: Cricket (Nine)
Most Popular Actor In A Telemovie Or Mini-Series: Cameron Daddo (Golden Fiddles)
Most Popular Actress In A Telemovie Or Mini-Series: Josephine Byrnes (pictured) (Brides Of Christ)
Most Popular Public Affairs Program: A Current Affair (Nine)
Most Popular Music Video:  When Something Is Wrong With My Baby (Jimmy Barnes/John Farnham)
Most Popular Children’s Program: Agro’s Cartoon Connection (Seven)
Most Popular New Talent: Kym Wilson (Brides Of Christ)

TV Week Logie Winners 1992: Industry Voting Categories:
Gold Logie – TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall Of Fame: Four Corners (ABC)

Silver Logie – Most Outstanding Actor On Australian TV: John McTernan (pictured) (GP)
Silver Logie – Most Outstanding Actress On Australian TV: Josephine Byrnes (Brides Of Christ)

Most Outstanding Telemovie Or Mini-Series: Brides Of Christ (ABC)
Most Outstanding Series: GP (ABC)
Most Outstanding Achievement In Public Affairs: “Soviet Union” (Lateline, ABC)
Most Outstanding Achievement In News: “Coode Island Fires” (Nine)
Most Outstanding Single Documentary Or Series: The Time Of Your Life (ABC)
Most Outstanding Achievement By Regional Television: The Very Fast Train (WIN)

TV Week Logie Winners 1992: State Awards (Most Popular Personality, Most Popular Program):
New South Wales: Ray Martin (TCN9), Home And Away (ATN7)
Victoria: Daryl Somers (GTV9), Neighbours (ATV10)
Queensland: Robert Brough (BTQ7), Family Feud (BTQ7)
South Australia: Anne Wills (SAS7), Wheel Of Fortune (SAS7)
Western Australia: Rick Ardon (TVW7), Seven Nightly News (TVW7)
Tasmania: Ron Christie (TVT6), Tasmania Today (TVT6)

Briefly (at the Logies):
As well as Jana Wendt, there was another non-appearance on Logies night – Diana Ross.  Despite a planned live cross from Queensland, Ross refused to appear because, Seven say, she didn’t want to appear live after her concert, saying her looks wouldn’t be up to scratch.  When the network offered to pre-record her segment, she still declined.

At the post-Logies party Bob Campbell, managing director of the Seven Network, approached Derryn Hinch (recently axed by Seven) for a chat.  “That’s the first time we’ve spoken since he sacked me,” a surprised Hinch commented.  “I bear no grudge.”

Wheel Of Fortune host John Burgess had to attend the pre-awards cocktail party in a floral shirt because his luggage had ended up in Queensland – while Lateline host Kerry O’Brien found his seat on the plane to Melbourne had been taken, so he had to fly with the crew in the cockpit.

There was lots of buzz around the room about the new-look The Flying Doctors, soon to commence production, and the news that former Neighbours star Elaine Smith had just joined the cast list.

Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here
”No doubt you are aware the ABC’s current affairs flagship Four Corners has joined an elite band in the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall Of Fame.  And you could not help but be more than aware that Four Corners also has been the oven in which a political potato was heated up – at microwave speed, on high.  Personally, I don’t feel any discomfort about it all, other than I think the timing could have been better.  If the Four Corners program Winners And Losers had been screened on 22 March instead of 2 March, then I wouldn’t be writing this.  As it’s happened, certain people who don’t need an excuse to become hysterical about some aspect of each year’s Logies now could see the award to Four Corners as an endorsement of the program’s – or the ABC’s – stance against the goods and services tax (GST) component of Opposition Leader Dr John Hewson’s Fightback package.  Rather than recognising a specific achievement, the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall Of Fame is an award for sustained excellence over many years – coming up 31 years in the case of Four Corners.  And what a consistently excellent program it has been.  Since its debut in 1961 it has won eight Logies, nine Walkley Awards for journalistic excellence, two United Nations Peace Prizes and two gold medals at the New York Film and Television Festival.  Four Corners thoroughly deserves this accolade.  Congratulations to those who have maintained its high standards over the years.  Four Corners also deserves this: the Winners And Losers program was a blot on its copybook.  On the morning of the program’s air date I’m sure I heard reporter Frank McGuire say in a radio interview that it would prompt howls from both sides of politics.  Since then I have heard only one side baying, and surely that says it all about balance.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, March 22-28):
Sunday:  Afternoon sport includes the Gold Coast Indy Classic (Nine), Benson And Hedges World Cup – Second Semi-Final (Nine), AFL – Adelaide versus Footscray (Seven) and Five Nations Rugby – Wales versus Scotland (Ten).  While on ABC’s arts program Sunday Afternoon With Peter Ross, performer Reg Livermore is this week’s special guest.  There is only one Sunday night movie this week – The War Of The Roses (Ten) – while Seven presents the Royal Variety Performance and Nine has the night session of the second semi-final of the Benson And Hedges World Cup cricket live from Sydney.

