1990: February 10-16

‘I’m anchored to the chair!’
Despite her recent working trip to Czechoslovakia, A Current Affair host Jana Wendt (pictured) says it’s likely to be a long time before she goes anywhere else for an extended break.  “I am anchored to this chair,” she told TV Week.  “I wish I had a chain to prove it to you.”  But combining the job of current affairs host and mother to two-year-old Daniel she says is never easy, and, if she ever does move on from ACA in the distant future, considers doing something a bit more laid back in television.  “Peter Ross is on a lovely wicket at the ABC doing nice things where you can sit back and relax and enjoy it… Something where you can take a deep breath, be a bit more reflective and work consistently for a while without having to keep up with this kind of momentum.”  TV Week also reveals one of TV’s best kept secrets – the day that the Nine Network almost lost Wendt to Network Ten.  While it was widely reported that Wendt was headed to the American Fox network, at the invitation of former boss Gerald Stone, in reality she was involved in negotiations for an even bigger deal with Ten.  Wendt said she only consider moving to Ten if most of her A Current Affair team could come over as well – so Ten managed to verbally tie up most of the ACA crew.  Then news of the deal leaked out, and Nine chief Sam Chisholm reacted quickly and signed up Wendt and her team with generous contracts – leaving Wendt with a contract worth $2 million over three years.

Dannii’s set to quit Summer Bay
Home And Away star Dannii Minogue is set to leave the series when her contract expires in June.  “(The producers) want me to stay, but I’ve got other commitments,” she told TV Week.  Her first single, Love And Kisses, will be released later this month and she plans to finish recording her debut album while on a two-week break from Home And Away in March.  Minogue plans to promote the new album’s release in London after she finishes up on Home And Away.  “I may go back to Home And Away but it’s too hard to do that and promote the record too.”

Family first for Carol
The recent premiere of Nine’s Family And Friends also marked another long-awaited TV debut – the TV acting debut of Carol Willesee (pictured), former wife of current affairs host Mike Willesee.  The mother of three made headlines in 1987 when she walked off the set of new series Home And Away after only two days of production, citing fears that the role of Pippa Fletcher would take too much time away from her family.  But producers of Family And Friends are happy with Willesee’s performance in her guest role and have already indicated that an ongoing role is ready for her, but appreciate that her family commitments are still a priority.  “That’s quite understandable,” says producer John Holmes.  “It’s up to Carol.”

Briefly…
Former The Comedy Company stars Mark Mitchell and Kim Gyngell make their debut in their own new shows on Network Ten this week.  Mitchell stars in a sketch comedy series, Larger Than Life, and Gyngell reprises his popular character Col’n Carpenter in a new half-hour sitcom also starring Vicki Blanche, Monica Maughan and Stig Wemyss.

60 Minutes reporter Jeff McMullen spent four weeks of his Christmas break in blizzard conditions in Antarctica, filming a story for the current affairs show.  “People are outraged that I was allowed to take this risk… but I was the one who wanted to do it,” he told TV Week.  The 6400 kilometre trek, reported to be the longest polar journey ever made,  was led by six scientists and three dozen huskies.

US actor Telly Savalas, best known for his role as New York cop Kojak, is in Melbourne for a major role in the Seven Network mini-series Rose Against The Odds, based on the life of boxer Lionel Rose.  Savalas plays boxing promoter George Parnassus, who promoted many of Rose’s professional fights in Los Angeles in the 1960s and ‘70s.

John Laws says…
”Little did I know when I heartily praised ABC’s Inside Running drama series that it had already fallen victim to the axe.  Inside Running was a compelling and wonderfully scripted and acted series about barristers in Melbourne.  I regard it as one of the best drama productions made in Australia.”

