Obituary: David Fordham

Respected sports commentator David Fordham has died in Brisbane after a battle with prostate cancer and heart disease.

The 62-year-old had previously battled prostate cancer, undergoing quadruple by-pass surgery and chemotherapy.  He also battled Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia and underwent a bone marrow transplant.

Growing up in Newcastle, Fordham started his media career at regional network NBN.  He went on to present and commentate for the Seven and Ten networks in a career that included four Olympic Games, four Commonwealth Games and three Rugby World Cups.  He also covered State Of Origin, Rugby League Grand Finals and Davis Cup tennis.

For the Seven Network he presented the Sportsworld and Sportscene programs and had been a sports anchor for news bulletins at Seven and Ten in Sydney and Brisbane.

After leaving television in the early 2000s, Fordham went on to run a media consulting business with his wife Erica and became a sought after public speaker and master of ceremonies.  He also staged a number of charity golfing events, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for aspiring Olympic athletes – with his contribution to the Olympic movement recognised with an Order of Merit from the Australian Olympic Committee.

David Fordham is survived by Erica, daughter Sally, son Simon and their families.

Source: Sports News First, NBN, Platinum

Seven wins 2010

The Seven Network has won the ratings battle for the fourth consecutive year – but all three commercial networks will have something to smile about.

Seven won the ratings year (which concluded yesterday) with an overall audience share of 28.7 per cent (6pm-12mn, 5 cities), followed by Nine (27.7), Ten (21.2), ABC (16.9) and SBS (5.6).

As far as individuals channels go, Seven (24.6) won against Nine (23.5), Ten (19.7), ABC1 (14.5), SBS1 (5.0), GO! (3.8), 7TWO (3.5), 7mate (2.7), GEM (1.7), ABC2 (1.6), One (1.4), SBS2 (0.6) and ABC3 and ABC News 24 (both 0.5).

Topping Seven’s ratings list is Packed To The Rafters (pictured), Australia’s Got Talent, the AFL Grand Final (and the re-match), Such Is Life: The Troubled Times Of Ben Cousins, the Melbourne Cup and the men’s final of the Australian Open.

Seven News, Today Tonight, Sunrise, The Morning Show and Weekend Sunrise all outrated their Nine Network rivals.

My Kitchen Rules (pictured) returned strong ratings but failed to dampen any enthusiasm for the return of Ten’s Masterchef Australia. The X Factor, despite all the hype, promotion and expense, failed to hit any significant ratings highs but returned decent ratings with a last-minute increase as the series came to a climax.  Dancing With The Stars also returned solid ratings as it ran its tenth series and Beauty And The Geek drew big numbers for what is normally a lack lustre Thursday night.

But not everything went Seven’s way this year.  The White Room, The Bounce, Australia Versus and Beat The Star were all prime-time ratings flops.  Iron Chef failed to gain a significant hold on the audience.  Home And Away, which has just ended its 23rd year, was beaten by repeats of US sitcom Two And A Half Men on Nine, and the future of City Homicide appears uncertain.

The Nine Network (i.e. Nine, GO! and GEM) is claiming victory in the advertiser-friendly demographics of 18-49, 16-39 and 25-54 age groups, although Nine’s primary channel was beaten by Ten in 16-39 age group viewers.

Nine’s biggest hit of 2010 was drama series Underbelly 3: The Golden Mile.  Nine also scored well with the NRL State Of Origin and NRL Grand Final.  Reality show The Farmer Wants A Wife returned solid ratings, while The Block (pictured), however, perhaps fell short of expectations but still managed decent numbers. Hey Hey It’s Saturday, which aired on Wednesday nights before being reinstated to its traditional Saturday night spot, has struggled to maintain significant support outside of Melbourne and its future is yet to be decided.  Top Gear and its Australian version rated well.  Sydney-based police drama Cops LAC failed to click with viewers.

The TV Week Logie Awards scored slightly lower than last year though this time it had to contend with competition from Masterchef Australia.

Nine continues to draw heavily on Two And A Half Men to boost its numbers, not just on Nine but also on digital channel GO!  Eddie McGuire’s Millionaire Hot Seat is now paying dividends against Seven’s Deal Or No Deal.

For Network Ten, as well as the primary channel taking out the 16-39 age group, the biggest hit was once again Masterchef Australia.  Like last year the series broke new post-2001 ratings records with more than 4 million viewers tuning in to see the winner, Adam Liaw (pictured) announced.  The series spin-off Junior Masterchef started on a ratings high but despite the inevitable ratings drop that followed it still sat at the top end of the ratings ladder.