Monday:  In the series final of Mother And Son (ABC), Arthur (Garry McDonald) introduces his new girlfriend to the family.  In A Country Practice (Seven), Hugo (Gavin Harrison, pictured) becomes involved with Down’s syndrome swimmer Ruth Klein (Ruth Cromer) and her protective parents Rob and Diane (Peter Browne and Michele Fawdon).

Tuesday:  In GP (ABC), after Robert’s (John McTernan) funeral William (Michael Craig) says he will work in general practice full-time.  In A Country Practice, Hugo encourages Ruth to try for the Special Olympics.  In Chances (Nine), Angela (Patsy Stephen) is fascinated with Cal (Gerry Sont), while Barbara (Brenda Addie) shocks Dan (John Sheerin) with an announcement.

Wednesday:  Nine has afternoon coverage of the final of the Benson And Hedges World Cup cricket, live from Melbourne, although Melbourne viewers are barred from live coverage of the evening session’s play, instead receiving only a one-hour highlights package at midnight.

Thursday:  The ABC series on health and well-being, Everybody, returns for a second season – hosted by former Midday reporter Lisa Forrest.  In Acropolis Now (Seven), will Memo (George Kapiniaris) make a fortune on a game show?

Friday:  From midnight, Seven crosses to Lund, Sweden, for overnight live coverage of the Davis Cup tennis match, Sweden versus Australia.

Saturday:  With no live local sport during the day there is lots of C-rated (children’s programming) during the day across the three commercial networks – mostly repeats – including Round The Twist (Seven), Pugwall (Nine), Goodsports (Nine), Bush Beat (Nine), KTV (Nine), Look Who’s Talking (Nine) and The Henderson Kids (Ten).  Seven crosses again to Sweden for Davis Cup tennis late in the evening, while Ten has delayed coverage of the NBL Preliminary match between Sydney Kings and the Brisbane Bullets.

Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  21 March 1992.  Southdown Press.

1992: March 8-14

What an awesome foursome!
”I can’t believe I’m here,” says A Country Practice star Georgie Parker as she arrives for the TV Week photo shoot.  “I don’t even have my own show!”  TV Week has assembled Parker and her three Gold Logie co-nominees – Ray Martin, Jana Wendt and Steve Vizard – for a special front cover in the lead up to this week’s presentation of the 34th annual TV Week Logie Awards from the Radisson President Hotel, Melbourne.  The awards will be telecast on the Seven Network on Friday, 13 March.

TV Week Logie Awards nominations (Publicly voted categories):
Gold Logie: Ray Martin, Georgie Parker, Steve Vizard, Jana Wendt.  (1991 winner: Steve Vizard, pictured)

Most Popular Actor: Marcus Graham, Shane Porteous, Bruce Samazan, Gary Sweet. (1991 winner: Craig McLachlan)

Most Popular Actress: Rebekah Elmaloglou, Rebecca Gibney, Georgie Parker, Kate Raison. (1991 winner: Georgie Parker)

Most Popular Series: A Country Practice, E Street, Home And Away, The Flying Doctors. (1991 winner: Home And Away)

Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Program: All Together Now (pictured), Fast Forward, Hey Dad! (1991 winner: Fast Forward)

Most Popular Public Affairs Program: A Current Affair, Hinch, 60 Minutes. (1991 winner: A Current Affair)

