1992: April 19-25

Cover: Nicolle Dickson (Home And Away) and husband James Bell.

Packing a punch!
SBS has assembled some of Australia’s top writing, directing and acting talent for its upcoming drama series Six Pack.  The series of six self-contained stories is the first local drama production to come from the network since the 1987 mini-series Always Afternoon.  Included in the cast of Six Pack are Peta Toppano, Sandy Gore, Simon Burke, Ivar Kants, John Bluthal, Nancye Hayes, Martin Jacobs, Geraldine Turner and Angie Milliken.  E Street star Josephine Mitchell plays Clara in Mimi Goes To The Analyst.  “I desperately wanted to play a nymphomaniac,” Mitchell told TV Week.  “Clara is a great tart, a fun tart.”  Police Rescue star Steve Bastoni stars in Loveless, playing the role of Johnny, an aggressive homophobic actor who’s insecure about his sexuality when he is cast in a gay-themed film.  “For me this was a great project breaking new ground,” Bastoni said.  “Not only was it dealing with a sensitive issue, the issue also involved gays in film-making, which is something audiences are very curious about.”  Hey Dad! star Ben Oxenbould stars in That Man’s Father, playing the role of Andy, a lodger who makes a married couple’s life miserable.  “He’s a bit of a drifter,” Oxenbould said.  “Discovering new bits of life and piecing them together so that when he’s much older, he’ll have plenty to talk about.  He’s also a bit selfish, a bit arrogant and not too concerned about what’s going on in the household.”  Six Pack begins on SBS later this month.

UK engagement stops AJ’s Newlywed plans
Former E Street star Alyssa-Jane Cook (pictured) was on her way back to Australia from a promotional trip in the UK and about to star in a second pilot for the new Seven Network sitcom Newlyweds, but has made a last-minute decision to focus on spending more time in the UK.  Newlyweds, a joint venture between The Comedy Company producer Ian McFadyen and production company Crawfords Australia, explores the post-honeymoon hassles of a young couple.  Cathy Godbold (Chances, Home And Away) and Richard Healy are to appear in the new show, with Crawfords now re-casting for the role previously assigned to Cook.

Neighbours tackles that delicate subject
Neighbours is set to tackle the subject of teenage sex. In episodes to screen this week, characters Todd Landers (Kristian Schmid) and Phoebe Bright (Simone Robertson) plan to lose their virginity. “My feeling is that most 17-year-olds are getting to that stage,” Schmid, who is also 17, told TV Week. “Neighbours is a family show, but it’s also a realistic show.”

Briefly…
The Nine Network is soon to assess the game show pilot taped at the studios of NWS9 Adelaide and hosted by Colette Mann with Ugly Dave Gray.  With the working title Best Friends, the show is similar to the old Newlywed Game.

The man behind the mask (pictured) is Olav Evensen, the new actor to play E Street’s serial killer Stephen “Mr Bad” Richardson.  Evensen has taken over the role from Vince Martin.

Meanwhile, E Street producer Forrest Redlich is talking to the Ten Network about plans to produce a new one-hour weekly rock show in the same vein as the old Countdown.

Network Ten’s Kids’ Stuff host Lochie Daddo has made the move to the Nine Network as co-host of its Saturday morning show cartoon show Saturday At Rick’s.

Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here
”Good Vibrations, from Southern Star Entertainment and Lynn Bayonas, remains a bit of a mystery to me.  Like the Nine Network’s Golden Fiddles last year, Good Vibrations appears perfectly suited to a 6.30pm Sunday timeslot, but it has been programmed at 8.30pm on consecutive nights (Wednesday and Thursday).  Good Vibrations will have to perform well against movies on both opposing networks on the Wednesday night if it is to have any chance on the Thursday.  And that’s a big ask, even during the Easter school holidays.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, April 18-24):
Sunday:  Ten’s daytime is dominated by coverage of the James Hardie 12-Hour motor race, live from Bathurst, NSW.  There is an hour of coverage from the race start at 6.00am, then hourly updates throughout the morning, and then Ten returns to coverage at midday for the remaining six hours.  Seven has Sunday afternoon AFL – Adelaide versus Richmond – live from Adelaide, followed by the World Vision special The Forgotten World, hosted by Steve Vizard and featuring Jennifer Keyte and Tom Burlinson.  Sunday night movies are Clash Of The Titans (Seven), The Natural (Nine) and the biblical epic The Ten Commandments (Ten), up against Egyptian movie The Puppeteer (SBS) and ABC documentary God’s Girls: From An Australian Convent, the story of the Sisters of Mercy in the small NSW country town of Singleton – describing life from the 1940s through to the present.

Monday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Hugo (Gavin Harrison) is forced to come to terms with the homosexuality of his cycling partner Brett (Simon Stokes).

Tuesday:  Gosia Dobrowolska and Graeme Blundell are guest stars in this week’s episode of GP (ABC).  In A Country Practice (Seven), Lucy (Georgie Parker) and Matt (John Tarrant) now have their baby and they prepare to leave Wandin Valley.

Wednesday:  Seven presents the debut of two-part mini-series Good Vibrations, the story of a family who move to the country and find they are sharing their new house with a ghost.  The series stars Genevieve Picot, Felicity Soper, Jeffrey Walker and Stephen Whittaker (pictured).

Thursday:  In Neighbours (Ten), Todd (Kristian Schmid) declares his love for Phoebe (Simone Robertson).  In Phoenix (ABC), the bombers finally begin to make crucial mistakes as Inspector Jock Brennan (Paul Sonkkila) continues to put the pressure on – as it becomes evident why even the hardened criminal world is afraid of the bombers and why they hate police.

Friday:  Seven presents live coverage of the AFL match between Sydney Swans and North Melbourne from the Sydney Cricket Ground.  Nine has late night delayed coverage of Rugby League: City versus Country from the Sydney Football Stadium, while Ten has delayed coverage of the NBL Mitsubishi Challenge from Carrara, Queensland.