Program Highlights (February 10-16):
Saturday:  HSV7 crosses to Port Douglas, Queensland, for the Super Skins Golf, then in the evening covers the Fosters Cup, Essendon versus West Coast Eagles, live from VFL Park, Melbourne.  GTV9 crosses to the Gabba, Brisbane, for the Benson and Hedges World Series: Pakistan versus Sri Lanka.
Sunday:  The 1990 ratings season kicks off in earnest.  GTV9’s Sunday morning news programs Business Sunday and Sunday are back for another year.  Super Skins Golf (HSV7) and World Series Cricket (GTV9) dominate the afternoon, and the evening is highlighted by ATV10’s new comedy double, Larger Than Life and Col’n Carpenter.  GTV9’s Our World presents Part 1 of G’day Comrade, featuring George Negus on location in Russia, followed by the return of 60 Minutes.  Sunday night movies are Three Men And A Baby (HSV7), The Last Emperor (GTV9) and The Golden Child (ATV10).
Monday:  Midday With Ray Martin (GTV9) returns for another year, and ABC’s The Afternoon Show and Countdown Revolution return in the late afternoon and early evening.  Four Corners and Media Watch both return to ABC in the mid-evening.
Tuesday:  Returning shows for 1990 include The Investigators (ABC) and Candid Camera In Australia (ATV10).  Kerry O’Brien presents the debut of a new late night current affairs program, Lateline, on ABC.
Thursday:  HSV7 crosses to Huntingdale Golf Course, Melbourne, for the annual Australian Masters.
Friday:  ABC’s rural affairs program Countrywide returns for a new year, as does Burke’s Backyard (GTV9).

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 10 February 1990. Southdown Press. 

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

1979: November 10-16

ABC’s biggest golf coverage
Players from five continents – Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe and North America – will compete in this year’s Dunhill Australian Open, to be telecast on ABC this week in its largest golf coverage ever undertaken.  More than $8 million of outside broadcast equipment will be used at Melbourne’s Metropolitan Course.  ABC’s coverage will add up to 26 hours over four days, including live telecasts and evening highlights packages.  More than 50 technical personnel from interstate will join the 100-strong Melbourne ABC crew for the event.  ABC’s two Melbourne-based outside broadcast vans will be joined by outside broadcast vans brought in from Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart.  There will also be a team based at ABC’s Ripponlea studios in Melbourne responsible for editing the daily coverage into highlights packages for evening screenings.  ABC’s commentary team will be headed by Graham Dawson joined by Peter Thomson (pictured, a five-time winner of the British Open who will be competing in the Australian Open and joining the commentary team when he’s finished his round), Clive Clark and Peter Alliss.

Caroline scores Sullivans role
Stage actress Caroline Gillmer (pictured) has scored a TV break with a role in The Sullivans.  Gillmer, recently a star in John Dietrich and John O’May’s productions of Gershwin and The ‘20s And All That Jazz, will play a Dutch woman in a storyline based in Holland.  However, her scenes will all be taped in the studio in Australia despite series regulars Steven Tandy, Norman Yemm and Olivia Hamnett currently taping scenes on location in Holland.  Gillmer’s character will be first seen on screen in the new year.

Looking for a winner
Judges on ABC’s The Inventors have had a tough time deciding on six finalists from the 64 entries featured on the show this year.  Executive producer Beverley Gledhill said that the standard for this year’s series has been the highest in the show’s ten-year run:  “Normally we are scratching around to get the sixth finalist.  But this year I’m afraid some people will miss out, whereas three years ago they would have definitely made the final.”  Governor-General Sir Zelman Cowen will present the Inventor of the Year award, including a cheque for $3500, in the show’s series final this week.  The winner will then go on to compete at the International Exhibition of Inventors in Geneva.

Being bad has been good for Vic Gordon
Many actors might be concerned at being cast as a “drunk” on successive occasions, but Vic Gordon (pictured) is very grateful for the work that it is bringing in.  The veteran actor has been cast twice in recent times as an amusing drunk in the Seven Network drama Cop Shop, but for Gordon it marks a turning point in his career as he tries to shake off the image of Sgt. Kennedy, the role he played for several years in Matlock Police.  “People don’t realise that before I became a TV copper I worked in every series under the sun, playing all sorts of different people.  Now at last some of them are starting to remember, and I’m getting some beautiful little cameo roles.”  On the home front, Gordon, 69, is about to celebrate five years’ marriage to artists’ agent Jean Lochhead.  The marriage, Gordon’s second after his first wife, Josie, died eight years ago, has also made Gordon the stepfather to rising star, Jean’s daughter Jacqui, who has won awards for her role in the ABC play Sally Go Round The Moon.

Briefly…
ABC’s rural affairs program, Countrywide, will present a special report on Japan’s booming farming industry and its influence on the Australian economy.  Host Neil Inall recent spent a month in Japan to research and put together the special report.