Most Popular Telemovie/Mini-Series: Brides Of Christ, Golden Fiddles, Which Way Home. (1991 winner: Jackaroo)

Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Personality (Male): Jon English, Daryl Somers, Steve Vizard (1991 winner: Steve Vizard)

Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Personality (Female): Rebecca Gibney, Julie McGregor, Magda Szubanski. (1991 winner: Magda Szubanski)

Most Popular Sports Coverage: AFL Grand Final, Cricket, Tennis. (1991 winner: Cricket)

Most Popular Children’s Program: Agro’s Cartoon Connection, Play School, The Bugs Bunny Show (1991 winner: Agro’s Cartoon Connection)

Most Popular Lifestyle/Information Program: Beyond 2000, Burke’s Backyard, What’s Cooking (1991 winner: Burke’s Backyard)

Most Popular New Talent: Matthew Krok (pictured), Jeremy Sims, Melissa Tkautz, Kym Wilson

Other public-voted awards: Most Popular Music Video, Most Popular Actor and Actress in a Telemovie or Mini-Series, Most Popular Program (for each state) and Most Popular Personality (for each state).

TV Week Logie Award categories (Industry voted):
Gold Logie – TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame, Most Outstanding Actor, Most Outstanding Actress, Most Outstanding Telemovie/Mini-Series, Most Outstanding Series, Most Outstanding Achievement in Public Affairs, Most Outstanding Achievement in News, Most Outstanding Single Documentary or Series, Most Outstanding Achievement by Regional Television.

Ramsay Street rush hour
In another attempt to bring the long-running Neighbours back to its former ratings glory, producers are ramping up the show’s storylines as well as writing out four cast members while signing up three new faces.  Lorraine Bayly, Jeremy Angerson, Andrew Williams and Gillian Blakeney are all leaving the show in coming weeks – while Ben Mitchell (pictured) and Felice Arena are joining the series, and former guest star Natalie Imbruglia is returning for an ongoing role.  Producer Don Battye is confident of re-signing Melissa Bell when her contract expires mid-year, despite moves to have her swap over to Ten’s other evening soap, E Street.  Veteran actor Tom Oliver has been re-signed with Neighbours, with plans to romantically match up his character Lou Carpenter to recently-widowed Madge Bishop (Anne Charleston).  Producers are also casting for two teenagers to enter the series as Carpenter’s children.  Another romantic storyline being devised by writers is set to involve Lucy Robinson (Melissa Bell) and Brad Willis (Scott Michaelson). 

Mike cops a new show
Mike Willesee is set to return to prime-time television on a regular basis, following his recent stint as fill-in host on A Current Affair.  The television veteran is about to sign a multi-million dollar with the Nine Network to produce a hard-hitting real-life police action series, described loosely as an Australian version of the American series Cops.  The new show is expected to be hosted by Willesee’s son, Michael Willesee Jnr, who is currently working in Los Angeles for Network Ten’s Hard Copy. 

Paradise is…
… warm tropical nights, a turquoise lagoon and beautiful half-naked girls wandering barefoot on white sands.  This exotic setting, on the island of Rarotonga, is the backdrop for the $2 million mini-series adaptation of Noel Barber’s epic novel The Other Side Of Paradise, being produced in a joint venture between Grundy Television, Central Films (UK) and South Pacific Films (NZ).  The series stars Jason Connery (son of Sean Connery) and newcomer Vivien Tan (pictured) and screens this week on Network Ten.

Briefly…
Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum has scored the only TV interview with Jason Donovan, who made a brief visit home only a few weeks ago.  However, Meldrum’s exclusive interview was made for Nine’s Melbourne Extra program, instead of his regular program, Hey Hey It’s Saturday.  Hey Hey host and producer Daryl Somers is said to have been less than impressed.

The Nine Network has spared no expense in trying to convince TV legend Graham Kennedy (pictured) to host a special to coincide with his upcoming 60th birthday.  Kennedy, last seen on TV on Nine’s recent 35 Years Of Television special, was flown by helicopter from his country property in southern NSW to Nine’s Sydney headquarters for a lavish lunch to celebrate his 58th birthday and Nine presented him with a rare book on horse breeding. 