Saturday (ANZAC Day):  ABC has live coverage of the traditional ANZAC Day march from the streets of the Melbourne CBD.  Ten crosses to Auckland for live coverage of the Rugby Union Centenary Test match between New Zealand and the Rest of the World.  Ten has live prime-time coverage of the NBL Mitsubishi Challenge basketball from the National Tennis Centre, Melbourne.  To coincide with his Australian tour, there is a late-night clash of two Prince films – with the 1984 movie Purple Rain (Nine) versus the 1987 title Sign O’ The Times (Ten).

Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  18 April 1992.  Southdown Press.

Maintaining the Rage for 25 years

Next week it will be quarter of a century since ABC launched its first venture into all-night transmission with the debut of music video program Rage.

Debuting on Friday night, 17 April 1987, Rage was part of the generational change in the programming of popular music on television.  Studio-based programs like Countdown and Sounds were on the way out, while the influence of US cable channel MTV was making itself felt in Australia with Rage joining an Australian version of MTV (which debuted on Nine the previous night) and Network Ten programs Night Shift and Video Hits – all launched within months of each other.  With Video Hits ending last year, Rage is now the longest-running music video show ever on Australian television.

In celebrating the 25 year milestone for Rage, Tim Rogers will be presenting Maintain The Rage – highlights of the program’s history including some of the many artists that have guest hosted and programmed Rage over the years, as well as presenting some of the standout music videos to have been featured on the show.

At the same time, viewers will be asked to hold their own all-night parties for the occasion and to submit their own party photos and videos to Rage via Facebook or Twitter.  The party judged the best will win a piece of Rage history – the iconic red couch that has featured in the show.

In the meantime, Rage is also inviting fans to submit (via Twitter with the tag #screamwithrage) their own take on the iconic Rage scream which has featured in the show’s opening titles since 1987:

The most-watched, biggest and loudest Rage screams will be included in the Maintain The Rage special.

More details are at the Rage website.

Maintain The Rage, Saturday 21 April, 10.20pm.  ABC1

How much is that Logie up the Gumtree?

It was only a couple of months ago that a Gold Logie was open for bids on Ebay… before the item was removed from sale and the Award organisers, TV Week, considered legal action.

Now, with the presentation of the 54th annual TV Week Logie Awards just around the corner, the item (pictured) has resurfaced via website Gumtree.

The item for sale on Ebay last year had a starting price of $1000, but despite the item not being a Gold Logie as previously claimed the price tag has skyrocketed to $20,000, although the price is said to be negotiable.

The statuette, believed to date back to the 1960s, is without its wooden base and the identity of the award’s original recipient is not known.  The seller, who bought the Logie at a Camberwell market 15 years ago, is only of the understanding that the award came from someone with connection to Melbourne channel GTV9.

Three years ago a 1975 Logie belonging to Number 96 star Bunney Brooke (pictured), who died in 2000, had sold on Ebay for around $2200.

Meanwhile, TV Week has announced the line-up of presenters who will be handing out brand new Logies to Australia’s most outstanding and most popular TV talent, as judged by the industry and viewers respectively, this Sunday night.

The list of presenters includes Adam Hills, Hamish Blake and Andy Lee, Dave Hughes, Academy Award nominee Jacki Weaver, Gold Logie winner Karl Stefanovic (pictured), Lisa Wilkinson, Shaun Micallef, Rove McManus, Mick Molloy, One Direction, Alex Dimitriades, Kate Ritchie, Shane Jacobson, Gigi Edgley, Julia Morris, Manu Feildel, Chrissie Swan, Lincoln Lewis, former Wiggle Sam Moran, Shelley Craft, Denise Scott, Allison Langdon, Hamish McDonald, Stephen Curry, Essie Davis, Rodger Corser, Tracy Grimshaw, Kerry O’Brien, Don Hany and Georgie Parker.

There will be musical performances from boyband One Direction, Flo Rida and the legendary Tony Bennett.

The Logies will also provide a cross-promotion platform for its new talent contest The Voice with performances by Delta Goodrem and Seal, who are both judges on the new show.

It has been reported in the media that music executive Michael Gudinski is expected to induct Molly Meldrum (pictured) into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame.  Meldrum, best known for his many years on Countdown and Hey Hey It’s Saturday and more recently with the Seven Network and Foxtel, is recovering from injuries sustained from a life-threatening fall at his home before Christmas and is not expected to be present to accept the award.

With Sunday night marking the return of the full-scale ratings battle following the Easter break, the TV Week Logie Awards, which follows the debut of The Voice, will be up against the series return of Seven’s popular Dancing With The Stars and Ten’s screening of the movie Avatar.

The 54th annual TV Week Logie Awards.  Sunday 15 April, 7.30pm. Nine Network.

Source: Bayside Weekly, Herald Sun, Gumtree

Rage goes retro in January

For years now it’s been an annual tradition – when ABC1’s Rage goes into retro mode during the month of January.

Every year Rage digs through the archive to bring viewers a mix of retro hits and repeats of classic ABC shows.  In previous years the retro playlists predominantly featured old Countdown and Rock Arena footage and episodes but these days features a slightly broader mix of shows, interviews and performances from the vaults.

This weekend the retro hits kick off at 10.00am today (Saturday) with an hour of classic hits – but this only acts as the warm up to tonight, starting at 11.30pm, when the Rage playlist (below) includes video clips and studio performances of 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s hits and interviews with stars of the era, including footage from classic shows Hit Scene, GTK, Be Our Guest (which featured regular cast members Jack Allan, Jacki Weaver, Sean Scully, Lorraine Bayly and Gordon Glenwright, pictured) and This Day Tonight (TDT).