Apart from the Masterchef titles the top of Ten’s list of ratings performers were predominantly imported programs – Modern Family, NCIS, Glee and Undercover Boss – although Shaun Micallef’s Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation was a strong performer as was the Australian adaptation of Undercover Boss and the new factual series Keeping Up With The Joneses.  The special Hamish And Andy’s Caravan Of Courage: Great Britain And Ireland and the telemovie Hawke were also ratings hits. 

New drama series Offspring (starring Asher Keddie, pictured) returned good Sunday night figures, particularly with younger viewers, although the Thursday night series Rush has struggled to be consistent and has seen ratings fall.  Both shows have been renewed for 2011.

The elephant in Ten’s room this year, however, is the Commonwealth Games.  The 11-day competition, traditionally a ratings winner, failed to return any significant ratings results for Ten, although it did give a boost to sports channel One.  The effect of the Games, which took Ten’s entire prime-time schedule out of circulation for two weeks, has seen shows like The 7PM Project and Neighbours lose any sense of ratings momentum they might have had pre-Games and saw viewers flock to digital channels in search of other viewing options.  The 7PM Project has seen its numbers slowly claw back to somewhere near decent, but Neighbours continues to stumble and has hit hit new ratings lows this year but will live on next year on Ten’s new digital channel, 11.

ABC’s The Gruen Transfer was among its highest raters this year, and its election-themed spin-off, Gruen Nation, topped the national broadcaster’s ratings list this year.  Spicks And Specks and The Chaser’s Yes We Canberra were strong performers, along with imported shows Midsomer Murders, Doc Martin and New Tricks.  Drama series Rake, starring Richard Roxburgh, got off to a high-rating start but ratings quickly fell.  The network also had to get the axe out – a rare occasion – for its Wednesday night series, Strictly Speaking, which returned ratings that even had ABC hanging its head in shame.

SBS, which has lost the Top Gear franchise to Nine, saw ratings fall this year, though the network scored well with the FIFA World Cup, from South Africa, with the match between Ghana and Australia being watched by over 1.3 million viewers.

Networks now go into summer non-ratings mode until February, though viewing data is still collected and reported to networks over the non-ratings period.

Seven wins ‘09
It’s Seven in ‘08
Seven wins ‘07

The Games were run… but, for Ten, not won!

The XIX Commonwealth Games have come to a close – and while India will be congratulating itself for a successful 11 days of competition, back in Australia the Ten Network might be quietly licking a few wounds.

Not that Ten’s effort in broadcasting the Games was of any inferior nature – in fact, the network has avoided receiving scorn like that encountered by the Seven Network with its heavily-delayed coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing – but rather that the network was rewarded with fairly lack lustre ratings figures for a competition that usually commands much greater figures.

In some instances, Ten was struggling to stay above ABC in the popularity stakes whereas, at the very least, they might have expected some gold medal ratings figures over the two weeks. Essentially, Ten only won victory on one night of Games competition:

	ABC	Seven	Nine	Ten	SBS
Mon 4	19.4	27.6	25.6	20.8	6.5
Tue 5	15.8	31.6	27.4	21.0	4.3
Wed 6	16.4	29.9	26.0	23.9	3.8
Thu 7	12.9	26.2	27.4	27.1	6.6
Fri 8	16.2	28.5	23.5	27.0	4.8
Sat 9	18.7	24.0	24.2	26.7	6.4
Sun 10	18.8	28.7	25.1	21.3	6.0
Mon 11	18.0	29.1	26.0	20.1	6.8
Tue 12	15.6	35.6	27.6	16.4	4.8
Wed 13	16.3	31.2	29.2	19.1	4.2
Thu 14	14.3	28.6	29.3	21.5*	6.2

* Includes premiere episode of Keeping Up With The Joneses.
Source: OZTAM: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth. 6pm-12am. Network shares include multi-channels.

But in Ten’s defence, their coverage has been up against some significant odds. This year’s Commonwealth Games appear to have been met with varying levels of indifference by Australians, possibly not helped by the negative publicity surrounding the final lead-up to the competition.

The free-to-air TV environment has also changed dramatically since the last Commonwealth Games (Melbourne, 2006) and even Olympic Games (Beijing, 2008) in that then there were only five free-to-air networks – presenting only limited alternative viewing options. This time around, there are up to a dozen other free-to-air channels on offer – with two channels, GEM and 7mate, launched only weeks ago.

Also impacting Ten’s performance is the somewhat limiting anti-siphoning legislation – meaning that even though Ten has a secondary channel with One HD, combined they could only really offer a single-channel approach to coverage – something which is often at odds with such a large competition where there are multiple events occurring at the same time – while up against rival networks offering 2, 3 or 4 viewing alternatives. Ten might have helped stop the flow of viewers to other networks if it had launched its new entertainment channel, 11, with its own alternative to Games coverage, but instead the channel is scheduled to launch early in 2011.