The Seven Network has given the go-ahead for sitcom Bligh, from the producers of Fast Forward, but have passed on the producers’ other proposal, a comedy series set in a radio station.  Meanwhile, Fast Forward producers Steve Vizard and Andrew Knight are negotiating to stage a live version of Fast Forward, following the success of the stage adaptation of British series ‘Allo ‘Allo.

Hey Hey It’s Saturday duo John Blackman and Wilbur Wilde have been staging their own radio comeback since being dumped by Melbourne station 3UZ.  The pair have been taking their radio act to regional and remote parts of the country as short-term fill-ins on local radio stations.  So far they’ve been heard on local stations in Townsville and Launceston and places in between, and are already booked for future engagements in regional Victoria, NSW and Tasmania in coming months.  Although some of the shows are based at the radio stations’ local studios, most of their radio appearances have been via landline from studios in Melbourne.

Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here
”Four of Australian television’s top names, from two networks and two cities… even five years ago, just the thought of trying to get them all to sit still in the one place at the one time would have been enough to make me shudder.  You only have to glance at this week’s cover for further proof – Ray Martin, Georgie Parker, Steve Vizard and Jana Wendt all in one photograph.  Read nothing into the order in which I’ve mentioned them, other than it is alphabetical.  They agreed to get together to promote the biggest night on the television industry’s calendar, the TV Week Logie Awards.  As far as I’m aware, it is the first time such a shoot – the four Gold Logie nominees together – has been set up.  It all happened in the space of an hour (on a Friday afternoon).  It had to.  Ray – not long after finishing another week of Midday for Nine – was committed to go to Canberra to attend a meeting of the Aboriginal Reconciliation Council, of which he is a member.  Georgie was due back on the set of A Country Practice… she was scheduled to shoot her final scenes as one of that series’ all-time favourite characters, Lucy Tyler.  And Jana was required back in the A Current Affair office to prepare to anchor that evening’s show.  Now, of course, the big question is which one of the four will be on the cover of TV Week’s 1992 Logie Awards souvenir issue.  The answer to that is under wraps until about 11.00pm on Friday, 13 March.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, March 8-14):
Sunday:  Seven presents live coverage of the Moomba Masters water skiing from Melbourne’s Yarra River, while Nine has World Cup cricket from Brisbane, and Ten has the Rugby Union Five Nations from Murrayfield, Scotland.  Sunday night movies are When Harry Met Sally (Seven) and The Dead Pool (Nine) up against the first instalment of two-part mini-series The Other Side Of Paradise (Ten).

Monday:  The 7.00pm battle between Home And Away and Neighbours, started back in January, comes to an end with Neighbours making the sudden move to the 6.30pm timeslot.  The shift sees Ten’s current affairs program Hinch take over at 7.00pm – the timeslot he previously held over at Seven – and US game show Studs move to 6.00pm.  Seven presents a two-hour concert special, Jimmy Barnes – Soul Deep, from the Palais Theatre, Melbourne, and featuring special guests John Farnham, Johnny Diesel and Ross Wilson.  The concert is simulcast with radio station Triple M.  Ten presents the conclusion to The Other Side Of Paradise.

Tuesday:  Former The Sullivans and Return To Eden star Megan Williams guest stars in All Together Now (Nine), playing the part of Julie, a beautiful electrician who captures the heart of Dougie (Garry Who).  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Andrew Carroll reports on the kissing bug – a disease affecting millions of people in Latin America, while Bryan Smith discovers a revolutionary design for artificial hips and Tracey Curro reports from the Tokyo Motor Show.  In Chances (Nine), Alex (Jeremy Sims) is shocked to finally learn the truth about his lost year.

Wednesday:  ABC presents a 90-minute special, La Stupenda, a unique portrayal of Dame Joan Sutherland combining interviews, archival footage and performances.  Dame Joan and her husband Richard Bonynge talk about their life in opera, while close friends and colleagues reminisce about Sutherland’s remarkable career spanning 42 years.

Thursday:  In Acropolis Now (Seven), when Memo (George Kapiniaris) is drafted into the Greek Army, Jim (Nick Giannopoulos) turns the cafe into Camp Acropolis.  ABC presents the final of the four-part documentary series When The War Came To Australia.