Saturday 7 January:
11:30pm
THE EASYBEATS Wedding Ring (EMI)
NILSSON Everybody's Talkin' (Independent)
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND Sweet Jane (Warner)
TDT: TEENAGE ACTIVITIES/DISCOTHEQUE April 3rd, 1967 (ABC)

Sunday 8 January:
12:00am
PYTHON LEE JACKSON - Live on Be Our Guest, 1966 I Idolise You (Independent)
HIT SCENE (host Dick Williams, pictured below) May 24th, 1969 (Rage)

12:30am
HIT SCENE May 31st, 1969 (Rage)

1:00am
ALLUSIONS, THE - Live on Be Our Guest, 1966 The Dancer (Independent)
ALLUSIONS, THE - Live on Be Our Guest, 1966 Gypsy Woman (Independent)
FUSIONS Tully - Live on Fusions, July, 1969 (Rage)

1:30am
APPROXIMATELY PANTHER Documentary on youth culture, 1967 (Rage)

2:00am
BLACK DIAMONDS, THE - Live on Be Our Guest, 1966 See The Way (ABC)
BLACK DIAMONDS, THE - Live on Be Our Guest, 1966 I Want, Need, Love You (ABC)
HIT SCENE July 12th, 1969 (Rage)

2:30am
GTK Frank Zappa Rehearsing at the Hordern Pavillion (ABC)
HIT SCENE July 26th, 1969 (Rage)

3:00am
HIT SCENE August 2nd, 1969 (Rage)

3:30am
GTK Interview with Ravi Shankar (ABC)
HIT SCENE August 16th, 1969 (Rage)

4:00am
LITTLE RICHARD Operator (Warner)
THE TEMPTATIONS All I Want From You (Motown)
MARVIN GAYE Can I Get A Witness (EMI)
MARVIN GAYE Sexual Healing (Sony)
HIT SCENE November 8th, 1969 (Rage)

4:30am
RICHARD WRIGHT GROUP - Live on Be Our Guest Miss Hargreaves (ABC)
RICHARD WRIGHT GROUP - Live on Be Our Guest No No No No (ABC)
HIT SCENE December 20th, 1969 (Rage)

5:00am
ATLANTICS, THE - Live on Be Our Guest It's A Hard Life (ABC)
ATLANTICS, THE - Live on Be Our Guest Why Do You Treat Me Like You Do (ABC)

5:30am
GTK Renee Geyer Interview & Performance (ABC)
SANDY EDMONDS - Live on Be Our Guest Sunny (ABC)
JULIE DRISCOLL & THE TRINITY Indian Rope Man (Polydor)
THIS DAY TONIGHT: DANCING August 19th, 1977 (ABC)
NEWS EXCERPT - October 1st, 1978 Babe's Disco (ABC)
IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS Reasons To Be Cheerful (Festival)

6:00am
THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER Twilight Zone (Atlantic)
PORTSMOUTH SINFONIA Classical Muddly (Festival)
TED MULRY GANG Jamaica Rum (Independent)
NOOSHA FOX The Heat Is On (Chrysalis)
TELEX Rock Around The Clock (BMG)
DONNA SUMMER This Time I Know It's For Real (Warner)
SYLVESTER Mighty Real (Festival)
THE POINTER SISTERS I'm So Excited (BMG)

Rage Goes Retro continues every Saturday night (late night through to 6.30am Sunday) during January on ABC1.

Source: Rage

TV’s golden girls signing off

It was a morning of farewells as two of TV’s golden girls signed off from their respective shows today.

Over at Ten’s The Circle, Denise Drysdale (pictured) announced her retirement – marking the end of a showbusiness career that has spanned more than fifty years.

Starting as a performer in early children’s shows including The Happy Show and The Tarax Show, Drysdale worked her way up to pop music shows such as Uptight, Kommotion and Dig We Must.

Then in the 1970s she became Ernie Sigley’s ‘barrel girl’ on The Ernie Sigley Show, forming an enduring partnership that saw both of them win Gold Logies in 1975, with Drysdale winning a second Gold in 1976.

One of TV’s more versatile performers, she has appeared in dramas such as Division 4, Homicide and Cop Shop, comedies like The Bluestone Boys and The Norman Gunston Show and countless music and variety shows including Countdown, The Penthouse Club, The Daryl Somers Show, The Mike Walsh Show right through to Spicks And Specks. 

Living on a farm in Gippsland, in the 1980s she hosted a morning show for local channel GLV8, and later took over from Jacki MacDonald on Nine’s Hey Hey It’s Saturday before being re-united with Sigley to host morning shows In Melbourne Today and In Sydney Today (both shows later merged into Ernie And Denise).

In the ‘90s, Drysdale teamed up with Frankie J. Holden on the revived In Melbourne Tonight before moving to the Seven Network to host her own daytime show, Denise.

Early last year Network Ten announced that Drysdale was joining the presenting team on its new morning show The Circle.  Later in the year she was again re-united with Sigley in a segment on the show.

Although the show faces tough competition, particularly from The Morning Show on Seven, The Circle this year won a Logie for Most Popular Light Entertainment Program.

Drysdale now looks forward to taking a well-earned break and spending time with her new grandson.

Meanwhile, over at the Nine Network, there was a farewell for Kerri-Anne Kennerley whose morning show comes to an end after nine years on air. 

Kennerley was a teenager when she appeared on children’s programs on Queensland television in the 1960s and 1970s.  After working overseas for several years she returned to Australia, appearing on the soapie The Restless Years before taking over as co-host on Network Ten’s Good Morning Australia in 1981.  It was a role that she made her own for 11 years, outlasting a number of her male on-air colleagues.  She later hosted an afternoon show, Monday To Friday, and worked in Sydney radio.

In the mid-1990s, Kennerley took over as host of Nine’s Midday – giving the show a new lease on life after some years of instability.  The show wound up in 1998 and after a stint back at the Ten Network on ill-fated shows like Moment Of Truth and Greed she returned to Nine in 2002 to host Mornings With Kerri-Anne, later re-named Kerri-Anne.

The show achieved global fame in 2007 when an interview with a “jet-lagged” John Stamos went viral.