Anne Pendlebury, recently the lead actress in the ABC series Twenty Good Years, has been cast for the upcoming mini-series, Water Under The Bridge, being produced for the 0-10 Network.

Actor Ray Barrett has said he would be delighted to play a leading role in the upcoming ABC series Sporting Chance, being written by friend Peter Yeldham.  “I haven’t seen a script – or been made a firm offer – but from what Peter told me it sounds a wonderful idea.  He told me he had written something for me.  I would say yes right away on the strength of Peter’s writing it,” he told TV Times.   Barrett also has a role coming up in another ABC series, The Timeless Land, and presents a weekly documentary series in Brisbane on TVQ0.

ABC Show Band leader Brian May has just returned from Hollywood where he has been writing the music score for the movie The Blue Lagoon.  May is also to soon start work on a new series of The Saturday Show for ABC.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor
”Congratulations to TVQ0, Brisbane, for showing some of the Kung Fu series, starring David Carradine.  At last a chance to see that kung fu is more mental mastery than an excuse for multiple mayhem.” R. Brown, QLD.

“I would be very interested to know why it is the exception – rather than the rule – in Queensland for a TV program to start on time.  As most networks have national affiliations, and it is rare for this fault to occur interstate, the reason for it is hard to understand.” L. Mackay, QLD.

“Congratulations to ABC for their coverage of the West End (Gawler) horse trials and also the coverage of the Australian evening championships earlier in the year.” V. Reynolds, VIC.]

“I’m fully aware of the furore about not knocking Australia, but let’s be realistic.  The Australian TV industry has gone backwards in the sense of fine quality.  Not many people know, unfortunately, how to distinguish rubbishy Australian shows from the good ones – which only ABC screens.  In the rubbish category are ostentatious programs such as Skyways, The Restless Years and Prisoner, which are pretty pathetic.  The plots are rhetorical, the stories lack realism, the acting, scripts and dialogue are poor.  What puzzles me is that these programs seem to be picking up good ratings – which is probably the only reason they were created.” P. Masci, QLD.

What’s On (November 10-16):
HSV7 crosses live to Adelaide on Saturday morning for the annual John Martin’s Christmas Pageant, with commentary by Adelaide personalities Pam Tamblyn and Sandy Roberts.

ATV0’s coverage of the Melbourne Cup Carnival concludes on Saturday with George Adams Day, live from Flemington, hosted by Phil Gibbs and Michael Schildberger.

Cricket has started on GTV9 for the summer with South Australia versus Western Australia in the McDonald’s Cup, with all-day coverage on Saturday and Sunday.  Richie Benaud, Fred Trueman and David Colley lead the coverage.

Sunday is Remembrance Day, and ABC and HSV7 both have 2 minutes’ silence scheduled for 11.00am.  ABC also features a one-hour documentary, Armistice And After, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of the Great War.

On Monday night, ATV0 presents a two-hour special, Thanks For The Memory, looking back at the news, people and events that have featured throughout the 1970s.  Hosted by Bruce Mansfield and Peter Hanrahan.

Comedy specials on GTV9 during the week include a repeat of The Paul Hogan Show, featuring the sketch This Is Your Strife with Roger Simpleton, and the second of a series of specials featuring Ronnie Corbett in Australia.

GTV9’s Family Feud (with Tony Barber, pictured), The Young Doctors and The Sullivans all come to a close for the year, with The Sullvans ending the year with a special one-hour episode on Friday night.  GTV9’s daytime US soaps All My Children, Days Of Our Lives, The Young And The Restless, Search For Tomorrow and General Hospital also come to a close for the year on Friday.

Queenslander Jodie Day is representing Australia in Miss World 1979, being telecast on GTV9 in a delayed telecast from Royal Albert Hall, London.

ABC’s telecast of the Dunhill Australian Open Golf Championship starts on Thursday afternoon, with five hours live from the Metropolitan Course, Melbourne, with an hour of highlights at 10.45pm.  Coverage continues on Friday with another five hours in the afternoon, and highlights from 10.50pm.

Sunday night movies: Shout At The Devil (HSV7), Shampoo (GTV9) and Mr Majestyk (ATV0).  ABC presents The Rock Pool, the next in the series of Australian plays, starring Ed Deveraux, Lyn James and Bunney Brooke.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 10 November 1979.  ABC/ACP