Friday:   The Seven Network presents the 34th annual TV Week Logie Awards, live from the Radisson President Hotel, Melbourne.  Special international guests include John Stamos, Dennis Waterman and Diana Ross joining local stars including Steve Vizard, Jana Wendt, Ray Martin, Daryl Somers, Jo Bailey, Mary Coustas, Nicolle Dickson, Nick Giannopoulos, Rebecca Gibney, Elizabeth Hayes, Sophie Lee, Gina Riley, Bruce Samazan, Jennifer Keyte, Magda Szubanski and Kym Wilson.  The night culminates with the announcement of the winner of the TV Week Gold Logie for the Most Popular Personality on Australian Television.  The awards presentation is followed by a special post-Logies edition of Tonight Live, hosted by Richard Stubbs.

Saturday:  ABC debuts current affairs program Foreign Correspondent, hosted by George Negus, taking a look at the news behind some of the week’s major world events, including reports from correspondents around the world.  Seven presents live coverage of the AFL Foster’s Cup Grand Final, hosted by Bruce McAvaney, while Ten has delayed coverage of the National Basketball League’s K-Mart Australian Classic.

Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  7 March 1992.  Southdown Press.

1992: February 15-22

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1992: January 25-31

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1992: January 18-24

Cover: Kevin Costner

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Obituary: Harold Hopkins

Australian acting veteran Harold Hopkins has died in a Sydney hospital from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma.

The 67-year-old actor was diagnosed several months ago and is believed to have contracted the cancer from his first job after finishing high school, where he worked with asbestos sheeting as an apprentice carpenter in Queensland in the early 1960s.

Hopkins’ acting career began in the late 1960s on the Seven Network’s daytime drama Motel (a series that also starred a young Jack Thompson). 

Early TV roles also included Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, Riptide, Delta and Barrier Reef.  He had an ongoing role in the comedy-drama The Godfathers and its spin-off series The People Next Door.

Other TV credits included Certain Women, Silent Number, Matlock Police, Homicide, Division 4, Rush, The Lost Islands and the lead male role in the 1979 series Twenty Good Years (pictured with co-star Anne Pendlebury).

He went on to appear in mini-series including Sara Dane, The Dirtwater Dynasty, True Believers, The Last Bastion, Winners, Shadows Of The Heart and Brides Of Christ.

More recent appearances have included Grass Roots, State Coroner, Blue Heelers, White Collar Blue, The Secret Life Of Us, Wildside, The Strip, All Saints and Underbelly: A Tale Of Two Cities.

Film credits have included Don’s Party, The Club, The Picture Show Man, Buddies, Monkey Grip and The Year My Voice Broke.

Harold Hopkins is survived by his twin brother, John, and five other siblings, Naomi, Michael, Gregory, Margaret and Suzanne.

Source: News.com.au, IMDB, The Age, ABC, TV Eye

1991: November 9-15

Great expectations!
Seven Network publicists couldn’t believe their luck when it was discovered that key characters in both Home And Away and A Country Practice will discover they are pregnant in the same week.  In Home And Away, teenager Sophie (Rebekah Elmaloglou) faces the prospect of being a single mum, with the baby’s father David (Guy Pearce) recently killed in a car accident.  The outlook is a bit more optimistic in A Country Practice with Lucy (Georgie Parker) and husband Matt (John Tarrant) overjoyed at the news that they are going to become parents.

New series spin-off for Wheels!
The producers of E Street are developing a spin-off series to star Marcus Graham, who recently reprised his role of Wheels in the Network Ten series.  The new series, described as a police action-drama, is set to star Graham as a streetwise undercover cop.  A pilot for the concept is to be produced after Graham has finished his commitment to E Street at the end of this year.  The Nine Network is said to be interested in the project.