The demise of Kerri-Anne comes after recent speculation about the show’s future, sparked by Kennerley taking leave from the program and with the show featuring a number of guest hosts. 

Although the Kerri-Anne program has ended – the ‘summer series’ of best-of segments starts on Monday – Kennerley remains with the Nine Network for future projects.

Nine will replace Kerri-Anne next year with a new show to be hosted by Sonia Kruger, who is coming across after more than a decade with the Seven Network and is best known as the co-host for eleven seasons of  Dancing With The Stars.

YouTube: aussiebeachut0, Michael Shephard

Video Hits suffers in Ten cutbacks

The new management at the Ten Network, led by acting CEO Lachlan Murdoch, have this week made their move towards cutting costs as it continues to dismantle some of the strategies laid down by the previous management and re-establish the network’s low-cost business model.

The network is looking to cut around 60 staff through voluntary redundancies – including 22 editorial positions – in what Murdoch told staff in an internal email is “a necessary but inevitably painful restructure”.  If the required number of voluntary redundancies are not met then the network may look at forced redundancies.

Another 40 non-contract positions have reportedly already been cut as the network shuts down its publicity and marketing arms in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth and abolishes its separate sales teams for Ten and digital channels One and Eleven.

Ten is also believed to be reviewing its program and on-air presenting line-up, with particular attention to its news and current affairs portfolio, as it looks to rein in some of the costs incurred by the recent investment in current affairs program 6.30 With George Negus and the launch of additional news bulletins.

The advent of digital channel Eleven is also said to have put financial pressures on the business.

High-profile names such as George Negus and Sandra Sully are believed to be safe, for now.

Late night stalwart Sports Tonight, which began back in 1993, is believed to have been axed as the network walks away from its role as joint broadcaster of AFL after ten years.  The network is also expected to allow some of its other sporting contracts to lapse, affecting coverage of sports such as basketball and netball, as high-definition channel One is strategically moving away from being a purely sports-oriented format.

But so far the only program to have been formally announced as being cancelled is a somewhat surprising one – Video Hits, currently hosted by Dylan Lewis and Faustina Agolley (pictured).

The weekend music program, which debuted on TEN10 Sydney in February 1987 (Melbourne’s ATV10 didn’t take up the program until almost a year later), is set to wind up with a retrospective of its marathon run on Saturday, 6 August.

In a press release issued today, programming chief David Mott acknowledged the contribution and longevity of the program:

"Video Hits' contribution to the network and the music industry over the past 24 years has been outstanding. Music and how people listen to it, watch it and enjoy it has changed dramatically in last few years and now is the perfect time for the institution that is Video Hits to sign off. The show will always hold a special place in Ten's history.”

Video Hits began purely as a compilation of music video clips at a time when a generational change was occurring in television, as studio productions like Countdown and Sounds were making way for dedicated music clip programs – with Rage, MTV, Night Shift and Video Hits all launching during 1987.

Video Hits later expanded its format to include interviews and live performances.  The show has helped establish the careers of various Australian artists, including Missy Higgins, Angus and Julia Stone and Art Vs Science.

The cancellation of Video Hits now leaves ABC1’s Rage as the only significant program on free-to-air television dedicated to music – and it is largely buried in an overnight timeslot – and with few variety programs on free-to-air television there are even fewer TV opportunities for the promotion of Australian recording artists and music industry in general.

Ten’s newly-appointed CEO, former Seven Network executive James Warburton, takes over the reigns from Murdoch in January.

Source: ABC, The Australian, Network Ten

ABC to say goodbye to Gordon Street?

ABC is set to expand its premises in inner-city Melbourne with construction of a new television studio.

The new development, which has now been approved by the ABC board, will be built adjacent to the broadcaster’s existing radio and administration complex in Southbank.

The new television studios will be used for both internal productions as well as being made available for external hire.

No timeline for the development has been announced and neither has there been any announcement as to the future of ABC’s existing Melbourne television studios in Gordon Street, Elsternwick, although The Age reports that it appears that the property will be sold off to assist in funding the new development.  In 2009 the Elsternwick site was estimated to be valued at around $25 million.

The Elsternwick studios, located next door to the historic Ripponlea homestead, were opened in May 1958 – eighteen months after ABC’s Melbourne television station ABV2 commenced transmission.  For the previous eighteen months the various functions of the new television station were carried out from makeshift premises scattered around Melbourne.

The studios have hosted various productions for ABC including Bellbird, Adventure Island (pictured), Countdown, Power Without Glory, The Saturday Show, Australia – You’re Standing In It, The Factory, Countdown Revolution, The Big Gig, The Late Show, Phoenix and Seachange. 

Spicks And Specks, The Marngrook Footy Show and Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight are also produced at Elsternwick.

The potential sale of the Elsternwick site comes after the sale of the historic GTV9 studios in Richmond last year – while Seven and Ten have long moved out from their original studio premises in South Melbourne and Nunawading respectively.

Source: The Age, The Australian, ABV, ABC, Real Estate Source

Seven-year itch for Spicks And Specks

After seven years and 277 episodes, the team from ABC’s Spicks And Specks announced yesterday that the show’s current season will be its last.

Host Adam Hills said in a statement:

“I have loved every second of my involvement with Spicks And Specks, and especially working with Alan and Myf. We always said we wanted to leave when we were on top and while we were still having fun, and now feels like the right time.  We are indebted to our loyal fans for giving us seven amazing years on Australian television, and I hope they’ll hold the memories of Spicks And Specks close to their hearts.”

Team captain Myf Warhurst said the show has allowed her some great experiences:

“It's been a wonderful privilege to be part of Spicks And Specks. I've worked with an incredible team of people, both on and off screen, and miraculously, managed to keep a job on TV for seven years, on a show that people love.  I’ve been lucky enough to experience many great things. I've seen Frank Woodley's privates, been naked under a desk with Pete Murray, and met many of my childhood musical crushes. Life can't get much better than that, so this seems like the perfect time to wind things up.”