And adding to Ten’s competition was Foxtel – with its six channels of Commonwealth Games coverage which, in itself, is nothing new (they had a similar multi-channel offering in 2006) but the difference this time is that Foxtel was offering these channels to existing subscribers at no extra charge.

Despite the challenges, Ten will be pleased with the increase in viewing on One HD where it received some of its best ever ratings.

With the obvious pre-Games expectation of the saturation coverage delivering a ratings dividend leading into the last six weeks of ratings competition for the year, it now appears that Ten will be needing to offer some promises to make good to advertisers wanting more bang for their sponsorship dollars and, with shows like The 7PM Project, Neighbours, Undercover Boss, Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, Junior Masterchef, Modern Family, The Simpsons, Rush and Offspring having been out of circulation for two weeks, now has to work hard to drag viewers back to the network as it heads into the home straight of the ratings survey year. And with daylight saving now part of the equation, that makes the task of attracting viewers’ attention in the early evening even more of a struggle.

Network Ten have the rights to televise the Commonwealth Games when they head to Glasgow, Scotland, in 2014.

1990: April 21-27

Tragedy shatters Summer Bay
Which original cast member of Home And Away has quit the series and is to written out for good?  That is the question facing fans of the popular Seven Network series as a car accident in Summer Bay tragically kills one of the characters – but with four characters in the car, who will die?

Alyce rides into romance
Sale Of The Century co-host Alyce Platt has started a six-week stint in the Nine Network’s soap Family And Friends.  “It feels very different being back in a drama.  It’s like I’ve picked up where Sons And Daughters left off, although this is a different character,” she told TV Week.  She plays the character of Stephanie Collins, a social worker with a deep secret who takes off to the country to deal with her mystery.  It is there that she meets Damien Chandler (Simon Westaway) and tries to turn around his aggressive manner, leading to romance.

Away with the Pixies… again!
The Seven Network this week launches a new series of sketch comedy show Fast Forward, and Magda Szubanski will be on board to reprise her trademark characters Pixie-Anne Wheatley (pictured) and beautician Chenille.  “I enjoy doing Pixie.  It puts me in a good mood,” Szubanski told TV Week.  “You set up the smile and, before you know it, you’re in a good mood.  In some ways, I think Chenille may have a slightly longer life.  Because Pixie is such a big character, she could really start to … you after a while!”

Six exit in series shake-up
Despite falling ratings, the Nine Network is sticking with Family And Friends.  The network is planning a major revamp for the series, with six characters to be written out and negotiations under way to sign up some high-profile names.  Planned to be leaving the show are Renato Bartolomei, Robert Forza, Anna-Maria Monticelli, Sean Myers, Simon Westaway and Justine Clarke.  Clarke was only ever intended to have a brief stint in the series, but the departure of the others will essentially end the ongoing Rossi/Chandler feud storyline. 

Briefly…
Former The Factory co-host Andrew Daddo may have been overlooked for a presenting role on Countdown Revolution, but is now set to host a new documentary series for ABC, Made By Design.

A former Australian model, Tayler Kane (pictured), has won a role in the new UK soap opera Families.  The new $6 million series, to be produced by Grenada Television, will be filmed on location in both the UK and Australia.  Kane will play the role of Andrew Stephens, the eldest son of Diane Stephens (Briony Behets).  Families is to debut on UK network ITV later this month.  The series has yet to be sold to an Australian network.

Commonwealth Games double gold medallist Jane Fleming hasn’t given up on her sporting career but has begun to make her mark into the media – as a reporter for the Nine Network’s Wide World Of Sports and co-host of the breakfast show on Canberra radio station FM104.7. 

John Laws says…
”I’m delighted that Daryl Somers (pictured, as illustrated by Robert Fidgeon) and New Faces are back on Nine.  There was a lot of talk late last year that the show was headed for chopping block.  If that had happened, it would have been a crying shame.  I very much like the program and everything that it stands for.  It is a genuine search for fresh Australian entertainment and it’s one of the very few areas of television where talented unknowns can have a crack at shooting for the big break in their careers.”