‘Goodbye, boys and girls…’
A Country Practice stalwarts Syd Heylen and Gordon Piper will soon make their final farewells from the long-running series after ten years, and both are at a loss to understand why two of the show’s most popular characters are being written out – although Heylen suspects the show’s new focus towards younger viewers has led to this outcome despite the pair being loved by younger and older viewers alike.  But despite the disappointment of being written out of the series, they say they would not have missed ten years with ACP for anything.  Piper says he is forever grateful to producer James Davern and Lyn Bayonas for offering him the Bob Hatfield role.  “Bob gave me the chance to play so many things – the town boofhead, the scallywag, the grandfather, a community spirit, everything,” he told TV Week.  Heylen fondly remembers the time that “real beer” was put behind the bar on the set.  “Fair dinkum beer,” he recalls. “Before that I had to serve lolly water or juggle beer out of cans – as well as remember my lines.”  The pair will tape their final scenes for A Country Practice in December but will continue to be seen on air until March.

Briefly…
Former Perfect Match hostess Tiffany Lamb has returned from the US after 10 months and has taken on two very different roles.  The first will be as a prostitute in Nine’s adult drama Chances, and the second will be as a schoolteacher, Mrs Fish, in the upcoming children’s production Lift Off.

Showbiz legend Toni Lamond is tackling a new venture – her first novel.  After the success of her emotional and revealing autobiography The First Half, her new project is a fictional tale of life in the showbiz industry.  “It’s racy and risque,” she said.  “I’m surprising myself.  Writing has kept me sane in those out-of-work periods – the bane of an actor’s life.”

Actress Melissa Thomas, who played the studious Brigid in Brides Of Christ, is returning to television again as a student but in a very different role.  In Network Ten’s new comedy Late For School, Thomas will play the role of Lily Price, a student coping with the embarrassment of being in the same class as her mother, played by Sarah Chadwick.  The new series will also star Ross Higgins and Matthew Newton.

Garry Shelley’s Sound Off
”On Tuesday night, the ABC’s first-rate drama series GP signs off for another year but the good news is, it will be back again in February.  However, the bad news is we’ll be losing lovely Judy McIntosh, who for the past 18 months has won a lot of hearts through her role as Dr Nicola Tanner.  I’m sorry she’s leaving, but I understand her replacement, Dr Tessa Korkidas (Marilynne Paspaley), will win us over before we can say myocardial infarction.  GP is good, honest television, extremely well-written with an even blend of the serious and humourous.  It tells us how it really is, and is not afraid to pack a punch.  This is not namby-pamby stuff – it’s explicit, it shocks and it doesn’t snigger behind its hand.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, November 9-15):
Saturday:  Network Ten covers Honda Stakes Day, the last day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, hosted by Tim Webster with racecaller Dan Mielicki.  ABC begins a repeat screening of the 1970s drama series Seven Little Australians, starring Leonard Teale and Elizabeth Alexander.  Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine) presents the first of its two special shows from the Warner Bros studios in Hollywood, with guest appearances by Chevy Chase, Toni Childs and Murphy Brown star Joe Regalbuto.

Sunday:  Nine’s Sunday current affairs program celebrates its tenth anniversary with a special edition.  ABC debuts mini-series The River Kings, a four-part series set in the early 1920s about a boy growing into manhood under difficult circumstances, starring Tamblyn Lord (pictured, near right, with David Bradshaw) and featuring veterans Willie Fennell, Bill Kerr and Edward Hepple.  Sunday night movies are Stella (Seven), Look Who’s Talking (Nine) and Family Business (Ten).

Monday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Shirley (Lorrae Desmond) becomes suspicious when husband Frank (Brian Wenzel) receives a love letter from Italy.  Sale Of The Century (Nine) begins its Champion Of Champions series, featuring former winning contestants.

Tuesday:  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Simon Reeve visits Japanese electronics giant Matsushita who have devised a system where the customer determines the dimensions and particulars of the bike they want, and Dr John D’Arcy reports on an instant pap smear that could revolutionise cancer detection.  In All Together Now (Nine), Wayne (Bruno Lucia) is on the run from an Italian gangster – the episode guest stars Vince D’Amico.  In Chances (Nine), Alex (Jeremy Sims) meets a nun who may be able to help him piece together his past.

Wednesday:  In E Street (Ten), the neighbourhood comes together for the funeral of a favourite son.

Thursday:  The Flying Doctors (Nine) features guest star Jan Friedl.