Fellow team captain Alan Brough said it was best to walk away too soon rather than too late:

“For seven years I've had a job where I've met Gourd Orchestras, Oompah bands and Status Quo. Very few people can say that.  I'd rather people were upset because we stopped a little early, than upset because we stayed far too long.”

Recorded at the ABC studios in Melbourne (in the same studio that hosted Countdown) the show began rather modestly back in February 2005, only a week after another music-based quiz show, RocKwiz, had debuted on SBS.  There were inevitable comparisons between the two programs, especially as both shows were hosted by comedians and comprised a three-on-three battle on questions related to music, but it was evidently clear that both have their own distinct style.

Spicks And Specks became a popular performer in its Wednesday night timeslot on ABC and was the springboard into a Wednesday night comedy and youth-oriented line-up for the network.  With the popularity that Spicks And Specks was attaining, it was inevitable that a string of similar team-versus-team shows would follow on various genres – history (ADbc), sport (The Squiz, The Locker Room, Between The Lines), television (The White Room) and popular culture (Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, You May Be Right) – though few have been a success.

More than 150 guests have appeared on the show over its seven years, representing almost a who’s who of Australian entertainment, including Marcia Hines, Jimmy Barnes, Jon English, Jim Keays, Renee Geyer, Denise Drysdale, Hamish Blake, Kamahl, David Campbell, Colin Lane, Meshel Laurie, Debbie Byrne, Ella Hooper, Cal Wilson, Pete Helliar, Fiona O’Loughlin, Toni Lamond, Patti Newton, Wilbur Wilde, Ian Turpie, Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum, Noeline Brown, Tina Arena, Dave Hughes, Amanda Keller, Geoffrey Rush, Caroline O’Connor, Kate Miller-Heidke, Shaun Micallef and Rhonda Burchmore.

The show was recognised this year with a TV Week Logie Award for Most Outstanding Light Entertainment Program, and host Adam Hills has been nominated for the Gold Logie four times since 2008.  This year saw Hills launch his own talk show, Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight, which will return for a second series.  ABC is also in discussions with Warhurst and Brough over potential future projects.

The final episode of Spicks And Specks is scheduled to screen on ABC1 on Wednesday, 23 November at 8.30pm.

TelevisionAU Update 17-Jun-10

http://www.televisionau.com

NEW FLASHBACK #55: 
For over thirty years Peter Hitchener has been a trusted face of news at GTV9, Melbourne.  Starting his career in Brisbane in the 1960s, Hitchener then moved to Sydney's TCN9.  But then when he went further south to Melbourne in 1974, Hitchener was hosting a game show, Gambit, based on the card game Blackjack.  Here he is, with Gambit hostess Ros Wood, making a guest appearance on GTV9's Cartoon Corner, with host Daryl Somers.  Picture: TV Week, 16 March 1974

CLASSIC TV GUIDES
Melbourne:
1959 (First Sydney-Melbourne telecast)
1962 (Station affiliations change for GTV9 and HSV7)
1973 (The Mike Walsh Show begins)
1974 (Class Of ‘74 begins)
1974 (First colour test patterns)
1974 (Countdown begins)
1975 (Number 96’s ‘bomb-blast’ episode)
1983

Sydney:
1959

New South Wales:
1962

Brisbane:
1972 (Number 96 debuts.  BTQ7’s The Big News extends to one hour)

Perth:
1986 (SBS expands to Perth)

TELEVISIONAU - THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION
http://www.televisionau.com
http://blog.televisionau.com
http://www.twitter.com/TelevisionAU
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/televisionau
http://au.youtube.com/user/TelevisionAU

Good Friday Appeal on again

Good Friday in Victoria means another Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal, raising funds for what is one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals – caring for over 280,000 children each year from around Australia and overseas.

This year marks the 80th year for the appeal which was started as a sporting carnival, organised by journalists of the Herald and Weekly Times (HWT), in 1931.  During World War II, HWT’s radio station 3DB launched an all-day broadcast for the Appeal.

The advent of television in 1956 saw HWT’s new television station, HSV7, first involved with the Appeal.  HSV7’s first effort for the Good Friday Appeal in 1957 was a three-hour afternoon telecast.

In 1960, HSV7 presented its first all-day telethon on Good Friday – starting at 7.00am and continuing through to 6.15pm, before resuming for an hour at 8.00pm and then again at 10.30pm through to the announcement of the final total at midnight.  This is in contrast to HSV7’s usual weekday transmission which at that time didn’t start until mid-afternoon and would wind up before midnight.

The 1960 appeal raised a total of £231,750, far exceeding the previous year’s total of £174,129. 

In 1977 the appeal passed the $1 million milestone for the first time – raising a total of $1,489,866.84 – and the $2 million milestone only four years later.

This year’s appeal is likely to top last year’s record total of $13,862,734.

Meanwhile, the Herald Sun reports that rival channel GTV9 has upset Good Friday Appeal organisers with the Nine Network opting to air segments of the Brisbane-based Good Friday telethon for the Mater Children's Hospital, during its regular national programs Today, Kerri-Anne and A Current Affair.

The Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal.  Friday 2 April, from 9.30am.  HSV7 (Melbourne) and Prime Television (Regional Victoria) – in association with the Herald and Weekly Times and radio stations 3AW and Magic 1278.

Pictured (top): HSV7 weather presenter Ilona Komescaroff with actor John Thaw, from UK series The Sweeney, in 1977, and (above) Countdown’s Molly Meldrum, Pat McDonald (Sons And Daughters) and booth announcer John Deeks on the Good Friday Appeal panel in 1982.

UPDATE @ 12.40 3.4.2010: The Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal has signed off with a record-breaking final total of $14,462,000.

Ding Dong Denise back on daytime TV

Denise Drysdale is set to make her return to TV as a panellist on the upcoming Ten Network program, The Circle.

One of Australia’s true TV veterans, Drysdale was a performer in children’s television in the 1960s, later featuring in pop music shows Kommotion, Uptight and Dig We Must and on Graham Kennedy’s In Melbourne Tonight. 