Program Highlights (April 21-27):
Sunday:  HSV7’s Sunday afternoon AFL covers Sydney Swans versus St Kilda and a highlights package of North Melbourne versus Geelong.  The only Sunday night movie this week is Big Business (HSV7), while GTV9 presents the premiere of two-part mini-series The Great Escape II: The Untold Story and ATV10 debuts mini-series Heart Of The High Country.  In the lead-up to ANZAC Day, ABC presents a one-hour special, The Boys Who Came Home, featuring recollections from Gallipoli veterans.
Tuesday:  In GP (ABC), Dr Cathy Mitchell (Sarah Chadwick) looks after a young paraplegic with serious doubts about his sex life.
Wednesday – ANZAC Day:  ABC is the only network to provide coverage of ANZAC Day proceedings, including 75th Anniversary ANZAC Day March through the streets of Melbourne and a live telecast of the Dawn Service from Gallopoli.  In the afternoon, HSV7 presents a two-hour special, For Valor, and ATV10 repeats a three-hour special, Australians At War 1914-1918, narrated by Tim Elliot.  At 4.45pm, ABC crosses back to Gallipoli for The International Service and the forum discussion on Couchman, at 10.15pm, focuses on the many young Australians making the pilgrimage to the shores of Gallipoli to pay homage to the men who died there 75 years earlier.
Thursday:  Comedy series Fast Forward returns for a second season, including cast members Steve Vizard (pictured), Michael Veitch, Margaret Downey, Magda Szubanski, Ernie Dingo, Jane Turner and Peter Moon.

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

1990: February 24-March 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1990: February 3-9

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1990: January 27-February 2

Cover: Cher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Going to party like it’s 1990…

Each week for the past two years we’ve been documenting the events of Australian TV during the corresponding week of thirty years ago – 1978 and 1979 – as reported in TV Times magazine.

Now, sadly, we have to bring that sequence of posts to an end as we do not have a weekly archive of TV Times beyond the close of 1979 – and, indeed, the magazine title itself became obsolete in August 1980 when it was merged with rival magazine TV Week.

However, we are able to ‘skip’ a decade and can bring you TV as it was in the corresponding week of 1990 – twenty years ago – as reported in TV Week.  This will start in the new year.

As we move into a new decade in the present day TV continues to come to terms with the new era of digital multi-channelling.  The year will see the continued presence, and possibly even the addition, of new channels under the Freeview banner.  2009 saw the introduction of One HD, SBS2, GO!, 7TWO and ABC3, and there could be more to follow.  Freeview will also continue to be challenged by Foxtel’s “next generation” offering.  The year will also see community TV allowed its first steps in digital broadcasting, having waited and campaigned for many years for access to digital broadcasting spectrum, and Mildura will witness Australia’s first phase-out of analogue television signals.

The year will see the return of Masterchef Australia – will it maintain the public’s attention in 2010 as it did in 2009? – and more of Hey Hey It’s Saturday after its two reunion specials garnered massive support in 2009.  There will be no more Rove but we may see a greater presence from Shaun Micallef, following the popularity of Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation.  The 7PM Project will continue to hope to gain stronger support – but how long will Ten pursue it?  There will be a third series in the Underbelly franchise, and Neighbours will celebrate its 25th anniversary. 

The TV Week Logie Awards could break with tradition and be held in Queensland, and the year will also include the Commonwealth Games, from Delhi, India, and the Winter Olympics, from Vancouver, Canada.

The new year also marks a new era in the reporting of ratings data as, for the first time, viewing by time-shifted means (e.g. viewing of programs recorded by devices such as VCRs, PVRs, etc.) will be tallied along with programs that are viewed ‘live’ to air.

The year 2010 will also mark the 50th anniversary of ABC channels ABS2 Adelaide, ABT2 Hobart and ABW2 Perth, as well as commercial station TVT6 Hobart (now a branch of WIN Television).  SBS will celebrate its 30th anniversary later in the year and aggregation of Regional Queensland television will be 20 years old from the end of 2010.

And 2010 will mark ten years since the website Television.AU was established.

Ten and Foxtel off to the Commonwealth Games

The Ten Network and pay-TV operator Foxtel have announced that they have secured the exclusive Australian rights to televise the 2010 Commonwealth Games from Delhi, India.

The deal gives both Ten and Foxtel access to live coverage of all events. Both Ten and Foxtel will have rights to the Opening and Closing Ceremonies - but only Ten will televise these live.

It is only the second time ever that Ten has televised the Commonwealth Games, with the first being the 1994 Commonwealth Games from Victoria, Canada. In 2006, Foxtel provided a multi-channel coverage of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games - supplementing the Nine Network's free-to-air coverage.

The 2010 Games will be the first to be host-broadcast produced in high definition.

Foxtel also holds exclusive new media rights which includes mobile and internet coverage. Ten and Foxtel will also on sell the radio coverage rights.

The announcement of the 2010 Commonwealth Games telecast partners comes after the Nine Network and Foxtel announced a joint venture to televise the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

The Seven Network and SBS will televise this year's Olympic Games from Beijing, China.

Source: Ten, Foxtel