Friday:  Celebrity gardener Jim McLelland is the guest on this week’s Burke’s Backyard (Nine).  In Neighbours (Ten), Guy (Andrew Williams) and Brad (Scott Michaelson) have a violent confrontation.  Star Search (Ten) presents its series grand final edition.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  9 November 1991.  Southdown Press

1991: September 28-October 4

Hey, look who’s in love!
While Chris Mayer and Rachael Beck (pictured) are constantly bickering as their Hey Dad! alter egos Simon and Sam, off-screen the two have been secretly dating.  “Yes, I am in love,” Mayer told TV Week.  “It feels great.  I’m really enjoying it.”  During an upcoming production break for the series, he intends to head to Italy, staying in the town of Perugia and studying Italian – and it looks like Beck will be joining him.

It’s goodbye Bob and Cookie!
As the Seven Network’s A Country Practice approaches its tenth anniversary, some drastic cast changes are set to shock fans of the popular drama.  Actors Gordon Piper and Syd Heylen, who play characters Bob Hatfield and Cookie, are not having their contracts renewed at the end of the year, both having worked on the show for much of its ten year run.  Producer James Davern has said that the actors have other commitments – Piper is producing corporate videos and Heylen also runs a marketing company and is keen to spend time in Queensland with his wife who isn’t well – and that the characters will not be written out in any “Wandin Valley massacre” storyline and will be able to return at a later stage.  However, TV Week reports that neither actor had any option to stay on the show.  Also leaving the series is Matt Day, who will tape his final scenes in December, and Georgie Parker and John Tarrant, who will finish up early in the new year.  All three have decided it is time to move on.  To fill the void left by losing five characters some new additions will be signed on.  Former Brides Of Christ star Kym Wilson has joined the series and will make her on screen debut in November, and three other new characters will be written in over the coming months but have yet to be cast. 

Stig cops right out!
Col’n Carpenter star Stig Wemyss has left the Network Ten series after a falling out with the show’s producers.  Wemyss, who has played the role of Colin’s flatmate Michael Preeble since the show started 18 months ago, has told TV Week that he is “extremely disappointed” that an agreement with producers could not be reached.  “I wanted the storylines to explore a bit more of Michael.  I didn’t think that was too much to ask because the character had been there so long.  I’m not saying I wanted it to be the Michael Preeble show or to be any less about Colin (Kim Gyngell), but if you don’t expand a character, he just becomes nothing.  For me, the strength of the show was having an ensemble cast.  It was obvious Michael wasn’t going to be playing a major part in the way the show was going, so I didn’t want to continue.”

Briefly…
Just months after the bomb-blast storyline that killed off three characters, the neighbourhood of Network Ten’s E Street is about to be stalked by a psychopathic serial killer.  Architect Steven Richardson, played by Vince Martin, is set to reveal a darker side as he takes on the identity of ‘Mr Bad’ (pictured) whose first victim is Dr Virginia Travers (Julieanne Newbould).  Producer Forrest Redlich has defended the frightening storyline (“Where A Country Practice and GP do things on alcoholism, venereal diseases and such social subjects, we chose the serial killer.  Unfortunately they do exist.”) and a spokesperson for Ten has said that the network is mindful of the show’s 7.30pm timeslot and all episodes in question have to be approved at multiple levels within the network before being submitted for final approval by the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal.

Ernie Sigley, co-host of the Nine Network’s In Melbourne Today and In Sydney Today programs, talks to TV Week about his upcoming 40th anniversary in showbusiness.  Starting in radio as a teenager, at Melbourne station 3DB, Sigley made the move to television as a performer on HSV7’s Teenage Mailbox (pictured) and went on to a successful television career including several years as host of Adelaide Tonight and later The Ernie Sigley Show, The Penthouse Club (later Saturday Night Live), Pot Luck and Wheel Of Fortune.  The one-time Gold Logie winner also mentions the reported altercation with Don Lane at the after party for the 1988 TV Week Logie Awards.  “I didn’t say anything to him to upset him.  The relationship had been strained for a few years,” he said.