A number of guest appearances in Crawford dramas Division Four and Homicide later led to her becoming Ernie Sigley’s sidekick on the Nine Network’s The Ernie Sigley Show.  Their popularity led to them, in 1975, winning TV Week Gold Logies for most popular male and female on Australian TV.  Drysdale then won a second Gold Logie the following year.

She also starred in the sitcom The Bluestone Boys and musical special The 20s And All That Jazz (pictured) and appeared on Young Talent Time, Cop Shop, Countdown, The Penthouse Club, The Truckies, The Don Lane Show, The Mike Walsh Show, The Daryl Somers Show and co-hosted Hey Hey It’s Saturday after the departure of Jacki MacDonald from the show.  Living on a farm since the late-‘70s, she also hosted her own weekly program in the 1980s on local channel GLV8, based in Gippsland, Victoria.

The new Ten Network show marks Drysdale’s return to daytime TV after previous success when re-united with Sigley for In Melbourne Today in the late ‘80s, the program later titled Ernie And Denise when the show went national.  Then after two years as co-host on the revived In Melbourne Tonight with Frankie J Holden, Drysdale had her own daytime show, Denise, on the Seven Network in the late 1990s.

Recently, she has appeared as a guest on ABC’s Spicks And Specks and in the Hey Hey It’s Saturday reunion.

The Circle, due to start on Tuesday 9 February, is the replacement for Ten’s 9AM With David And Kim which wound up in December after four years on-air.  (The last two months have seen a “best of” collection of segments from the show airing as 9AM Summertime in the two-hour morning timeslot)

Also appearing as regulars on The Circle will be Foxtel presenter Yumi Stynes, performer and TV presenter Gorgi Coghlan and former Big Brother contestant and Vega FM breakfast presenter Chrissie Swan.

Scheduled to air weekdays from 10.00am, the new two-hour show promises topical chat with audience interaction.  The existing one-hour Ten News bulletin at 11.00am will move to 9.00am.

From the outset, it appears that The Circle looks like a daytime twist on Ten’s early evening The 7PM Project, a program that also features regular and guest panellists discussing issues of the day with some audience interaction.  The Circle’s all-female panel format also appears to bear a resemblance to the popular US show The View (shown in Australia on Foxtel and Nine), and its less-successful Australian adaptation, The Catch-Up, which aired on Nine in 2007.  It will be interesting to see if The Circle can overcome these perceptions and offer a viable alternative to The Morning Show and Mornings With Kerri-Anne on rival networks Seven and Nine.

1979: December 15-21

Cover: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek)

Countdown to the ‘80s
Countdown’s Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum and producer Ted Emery have travelled the world to compile a 90-minute special edition of the show to signal the end of the 1970s.  The pair interviewed more than 100 pop stars across Australia, the US, UK and Europe for the special which will air on ABC this weekend.  “The program is still being sorted out but we plan to present a variety of top world stars of the decade talking about the music of the ‘70s,” Emery told TV Times.  The program will also discuss the future and who is likely to be a dominant force in the 1980s.  Some of the interviewed pop stars include David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, ABBA, the Rolling Stones, the Doobie Brothers, the Boomtown Rats, Alice Cooper, Bryan Ferry, Fleetwood Mac and Australians Olivia Newton-John, Daryl Braithwaite and Glenn Shorrock.

Ilona Rodgers’ private battle
It has been a tough year for actress Ilona Rodgers, the newcomer to the cast of The Sullivans.  For the New Zealand actress there was enough pressure coming into the popular series, with producers’ hopes of her taking on the high-profile star status in the wake of losing Lorraine Bayly, but Rodgers was also seven months pregnant when she took on the role. She was also tending her mother who was dying of cancer, and supporting her husband, who has stayed in NZ, trying to start up a new farming venture.  But Rodgers is happy with the role in The Sullivans:  “The first three months were really tough, but now I think I’m on top of it.  My only complaint is that I haven’t had a good game of snooker since John Waters (pictured, with Rodgers) finished working on the show.”  Her husband, David Warren, has made frequent visits to Australia since the birth of son Mischa, who has also made several trips across the Tasman to spend time with his father.  “I had him with me for a long time, but it’s unfair that I should have the only benefit of watching him grow up,” Rodgers told TV Times.

TV star ‘back from the grave’
Film actor Bryan Brown has been signed up for the upcoming mini-series A Town Like Alice to play the role of Joe Harmon – a role made famous in film by Peter Finch.  The mini-series, based on Nevil Shute’s novel, will go into production for the Seven Network early next year.  In charge of production will be Henry Crawford, producer of Seven’s earlier success story Against The Wind.  For actor Brown, his only other TV appearance has been in Against The Wind, as the Irish boyfriend of Mary Mulvane (Mary Larkin), killed in the first episode.

Those restless colonial years
When Jeff Archer of The Restless Years goes off on an overseas trip, actor Noel Trevarthen will be going back in time to play Judge Advocate Captain Collins in ABC’s eight-part drama, The Timeless Land.  Trevarthen will appear in the series’ first two episodes, covering the four years from 1788 when the British landed and Captain Collins read out the proclamation claiming Australia for the Crown.  “Collins is an interesting character.  He was a court favourite of George III, and, as a reward for his services, the King made him judge advocate of NSW.  But he was one of the few people at the time who believed in the future of NSW.  A lot of his contemporaries were only interested in grabbing the land.” 

Briefly…
The town of Echuca, on the Murray River, will be the star of a new mini-series adapted from Nancy Cato’s best-selling book, All The Rivers Run. Producer Hector Crawford (pictured) is currently negotiating with American interests for financial backing for the series, which is expected to be made as 10 or 12 one-hour episodes.  Production is likely to start later next year.

Actress Liddy Clark (Ride On Stranger) has won the award for Best New Talent at the recent annual Penguin Awards, held in Melbourne.  Other winners on the night included NWS9’s Ian Fairweather, for his contribution to children’s television, Cop Shop’s Peter Adams as Best Actor and Prisoner’s Carol Burns for Best Actress.