When boxing champion Lionel Rose was told of plans to make a mini-series about his life, he wasn’t enthusiastic.  He told producers nobody would want to see his life story.  “I told them I was unreliable and they couldn’t depend on me to help them out,” Rose told TV Week.  “But they kept at me until I agreed.  I told them I wanted the whole story to be told… warts and all.”  However, TV Week production editor Frank Quill, who also happens to be a member of the World Boxing Council’s executive and considered Australia’s most senior professional boxing official, says that despite Rose’s request that his portrayal be “warts and all”, viewers may be short-changed by viewing the final product.  “Certainly, some viewers, human enough to think everything in Odds actually happened, will be misled,” he wrote.  Rose Against The Odds, which stars newcomer Paul Williams as Rose and former The Flying Doctors star Vikki Blanche as his wife Jenny, screens this week on the Seven Network.  The two-part mini-series also stars Kris McQuade, Tony Barry and Hollywood actor Telly Savalas.

Former A Country Practice star Sophie Heathcote has won a role in Yahoo Serious’ upcoming movie project, a contemporary comedy about Ned Kelly.  “The character I play is really young and silly and very funny,” she told TV Week.  “She is in love with Ned and I am going to have a ball playing her.”

John Laws says…
”There can often be something ghoulish about screening the “final” TV interviews of prominent people, those unfortunate enough to die suddenly soon after such interviews are given.  We have had the “final interview” with Dr Victor Chang, the brilliant heart surgeon shot dead in a Sydney street in early July.  Happily, SBS’ King Of Hearts documentary managed to avoid any overt sense of ghoulishness in giving us a nicely balanced portrait of Dr Chang.  This was, it has to be admitted, the most emotionally-draining documentary you are likely to see in a long time – not because of any exploitative intention on the part of reporter Amanda Hickey, but because of the simple, profoundly moving tributes paid to Chang by his friends, patients and colleagues.  This was a wonderful piece of TV documentary work.  It probably would have turned out a completely different product had Dr Chang still been alive, because Hickey began working on it a few weeks before his death.  Dr Chang was slain only six weeks after talking to SBS.  I have a feeling that public response to the Dr Chang documentary will lead to a speedy re-screening.  It pointed up only too bleakly how the circumstances of his death resulted in such endless waste.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, September 28-October 4):
Saturday:  It’s Grand Final day for the AFL.  Seven’s coverage, started late last night with the Football Marathon, continues through the day – with the traditional North Melbourne Football Club Grand Final Breakfast at 8.00am, followed by live coverage of the Under 19s and Reserves grand finals.  Then at 2.00pm live coverage from AFL Park, Waverley, for the end of season clash between Hawthorn and the West Coast Eagles.  Daryl Braithwaite – the key performer at the pre-game entertainment at the Grand Final – will also appear on Nine’s Hey Hey It’s Saturday in the evening.

Sunday:  Seven presents the first instalment of the two-part mini-series Rose Against The Odds (pictured), telling the story of boxing champion Lionel Rose who captured the world’s attention when he defied the odds to become the World Bantamweight champion as a 19-year old in the 1960s.  Sunday night movies are The Karate Kid II (Nine) and The Abyss (Ten).

Monday:  The conclusion to Rose Against The Odds (Seven) sees Lionel Rose’s sporting career at an end and his entering the seedy world of small-time crime and drug abuse, and the battle to get his life back on track.

Tuesday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Lucy (Georgie Parker) is shattered when the results of her IVF program come back.  In Chances (Nine), Alex (Jeremy Sims) stuns the family when he re-appears after they had believed he had perished in a plane crash, and Paris (Annie Jones) is devastated when she learns a close friend has AIDS.

Wednesday:  SBS newsreader Mary Kostakidis presents the Ethnic Small Business Awards, live from the Sheraton-Wentworth in Sydney.

Thursday:  Ernie Dingo guest starts in The Flying Doctors (Nine) as a university dropout who clashes violently with his brother (Luke Carroll) and Dr Guy Reid (David Reyne) over the pending death of his grandfather.  ABC’s coverage of the 1991 Rugby World Cup, being held in France and the United Kingdom, begins with late-night coverage of the opening ceremony and the first match between England and New Zealand. 

Friday:  In Home And Away (Seven), Sam (Ryan Clark) finds out who his father is.  ABC’s coverage of the Rugby World Cup continues with the match between Australia and Argentina.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  28 September 1991.  Southdown Press