Janet Kingsbury has left her job as a reporter for the travel show, Bill Peach’s Holiday, to return to acting.  The parting from the ABC series has been amicable, and stories featuring Kingsbury that have already been completed will go to air during 1980.  Kingsbury, whose last acting job was four years ago in the movie Let The Balloon Go, has started a new role as Anne Hunter in the series The Restless Years.

Anne Sneddon (pictured), the 1979 Miss Australia, has entered TV current affairs as a reporter and co-host on BTQ7’s Haydn Sargent’s Brisbane:  “I like journalism and I’d like to be the best on TV.  I can wait 15 years, as long as I keep getting better.  With the help I’m getting from the whole team here, I should.  If I don’t, I need a hard kick.” 

 

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”I really have to laugh at the ad asking private motorists to save petrol!  Why isn’t the ad directed more towards those who race cars?  Don’t they waste more petrol than the private motorist?” R. Goodwin, NSW.

“Isn’t it about time women had a go where nudity on TV is concerned?  How about the men getting more of their gear off?  Put men in see-through baths etc.  So come on and give us women something to watch on TV.  After all, women watch more TV than men.  There is enough of the female body being exposed, so come on men, have a go.” L. Davies, NSW.

“I have read where the Australian series Skyways has not been getting good ratings and may be axed.  Why, oh why, are we subjected to such insults to our intelligence as CHiPs and Lucan?  The storylines are weak, the direction terrible and the acting second-rate.  Yet the Australian show is good.  Myself, my family and friends have lived almost every story in real life.  The acting is really first-rate and the direction is excellent.  I can watch Prisoner, Cop Shop and Skyways frequently, but the above-mentioned American shows only get one or two viewings because they are appalling!” M. Arnett, NSW.

What’s On (December 15-21):
HSV7’s summer of tennis continues with the South Australian Open on Saturday and Sunday, live from Memorial Drive, Adelaide, and the New South Wales Open from Monday to Friday.

On Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday, GTV9 crosses to Perth for the World Series Cup cricket between Australia and England.  Then on Friday, the World Series Cup moves to Sydney for Australia versus the West Indies.

Paul Griffiths (pictured), Patrick O’Neill, Mark Hamlyn and Dale Sinclair are the team presenting Line-Up, a new weekly magazine-style program on ABC, starting Saturday night in the timeslot normally occupied by Four Corners.

In Cop Shop (HSV7, Monday), Danni (Paula Duncan) has a surprise visitor who has managed to pull a few strings to obtain her address.  Meanwhile, Liz (Liz Burch) and Baker (Gil Tucker) seem to be sharing many precious moments together.

Friday night on HSV7, Shirley Strachan and the gang from Shirl’s Neighbourhood appear in a one-hour special, Christmas In The Neighbourhood, featuring guest appearances by Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons.  Later in the evening, ATV0 crosses to Sydney Festival Of Carols, held at the Domain and hosted by John McNally with performances by June Bronhill, Helen Zerefos, Steve Watson, Sandy Scott, Suzanne Steele, the Claire Poole Singers and the Crusade and St. Mary’s Cathedral Choirs.

Other Christmas specials to appear during the week include Bing Crosby’s Merry Olde Christmas, Bob Hope’s All-Star Christmas Show and Laugh-In’s Christmas.

Sunday night movies: Amelia Earhart (HSV7), The Entertainer (GTV9), Zandy’s Bride (ATV0).  ABC presents the Australian Opera production of Norma, featuring Joan Sutherland and the Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra conducted by Richard Bonynge.

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

1979: December 1-7

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

TelevisionAU Update 23-Nov-09

http://www.televisionau.com

FLASHBACK #52
Looking a lot different to his former persona of the dapper tonight show host is Stuart Wagstaff, pictured here with June Salter as guest stars in The Godfathers - a popular family comedy-drama for the Nine Network in the early 1970s.  Wagstaff had come from hosting the recently-cancelled In Melbourne Tonight and Salter was known to viewers as one of the ensemble cast in the comedy The Mavis Bramston Show.  Picture: TV Week, 30 October 1971

CLASSIC TV GUIDES
Melbourne:
1956 (Opening nights ABV2 and HSV7)
1957 (Premiere In Melbourne Tonight)
1974 (Nine Network-News Limited’s Darwin telethon)
1977 (National Survival Test)
1981 (Royal Wedding Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer)

Victoria:
1961 (Opening night GMV6 and BCV8)
1964 (Opening night ATV0)

Sydney:
1981 (TV Week Logie Awards)

Adelaide:
1987 (Final episode Countdown)

TELEVISIONAU - THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION
http://www.televisionau.com/
http://blog.televisionau.com
http://www.twitter.com/TelevisionAU
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/televisionau
http://au.youtube.com/user/TelevisionAU

1979: November 24-30

Sisters: For better and worse!
Although Rebecca Gilling and Diana McLean (pictured, with co-star Peter Lochran) are only sisters on-screen, as Nurse Liz Kennedy and Sister Vivienne Jeffries in The Young Doctors, their friendship off-screen has similar characteristics.  “On camera, I have a similar relationship with Diana as with my own sister Tracy, in that we do have our ups and downs, do tend to take each other for granted.  But in a crunch, we stick together!” Gilling told TV Times – though their separate childhoods were quite different.  McLean was essentially brought up as an only child as her older brother had died from Down’s syndrome at the age of 8:  “I grew up in a grown-up world, with few close relatives, except my maternal grandmother.  Like most only children, I was always conscious of wishing I had lots of brothers and sisters.  Then my mother was stricken with cancer and died when I was 13.  During the previous six years she was ill, I was cared for by a maid and my grandmother.  Sounds like a poor little rich girl, doesn’t it?  But it’s true, I had everything I wanted but nothing I really wanted.”  Rebecca Gilling was the youngest of four children.  “My mother has a highly individual approach to rearing children.  Both my parents encouraged us to have very strong personalities and a strong sense of humour.  The four of us were all very close when we were small.  Being the youngest has its perks and its serious drawbacks.  There was always the dichotomy of being one minute too young – and the next being told, why don’t you grow up?  It also meant I wore hand-down clothes which were a bit battered by the time they’d gone through three tomboys.  Then, when I was 12, I retaliated by growing taller than the others.  Then I had to get new clothes.”

Brush with the law!
Liz Burch (pictured), the girl from the toothpaste commercials, is the new girl in Cop Shop – and it’s given her a ring of confidence.  The 24-year-old joins the series as Vic Cameron’s (Terry Donovan) younger sister, Liz Cameron.  It is her first big break in TV after five years of trying to get into showbusiness, including three rejections from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).  The young actress came from Sydney to Melbourne to audition for a role in Young Ramsay, but was unsuccessful.  Her agent encouraged her to apply for the Cop Shop role, despite the fact that her only TV experience was in commercials.  “My biggest speaking part had been in a toothpaste commercial, telling a bloke he could do his own navigating next time.”

Love behind bars!
ABC stations in all states will be involved in a new public affairs program, Line-Up, to screen from December while the usual public affairs programs are on a break for summer.  The new program, to fill the timeslot normally occupied by Four Corners, will be hosted by former Nationwide and This Day Tonight reporter Paul Griffiths.  Executive producer for the program, Richard Watson, said the program will not be unlike the former magazine-style program, Saturday Week, but will have “more in-depth” content:  “It could be likened to a miniature Big Country.  The team will travel a great deal around Australia to make documentary films of varying durations within a flexible format.”  Another new series, Faces Of The Eighties, will be hosted by former Monday Conference compere Robert Moore (pictured), and will go to air on Wednesday nights in the timeslot normally occupied by Nationwide.  Faces Of The Eighties will feature interviews with Australians who are are leaders in their various fields, and who will continue to shape Australian society during the 1980s.  Overseas programs that will fill the Nationwide timeslot on Mondays include Collision Course, a documentary drama about a mid-air crash between two airliners over Yugoslavia in 1976, and Love Behind Bars, a look at a Texas prison where convicts of both sexes are allowed to mix.

Briefly…
Former Young Talent Time cast member Vikki Broughton is heading to Europe to star in a TV series for Italian network Telenova.  Broughton is currently in Sydney recording the soundtrack for the series of five half-hour specials, which will be filmed on location around Lake Como.

ABC’s rural affairs program Countrywide has won an award in the current affairs category at the recent Penguin awards in Melbourne.  Another ABC program, A Big Country, also won awards for Bob Connolly, for best producer and director, and Bob Plato for best script for a documentary or special report.

Former Number 96 star Joseph Furst’s guest appearance in The Young Doctors has so impressed the producers that they have decided to keep the character for future episodes.  Furst plays a mysterious German businessman, Heinrick Smeaton.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”The way Countdown is cut off during the number one song is thoughtless.  This song has been chosen number one by the public and is the one the majority of people want to hear.” S. Milward, VIC.

“While watching QTQ9, Brisbane, I heard the newsreader say: ‘And how that famous Irishman, Mike Walsh.’  I always thought Mike was a true-blue Australian.” F. Bellman, QLD.

“Why does TCN9, Sydney, leave scenes out of the shows they screen?  To date I have noticed entire scenes missing from shows such as Love Boat and Starsky And Hutch.  This practice does tend to leave one somewhat confused, as the missing scenes are frequently referred to in what is left of the show.  Surely the channels should not have the right to indiscriminately cut scenes from their shows whenever they feel like it (apparently for the purpose of screening more commercials – which, according to the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal, should be limited to 11 minutes in any case).” N. Lewis, NSW.

“I agree with S. Pye (Viewpoint, 20 October 1979) about the program So You Want To Be A Centrefold.  A friend and I (both females) watched this program, as our boyfriends said they were both going to watch it.  We were both absolutely disgusted, as well as being embarrassed.  I felt these girls must be cheap to pose nude in front of a cameraman, then to be filmed for TV.  It is bad enough that they do this in magazines, let alone display their unclothed bodies on the screen.  Are there no morals left in this world?”  T. Yesberg, QLD.

What’s On (November 24-30):
HSV7 crosses live to Kooyong Tennis Stadium, Melbourne, for live coverage of the Satellite Circuit Tennis Finals, with commentators Peter Landy, Garry Wilkinson and Allan Stone.  The coverage airs from midday to 6.00pm on both Saturday and Sunday and starts Seven’s daily coverage of tennis action for much of the summer.  From Monday, Seven covers the Toyota Women’s Classic, live from Kooyong each day from 11.00am to 6.00pm.

Starting Monday night, and continuing through summer, GTV9 has a mid-evening news bulletin at 9.30pm in addition to the usual 6.30pm news.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, GTV9 crosses to the Sydney Cricket Ground for the Benson and Hedges World Series Cup, Australia versus West Indies.  Coverage starts at 2.20pm and, apart from a one-hour break at 6.00pm, continues through to 10.30pm.

In Prisoner’s season finale (ATV0, Wednesday), Lizzie (Sheila Florance, pictured) is a bit under the weather, and Greg (Barry Quin) discovers a theft from the examination room.  Pat (Monica Maughan) finds herself in a predicament, while David (David Letch) makes plans for revenge.

Michael Schildberger and Peter Hanrahan have replaced Bruce Mansfield and Annette Allison at the ATV0 Eyewitness News desk.

On Thursday night, 60 Minutes presents a special one-hour report, Year Zero – The Silent Death Of Cambodia, presenter by award-winning journalist John Pilger, the first western journalist allowed inside Kampuchea.

Sunday night movies: Perfect Gentleman (HSV7), Strange Homecoming (GTV9), The Abdication (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 24 November 1979.  ABC/ACP